Triple-Play Service Deployment

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Service Assurance for Triple-Play Services
Triple–play service delivery presents challenges from concept
inception. Not only must providers roll out new network infrastructures
and upgrade existing ones with exacting detail to ensure
that inherent bandwidth requirements can be met, but
technicians must master new terminology, technology, and testing
techniques to ensure that services are correctly provisioned and
installed. And once the new subscriber’s service is established, the
challenges do not diminish on-going service assurance is critical.
While triple-play service delivery is a core business strategy for
today’s providers, they are vying to offer services that are already
available from a range of competitors. New entrants to the market
find an aggressively competitive landscape where they must meet
exacting service quality standards. In every case, customers have
previous experiences—and therefore set expectations—of
acceptable service delivery for voice, video, and data because
virtually everyone already talks on the phone, watches
subscription-based TV, and surfs the Internet.
With these mitigating factors, on-going, pro-active service
assurance for the packet-based network that delivers the triple
play is crucial. As providers entice customers away from traditional
service delivery methods, they must prepare to deliver services
more efficiently and economically to satisfy a sophisticated
clientele. A poorly executed installation and/or maintenance plan
can result in permanent loss of customers. With a multitude of
options available, disappointed customers can simply choose
other voice, video, and data providers.