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The emergence of new and next generation network technologies coupled with the new services they have been designed to deliver and the emergence of service bundles like triple and quad play is increasing the burden placed on test and measurement tools and systems, writes VanillaPlus editor George Malim.
Assuring the delivery of new services is at the heart of the new burdens being placed on test and measurement. It`s simply no longer enough to be able to establish that the network is in fact up and that capacity is available, the performance of individual services and their delivery to specific customers must also be monitored. As Jan Lindberg, product marketing manager, service assurance division at Anritsu attests, the game has changed; “When you have a shared pipe for lots of different services you have the risk of traffic collision,” he said. "The IP infrastructure is an obvious barrier for certain types of services so you need to find mechanisms to manage the quality of each service delivered because it`s not obvious that a voice or even a video call comes through correctly across an IP network. You need to be in the network monitoring to assure quality of these sorts of services whereas, when you had separate pipes for separate services you avoided the risk of collision but you never measured the quality of the individual services.
Lindberg`s views are shared by Jan Maciejewski, vice-president of EMEA sales at Spirem Communications, who recognises that complexity now places additional burdens on test and measurement even in the pre-deployment phase. "The extra degree of complexity that comes with convergence adds to the challenges of testing. With convergence comes interoperability testing which has its own set of challenges and incorporated into the overall testing process at pre-deployment stage,” he said.
However, companies outside the traditional scope of test and measurement are starting to come up with solutions. Schema, a company that provides systems for measurement based on real-time information gathered from network probes, claims to be the first in the market to have the know-how to take ARPU measurements directly from the network. “We can sit on top of probing equipment – we`re not trying to compete with Tektronix or Anritsu – and, instead of using predictions and inaccurate data, we connect directly to network sources," said Avshalom Ben-Zoor, marketing director of Schema. “Based on the information we collect, we have the capability to analyse the customer experience on the handset on an ongoing basis.”
The test and measurement vendor market itself is consolidating as vendors attempt to meet the total needs of carrier customers. Anritsu is an example of this, having acquired NetTest last year. Maciejewski explains why test and measurement vendors are feeling the same pain as vendors in other OSS areas. "Consolidation is happening because of convergence. The need to test voice, data, IP and video together is becoming more important," he said. “Spirent, for example, has the capability to look at the mobile user experience, which is becoming increasingly important.”
Ben-Zoor also understands the reasons for consolidation; "It`s very challenging because you are somewhere between the operator and the hardware vendor," he said. "There is conflict because – with optimisation – you minimise the [equipment] vendor`s opportunity to sell equipment."
Lindberg has found that carriers are becoming more demanding; "We`ve been pushed up the value chain by our customers to do more with the data we collect from our probes, to provide greater insight into quality so they can see all services provided to a customer," he said. “Another factor is that they now want to use the data to monitor the performance of their partners."
There`s also a shift in the way carriers view and manage test and measurement – especially as next generation network projects get up to speed. "Operators are squeezing their operational costs and therefore outsource more," he added. "As a consequence of this, competence in carriers becomes scarcer and whichever tools they acquire need to be more intuitive. Carriers are certainly looking for tools that can meet the needs of a lot of different personnel categories from hard-core trouble shooters down to account managers."
Maciejewski at Spirent is also aware of a shift in emphasis; "Attitudes have certainly changed and continue to evolve, but there is still ground to cover. The challenge in delivering next-generation networks will always be there. With the introduction of next-generation networks it will be imperative for providers to mitigate the risk between the cost of customers that walk versus those that are acquired. To manage this, ensuring network issues are located, diagnosed and fixed as efficiently as possible, is key to ensure consistent QoS. Ultimately OSS comes down to the quality of data that is being provided [by monitoring systems]."
In addition, quality is becoming a differentiator for carriers and the long-heralded possibility of selling `class of service` may be back on the agenda although perhaps not quite yet. “The product portfolio itself will probably be more important," affirmed Lindberg. “But you have different customer segments to take account of; some appreciate service quality while some are less focused on it. If you look at early IPTV projects, premium content brand holders don`t put their content out on the network until they know the quality is there. The fact that you need to prove quality of service before you can sign up content providers will become critical in value chain management."
