Local Market Tools For Your OSS

Many OSS solutions are implemented in a National or Regional NOC configuration. This provides good top level management of the network but most OSS solutions aren’t well suited to provide local market tools customized to the needs of the individual local market. Some of the inherent problems often realized in National and Regional NOC configurations are:

1. The local market lacks a user interface custom tailored for its needs.
2. The local market’s tools rely on network connections from the local market to the NOC which, when failed, leave the local market completely unmanaged and unable to see its network.
3. The local market can’t interact easily with the provided tools to be proactive in managing fault conditions.
4. The National or Regional NOC can become overwhelmed by problems in other monitored markets, resulting in coverage outages which leave the local market unattended.
5. Simple frame drops and other network “glitches” can result in critical alarms being missed by the National or Regional NOC.
6. Global rules applied to alarms and performance at the National or Regional level may not serve the local market well.
7. National or Regional NOC’s are notoriously poor at accounting for the many local market practices, call-out changes, or temporary network changes which may result from growth, maintenance programs, equipment change-outs, changes to site metrics, etc... This results in missed failures, incorrect call-outs, unnecessary call-outs, confusion, loss of confidence, and stress for maintenance personnel.
8. As the aggregate size of your network grows, the cost of growing your existing OSS can be astronomical.

What is the solution to these NOC woes? You made a significant investment in your OSS platform and it doesn’t make sense to toss it out the window in favor of new promises from the brand “X” OSS company. It does make sense, however, to leverage the investment you already made in your OSS solution, build on its strengths, and fill in the gaps with ArTrac™ G4 components.

While ArTrac G4 is a complete OSS solution in itself, each major feature of the ArTrac G4 OSS suite can be broken out and used individually to augment your existing OSS. Further, ArTrac G4 components can be integrated with your OSS at a lower cost. And best of all, ArTrac G4 is guaranteed to perform! From concept to implementation, Sonoran Systems works with you to identify your unique requirements. We then provide you with an ArTrac G4 component configuration that meets those requirements. We then stand behind it with a lifetime performance guarantee.

Some of the component features that an ArTrac G4 system can offer to augment your existing OSS are:

• Web browser based screens
  • Allows access to local, regional, and national screens from any Internet browser
  • Overcomes costly licensing of client interfaces
  • Improves usability of the user interface
  • Provides streamlined access to the functionality of your network operations center
  • Allows for wireless access to network operations center services
  • Allows for the integration of corporate web services to network operations center services
  • Provides a comprehensive graphical desktop to your enterprise and network operation center services
• Fault Mediation
• Real Time Performance
• 3D Graphical Reports
• Switch, mainframe, network element, and file access
• Local market screens - ArTrac G4 can provide well organized map based, 3D graphical display, and tabular format screens for the many alarm monitoring, performance monitoring, reports, and statistical information outputted by the local market.
• ArTrac G4 manages a local market user database to customize views for each individual user.
• Follow-me features allow local market users to see their own individually tailored screens no matter where they are accessing from.
• Customer Service interfaces and limited access screens allow the local market to create special user interfaces which serve non-maintenance needs.
• Front-end processing of messages and forwarding of important events - By processing network data in the local market, ArTrac G4 can off-load the NOC’s OSS platform, delaying or even eliminating costly hardware and software upgrades to the NOC.
• By processing network data in the local market, ArTrac G4 protects the local market from interconnecting network outages which would leave the local market unprotected. ArTrac G4 can take responsibility to buffer local events then forward them to the NOC following recovery of the network. In this way, the NOC is re-synchronized with the local market. Reports, statistics, history, and dynamic functions of the NOC remain accurate and current.
• By processing network data in the local market, ArTrac G4 can off-load the NOC of the task of fault or performance failure notification. Further it can apply constantly changing local market requirements in a way that allows the NOC to focus on its top level functions while allowing the local market to focus on its lower level functions.
• Acting as a dynamic filter to the NOC, the ArTrac G4 system can automate local market changes so that the NOC is always up to date with local market trends and changes.