Service assurance, in
telecommunications
Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
, is the application of policies and processes by a
Communications Service Provider
A telecommunications company is a kind of electronic communications service provider, more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many t ...
(CSP) to ensure that services offered over networks meet a pre-defined
service quality level for an optimal subscriber experience.
The practice of service assurance enables CSPs to identify faults in the network and resolve these issues in a timely manner so as to minimize service downtime. The practice also includes policies and processes to proactively pinpoint, diagnose and resolve service quality degradations or device malfunctions before subscribers are impacted.
Areas covered
Service assurance encompasses the following:
*
Fault and event management
*
Performance management
Business performance management (BPM) (also known as corporate performance management (CPM) enterprise performance management (EPM),) is a management approach which encompasses a set of processes and analytical tools to ensure that a business o ...
* Probe monitoring
*
Quality of service
Quality of service (QoS) is the description or measurement of the overall performance of a service, such as a telephony or computer network, or a cloud computing service, particularly the performance seen by the users of the network. To quantitat ...
(QoS) management
* Network and service testing
* Network traffic management
*
Customer experience
Customer experience, sometimes abbreviated to CX, is the totality of cognitive, affective, sensory, and behavioral responses of a customer during all stages of the consumption process including pre-purchase, consumption, and post-purchase st ...
management
*
Service level agreement
A service-level agreement (SLA) is an agreement between a service provider and a customer. Particular aspects of the service – quality, availability, responsibilities – are agreed between the service provider and the service user.
T ...
(SLA) monitoring
*
Trouble ticket management
Adoption
There are many drivers for service assurance adoption, with some considering the most important to be the ability to measure the performance of a service. A subscriber’s service experience quality can be directly linked to
customer churn. Therefore, maintaining satisfactory service quality levels is key to creating “customer stickiness.”
Other factors driving growing interest in service assurance include increasing competition, new challenges due to the convergence of networks, services, applications and devices, enabling services over
IP and the merging of IT and telecommunications services. But ultimately, it is the CSP’s ability to ensure a satisfactory level of QoS that will have the greatest impact on revenue.
The importance of service performance is also reinforced by research stating that two thirds of subscribers will stop trying a new service after two failed attempts with that service. Therefore, it is increasingly apparent that service assurance tools must be put in place prior to the introduction of a new service if it is to be successful in the market. This is particularly true of deployments of such services as
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...
,
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...
and mobile video.
Service assurance spending by CSPs is forecast to grow to $USD 3.0 billion by 2011. Leading global service assurance providers include
InfoVista, VIAVI,
TEOCO,
Ericsson
(), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...
,
nsn, EXFO,
MYCOM OSI, Centina,
Anritsu
is a Japanese multinational corporation in the telecommunications electronics equipment market. A global pioneer for producing the world's first wireless telephone network, Anritsu's revenue numbers near US$782 million.
History
In Japan, Anr ...
, Epitiro,
Riverbed Technology
Riverbed Technology LLC is an American information technology company. Its products consist of software and hardware focused on Unified Observability, Network Visibility, End User Experience Management, Network monitoring, network performance mon ...
,
Spirent
Spirent Communications plc is a British-American multinational telecommunications testing company headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex, in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Ind ...
,
Empirix, JumpSoft,
Computer Associates
CA Technologies, Inc., formerly Computer Associates International, Inc., and CA, Inc., was an American multinational enterprise software developer and publisher that existed from 1976 to 2018. CA grew to rank as one of the largest independent ...
, EMC,
Telcordia
iconectiv supplies communications providers with network planning and management services. The company’s cloud-based information as a service network and operations management and numbering solutions span trusted communications, digital identi ...
,
Tektronix
Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent c ...
,
RADCOM
''RadCom'' is the monthly magazine published by the Radio Society of Great Britain and is provided to all corporate members of the society. Typically 100 pages, it includes a mixture of news, theory, construction and technical articles of inter ...
, CENX,
Agilent,
Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...
,
HP,
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
,
IBM Tivoli/Netcool and Softenger (I) Pvt Ltd.
Service Assurance Market Review February 2007, OSS Observer
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See also
*Service fulfillment
Fulfillment of telecommunications services involves a series of supply chain activities responsible for assembling and making services available to subscribers. These activities delineate an operational infrastructure whose efficiency relies upon i ...
References
{{Reflist
Network performance