Mgmt World: HP, Openet Lead Vendor Charge

NICE -– Management World 2010 -- It's the opening day of the annual telecom software get-together in Nice, France, and the question on everybody's lips is -- who didn't make it?

Yes, the Icelandic devil that is Eyjafjallajokul has been spewing its guts again over north-west Europe, hampering air travel and leaving a number of folk with Management World plans (mostly Brits) either stuck at home or stranded mid-journey.

But it takes more than some volcanic ash to halt the marketing and communications plans of the Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) vendor community, which has been storing up some announcements for the show. Here's a selection of the vendor news buzz from Nice.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) is reminding folk that it's still one of the major forces in telecom software with a new suite of SPIT tools and a trio of new customers -- Pakistan Telecommunication Co. Ltd. , Brazil's Vivo Participacoes SA , and Italy's Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA . (See HP Adds OSS Tools, Wins Deals.)

Its new OSS tools tackle the issues of customer experience management, data consolidation, and the management of converged IP, IT, and telecom networks.

Openet Telecom Ltd. has updated its FusionWorks Policy Manager product, including support for Long Term Evolution (LTE), and announced a major customer for the platform in Orange (NYSE: FTE). (See Openet Wins at France Telecom and Openet Updates its Policy Manager.)

Orange France is initially using the product to identify "out-of-contract use," in particular the use of mobile devices as wireless modems in violation of their service agreements. Openet notes that identifying and preventing such use will help to limit bandwidth congestion, a major issue for mobile operators as data service usage continues to ramp, and to reduce revenue loss. The operator is also deploying Openet's parental and content controls capabilities.

Telcordia Technologies Inc. has been storing up new OSS products for this year's show, unveiling its new planning tool on Monday, and following up today with its Dynamic Pricing solution, which appears to be the technology underpinning Uninor 's latest marketing campaign in India. (See Mgmt World: Telcordia Offers Plan B, Telcordia Unveils Dynamic Pricing Tool, and Uninor Unveils 'Dynamic Pricing’.)

Ontology Systems is highlighting the problems facing service providers that have "dirty data" in their SPIT systems. The company commissioned a study, conducted by Telesperience, which found that "96 percent of CSPs [communication service providers] surveyed suffer operational or financial impacts from misaligned data," and "75 percent find that data misalignment damages their customers' experience." It's an interesting study that highlights the scale of the problems caused by having inaccurate and misaligned data.

Tektronix Communications has had a busy start to the week, launching a new network management tool, its Iris Performance Intelligence (IPI) solution, and adding to its SPIT portfolio with the acquisition of video monitoring specialist Mixed Signals. (See Tektronix Snares Mixed Signals.)

MetraTech Corp. has added customer self care capabilities to its MetraNet software package, and announced a new customer in the form of employee spend management specialist Concur. (See MetraTech Enhances Its BSS and MetraTech Wins Concur Deal.)

Empirix Inc. has expanded the capabilities of its Hammer XMS platform to cover the next generation mobile packet core, targeting wireless operators with Long Term Evolution (LTE) ambitions and fixed line and cable operators that are planning to add mobile service offerings to their service portfolios. (See Empirix Expands Its OSS.)

Other news from the show includes:

cVidya Claims Euro Mobile Operator Win

BroadHop Virtualizes Its PCRF

SPIT Watch: M&A, Huawei & Nice News

ConceptWave Gets Certified

For all the SPIT news from Nice -- plus reports from the show floor, updates from the conference halls, and gossip from the darkest, dingiest bars on the Côte d'Azur -- keep an eye on our special Management World 2010 Show Site.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading