WiMax Operator's Manual

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Provisioning CHAPTER 8 ■ NETWORK MANAGEMENT AND OSS 181 A large subcategory of OSS customer care products is concerned with provisioning, that is, setting up services for existing accounts as well as signing on new customers and providing them with services. Provisioning software can completely eliminate the need for a customer representative for routine transactions and can save the network operator substantial amounts of money for that reason. Normally such software customers will be directed to a secure Web site where, after authenticating themselves, they can request new services or alter existing ones. The provisioning software will then communicate back to the inventory management software to determine whether the resources are available to support the new service and will then signal the network management software to command the necessary operations to take place in the network elements to enable the service. Additional communications will be made to the billing and mediation software to correct a customer’s account to reflect the changes. In the case of new customers, a credit card may be requested as well as an address. Obviously, with a new customer, the process cannot be completely automated because a subscriber will still have to be provided with a terminal, but in many instances that can be mailed to a customer’s residence and self-installed rather than involving a truck roll and a visit by a technician. Some provisioning software is capable of throttling bandwidth to users who attempt to command a disproportionate share of network resources, and such capabilities are valuable and desirable. Bandwidth is still a scarce resource in wireless networks, and low-value customers should not be permitted to monopolize it. The actual implementation of service is sometimes defined as a separate process and is known as service activation. Normally service activation is accomplished through the network management and element management modules, not through a specialized software solution. Billing, Mediation, and Service-Level Agreements Billing and mediation software forms a large subcategory of OSS. Such software will usually be tied in with the provisioning, network element, and network management software to register changes in service and to track subscriber usage if the service plan is based on anything other than flat-rate billing. Here a word is in order on billing plans and service-level agreements: The usual pattern in the formative period of broadband access services was to charge subscribers a flat rate for service and allow customers as many transmissions as they desired. Such “all-you-can-eat” service plans still prevail in the residential broadband market, though they are declining among business-oriented broadband offerings in favor of what are known as tiered services. Tiered services are just what the name implies—stratified offerings where higher service fees command higher speeds and additional capabilities. Such plans allow the network operator to tailor services to individual users and make certain that the subscriber is charged only for the bandwidth and network resources actually utilized, and it also allows the operator to regulate “bandwidth hogs” such as individuals running peer-to-peer video and music file-sharing sites or call centers, as well as online gamers who may spend hours at a time in bandwidthintensive transactions. Increasingly, tiered service plans are accompanied by service-level agreements (SLAs), which bind the service provider to meet certain quality of service metrics stipulated in the agreement. Such metrics may include minimum throughput, latency, jitter, and bit error rate—anything under the control of the network operator and for which the subscriber is willing to pay. Such agreements usually provide for penalties to be imposed upon the service
182 CHAPTER 8 ■ NETWORK MANAGEMENT AND OSS provider for failing to meet the terms of the agreements—generally a reduction in the service fee. Incidentally, it is best to be scrupulous in such matters and to agree only to terms that can be met in normal circumstances. To be wildly overoptimistic regarding what the network can deliver is to verge upon fraud. Assurance Assurance OSS software refers to the management process of determining that changes in services and the corresponding changes in billing have in fact been carried out and, specifically, that stipulated service levels are being met. CRM Customer relations management (CRM) software as a product category encompasses a vast array of software offerings, by no means all of which are designed around the needs of telecommunications service providers. The term most commonly refers to software used in call centers by sales agents and telemarketers, though it can also include software for facilitating online transactions involving sales, modifications of services, and service requests. CRM will normally tie in with billing software and will also communicate with a central database of customer profiles and subscription information. Data Mining Software Data mining refers to a specialized type of analytical software that looks for patterns and relationships within the information contained in a comprehensive database, and it forms a class unto itself that is not directly connected with the larger customer relations division of OSS inasmuch as it does not involve flow-through procedures involving other software modules. In the case of telecommunications networks, data mining could be used for a number of purposes. The network operator may want to examine the demographic skew of certain service offerings as indicated by the existing customer base and then adjust marketing strategy accordingly. If, for instance, enterprises of a certain size or in a certain type of business tended to be frequent users of conferencing services, the network operator may want to construct a marketing campaign for acquainting similar types of subscribers with conferencing services on the theory that they will be apt to purchase such services. Or, if a certain demographic grouping tends to abuse flat-rate unlimited services, one may want to manage the network so as to throttle bandwidth to such users and put provisions for doing so in place before the commencement of service. Or, to cite yet another example, if a group defined by certain attributes recorded in the database is subject to unusually heavy churn (telecom jargon for customer turnover), one may decide to avoid active solicitation of individuals within that group or make special efforts to determine the source of the churn. Knowledge in the broadband access business is power, and data mining can provide network operators with the same kind of in-depth information of user preferences amassed by traditional market research companies. Even so, data mining has not been extensively used by independent operators and has remained largely the province of large incumbents (though it is by no means universal even there). Like all statistical techniques, data mining requires a reasonable sample to produce accurate results, so in a small network it is of dubious utility.
Page 2 and 3:
WiMax Operator’s Manual Building
Page 4:
This book is dedicated to my wife.
Page 8 and 9:
Contents About the Author . . . . .
Page 10 and 11:
■CONTENTS ix Performing Site Surv
Page 12:
■CONTENTS xi Cyberwarfare . . . .
Page 16:
About the Technical Reviewer ■ROB
Page 20 and 21:
Introduction Broadband wireless has
Page 22 and 23:
CHAPTER 1 ■ ■ ■ Wireless Broa
Page 24 and 25:
CHAPTER 1 ■ WIRELESS BROADBAND AN
Page 26 and 27:
Page 28 and 29:
Page 30 and 31:
Page 32:
Page 35 and 36:
14 CHAPTER 2 ■ ARCHITECTING THE N
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
34 CHAPTER 3 ■ STRATEGIC PLANNING
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
64 CHAPTER 4 ■ SETTING UP PHYSICA
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
100 CHAPTER 4 ■ SETTING UP PHYSIC
Page 123 and 124:
102 CHAPTER 5 ■ STRATEGIES FOR SU
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 152 and 153: CHAPTER 6 ■ ■ ■ Beyond Access
Page 154 and 155: CHAPTER 6 ■ BEYOND ACCESS 133 Rou
Page 156 and 157: CHAPTER 6 ■ BEYOND ACCESS 135 (Qo
Page 158 and 159: CHAPTER 6 ■ BEYOND ACCESS 137 The
Page 160 and 161: CHAPTER 6 ■ BEYOND ACCESS 139 ins
Page 162 and 163: Figure 6-4. Wireless public network
Page 164 and 165: CHAPTER 6 ■ BEYOND ACCESS 143 sto
Page 166 and 167: Specialized Content Distribution Pl
Page 168 and 169: Beyond the Central Office CHAPTER 6
Page 170 and 171: CHAPTER 6 ■ BEYOND ACCESS 149 out
Page 172 and 173: CHAPTER 6 ■ BEYOND ACCESS 151 som
Page 174 and 175: CHAPTER 7 ■ ■ ■ Service Deplo
Page 176 and 177: CHAPTER 7 ■ SERVICE DEPLOYMENTS O
Page 196: CHAPTER 7 ■ SERVICE DEPLOYMENTS O
Page 199 and 200: 178 CHAPTER 8 ■ NETWORK MANAGEMEN
Page 201: 180 CHAPTER 8 ■ NETWORK MANAGEMEN
Page 205 and 206: 184 CHAPTER 8 ■ NETWORK MANAGEMEN
Page 208 and 209: CHAPTER 9 ■ ■ ■ Network Secur
Page 210 and 211: CHAPTER 9 ■ NETWORK SECURITY 189
Page 216 and 217: Index ■Numbers 2.4GHz to 928MHz b
Page 218 and 219: asic access and best-effort deliver
Page 220 and 221: ■D dark fiber, features of, 75-76
Page 222 and 223: harmonics, impact on AC power, 188
Page 224 and 225: challenges to, 85-86 and NLOS, 121
Page 226 and 227: PONs (passive optical networks), fe
Page 228 and 229: signal diversity, providing with ad
Page 230 and 231: ■V VDSL and entertainment service
Page 233: forums.apress.com FOR PROFESSIONALS
show all

WiMax Operator's Manual

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?