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.
Its new OSS tools tackle the issues of customer experience management, data consolidation, and the management of converged IP, IT, and telecom networks.
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.
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.)
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.)
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
It would seem that while Telcordia is supplying its dynamic charging software to Uninor, the dynamic pricing capabilities at the Indian mobile operator are being driven by tech from Huawei, and not Telcordia. I joined up the dots, but just not the right ones this time.
I can confirm that the Uninor dynamic pricing solution does use Telcordia Real-Time Charging. The Telcordia charging platform receives updates from an external system and applies the dynamically changing discounts when charging users.
Graham Cobb, Revenue Management Marketing, Telcordia
It would seem that while Telcordia is supplying its dynamic charging software to Uninor, the dynamic pricing capabilities at the Indian mobile operator are being driven by tech from Huawei, and not Telcordia. I joined up the dots, but just not the right ones this time.