Technology Review | In Focus: Customers & Product

www.comarch.com n0 2/2008 (08)
Comarch Telecommunications Business Unit
Comarch Technology Review is a publication created
by Comarch experts and specialists. It aims at assist-
ing our customers and partners in obtaining in-depth
information about market trends and developments,
and the technological possibilities of addressing the
most important issues.

in focus

Business Models
in TelecoMMunicaTions

>> Telco's Next Battleground

>> Efficient Partner Management –
how it will contribute towards success?

>> IPTV-VNO – a new business model for IPTV

comarch oss/Bss seminar 2009
– broaden your vision
of telecommunications market challenges

Join us on the 1st-2nd of June, 2009 in Krakow

Table of Contents < 3

IN fOCUS backbone, physical or RAN. All of these circum-
stances and the historical background have a 29. Comarch Product Catalog
4. Telco’s Next Battleground
large impact on network management systems. as the key aspect of Service Deliv-
ery Platform
With an increasing number of mobile subscribers
moving to third-party provided applications, the
16. How to move Service Having customers with high expectations forces

carrier’s role as a service provider has weakened. Assurance to the Next Level operators to expect more and more from their
systems. Service Delivery Platform helps deliver
Carriers continue to offer legacy services, while The Common Service Monitoring
new products faster and more conveniently. An
investing in the development of next generation Engine as the heart of Next efficient product catalog acts as the heart of
communications applications but they now must
Generation Service Assurance the platform providing operators with a flex-
compete with agile and innovative software
Delivering services to the customer is the life- ible interface to define new offers.
houses and service providers. If carriers fail to
keep a significant service market share, their blood of an operator’s business. How can opera-
role will be limited to that of bit pipes that only tors ensure the proper quality of offered services CASE STUDIES
to fulfill customer expectations? This article will
supply the network, while the revenue from the
lucrative part of the business will drift away. review emerging trends in service management
and examine the benefits of the Next Genera-
32. On Marrying Ontologies and
8. Efficient Partner Management
tion Service Assurance concept. Software Technologies
MOST Project
How it will contribute towards success?
Business models in the telecommunications
22. Managing MPLS networks Following “Web 2.0” as a term describing the
recent evolution of the Web, a new term “Web
Recently operators have been implementing
market are changing. The increasing amount of 3.0” has been introduced to describe a future
Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) infra-
partners that are involved in the operator’s ser- wave of Internet innovation. It has been asso-
structure that unifies IP VPN and other data
vice offerings, bring about the need for an appro- ciated at this point mostly with concepts of the
services. MPLS has been adopted as it allows
priate partner relationship management (PRM) Semantic Web. Yet technologies that back up the
the quick and easy creation of secure IP VPN
solution. This article discusses the business ben- new approach stem from traditional studies on
services, which represent a less costly alterna-
efits that PRM will bring to operators. Artificial Intelligence and are flexible enough to
tive to traditional leased-line circuits. Enterprise

11. IPTV-VNO demand has made IP VPNs one of the fastest-
growing sources of data revenue for service pro-
be leveraged by other domains. In this article
we introduce the Marrying Ontologies and Soft-
ware Technologies (MOST) project that tries to
A new business model for IPTV viders, therefore speeding up the development
of MPLS networks. improve Software Engineering through Seman-
IPTV-VNO can become one of the most widely tic Technologies [MOST]. As a part of the project
known telecom acronyms. Many large, well-
known brands may consider IPTV-VNO initia- 26. OSS and CRM the new approach will be evaluated in the case
study on the development of solutions based on
tives. There are many exciting new IPTV concepts Integration that pays Comarch OSS Suite.
that are perfectly suited to this model. IPTV-
36. The Comarch OSS Suite as a
The telecommunications industry, although still
VNO’s can truly add value for customers. technology-driven to a great extent, is no differ-
ent from any other in terms of what customers
SOLUTIONS & PRODUCTS basically ask for. They look for products that ful-
Management Platform for
fill their needs conveniently, for a fair price, and Next Generation Optical
13. Convergence in Network if something goes wrong, they want the problem
to be solved reasonably and fast. Unfortunately,
Networks
and Service Management in reality, suboptimal processes in the areas of
Mango – Eureka/Celtic Project
The competitive market of telecommunications sales, order fulfillment and trouble ticket man- In order to challenge recently emerging issues
nowadays encourages operators to look for dif- agement too often negatively impact customer concerning optical network management
ferent sources of revenue and cost optimization. satisfaction and, eventually, the bottom line. It Comarch, together with international partners
It happens that fixed operators, in order to offer has frequently been said that lack of genuine (operators, a research institute, an SME and dif-
mobile services, establish separate companies customer focus or constant process improve- ferent universities), conduct the Eureka/Celtic
with their own organizational structure and inde- ment largely contribute to poor results, so it project Management Platform for Next Genera-
pendent network. Then, the majority of mobile won’t be discussed here again. What is truly tion Optical Networks (MANGO). One of the goals
operators also deliver internet access services worth attention, though, is how much can be of the MANGO project is to perform and evaluate
through hotspots. In addition, currently the trend done for profitability just through tighter inte- a pilot of an integrated network management
is to outsource parts of the network, including gration of CRM and OSS. platform for next generation optical networks.

Editor-in-Chief: Diana Bonczar Technology Review is a free publication available by subscription.
Assistant Editors: Marta Bulik The articles published here can be copied and reproduced only with
Layout: Maciej Urbanek the knowledge and consent of the editors. The names of products
DTP&Graphics: Adam Dąbrowski and companies mentioned are trade marks and trade names of their
Proofreading: Scott Reynolds producers.
Publisher: Comarch SA, Al. Jana Pawła II 39a, 31-864 Kraków
Tel. +48 12 64 61 000, fax: +48 12 64 61 100, e-mail: marketing@comarch.pl
www.comarch.com
Print: Skleniarz Printing House, ul. J. Lea 118, 31-033 Kraków
Circulation: 1 000

4> In focus

Telco’s
Next
Battleground
technology review [www.comarch.com]

In focus < 5

figure 1

Client

Telco-IT

Telco Client

Telco-IT

Client
Network
Service

A new role for Telecommunications aware and integrated, then what is the value of
operators the tried-and-tired voice service with its static
The most important evolution in the outlook of the address book and its busy signal as the only infor-
telecommunications industry is the diminishing mation of one’s presence?
role of landline services in favor of wireless tech- With an increasing number of mobile subscrib-
nology. Strong competition in the mobile arena, ers moving to third-party provided applications, the
the ever-increasing popularity of 3G technology, carrier’s role as a service provider has weakened.
and the emergence of 4G, have made broadband Carriers continue to offer legacy services, while
data plans affordable for mainstream consumer investing in the development of next generation
acceptance. At the same time, handset vendors communications applications but they now must
are pushing new devices with larger screens and compete with agile and innovative software houses
user-friendly interfaces, supporting a multitude and service providers. If carriers fail to keep a sig-
of mobile platform applications that used to only nificant service market share, their role will be
be available for PCs. limited to bit pipes that only supply the network,
Although some next-generation mobile appli- and the revenue from the lucrative part of the busi-
cations are still being developed indigenously by ness will drift away.
carriers in their IT laboratories, many successful
ones come from independent third-party provid- Is the customer the only source of
ers who do not have direct access to mobile cus- revenue?
tomers, but who are often well established in the Mobile and landline carriers, ISPs and Cable TVs
Web 2.0 world. For application providers, mobile extend the value of their offerings by introduc-
devices are just another way of providing access ing triple and quad-play and providing complete
to websites like Facebook, Eventful or Whrrl. For communication packages that include TV, mobile
customers who have already replaced their desk telephony, landline, and internet access. As they
phones with Skype, their emails with Facebook become multi-service operators, including all pos-
and news sites with Digg, mobile access extends sible applications in their offers, other business
the convenience of taking their networks and models come into play.
personalized information from their desks and The traditional telecommunications business
laps and into their hands. What else is needed model represents a revenue stream that comes
in order to eliminate traditional telephony, mes- from customers. In the new approach, custom-
saging and content offered by today’s telecom ers are no longer the only ones who pay the
carriers? If a social network offers a mobile inter- bills. Mobile advertisers and e-commerce mer-
face with up-to-the-minute status updates, con- chants have an ever increasing role in the reve-
vergent messaging, voice and video, all location- nue chain.

nr 2/2008 (08)

6> In focus

figure 2 Mobile Advertising Revenue Growth, Worldwide, 2006-2011 Source: Gartner (January 2008)

14, 000

12,000

10, 000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

The emergence of these new merchants and Technologies like mobile RFID, LBS, 2D bar codes the following attributes provided by carriers would
providers in the mobile arena leads to additional and real-time video processing support mobile become unique and valuable propositions for inde-
revenue, but not necessarily for telecommunica- marketing and enable accurate targeting, making pendent application providers.
tions service providers. Mobile service aggregators it significantly more attractive to customers than > Their own customer base
like Google, Yahoo, Apple or Facebook are already any other form of advertising. > Their own network
exploring this market and are succeeding in mon- Over the past few years many consumers, espe- > Brand recognition
etizing mobile advertizing. End-customers pay only cially the younger generations, have realized that > Marketing data
a part of the price of mobile services while the rest social networks take communications to the next > Location data
of the revenue is collected from advertisers. level. Instead of sending vacation pictures to our > Identity and Authentication
Forecasts predict significant growth of the friends and family or calling them with invitations > Policy Management
mobile advertising market over the next few years. to birthday parties, consumers now use social net- > Established invoicing and payment channel
This will be possible due to increasing adoption works to let the outside world know about their
of mobile internet as well as implementation of lives. It seems only natural for users to move from Customer-centric vs. telco-centric
larger screens on mobile devices, leaving more the desktop application to the mobile terminal and model
real estate for advertisers. take their social network on the go. For the mobile Depending on how mobile carriers react to the
Transformation of advertising expenditure and industry, this fact represents a significant change, changing market environment, there are two over-
new opportunities for advertisers also contribute even a revolution. For many users, the mobile ver- arching models that can be foreseen as a future
to changes in the business model for mobile pro- sion of Web 2.0 could become the most commonly configuration of the mobile industry. Carriers will
viders. First of all, a mobile device stays with the used application on their phones. either continue to position themselves as domi-
user all day. We grab our phones when we wake All this puts tremendous pressure on traditional nant service, content and device providers, or they
up and keep interacting with them until we go to voice and data service providers. Analysts predict will adjust to changes by offering attractive deliv-
sleep. There is no other marketing channel that pro- that by 2012, the number of traditional mobile ery platforms for external third party providers.
vides similar, continuous contact with the target. voice minutes in Europe will drop by more than
Users listen to the radio, watch TV, use computers 40%, and will be replaced by other applications In the first scenario, carriers would not be able to
or read newspaper for only few hours a day. Mobile like VoIP, social networks or click-to-call. compete with other providers, and could merely
phones are with customers all the time. Carriers are trying to navigate this new world by become “bit pipes” losing a significant part of the
Some may say, having constant access to the offering next-generation applications that could revenue. In this customer-centric model, carriers
customer does not necessarily mean more ads can respond to the new demands of customers and lose their dominant role in the value chain. This is
be delivered. But what if ads can be perfectly tar- prevent them from moving to third-party provid- very analogous to what happened to internet ser-
geted and provided precisely when and where they ers. Is this the right direction for carriers? Shouldn’t vice providers. ISPs have no control over where
are really needed? What if advertisers know who they accept the fact that the best applications will and what equipment customers buy as long as it
the customer is, where they are located and what be developed by those who specialize in these is compatible with their networks, what service
they are looking for? Correctly targeted advertising areas? Carriers have a lot to offer as aggregators, customers use for email, IM and VoIP calls, who
could be appreciated, if not desired, by customers combining networks with third-party applications, the content provider is, and ultimately who deliv-
and result in dramatically improved response rates. content and advertising. Platforms equipped with ers ads. The ISP is just a part of the value chain


In focus < 7

figure 3

Network
Network
(Telco)

Service Content Service Content

Ad Customer Device Ad Telco Device

Customer

and it is up to the customer to decide which pro- It is probably too early to gauge which model port services provided by third-parties while cap-
viders will deliver the rest of the internet experi- will become the dominant one, but it is clear that turing a significant share of the mobile advertis-
ence to them. the Telco-centric model is beneficial to both exter- ing market. <
nal providers as well as carriers. Customers also
The second model is much more promising for gain more from this model than they would from
telecommunications operators as it places them the customer-centric one. The customers will still
in the center of the ecosystem with an assumption have the advantage of choosing the service and
that they are able to serve as a delivery platform, provider but they do not have to struggle with
supporting both customers and other service pro- mixed delivery standards and multiple front-ends.
viders. In this Telco-centric scenario, the customer It is crucial for carriers to recognize this opportu-
is not exposed to any individual external provider nity and realize that the Telco-centric model can
but is rather offered an aggregated service from only be implemented if they reorganize, open their
the telecom carrier. There is a single bill, integrated networks, develop service delivery platforms and
payment and identity management provided by make them attractive for external providers.
the carrier throughout the platform. From the cus-
tomer’s perspective, this model is similar to the Summary
traditional approach the industry has had over Telecommunications carriers need to find a way Greg Kwiatkowski
the past decades. The real difference lies within to incorporate social networks and other Web 2.0
the operational ecosystem. Telecommunications related services into their offerings, even in lieu
Comarch Inc.
Position: Head of Solution Architecture
carriers, instead of trying to develop and add new of losing partial revenue from less attractive on- and Strategy
services to their portfolios, enable external pro- deck applications. They have to strike a balance Department: Telecommunications
viders by offering the delivery platform for their between their ambitions to utilize their own ser- Business Unit
services. Such a platform simply opens up access vice development potential and the need to com- Info: Greg, along with his team in Chi-
cago, is responsible for designing and im-
to the carrier’s customer base, streamlining order pete with experienced Web 2.0 players. Carriers
plementing innovative Comarch OSS/BSS
management and billing processes for all the oper- should put more focus on enabling their networks and SDP solutions for telecom service
ational ecosystem members. and OSS/BSS systems to aggregate, offer and sup- providers in the USA and Latin America.

nr 2/2008 (08)

8> In focus

Efficient
Partner Management
How Will it Contribute Towards Success?

Business models in the
telecommunica-
tions market are changing. The increasing amount
Due to the earlier business models employed
many years ago, the problem regarding the exchange
of information between partners was not consid-
services, has caused operators to pay more atten-
tion to business process automation.
In the near future, when legacy networks will
of partners that are involved in the operator’s ser- ered to be as important as it is today. This is because be transformed to IP-based networks, the business
vice offerings, bring about the need for an appro- the total amount of information exchange between influence of third parties on the business models is
priate partner relationship management (PRM) partners was not as high. This ongoing trend, where expected to grow, highlighting the importance of an
solution. This article discusses the business ben- operators reduce their operational costs when fac- effective partner management system. When opera-
efits that PRM will bring to operators. ing reduction of revenue growth from traditional tors have multiple partners, interaction can become


In focus < 9

figure 1
Many forms of information
OPERATOR Fax, telephone, e-mails, ...
PARTNER

Wholesale Billing
System
– interconnect,
revenue sharing,
roaming
Trash

Unordered Agreements

complex, especially if multiple forms of information to increased operational costs as well as frustra- processes (not only limited to those mentioned
flows exist between the operator and their partner. tion for the partners. here) reduces the need to use several different
systems and also reduces the effort that is needed
Business problem 1: Business problem 3: to manage the system properly. The advantages
High amount of information Complexity of the SLA audit of automation are shown below.
Currently, the typical scenario where the importance The SLA audit process can be complicated to per- Solving a dispute is an issue that is not related
of efficient partner management can be seen is in form efficiently without an appropriate PRM sys- to technology – it is related to knowledge. Disputes
the case when the operator rents an access line to an tem. Typical parameters in the SLA agreements can should be categorized and solved using an appro-
external partner. The external partner then sells net- be such things as time limitations for resolving a priate trouble ticketing system that can support
work access services to end subscribers. The reason problem and quality indicators for specific services. the problem resolution process by collecting and
for the popularity of this kind of business scenario For example, a trouble ticket should be resolved showing relevant information about the problem.
is that the regulative environment demands more within a specified period of time in order to avoid Usage of trouble ticketing reduces the time and
open environments to increase competition. The an SLA violation. effort to solve these problems and allows the sys-
business scenario of line rental also translates into tem user to see relevant information during all
a large amount of information that is exchanged Business problem 4: stages of the problem solving process. In addition,
between partners and the operator. This kind of Dispute management reconciliation is an efficient tool in the support of
information can include agreement definitions, Cooperation between an operator and partner does dispute resolution, allowing discrepancies in the
management of disputes, management and col- not always happen without disputes. One typical sit- settlements to be found.
lection of debts and multiple way of communication uation where a problem can occur is the existence For an operator that has a large amount of
to deliver the information (phone, e-mail, fax…). of discrepancies related to reference data (e.g. dif- agreements with partners (e.g. in the line rental
ferences in the settlement reports). Another prob- case), efficient business processes for the manage-
Business problem 2: lematic situation can be when there are technical ment of agreements are important. Automation of
Multiple applications and flows of information problems related to the lines that the partner has agreement management processes can be imple-
Having multiple applications to handle partner com- rented from the operator. When operators and part- mented for many situations. During the agreement
munication and information exchange can lead to ners interact to resolve the disputes, extra effort is negotiation process, the usage of agreement tem-
a situation where introducing new functionalities needed from personnel of both companies causing plates reduces the time to introduce agreements
to the existing system becomes complex and expen- additional operating costs. In addition, the quality into the system. It is also important in order to
sive. The common situation can occur, for example, of dispute management processes is difficult to manage the end dates properly – the agreement
when the operator wants to introduce new services keep at a high-level, if the critical processes con- time period may need to be extended, or a reminder
to the existing environment, but the legacy appli- nected to processing disputes are not automated. about an existing agreement deadline should be
cation the operator is using, may not support this sent to start new negotiations. There may also be
new type of service. The service integration to the Solutions for business problems other reasons for starting negotiations regarding
existing platform may become expensive. Automated business processes can be used dur- a new agreement. For example, if the agreed upon
ing all stages of interaction with partners: during amount of the partner’s data transmission quota
The business problem of multiple information agreement definition, price management, com- has expired, the operator may want to negotiate
flows is shown below. Many different systems and munication channel management (e.g. automatic another pricing plan.
many different forms of communication cause processing of e-mails) and order management. The PRM system should have open architec-
complex interaction between partners. This leads Bringing a high level of automation to all of these ture to enable easy integration with external sys-

nr 2/2008 (08)

10 > In focus

figure 2
OPERATOR PARTNER

Ordered agreements
Information flow under control

Partner Web-based
Relationship Partner
Management System Self Care

Wholesale Billing System
– interconnect, revenue sharing, roaming

tems. Similarly, the addition of new services (that OPEX. The risk of SLA violations becomes lower Insight into future trends
the partners may use) to the existing platform because of improved SLA management. Also, in The telecommunications environment is changing.
should be simple in order to minimize time-to- the event of SLA violations, penalties are automati- Operators are migrating their legacy networks to
market and to enable earning revenue from the cally calculated and can be applied in the form of IP-based networks. This brings about more busi-
new service as soon as possible. Additionally, in discounts. ness opportunities for third parties in the form of
order to reduce CAPEX, it should be possible to From the partner’s point of view, the communica- advertisements, loyalty programs, etc. The chang-
manage services from one system instead of many tion experience with the operator will be improved ing environment involving more partners in busi-
individual systems. The usage of automated pro- as the partner receives up-to-date information ness scenarios also has the effect of blurring the
cesses also provides savings in the form of reduced about order statuses, agreements and prices. distinction between the roles of a partner and
end-subscriber. In the telco 2.0 environment, the
end subscriber may actually provide content to
the operator, to be used in the offered services. In
exchange for the content, the end subscriber may
get a commission or discount for his usage of the
services. These kinds of scenarios highlight the
need for appropriate billing, commissioning and
partner management solutions.

Conclusions
Appropriate interpartner settlements and revenue
assurance scenarios between operators and part-
ners are needed when the amount of service offer-
ings for end subscribers increase. One contribut-
ing factor for the increasing role of third parties is
Pekka Valitalo Krzysztof Kwiatkowski
also the regulation that intends to increase com-
Comarch SA Comarch SA petition on the market. Changing business models
Position: BSS Consultant Position: BSS Product Manager
with increasing amounts of partners involved in
Department: Telecommunications Department: Telecommunications
business scenarios will result in an increase in the
Business Unit Business Unit
Info: Currently responsible for building Info: Responsible for Comarch Conver- amount of money on the wholesale market. Fur-
BSS solutions for customers and analy- gent Billing, InterPartner Billing and thermore, partner relationship management will
zing trends on the telco market. 3arts in the area of R&D roadmaps, sales have an essential role in that business. <
support and marketing activities.


In focus < 11

IPTV-VNO
A new business model for IPTV

IPTV-VNO can become
one of the
most widely known telecom acronyms. Many large,
IPTV Market
The term IPTV (IP television) first appeared in 1995.
Originally during this time, there was not enough
Current strategies for deploying IPTV solutions
for most network operators include a combination
of delivering LIVE TV channels over a broadband
well-known brands may consider IPTV-VNO initia- bandwidth to transmit live TV to homes and thus connection, adding basic interactivity and finally
tives. There are many exciting new IPTV concepts there was not enough headroom with which to apply access to a Video-on-Demand service. The growing
that are perfectly suited to this model. IPTV-VNO’s added value and enable transmission over IP to be functionality of set-top boxes (IP-STB) allows net-
can truly add value for customers. attractive. Recently this has started to change. work operators to build new business models and

nr 2/2008 (08)

12 > In focus

new sources of revenue. Within the next few years, and subsequently place an order. Personalized
Comarch Next-Generation TV the main emphasis will be on interactivity, person- advertising known from the Internet can be one
> The Comarch NGTV solution allows broadband and alization, social services and advertising. Telecoms of the key factors pushing IPTV forward.
mobile operators to provide interactive TV services
see great potential in bridging Internet-based ser-
across various devices including TV sets, mobile
phones and PCs. vices and TV, which will become the next potential The key to IPTV-VNO success
> For customers, our solution provides a next-gener- service access channel beside mobile devices. IPTV-VNO can become one of the most widely
ation experience with many sophisticated features The nature of IP-based services means that known telecom acronyms. Many large, well-known
such as an Electronic Program Guide (EPG), Video-on- you can deliver content and services everywhere brands may consider IPTV-VNO initiatives. There
Demand (VOD), Music-on-Demand (MOD), visual radio, independent of the end-user terminal supporting are many exciting new IPTV concepts that are per-
online shopping, online access to Google’s Picasa™
IP. Televisions offer an opportunity for an excep- fectly suited to this model. IPTV-VNO’s can truly add
photo galleries, personal TV profiles, favorites and
much more. tional user experience of multimedia services due value for customers.
> For operators, the Comarch NGTV suite provides a to content quality and simplicity of use. The second We can denote three key areas where business
complete IPTV middleware that is easy to integrate important accelerator of IPTV market growth will plans usually require more work: distribution, loy-
and is customizable, reliable and cost-effective. It can be Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks. alty programs and content. Acquiring new users
be used for delivering various third-party premium in- takes more than a compelling product. It requires
teractive TV services. It also supports open standards
and integration with products of leading head-end,
New business models a set of distribution channels and efficient audi-
VOD, CAS/DRM and set-top box vendors. An innovative technology often generates innova- ence targeting. The IPTV-VNOs need to build their
> Comarch NGTV is a basis for innovative business tive business models. In the case of IPTV, one of the own retail network or develop a multi-channel dis-
models such as NGTV Ecosystem and IPTV-VNO, most promising opportunities is delivering services tribution strategy. Strategic alliances with existing
acting as a bridge between Internet and television through the networks of existing FTTH/DSL opera- retail or Internet businesses can also be a good
services. tors by external retail companies. We call this IPTV choice. In a competitive business environment,
Virtual Network Operator or IPTV-VNO. This model churn is an important threat for operators. While
is quite similar to the Mobile Virtual Network Oper- IPTV-VNOs focus on launching and building their
ator (MNVO). An IPTV-VNO is a company that pro- business, they should remember that quality and
vides an IPTV service, but does not own its own the means of how they incorporate loyalty pro-
network infrastructure. Instead, it uses the FTTH/ grams can determine their success.
DSL infrastructure of an existing network operator The top priority for a good IPTV service is inter-
and has the required IPTV infrastructure deployed esting and high quality content. Currently, due to
on that network. At a minimum, an IPTV infrastruc- the high initial costs pertaining to the distribution
ture is usually comprised of IPTV Middleware, a CAS/ of content from major movie distributors and their
DRM system and VOD servers. Additional compo- rigid distribution licensing models, this is probably
nents include what is commonly referred to as a the largest barrier for small players. The solution
head-end, which is a set of systems responsible for is in cooperation with content aggregators who
sourcing and encoding live TV content. A head-end offer content from multiple sources.
is crucial and expensive however it is optional in
various cases given that live channel feeds may be Conclusions
received directly from another IPTV operator, who In summary, the main IPTV-VNO revenue sources are:
has already deployed a head-end. > IPTV service subscription fees
> Live pay-per-view TV transmissions
IPTV revenue sources > „Content on Demand” distribution fees - Movies,
There are several new business opportunities for Music, Internet Radio, Events and Audiobooks
an IPTV-VNO. Core services that can be offered > Delivery of 3rd-party premium TV services
include premium TV channels, EPG and VOD. What > Interactive advertising
we refer to as interactive services go beyond this > Online shopping
and include things such as quizzes, dating services,
access to Internet services (PicasaWeb™ etc.), inter- Who can become an IPTV-VNO?
net radio access and so forth. The third promising > Retail stores
area is online shopping and interactive advertising. > Internet portals
Łukasz Luzar An advertisement can be displayed before and/or > MVNOs
Comarch SA after viewing a movie and the user can access more > DTH platforms (in hybrid mode)
Position: Product Manager information regarding the product displayed. The
Department: Telecommunications order can also be submitted online and payment IPTV is expected to be the next big thing. It seems
Business Unit may be added to the IPTV monthly bill. For exam- apparent that this is an exceptionally promising
Info: Currently responsible for two
ple, when a user starts to watch a movie, they can technology with a high business potential. There are
products in the VAS area: Comarch
Next-Generation TV (NGTV) and Comarch
be asked if they want to order a pizza. If the user many business opportunities that lay behind it, and
Content Delivery Solution (CDS). agrees, then they can browse through a pizza menu IPTV-VNO is one of the most promising ones. <


Solutions & Products < 13

Convergence
in Network
and Service Management
Service providers’ challenges Synergies in fixed and mobile When one investigates mobile and fixed net-
The competitive market of telecommunications now- network management works many similarities can be found:
adays encourages operators to look for different Currently it is quite a common situation that tele- > Similar technologies and hardware delivered by the
sources of revenue and cost optimization. It happens communications operators, delivering both fixed same vendors used in the backbone network
that fixed operators, in order to offer mobile services, and mobile services, use different systems to man- > The same processes for backbone upgrade and
establish separate companies with their own organi- age mobile and fixed parts of the network. It constantly maintenance
zational structure and independent network. Then, happens that backbone connections delivered by a > The same problems in service-to-resource map-
the majority of mobile operators also deliver inter- fixed network for mobile traffic are visualized as leased ping and service delivery
net access services through hotspots. In addition, lines in the mobile network inventory. The only differ- > Similar services offered over different access
currently the trend is to outsource parts of the net- ence is that those leased lines are provided by the com- networks
work, including backbone, physical or RAN. All of these pany from the same business group. In such a situa- One of the possible solutions to these problems
circumstances and the historical background have a tion the same network resource is managed twice in is to allocate a separate unit responsible for man-
large impact on network management systems. different Network Management Systems. aging the whole backbone network. In order to

nr 2/2008 (08)

14 > Solutions & Products

figure 1 Independent Network Management by fixed and mobile divisions of a service provider

Mobile
Operator
NMS A

fixed
Operator
NMS B

remove duplication of the network management figure 2 One Network Inventory with different network domains
systems an OSS solution must allow for easy assign-
ment of responsibilities to appropriate user groups Comprehensive Network Inventory
and roles. A single Network Inventory application
managing the whole mobile and fixed network
delivers the following benefits: fixed Access Domain
Radio Access Domain
A single repository for all the network-related
information, allowing for a comprehensive end-
to-end view of network connections – one source
of information for Fault Management and plan-
ning tools.
> Up-to-date information about the whole network
thanks to Network Reconciliation
> De-duplication of systems and tools for backbone
network planning and maintenance
> Reduced CAPEX and OPEX on different network
management applications. Backbone Domain
Figure 2 presents the idea of one convergent back-
bone and one application managing it.
Convergent network management creates a frame-
work for additional enhancements in the opera-
tions area: cal connection, to building new sites and physical Service management
> Orchestration of network growth infrastructure. In order to automate and orches- In order to fully utilize the network potential flexible
> Service management and delivery trate those processes a tight integration of network service modeling should be introduced. Service mod-
> Outsourcing of the network and/or its opera- inventory and process management is needed. els should contain definitions of required or used
tions The Change Management process is triggered in resources grouped in manageable internal services.
the context of network resources, and the above- One source of network information feeding service
Orchestration of network growth mentioned tight integration allows for automatic models can lead to the creation of new services,
Once the network management systems are inte- calculation of the impact on affected resources. which will utilize different access networks, back-
grated, one of their main roles is to support network Since changes may have different scopes, some bone transport and content servers in order to deli-
growth. In such an architecture network changes parts of the change project may be orchestrated vere one convergent service, regardless of the used
may be triggered by radio network upgrade or reor- by different systems, including financial manage- access method. For example, mobile TV over IP may
ganization, by fixed access network needs, or just ment tools responsible for signing contracts for be delivered via a radio access network, but when
as an output of internal backbone optimization new sites. Such systems have to be triggered by the user with a mobile handset is at home within
processes. The change may have different impacts, change processes via open interfaces in SOA com- the coverage area of their wireless router, the service
starting from a small reconfiguration of some logi- pliant architecture. may be sent over a fixed access network.



figure 3 Resource facing Services offered by different domains

Customer
facing
Service
Model

Resource
facing
Service
Model

Radio Access
Backbone fixed Access Domain Core
Domain Domain Domain

Service Inventory also supports different domains vendor), and then the central Network Inventory Furthermore, Comarch OSS Process Management
in network management. In each domain Resource works as the so-called manager of managers. In offers automation and orchestration capabilities in
Facing Services may be defined independently by this case data is divided into domains which are defining and running Change Management processes,
users responsible for the management of a given managed by different systems, and one central even in large OSS environments, where responsibili-
network domain. These services may be offered to inventory gathers only the data which is required ties are shared among different applications. <
users responsible for defining and offering Customer to deliver an end-to-end view on network connec-
Facing Services. Figure 3 illustrates this idea. tions and network services. In the central reposi-
tory Customer Facing Services are also modelled
Outsourcing and master processes for network upgrade are
Currently, the outsourcing of a network and its triggered.
operations is a common trend. Service providers
want to focus on service delivery and, on the other Comarch Process-Driven Network
hand, introduce additional cost savings. But even & Service Inventory
when the network operations or the network itself The Comarch OSS Suite includes the Network Inven-
are outsourced, there is still a need to have a gen- tory Management solution, which allows for divid-
eral picture of the network resources, both out- ing the network into domains with different user
sourced and locally managed. Outsourced parts groups and roles assigned. It is possible to restrict
may still be offered as Resource Facing Services access in such a way that certain user groups have
in a given network domain. Operations require access only to the part of the network which is
orchestration and automation inside the domains under their management. It is possible to divide
Jakub Załuski-Kapusta
and between them. That is why Inventory systems the domains further in order to allow the outsourc-
must allow for such network management organi- ing of certain parts of the network. Comarch SA
Position: OSS Product Manager
zation and must comply with much higher security The Comarch Network Inventory can also be
Department: Telecommunications
requirements for inventory data. equipped with a Service Inventory, allowing for the
Business Unit
Outsourcing may also introduce other Net- flexible modelling of service structures, and main- Info: Currently responsible for sales
work Inventory applications (even from the same taining information about existing services. support of Comarch OSS systems.

nr 2/2008 (08)


How to move
Service Assurance
to the Next Level
The Common Service Monitoring Engine as the heart of Next Generation Service Assurance



Delivering ser-
vices
to customers is the lifeblood of an operator’s busi-
In the traditional architecture, the services pro-
vided were embedded in the networking equip-
ment. Analysis of the service state was easy and
ness. When the services offered are maintained straightforward. In modern networks, however, ser-
with a high degree of quality and fulfill SLA agree- vices are no longer associated with a single device
ments, when they are constantly modified accord- in the network. Instead, each service is composed
ing to market requirements, and when new ones from resources provided by many devices operat-
can be activated quickly - the business succeeds. ing within the network, or even based on many
However, when the service management is poor, other simpler services offered by third party com-
with frequent service outages due to network fail- panies. With more advanced services offered, the
ures and, furthermore, when the resolution process structure of these services can become more and
is slow, customer experience is not in line with ex- more complicated.
pectations. The evolution of telecommunication In the case of any failure in such a complex mesh
networks brings about a constant emergence of of connected resources, the contents, suppliers,
new services, with their number and complexity quantity and importance of the affected services
growing rapidly, while at the same time service usually determines the severity of the network fail-
lifecycles are getting shorter. ure. Therefore, in a next generation network, exact
How can operators ensure the delivery of proper information about the service state is essential for
levels of quality for so many complex services? For- network management and operation.
tunately, operational support systems are evolving Let’s see this problem in an example. Imagine
together with operators’ businesses. The growing the telephone switch in an old-fashioned network
number of services means that OSS systems have encountered a failure. In an old-fashioned network
never been as important as they are nowadays. manual identification of affected customers and
Today, operators can not even think about deliv- services was quite feasible: simply, all customers
ering modern services with a high level of qual- directly connected to the affected ports were cut
ity without significant help from the supporting off from the voice service. In a next generation net-
systems. This also means that Service Assurance work, the relationship between the equipment and
is becoming the most critical area of modern OSS provided services is much less straightforward. In
solutions. the case of an edge router failure, it is not a simple
task to determine which services are affected by
The challenges of Next Generation this failure. Services offered over an IP network
Networks can vary, from basic residential Internet access
The changes that have occurred in the telecommu- to highly critical IP VPN for enterprise custom-
nications market in the last decade, and the transi- ers. Since these services are not provided directly
tion to NGN networks that is currently happening by the edge router itself, it is usually difficult to
have increased competitiveness in the telecom- quickly determine the set of affected services. As
munication market and forced all the operators to these are the services that are sold directly to the
optimize their costs and make their services much subscriber, the quantity and importance of the
more attractive to end customers. However, this affected services usually determines the severity
optimization can not be achieved using the pre- of the network failure. Therefore, in a next genera-
vious generation of OSS systems. The move from tion network, exact information about the service
traditional architecture to a next-generation tele- state is essential for network management and
communications network poses additional prob- operation. With more advanced services offered,
lems for network management and operation. The the structure of services can become even more
introduction of multi-layer network architecture complicated.
simplifies the development and introduction of Nowadays, gathering information about the
advanced services, e.g. providing connectivity as failure is also not simple. The event can be an
a network layer service as in IMS, but hides the alarm collected directly from a network element
complex relationship between the services pro- or a network management system, an end-to-end
vided and the network resources used. In other probe or a third party SLA monitoring engine, but
words, Next Generation Networks require Next also a Trouble Ticket generated by a call center
Generation Service Assurance to fully protect the or information from a customer self-care system.
services delivered to the customer and conserve What is more, these different sources can all report
operator revenues. together about the same outage, every one in its
own way! This means that we need advanced logic

nr 2/2008 (08)


figure 1 Evolution of services
The left panel presents an old-fashioned simple voice customer-faced services. The right panel contains a the complex mesh of resources and resource-facing
service with direct mapping between resources and part of a model of a modern Blackberry service, with services the Blackberry for customer is based on.

BB Instance
Customer facing Services

Voice
BB Prosumer BB for Business

Intermediate Services
BB Mechanism Customer BB Transport

Resource facing Services
Specific BB Generic BB
Mechanism Mechanism
UTRAN ......... GERAN

BSC

Network Resources
BlackBerry RIM Auth
Local Loop Platform Server BTS BTS BTS BTS BTS

to find and present clear information for network and responsibilities, often partially outsourced, least, optimal and automated business process
and services maintenance staff, as well as a set of doing it in an organized, optimal way with proper management.
standardized interfaces to inter-connect all parts prioritization of performed actions, without any
of the Service Assurance system. help from OSS system, seems to be a very hard or How to design the ultimate
However, delivering precise information about even impossible task. solution
the customers and services affected by a failure We can point out the most crucial challenges To overcome the challenges of Next Generation
is only one part of modern Service Assurance. for NGSA solution: Networks an operator needs a comprehensive Oper-
The other is to improve the process of finding the > providing actual information about the huge ational Support System providing a permanent
event’s root cause for an operator’s staff. Support- number of services with complex structure and opportunity to model and monitor complex services
ing the engineers in the fast location of the fault’s resource dependencies based on the underlying network resources. A Pro-
source is crucial for the operator’s business. The > offering a clear and coherent presentation and gressive Fault Management module with advanced
later the reason for a failure is identified, the bigger analysis of events gathered from multiple classes event processing and enrichment should be the
the losses it causes. Here we come to another chal- of sources main event source. Standard and common inter-
lenge - Next Generation Service Assurance should > organization and automatization of the incident faces to external systems (e.g. Trouble Ticketing, Cus-
not only provide visibility of service states, even resolution process. tomer Care, SLA Management, E2E probes) should
with failure root cause analysis, but a comprehen- provide the ability to collect events and information
sive solution should also proactively support the To summarize, the huge number of services with for alarm enrichment from non-network sources.
process of incident resolution to speed-up ser- complex structure and intricate mapping on the By taking a closer look at the telecommunications
vice recovery – minimizing losses. When it comes resources, which are essential for an operator’s market we can see that the best strategy is choos-
to fixing even hundreds of outages (planned and business growth, imposes a duty on the OSS sys- ing interfaces founded on the OSS/J initiative, which
unplanned) per day with complex services based tem to provide clear visibility of the service, easy seems to be becoming the ‘de facto’ OSS interfac-
on a mesh of resources, with divided staff skills service control and governance and, last but not ing standard. Such an expanded system needs an



figure 2 Solution architecture
Schematic architecture of proposed Next Generation Service Assurance system.

KnowHow CMDB SLA Probing E2E Trouble Ticketing Performance
Database Management system system Management

Enhanced Communication Bus Reusable components

Authentication System Repository
Service & Configuration
Process Management

Service Management
Reporting Notification &
Service Escalation Service

fault Management

Enhanced Communication Bus OSS Console WEB Console

MEDIATION MEDIATION MEDIATION
DEVICE DEVICE DEVICE Mediation Layer

Network Environment
Next Generation IP Network
Platform (e. g. IMS) NMS Element

efficient correlation engine to support the presen- ing related tasks should be stored in a Know-How events and the advanced logic to process them
tation of the most relevant information regarding Database in order to improve and speed-up solu- automatically shortens the time of failure root
upcoming events in an automated way, as well as to tion finding for subsequent, similar cases. In mod- cause analysis and, combined with the workflow
implement advanced logic to support the network ern business models many maintenance tasks are system, speeds-up the incident resolution process.
engineers in root cause analysis. Automatic busi- outsourced, so there is a strong need to include a That simplifies the network staff’s every-day activ-
ness impact analysis on the basis of information highly configurable Web Interface for presenting ities, makes their effort more effective and, from
about possible SLA violations, affected customer dashboards or simple task panels for external part- the customer’s point of view, provides more reli-
importance, failures in rush-hours etc. should also ner companies. Service Assurance should also have able services offered with higher QoS. Automatic
be performed during the event enrichment process control of Service Level Agreement fulfillment and business impact analysis giving task prioritization
and incident creation. To deal with emerging inci- direct communication with the customer, such as prevents most important SLA violations and pro-
dents, a process management system controlling through Trouble Ticketing. tects VIP customers etc. reducing potential losses.
and organizing complex workflow is also crucial. The open interface strategy also makes the solution
To structure the business process it is very conve- Benefits more flexible in the perspective of further growth
nient to use workflows based on the best practices Using the solution described above we are able and development. Analysis of the processes related
described in ITIL and eTOM recommendations. The to provide instant and comprehensive assurance to the assurance of typical services shows that the
knowledge gained during hundreds of failure-fix- of offered services. The wide range of gathered majority of human tasks result from data fragmen-

nr 2/2008 (08)


figure 3 Event propagation
A scheme of event processing, from ‘rare’ event, correlation and enrichment stages, up to service
coming from network elements or systems, through monitoring and incident handling layers.

Notification & Process Management
OSS Console
Escalation Service

Incidents
Process
templates

Service
Events

Service Management

Customer facing service

SLA Propagation
Management Resource facing service Resource facing service
Rules

Resource Resource Resource Resource
facing service facing service facing service facing service

Qualified
Events

fault Management
Self
Care CRM
TT Sources Trouble
Tickets Correlation
Reasoning engine Rules

Aggregated
Events

OSS Mediation Layer

MEDIATION MEDIATION
DEVICE DEVICE Correlation
Reasoning engine Rules

Events

Event Sources

E2E Network NMS
Probes Elements



tation and redundancy between all the systems > A process management system controlling and and Web GUI enables the possibility of configur-
involved in the end-to-end process. organizing the complex workflow in the areas of ing dashboards or panels for use by external part-
The integration of the process management Incident and Problem Management, equipped ners. Seamless integration of all the components
engine with the OSS Solution, and the foundation with predefined ITIL and eTOM founded process of the Comarch solution with 3rd party software,
of a predefined processes on well-documented templates and enabling task automation. through OSS/J interfaces, delivers an OSS system
and preconfigured workflows based on the ITIL > Web GUI dashboards and panels with highly which enables Service Assurance to be controlled
recommendation, organized in the skeleton of configurable content restrictions for external from one convergent application.
the eTOM framework, optimizes human and net- partners’ use. In conclusion, every day we have to deal with
work resource usage, thereby reducing redundan- > A Know-How Database to gather and store knowl- new emerging services with steadily increasing
cies and ineffectiveness. Having a library of exe- edge, tips, solutions and all necessary wisdom service complexity. This situation introduces new
cutable workflows mapped on the eTOM process about the devices, services and procedures related requirements for Operations Support Systems.
framework, and a ready to deploy SID based data to service assurance in your business case. Only tools that are service and process oriented
model, it is possible to quickly address a chosen > The solution provider’s ability to adapt and cus- with highly automated incident and problem man-
eTOM area by building a mesh of coupled work- tomize the off-the-shelf solution according to agement are able to help an operator manage this
flows operating on event data. The added value your company’s particular needs, because not live environment of resources, services, custom-
can be a redefinition of business processes in the everything that is convenient for other compa- ers and partners. <
company, on the basis of ITIL knowledge and best nies is suitable for you.
practises, to make them more effective and reduce > Choose a stable, well-experienced solution pro-
unnecessary costs. vider with at least 10 years’ experience in the OSS
Using the available automations in incident or market, and which is a member of international
problem process handling, it is possible to reduce organizations and forums like TMF, ETSI etc. This
human interaction by 60% on average. Considering assures you that the supplier knows and tracks
that each human task involves a long and unpre- the changes in the IT world and follows new con-
dictable pending period, execution of the process cepts and ideas.
can be greatly improved, from several hours or
days to either minutes or seconds. Comarch’s offer and vision
This optimization, together with a Know-How Our proposal is Comarch Next Generation Service
Database repository, allows the network staff to Assurance, based on the Comarch OSS Suite 4 mod-
operate efficiently and quickly and keeps the busi- ules: Service Management, Fault Management and
ness away from unnecessary losses. OSS Process Management. It provides the abil-
ity, through a very efficient event correlation sys-
What to look for in a Service tem, to monitor complex services, find a problem’s
Assurance Solution root causes in an automated way, enrich events
When looking for a next generation service assur- with advanced information, e.g. incident business
ance solution, you should be sure to consider the impact calculated with the use of external system
following elements: information and, most importantly, resolve inci-
> A comprehensive service modelling and moni- dents through structured processes modelled in
toring engine, providing the mapping between the OSS Process Management module which is
resources and services even for complex cases. specifically designed for managing a Telco oper-
This should be the heart of Next Generation Ser- ator’s processes. It provides several mechanisms
vice Assurance. and tools which enable process automation at
> A progressive fault management system, includ- different levels. Each typical, common task can
ing advanced event enrichment (with the use of be defined at the highest level as an automatic
information from external systems) and a strong process. Finally, Process Management provides
correlation engine to assure clear data presen- a scripting mechanism to define actions even at
tation and root cause analysis. the atomic level and use them in high level pro-
> Automatic business impact analysis giving task cesses as automatic tasks. OSS Process Manage- Jakub Meisner
prioritization related to business (e.g. SLA) infor- ment comes with a large number of preconfig- Comarch SA
mation. ured workflows based on ITIL best practices. It Position: OSS Solution & Product
> Standard OSS/J based interfaces to external sys- also contains automation patterns operating on Manager
tems, giving you the ability to collect events and a predefined data model based on SID. A Know- Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
information from non-network sources as well How Database integrated with the Process Man-
Info: Responsible for developing OSS Me-
as protecting system growth possibilities. agement system provides additional added value, diation and the Comarch NGSA solution.

nr 2/2008 (08)


Managing MPLS networks



figure 1 General view of MPLS network
LIB

LIB LIB

Exit LSR
Entry LSR LSR
LSR
MPLS network

LIB LIB
LIB LIB
LSR LSR

LIB
LSP (Label Switch Path)

Recently operators
have been
implementing Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)
the path, which swaps the packet’s outer label for
another label, and forwards it to the next router.
The last router in the path removes the label from
routes through the BGP process. The routes learned
by the PE router are collected in VRF tables (Virtual
Routing Forwarding). Each VRF table is created for
infrastructure that unifies IP VPN and other data ser- the packet and forwards the packet, based on the each site connected to the PE router.
vices. MPLS has been adopted as it allows the quick header of its next layer, for example IPv4. The most popular case for the creation of VPNs is
and easy creation of secure IP VPN services, which Each LSR holds a Label Information Base (LIB). when a customer needs access to intranet VPN and
represent a less costly alternative to traditional LIBs are tables that contain information about label extranet VPN shared by other clients. Such a sce-
leased-line circuits. Enterprise demand has made switching and related activities. Each LSR examines nario is shown below. The service provider routes
IP VPNs one of the fastest-growing sources of data the label and inbound interface for the packet and the packets in three VPNs (1, 2, and 3), while one cus-
revenue for service providers, therefore speeding up determines the outgoing interface and outgoing tomer belongs to two VPNs. PE routers exchange
the development of MPLS networks. In order to use label. Additionally, each LSR can perform an oper- route information through the BGP protocol.
all the benefits of MPLS operators or service provid- ation on the label. If necessary it can substitute it The other approach to MPLS VPNs is the tun-
ers must have OSS environments that: and forward the packet with a new label. neling Layer 2 point-to-point connection between
> Provide up-to-date information about configuration Labeling and building LSPs also allows traffic two customer sites. Layer 2 VPNs are sometimes
of the network and elements composing it class differentiation. Specific types of packets may referred to as Pseudo Wire Emulation Edge-to-Edge
> Properly monitor the network and provide infor- need to be forwarded to the same hop or along the (PWE3) or Virtual Wire Private Service (VWPS). All
mation about the alarms and the network’s utili- same LSP. All the packets to which a specific label these terms refer to the protocols providing tun-
zation is assigned form a Forwarding Equivalency Class nels to emulate Layer 2 services like Frame Relay,
> Monitor and ensure QoS offered to the operator’s (FEC). An FEC can be variously defined by a provider, Ethernet, ATM, and SDH over packet switched net-
customers depending on its size or set of services: An FEC may works like IP/MPLS. Traditional and packet switched
> Ensure proper progress of MPLS operational probe constituted by all the packets bound for the networks are connected to share resources and
cesses within the operator’s environment same LSR entry, all the packets with a defined class extend internetworking. As a result, connected
of service, bound to a certain region or matching customer sites work as if they belong to one local
MPLS Overview the route statistics for a large service provider. network since customer Layer 2 frames are trans-
MPLS puts together connectionless IP with con- parently transmitted through devices residing on
nection-oriented networks. It is also called Layer VPN tunnels the customer edge.
2½ technology as it combines Layer 2 advantages The main idea behind the MPLS VPN is that the pro-
– speed & efficiency, and Layer 3 advantages – scal- vider’s core routers do not even know about the Managing MPLS Networks with
ability. MPLS networks consist of Label Switching VPN networks and just switch the labels inside the the Comarch OSS Suite
Routers (LSR) that transmit packets according to MPLS network. Provider Edge routers (PE) take the The Comarch OSS Suite includes a Service and
traffic labels introduced by entry LSR and removed responsibility of routing the client’s packets cor- Resource Inventory, Service Provisioning, Network
by exit LSR. Another important entity in MPLS net- rectly into and out of the MPLS network. Discovery and Reconciliation, and Performance
works is the Label Switching Path (LSP) which is a Every PE router keeps multiple routing tables and Fault Monitoring, as well as Service and SLA
path through an MPLS network, set up by a sig- containing definitions of routes to the remote sites. Management. The OSS Framework, which provides
naling protocol. The path begins at a Label Edge The PE router keeps track of just those routes which core functionality and supervises the operations
Router (LER) that sets an MPLS prefix to a packet. lead to remote sites belonging to the same VPNs of Comarch OSS modules, includes functional-
It then forwards the packet to the next router in as the local PE’s client sites. PE routes learn these ities which are shared by all modules: Visualiza-

nr 2/2008 (08)

Technology Review | In Focus: Customers & Product

Technology Review | In Focus: Customers & Product

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (17)

Similaire à Technology Review | In Focus: Customers & Product

Similaire à Technology Review | In Focus: Customers & Product (20)

Plus de Comarch

Plus de Comarch (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Technology Review | In Focus: Customers & Product