An emerging landscape: access network operations support systems John Mellis Evolved Networks Ltd Phoenix Place, Adastral Park, Martlesham, Ipswich IP5 3RE, U.K. E-mail: john.mellis@evolvednetworks.com Summary The paper describes how the access network has assumed paramount importance as a result of new telecoms business drivers; why traditional GIS and inventory database offerings are inadequate to meet the rapidly-emerging demand for improvements in process efficiency, speed, and quality; and why the necessary quantum-leaps in access network data management, and access OSS, require such radical new approaches as those pioneered by Evolved Networks. Introduction: business drivers in the access network Today s telecoms service providers are faced with 3 key challenges which must be met simultaneously: The need to provide Broadband (ADSL) and Internet Protocol (IP) services, efficiently and profitably, over a huge copper local-loop network which 10 years ago was writtenoff as obsolescent, and which was subsequently neglected with respect to data recording, Operations Support Systems (OSS) investment, and network maintenance Eroding monopolies, through increasing penetration of Other Licensed Operators (OLOs) and service providers, requiring improvements in the return on capital and operational expenditures, and a move to lean operations The introduction of next-generation transmission technologies, including Very-highspeed Digital Subscriber Loop (VDSL), Fibre-In-The-Loop, and wireless access, which are required to provide further improvements to customers connection bandwidth and mobility. As a result, the next 10 years will require fierce focus on access networks by all service providers. Tony Wray, Director of Networks for Eircom, says the vast majority of my OSS spend will be on the access network. My core network OSS already gives me the automation I require, but it is the access network that accounts for the greater management cost. Evolved Networks software enables us to effectively plan our access network without the usual costs and arduous effort required." Three dimensions to map the OSS landscape There is currently an emerging market for access network OSS, serviced by very few systems vendors specialising in this space. We characterise the OSS landscape as in Fig.1, on 3 dimensions of product focus: access vs core network; logical vs physical data management; and static vs dynamic data use. Most OSS vendors currently focus on the core network issues around inventory database management, driven by the rapid expansion in core network switch, SDH, ATM and IP network deployment in the past decade. The key requirement of these systems is to accurately record the asset inventory and connectivity of a highly-meshed core network, with fixed path routings, within which circuits or virtual paths are switched or routed electronically. The advent of dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) optical systems Page 1 of 6
and fast switches means that core networks are typically over-provided with capacity, and circuit re-routings or re-configurations can nearly always be made within the existing infrastructure of optical cables and switch/routers. A quite different situation exists in the access network. Here, the basic unit of network capacity is a physical bearer a copper wire-pair or optical fibre. These are usually in short supply, or in the wrong place, with respect to service requests. This in turn requires frequent physical re-routings or re-connections at many different points of flexibility, including cable joints. Critical considerations in determining cost-efficient routings across the access network include the availability of spare pairs (or fibres) within cable segments, and also the availability of duct space (or way-leaves) through which new cables can be routed at short notice, to meet specific service requests. To exploit these additional degrees of freedom in access capacity requires accurate physical data detailed geographic or spatial views of the cable and duct network to augment the logical path views which suffice to support most operational processes in the core network. Fig. 1 Three landscape dimensions The third dimension we can use to map the OSS product landscape describes the variation in vendor focus between static data storage, at high volume, using generic data models in resilient databases, and the dynamic aspects of data management the capture and maintenance of high-quality network data, and the exploitation of this data to maximise the automation and efficiency of network operations. Evolved Networks products focus on maximising the efficiency of data collection, maintenance, and the use of the full range of available data in process automation. Three critical operational processes Our products automate the three critical operational processes in the access network: The generation and maintenance of up-to-date physical cable network data from sources including network maps, logical inventory records, and customer service systems The use of logical and physical data in providing optimised connections across the access network, in response to service connection requests (i.e. service provisioning) The design and planning of new networks, and extensions to existing networks, to provide new connections to customers with minimum design-time and capital expenditure. These three operational processes form a virtuous circle for example improvements in one area (data accuracy) lead to improved speed and quality in the provisioning processes, and provisioning flow-through to automatic network designs, which are fully documented and digitally recorded in network inventory systems. Page 2 of 6
The importance of physical data Physical data is required by the enterprise to support a wide range of access network operations, beyond those detailed above. For example, fault repair and network maintenance activities require extensive use of map-based data to direct the work of field technicians. Table 1 summarises typical usage of logical and physical data in the access network, and the business implications of the data separation into different database systems. Logical data Physical data Business implication Internal (exchange) node connectivity; some external node connectivity Link (circuit, bearer) connectivity Path lengths measured in hops Circuit containership data (ports/cards/racks, circuits/bearers) External (plant) node location & connectivity Link (bearer) routing & length Paths recorded geographically Cable containership data (bearers/cables/ducts/routes) Network routing, repair and re-configuration require both data-sets Accurate Broadband line qualification requires physical data Physical data essential for network repair operations, diversity planning Key elements of capacity include spare bearers and duct capacity Table 1 : Physical vs logical data in the access network Historically, vendors of both Geographical Information Systems (GIS), often used to contain physical access network data, and the logical inventory systems, have offered products focused on the persistent storage of relatively static data, in generic data models. As a result these database-centric systems are very limited in the ease-of-use and automation they offer to support the critical access network processes. For example, typical logical inventory or bearer management systems, make little or no attempt to accurately model the external cable joints which provide important points of provisioning flexibility in the access network. Conversely, physical inventory and geographical information systems typically do not model the connectivity and containership of critical network elements. Fig 2 illustrates the modelling approaches taken by most present-day systems. The key point is that all the information concerning the location and connectivity of all the flexibility points (including cable joints) is not fully contained in either the physical or the logical inventory system). The operational implications of this are clear: user reference to both systems is frequently required to execute provisioning and planning jobs, and the combined business logic of both systems is inadequate to automate the full range of access planning and provisioning tasks. One specific example of this is the provisioning solution known as a pair-divert. The need for pair-diverts commonly arises when there is no available pair capacity at the network Distribution Point (DP) closest to the point of customer demand. In this case a cost-effective solution may be to intercept a spare pair at a DP which is physically close to the customer, but not necessarily logically adjacent (for example, the alternative DP may be served by a completely different cable and routing). Such complex provisioning tasks are difficult for existing logical or physical database systems to handle, and the radical automation of access provisioning requires a combined view of both logical and physical connectivity of the access network. Page 3 of 6
Physical Infrastructure Exchange Customer Premises Switch Joint point PCP Card DP NTE MDF BERT Switch Manager INS etc PIPeR Logical abstraction of Physical Infrastructure Exchange Customer Premises Switch PCP DP NTE MDF BMS Routes and Services Key Port Link ( inter nodal) Link (cross connection) Route Node Copper Route Service Fig. 2 Physical & logical inventory data models The poverty of inventory databases In addition to the need to utilise both logical and physical data in the automation of access provisioning, there are 2 main reasons why existing systems have great difficulty in supporting automated access processes: The business logic embedded in database-centric systems is relatively unsophisticated, and is, naturally enough, specific to either the physical (e.g. GIS) or logical domain (e.g. the limited automatic path-routing capabilities offered by the core network-focused inventory database products). The data models used in inventory systems are attuned to the storage of a wide range of equipments and equipment attributes, again with either a physical or a logical bias, which is unnecessary information for the 3 critical processes. This frequently makes inventory database and GIS systems clumsy and slow in the execution of access-specific processes. A good example of this is the task of identifying and prioritising alternative bearer paths through the access network. Whereas the axcessfirst Circuit Assign product is designed to select the most cost-effective bearer based on an end-to-end examination of logical and physical data, traditional inventory database products rely on a limited view of existing pre-connected paths and available equipment ports, generated by queries for available ports addressed to each piece of equipment separately. We can conclude that inventory databases are excellent repositories for asset records, and Geographical Information Systems are excellent at storing maps; but neither is adequate to automate efficiently access provisioning and planning, because of their limitations in both business logic and data modelling. Page 4 of 6
Fig. 3 Various levels of access provisioning automation Fig. 3 illustrates schematically how the automation of the access network provisioning process depends on system sophistication. Some basic service provisioning capability is often afforded by even legacy logical inventory systems which can assign spare physical bearers to customer orders, where capacity is available at a targeted DP. Increased levels of automation can be provided by applying more-intelligent business logic, to additionally automate complex jobs where bearer re-routing or re-configuration is required. Evolved Network s ADAPT system as deployed in BT is an excellent example of how advanced business logic alone can deliver compelling efficiencies and cost-savings. To go further in automating provisioning with a focus on still greater cost-reduction, we require new data models including elements of both physical and logical network data, as exemplified by the axcessfirst Circuit Assign application, whose design incorporates the provisioning database of record (i.e. the master database which describes both the location and the cross-connection configuration of all the flexibility points in the network, including cable joints). Finally, completely automated provisioning (including planning of new networks) requires the flow-through of job information to automated physical design tools such as axcessfirst Planning & Design. The key points from Fig. 3 are that although logical inventory systems can automate the majority of provision volume, by assigning immediately-available capacity to service orders, it is the cost of complex provisions which dominates the operational costs for access service providers. This is because the manual alternative to an automated simple provision is a straight-forward look-up task in the back-office, and the manual effort required for the more complex provisions is far more costly, because of the back-office staff skills required to plan re-configurations. Therefore the 80/20 rule applies it is the 20% of complex provisions which incur the bulk of operational costs, and which are highly desirable to automate. Access OSS convergence and barriers to re-entry Given the respective positions in the systems product landscape, how can we expect the access OSS space to evolve? What are the barriers to entry (or re-entry) into the access space Page 5 of 6
from other sectors? Is it likely that the vendors of traditional inventory and GIS systems can rapidly extend their products to dominate the emerging access OSS market? In our view continued consolidation of the OSS sector is likely, and many mergers and acquisitions will be designed to provide a capability in both the logical and the physical database system domains. Apart from Evolved Networks there are still few companies focusing on access network process automation systems. We foresee several stages of market development and vendor consolidation over the next few years: 1. Recognition of the market for access process automation tools, capable of interworking with both logical and physical databases (legacy or modern) 2. Consolidation between providers of logical and physical database systems 3. Creation of new system applications which lever the value of combined logical/physical network views Since Evolved Networks is already well-positioned for stage 3, we have a competitive and strategic lead. The technical and commercial barriers to the rapid integration of logical and physical database products are high. As discussed above, effective use of the combined logical/physical data requires the creation of new, specialised business logic and data models, such as those embedded in our axcessfirst platform. For these reasons, while we expect further penetration of inventory database products into the access provisioning space, pulled by their lead European customers, we expect their market penetration to be limited by a) the functional and performance limitations of their products, b) the reluctance of new customers to invest wholesale in new inventory database systems, with a high cost of implementation, and restricted benefits in process efficiency. Conclusions Effective access network support systems require a selective, consolidated view of the network data, comprising both logical and physical data-sets which are traditionally stored in disparate, and inappropriate, database systems. Evolved Networks products focus on leveraging the value of both logical and physical data, firstly by cross-referring these data-sets to improve and maintain the data quality, and secondly by applying specialised business logic, and data models, to radically automate the most critical operational processes in the access network. As recognition grows of the increased importance of the access network OSS space, increased attention to this emerging market will be devoted by vendors of more traditional core inventory systems and by GIS and GIS-derived product vendors. However, neither of these product-sets is well-placed to automate the many complex exceptions in the access network provisioning work-load - and it is the exceptions which incur the bulk of operational costs. This offers a lucrative and growing market to Evolved Networks. Ten years ago, telecom core networks were in a state of poor inventory recording and manual operation, similar to where access networks are today. The business drivers which prompted the rapid introduction of modern inventory and routing systems to the core network were the demand for bandwidth, IP, and the emergence of mobile networks. These same demands are now driving the modernisation of the access networks, which will be revolutionised over the coming decade catalysed by the introduction of modern operations support systems, incorporating powerful optimisation techniques. Page 6 of 6