This was a tough task, especially in the Americas and EMEA region, where there were a number of contenders that could have won. In the end, AppTrigger, the iSMART Consortium and Subex, prevailed (see message posts below), but honorable mentions must go to Aepona, Bridgewater, Openet, and OpenCloud.
The key thing about this system is that it links systems from different parts of a service provider's operations, such as CRM, billing, auditing, and governance, and pulls data together to create business intelligence metrics that can be used and understood by many different teams within an operator. Carriers are becoming more focused on operational efficiencies, and this is a tool that helps that process by extending an OSS/BSS system to provide a more enterprise-wide view of how a business is performing.
There's a lot going on in the world of service brokers, which help bridge the gap between legacy and next gen networks. What tipped it in AppTrigger's favor was its foresight to extend its developments to deal with the issue of voice over LTE mobile networks, an area that's a potential sticking point for LTE network operators and mobile infrastructure vendors.
The consortium, lead by Actelis and ECI Telecom, wins for its level 3 Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM) development. Still in development, this looks set to extend the useful life of copper networks for high-speed broadband, and that’s got real appeal in those markets where regulation and cost is making FTTH a tough prospect. Find out more at
Sailing close to the closing deadline is this pitch from Spirent:
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"I would like to nominate Spirent SmartSight for Light Reading’s Top Picks award in the Telecom Software category.
Telcos and MSOs are in fierce competition in the 10G services market, requiring that they provide unsurpassed service quality to reduce customer churn while maximizing revenues. Like wireless network providers, they must provide carrier-class service while minimizing costs and exceeding customer expectations.
So why should SmartSight be a Top Pick nominee? With Spirent SmartSight, instead of always dispatching a field technician when a customer service request is received, providers can isolate the source of the problem first, avoiding costly truck rolls for problems actually within the network. However, if a dispatch is still required, Spirent SmartSight guides the field technician to fix the problem, not just find it. This reduces operational impact and increases customer satisfaction.
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Well, there's no doubt that reducing opex is a major priority for pretty much every service provider. But is that enough?
Averna pitches a late entry with its DP-360 DOCSIS RF Protocol Analyzer
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Averna's DP-360 DOCSIS RF Protocol Analyzer is the industry standard for functional DOCSIS network analysis. Chipset manufacturers, product developers, and certification bodies use it to speed up the detection and location of trouble spots by providing visibility into all layers of the DOCSIS network.
Optimized for real-time signal processing with FPGA technology, the DP-360 analyzes up to four single or bonded upstream and downstream channels, increasing the productivity of highly-skilled personnel by enabling them to complete projects on time and within budget.
By relying on this fourth-generation product from Averna, DP-360 DOCSIS Protocol Analyzer clients gain the certainty that their products will pass DOCSIS certification.
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Well, that sounds useful, but is it setting the market on fire?
LSI Broadband Access Software, is a flexible, scalable service delivery and policy control platform that runs on LSI APP300 and APP3000 communications processors widely deployed in Tier 1 VDSL, PON/FTTH and ADSL networks around the world. It enables OEMs to deliver fine-grain control, standardized configurability and management of a wide range of broadband access services spanning a broad portfolio of access products including DSLAMs, Multi-Service Access Nodes (MSANs),and FTTx based platforms such as PON-MDUs. This enables service providers to create and manage tiered services with significantly reduced OpEx and CapEx, enabling profitable business models for the industry.
The software scales along many dimensions: it supports up to 128 subscriber interfaces of any combination of ADSL2/2+, VDSL/2, SHDSL and Ethernet, enables triple play plus services with sophisticated policy management and traffic shaping algorithms, and meets security requirements of business and consumer services as well as regulatory requirements such as lawful interception. A single software platform can thus support a portfolio of products for a variety of service and network requirements, enabling service providers to scale operations inexpensively.
With increasing adoption of high-bandwidth services such as IPTV, video on demand, video collaboration (telepresence) and on-line gaming, guaranteeing quality of jitter-sensitive services such as voice is a big challenge. LSI Broadband Access software addresses this challenge with sophisticated traffic management algorithms such as multi-level hierarchical scheduling, which enables Quality of Service for all services without expensive bandwidth over-provisioning.
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That's quite the package. And quite different to our other software entries. Traffic management anyone?
This pitch is from the iSMART Consortium, led by ECI Telecom and Actelis, that aims to turn copper into gold:
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iSMART DSM L3 technology can benefit operators who want to use their installed copper access to provide high-speed broadband.
Can't justify the cost of laying fiber? No probs. VDSL2 with DSM L3 complements FTTx, cost-effectively. Trust me, we tried it and succeeded (and showed it at Broadband World Forum Europe 2009).
Copper wires bound together with many twisted pairs suffer from performance-reducing crosstalk interference. On each pair, the iSMART DSM L3 processor dynamically estimates channel FEXT (Far End CrossTalk) and cancels it using a channel estimation algorithm. It all sounds very complicated, but it’s not. The bottom line: you can provide VDSL2 over copper at rates and ranges that can support advanced services such as IPTV. Did we mention cost-effectively?
Considering how much copper there is out there, this is BIG.
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DSM level 3 certainly looks like a tech that could play a significant role in the broadband sector in the coming years. Any thoughts out there? Anyone see the demo at Broadband World Forum?
Mike from Openet chiming in again—I have a few policy management points I’d love to run by you. The space is heating up, as there’s a real and growing need for policy solutions. Many of our competitors produce perfectly fine, out-of-the-box policy management software.
However.
Policy isn’t enough on its own. To get results for converged networks, policy and charging solutions must work together—and that’s a tall order for most vendors. But what good is a policy solution if it’s not enforced, plugging potential revenue leaks and ensuring that content and services are appropriately charged for? Charging is the key to making sure that policy does its job and operators reap the benefits of their investments in policy management technology and services.
Bundling policy and charging is the key to enabling value-added services, enhancing both subscriber experience and revenue, as well as how these solutions play into service providers’ overall strategies in today’s cutthroat marketplace. And let’s not forget that professional services, from a service provider point of view, are a necessary supplement to software.
Openet provides all of the above, something no other vendor brings to the table, while actually building solutions like Content Anywhere that are based on our policy product. This is why service providers overwhelmingly choose Openet, and why Light Reading should too.
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