Operations support systems for medium & large Telecom networks
Operations Support Systems (OSS) are a set of software tools which help carriers manage their networks.
PhoenixBird offers building Operations Support Systems for the following network types:
[Legacy (SONET/SDH); NGN (ATM, Frame Relay); Managed IP (IP, MPLS); Wireless (2G, 2.5G, 3G, WLAN)]
The following is a detailed description of Operations Support Systems and components that PhoenixBird offers to build:
Inventory & services provisioning
Inventory and Service Provisioning system is used for inventorying network equipment and facilities, and for activation/update of business and consumer type services. The system integrates with various hardware components from different manufacturers and includes network design and circuit design capabilities. The interactive user interface is integrated with Geo Information System (GIS). The Inventory and Service Provisioning system enables service providers to achieve real-time activation and provide tight coupling between the service management layer and network management layer. The system architecture supports high-volume customer-order processing (over 10 thousand per day).
Customer care, ordering & billing systems
Customer Care system provides end-to-end management of call-centers and customer support operations, comprehensive customer database, proactive service features and enterprise-wide reporting. The Ordering system receives orders from the Customer Care system, and provides convergent order management capabilities; order decomposition, routing and status tracking. The system has a variety of network interfaces to interconnect with Customer Care, Provisioning and Billing systems. The Billing System provides comprehensive billing functionality including message processing, rating, discounting, bill production remittance processing, account receivables, collections and journaling. The system includes a set of interfaces to communicate with Ordering, Customer Care and Provisioning services as well as with third party Billing Systems.
Fault Managment
Fault Management system performs comprehensive root-cause alarm analysis of multi-vendor, multi-technology networks. It is designed to monitor high-volume incoming alarm/event flow (up to 100 incoming messages per second). The system interfaces with the Inventory and Service Provisioning systems, Trouble Ticketing systems and Performance Monitoring systems. Graphical User Interface is integrated with GIS (Geo Information System). The Fault Management system provides flexible problem dispatching and notification, which includes creation of trouble reports in a ticketing system, notification of responsible personnel of root-cause problems, and launching user-defined software modules for custom treatment of the problem. The system also enables service providers to define diverse requirements within the engineering (network design) process to automatically identify alternative network routes that can be accessed and utilized when problems arise.
Performance Monitoring
Performance Monitoring system collects data from digital, analog, wire-line and wireless switches, and provides proactive network traffic problem detection. In the event of performance degradation, the system sends fault messages to the Fault Management system, where those messages are correlated and addressed appropriately. The Performance Monitoring system provides Quality of Service (QoS) assurance and management of multi-layer, multi-vendor and multi-metric Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and also features complex customer reporting.
Active Network Testing
Active Network Testing system performs automated remote circuit testing for analog systems as well as complex new digital transmission technologies. The system includes a visual circuit layout with the current network state. The system supports various portable wireless devices for outdoor testing.
CNM (Customer Network Management) APPLICATIONS
CNM application is a Web based GUI application that provides customers with the ability to monitor their networks and generate extensive reports. Customers are able to create fault and QoS reports on current and historical performance of their sub-networks, on ordering and billing statistics, and on failures in the network. An open interface allows service providers to develop custom software that uses the OSS functionality. The available functionality includes, but is not limited to, Various Billing, Fault Management, Performance Monitoring, and Trouble Ticketing functions.
Trouble Ticketing Systems
Trouble Ticketing system offers complete management of the trouble-ticket-flow in a telecommunications environment. Supported functionality includes opening, routing, analyzing, correlating, tracking, escalating, referring for dispatch, and closing trouble-ticket reports. The system is integrated with the Fault Management and Network Testing systems. Its open interface allows any external system to open trouble reports on faults detected by the OSS when the interface and security specifications are met.
Work & Force Managment
Work and Force Management system is an integrated dispatch system that automatically manages necessary dispatching needs; assurance, activation, and preventive maintenance. The system supports management of in-house and field technicians. The system utilizes Global Positioning System (GPS) to provide tracking of workforce personnel. This functionality is used for the optimization of dynamic-dispatch and load-algorithm during assignments.
Equipment & Element Managment Systems (EMS) Adapters for OOS
Equipment and EMS Adapters support interaction between OSS and NEs (network elements) or EMSs via TL1, SNMP and CORBA protocols. The adapters convert fault, performance, provisioning, and testing messages coming from NEs and EMSs into a unified format used by the OSS, thus allowing the core OSS components to be protocol and equipment independent.
