Comarch Technology Review is a publication created by Comarch experts and specialists. It aims at assist-ing our customers and partners in obtaining in-depth information about market trends and developments, and the technological possibilities of addressing the most important issues.
www.comarch.com
Comarch Telecommunications Business Unit
n0 1/2008 (06)
in focus
Customers & ProduCts
>> Comarch Product Catalog
>> Convergence in Telecommunication
>> On-premise CRM
>> Why CRM does not deliver?
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Learn more at ngtv.comarch.com
Comarch’s Next Generation TV (NGTV) solution allows network operators to provide interactive TV services across various devices including TV sets, mobile phones and personal computers.
For customers, our solution provides a next-generation experience with an extensive range of features such as Electronic Programme Guide (EPG), Video-on-Demand (VOD), Music-on-Demand, online shopping, access to Pi-casa™ photo galleries online, personal TV profiles and much more.
For operators, Comarch NGTV suite provides a complete IPTV middleware that is easy to integrate, customizable, reliable and cost-effective. It can be used for delivering various third-party interactive TV premium services. It also supports open standards and integration with products of leading head-end, VOD, CAS/DRM and STB vendors.
Comarch NGTV is the foundation for innovative busi-ness models such as NGTV Ecosystem and Virtual NGTV Operator, and acts as a bridge between Internet and TV services.
Next Generation TV is coming!
Are you bored with traditional tV?
SOlUTiOnS & CaSe STUdieS
20. Comarch OSS Suite 4Next generation OSS systems
are just around the corner
OSS systems have never been as important as
they are today. Their importance will grow even
further with the rising popularity of Next Gen-
eration Networks. Nowadays, operators can not
even think about delivering services without
strong help from supporting systems. There
is no such army of people who can plan, pro-
vision, deliver and bill these new services in a
matter of seconds.
24. Comarch Fault Management in PTCIs your network expanding really quickly? Are the
competitors just waiting for your bad move? Do
the network outages cost you Millions? In that
case it is high time to think about a unified Fault
Management system tailored precisely to your
needs!
26. Comarch TwilightBilling System perspective
Operators are recognizing the market of wire-
less Internet more and more often. Business
opportunities are evident however the cost of
entering the market is high. With basic Internet
access services, enterprise class OSS/BSS solu-
tions may become too cumbersome and too
expensive. Perhaps it is a good time to evaluate
more cost-effective alternatives...
TRendS & STRaTegieS
29. Comarch eSB– True SOA
– A case of empowered integration
Easy and effective integration – a myth or a real
business requirement? Enterprise Service Bus
is mature enough to enhance integration pro-
cesses by introducing: faster deployment, trans-
parent communication, control and scalabil-
ity. Yet a solution integrated using ESB remains
open to other components, not necessarily origi-
nating from the same vendor. This ensures enter-
prise business security and the independence
of suppliers.
32. next-generation TVThe revolution of user experience
Next-generation television is approaching! It
is time to stop being merely a Network Opera-
tor and time to become a Multimedia Service
Enabler. This article shows how IPTV works and
discusses the business model that lies behind
it.
36. Service Centric OSSThe first step of Next Generation
OSS transformation
Today, we see an increasing level of changes in
the telecommunications environment. We see
a major shift from traditional, heavy architec-
ture to next generation networks, with the ser-
vice layer separated from the networking equip-
ment. This change enables telecom providers to
quickly and easily introduce new services to get
subscribers’ attention. As a result, the telecom-
munication services market is getting more and
more dynamic.
in FOCUS
4. Comarch Product CatalogEfficient Portfolio and Product
Life-Cycle Management
Is Master Data Management (MDM) another buzz
word, the next marketing slogan or a specific
idea to solve a real problem? MDM, also known
as Reference Data Management, is an IT disci-
pline that focuses on the management of ref-
erence or master data that is shared by several
disparate IT systems and groups.
8. Convergence in TelecommunicationBilling System perspective
Only about 20 years ago, the telecommunica-
tion world was clearly defined. During these
days, an incumbent operator delivered a voice
service based on a relatively simple technology
dedicated for that purpose.
14. On-premise CRM
A sinking ship or a flying fortress?
The CRM market has gone through its phases
of hype, disappointment and recovery. Now
a returning wave of interest based on a more
realistic approach to customers and vendors
offers reasonable alternatives to the big CRM
implementations that have historically been
expensive, troublesome and time-consuming.
One such interesting alternative is CRM on-
demand.
18. Why CRM does not deliver?Surprisingly, telco operators continue to per-
form miserably when it comes to: selling a prod-
uct to a customer who wants it badly, retaining
a valuable customer who does not think about
churning away, and acquiring a new customer
who falls “straight into their hands”.
editor-in-Chief: Daniel Nosiadekassistant editors: Łucja Burek, Radosław Czyrneklayout: Maciej UrbanekdTP&graphics: Magdalena Majkowska-TraczProofreading: Scott ReynoldsPublisher: Comarch SA, Al. Jana Pawła II 39a, 31-864 KrakówTel. +48 12 64 61 000, Fax: +48 12 64 61 100, e-mail: [email protected]: Skleniarz Printing House, ul. J. Lea 118, 31-033 KrakówCirculation: 1 000
Technology Review is a free publication available by subscription. The articles published here can be copied and reproduced only with the knowledge and consent of the editors. The names of products and companies mentioned are trade marks and trade names of their producers.
Table of Contents < 3
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Comarch Product Catalogefficient Portfolio and Product life-Cycle Management
Is Master Data Management (MDM) another
buzz word, the next marketing slogan or
a specific idea to solve a real problem? MDM,
also known as Reference Data Management,
is an IT discipline that focuses on the manage-
ment of reference or master data that is shared
by several disparate IT systems and groups.
technology review [www.comarch.com]
4 > in Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
MDM is required to enable con-
sistent computing between
diverse system architectures and business func-
tions. In this article we try to answer the ques-
tion: How do telco providers use the MDM para-
digm for Efficient Portfolio and Product Life-Cycle
Management?
a crucial problemToday, telco providers, in particular incumbents
and tier 1 and 2 operators, possess vast amounts
of products and services. Meanwhile, competition
on the telco market is focused rather on offer qual-
ity and time-to-market and not on prices. Conse-
quently, this is why Portfolio and Product Life-Cycle
Management is a crucial problem for providers.
This is a critical problem related to product and
offer management. Product and offer data must,
in fact, be shared among multiple systems which
are completely independent from each other. It is
common for operators to have product and offer
data spread out over their post-paid billing sys-
tem, CRM, pre-paid billing system, network, loyalty
system, logistics, warehouse, dealer management,
commissioning, campaign management, recharge
and voucher management and ERP.
To solve such a problem and to provide opera-
tors with the support they need, the concept of
Master Data Management has emerged. Comarch
Product Catalog (CPC) implements this idea in the
areas of portfolio and product management.
The idea behind CPCComarch Product Catalog (CPC) is a central prod-
uct repository for service providers. Information
from CPC can be used by any other BSS/OSS system
related to products and services such as a billing,
CRM or provisioning system. CPC is a tool for defin-
ing, storing and managing end-user products.
CPC acts as a master and central database for
products and offers for all of an operator’s systems.
Instead of defining products and offers in several
systems or having complex data sharing processes
among products, CPC becomes the central point
for operators in the creation and modification of
products and offers.
In a typical scenario, products are defined in
each of an operator’s systems independently or
through complex synchronization. This results in
poor time to market. CPC can significantly change
this approach. For example, the CRM department
does not directly use the CRM GUI in order to cre-
ate new products but does this through CPC. The
same is true for billing administrators: the billing
system receives information about new products
from CPC. This dramatically reduces the time to
market of new products and offers.
Products and their componentsCPC collects information about which low level
services (network services) and which systems
realize particular business products. This means
that CPC allows for the creation of new products
nr 1/2008 (06)
in Focus < 5
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Figure 1 Central Product Repository
and offers based on small element “blocks”. Pro-
viders have a complete and current view of their
products and offers on the market and also have
knowledge about which systems are responsible
for these products.
Product life-cycle managementMoreover, CPC supports the product definition
process (i.e. the product lifecycle). CPC enables the
monitoring and management of tasks flowing from
department to department and from person to per-
son. At each moment, providers have information
about the status of product development.
A typical product life cycle includes:
> Product development
> Collect product ideas/requirements
> Evaluate product ideas
> Product specification/definition
> Product development
> Product launch (begin offering it on the mar-
ket)
> Testing
> Publishing
> Service fulfillment and assurance
> Service ordering
> Service activation
> Service monitoring
> Service quality management
> Eliminating the product from the market
> Halting sales
> Halting support for the product
This is a long term process. As always, the time-to-
market paradigm is critical for this competitive
market. CPC actively supports the development
phase of such lifecycles. CPC can help significantly
shorten the product development phase.
architecture and industry standardsThis solution is developed according to industry
standards such as Shared Information Data (SID)
Comarch Product Catalog
Comarch Product Catalog
Generic and complete products and offers data
Product livecycle management
One master database
Single GUI
Pre paid billing
Products and offers data
Post paid billing
Products and offers data
CRM
Products and offers data
Commissioning
Products and offers data
dealer management
Products and offers data
eRP
Products and offers data
Vouchers
Products and offers data
loyalty
Products and offers data
Warehouse
Products and offers data
logistic
Products and offers data
Pre paid billing
Products and offers data
Op
en a
nd
sta
nd
ard
co
mm
un
ica
tio
n b
us
/ O
SS
/ J
aP
i
BenefitsFast introduction of new products – many ways of
creating new product specifications
High number of products in the manageable port-
folio – organized in folders with searching and ver-
sioning capabilities
easy adjustment of existing products – multiple
ways of adjusting product specifications
Reduced product development costs – multiple
ways of reusing existing product specifications
lower system integration and operational costs
– the implementation and utilization of a standard-
ized API
technology review [www.comarch.com]
6 > in Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
created by Telemanagement Forum and OSS/J spec-
ifications. The application is built and runs on a
3-tiered architecture – an Oracle database, a J2EE
Application Server (EJB) and Java Web Start (GUI,
desktop application) – which requires no extra
software installation on user machines.
This open and scalable architecture makes
Comarch Product Catalog ready for the future. It
uses the newest, although very reliable, technol-
ogy standards.
Comarch Product Catalog is pluggable software,
meaning that it is made of several components.
Communication with external systems within
these components is open. It is even possible to
replace the components, or their parts, with one’s
own components.
Comarch Product Catalog consists of two main
parts: the GUI and the Engine.
The GUI is the front-end and is used to manage
entities such as product specifications, product
offerings and service specifications.
The CPC Engine is the back-end and can be used
as an independent application that implements
the OSS/J Inventory API specification, with layers
responsible for business logic, validation and data
storage. This results in the possibility to use the
CPC engine as a back-end for a graphical interface
other than the one provided with Comarch Product
Catalog. In this case, certain functionalities may be
disabled depending on the functionalities of the
existing system. <
Figure 2 Product lifecycle
Comarch Product Catalog
Sel
ect
idea
s th
at
sea
ms
to b
e p
rom
issi
ng
Product development
– ideas
Collect product ideas/requirements
Evaluate product
ideas
Product development – definition
Product specification/
definition
dec
isio
n t
o o
ffer
th
e p
rod
uct
on
th
e m
ark
et
Product development
launch product
Testing
Offi
cia
l la
un
ch o
f th
e p
rod
uct
Publishing
Service assurance
Service monitoring
eli
min
ate
pro
du
ct f
rom
th
e m
ark
et
Service quality
management
eliminate product
Stop sales
Stop support for product
Service fulfillment
Service ordering
Service activation
Stanisław Zbroja
Comarch SAPosition: Department Director
department: Product Management and
Marketing Department
info: 11 years of experience in the fields
of billing systems and CRM
Idea Draft Ready RetiredActive
nr 1/2008 (06)
in Focus < 7
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Convergence in TelecommunicationBilling System perspective
Only about 20 years ago, the telecommunication
world was clearly defined. During these days,
an incumbent operator delivered a voice service
based on a relatively simple technology dedicated
for that purpose. A few years later,
the introduction of mobile services brought about
a major revolution.
technology review [www.comarch.com]
8 > in Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
only about 20 years ago, the telecommu-
nication world was clearly defined.
During these days, an incumbent operator delivered a
voice service based on a relatively simple technology
dedicated for that purpose. A few years later, the intro-
duction of mobile services brought about a major revo-
lution. However these services, although basic, had sev-
eral drawbacks linked to the fact that they were heavily
dependent on the underlying technology:
> The systems were not flexible as minor new features
required huge changes in the operator’s network.
> Different technologies (such as fixed voice, GSM voice)
were ignoring each other since they were based on dif-
ferent network technology. As an example, a GSM hand-
set was not able to connect to your fixed line while at
home to receive a better price plan.
> Although relatively simple, the systems were not eas-
ily extendable, such as additional offers for new value
added services such as TV, image messaging, content
protected download…
> The back office, and to some extent, the front systems
were, as a result, relatively strongly linked to these
underlying technologies. As an example, billing systems
were able to deal primarily with fixed line voice in post
paid mode.
Thanks to the generalization of the IP and IMS in tele-
communications, the increase of hardware power as
well as the increased use of layered architecture in soft-
ware development, the telecommunication world is now
going towards:
> network access convergence: The underlying transport
technology you are using does not matter anymore. You
Figure 1 architecture of Comarch Billing System for Convergent ServicesSa
les
C
ha
nn
els
Co
nve
rgen
t B
illi
ng
Ap
pli
cati
on
sU
sers
Net
wo
rkSe
rvic
e
Del
iver
y/C
ontr
ol
Billing System
Off-line charging
On-line charging
Off
-lin
e, p
ost
pa
id
Application Server
On
-lin
e, p
ost
pa
idProduct
Catalogue
PSTN, NGN/IMS, 2.5G/3G, Cable, Broadband, IP, ...
Mediation Network Adapters Provisioning
3rd party Service
Provider
ED
R
SIP
CORE application VAS application
Roaming broker
Web Self-Care CRMWeb Dealer-Care
Network Abstraction Layer
Parlay X
on-line interaction
off-line interaction
Convergent Accounts
Customers & Contracts
Balances
nr 1/2008 (06)
in Focus < 9
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
can use the same handset for your mobile GSM/Wimax
or fixed line Wifi connection at home.
> new, innovative value added services. These value
added services are becoming so advanced that we are
now seeing a new form of convergence, industry con-
vergence through the merger of the telecommunica-
tion, media and Internet industries into one.
> improved time to market as new services means modi-
fying only a piece of software instead of upgrading a
full set of nationwide switches.
> Front office and back office systems which are less and
less dependent on the underlying technology and more
and more agile especially when it comes to configura-
tion updates or convergence management.
However, we at Comarch believe there is still room for
improvement for increasing these trends and providing
increased convergence through better BSS and OSS prod-
ucts. This article aims at describing our approach.
The evolution of Billing SystemsTo achieve all modern telecommunication requirements
it was necessary to change service delivery architectures
as well as billing systems architectures. These changes
cover many aspects like network unification, standards-
based communication, a centralized product catalogue
and most importantly - real-time processing.
Comarch Billing System for Convergent Services uses
modern multi-layered architecture and solves problems in
many business layers of users and their terminals, access
networks, service delivery/control, services logic, conver-
gent billing and sales channels.
Legacy Billing Solution Architecture
Figure 2 The evolution of Billing Systems
Next Generation Billing Solution Architecture
Billing System
evolutionMediation
Mediation
PSTN
RatingProduct
Catalogue
Customers & Contracts
Mediation
Mediation
Broadband
IPCable
Mobile
ProvisioningProvisioningProvisioning
3rd party Service
Provider
3rd party Service
Provider
Billing System
Customers & contracts
Off-line charging
On-line charging
Off
-lin
e, p
ost
pa
id
Application Server
On
-lin
e, p
ost
pa
id
Central Reference
Data(Product Catalog,
Addresses, ...)
Prepaid voice
Missed calls
notification
Prepaid GPRS
...
PSTN, NGN/IMS, 2.5G/3G, Cable, Broadband, IP, ...
Parlay X
Mediation Network Adapters Provisioning
Network Abstraction Layer
3rd party Service
Provider
technology review [www.comarch.com]
10 > in Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
The solution consists of several Comarch products
with Comarch Billing System at its heart which enables
the following features:
> off-line charging utilizing the entire billing process
(loading, rating, discounting, invoicing, payment col-
lection, dunning, reporting, off-line billing),
> on-line charging (real-time rating, charging, balance
management, high availability),
>> event-based charging (for services like SMS),
>> session-based charging (for services like voice call),
> database for reference data (customers and contracts,
financial and usage data, …).
Other products used in the solution: Comarch Billing
Mediation, Comarch Service Provisioning, Comarch
Convergent Services Platform, Network Abstraction
Layer & Application Server, Comarch Product Catalogue,
Comarch Self-Care, Comarch CRM.
Prepaid/Postpaid level ConvergenceThe system maintains information about prepaid balances
assigned to user accounts. Prepaid balance management
has all the features required by standard mobile prepaid
services as well as next generation services with balance
reservations, rollover, automatic recharges, simultane-
ous service usage and the possibility of charging any
event in real-time.
The same user account managed by this system may
be used for postpaid services where all usage data is col-
lected and used later for invoicing.
The decision whether a service is sold in prepaid or
postpaid mode can be made at the time of creating a
Figure 3 Prepaid/Postpaid level Convergence
Billing System
Off-line charging
On-line charging
Off
-lin
e, p
ost
pa
id
Application Server
On
-lin
e, p
ost
pa
id
Product Catalogue
PSTN, NGN/IMS, 2.5G/3G, Cable, Broadband, IP, ...
Mediation Network Adapters Provisioning
3rd party Service
Provider
ED
R
CORE application VAS application
Roaming broker
Web Self-Care CRMWeb Dealer-Care
Network Abstraction Layer
on-line interaction
off-line interaction
Database
Manage prepaid and postpaid subscribers
Subscriber abroud
Postpaid subscriber Prepaid subscriber
CORE application
Billing, invoicing
Real-time rating
Off-line rating
Call details Records files mediation
Signalling processing
Services provisioning (line management)
SIP
Parlay X
Usage data storage Prepaid Balance update
Prepaid application
nr 1/2008 (06)
in Focus < 11
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
sales offer. The same service may be offered many times
in different models like prepaid, postpaid or postpaid
with limits.
Sales ChannelsComarch Billing System for Convergent Services integrates
applications for supporting multiple sales channels:
> Self-Care application for customer subscription & man-
agement self service,
> Dealer-Care application for a dealer’s sales channel,
> CRM system for Customer Relationship Management.
Service level & Customer experience Convergence Service level convergence allows carriers to rate and/or
bill any type of service in the same system with a sin-
gle point of management. It also enables the possibil-
ity for offering multiple services and charging or billing
a user with a single invoice or by using a single prepaid
account.
The logic of each service is defined by an application
deployed on the Application Server Layer. This layer con-
sists of two specialized Application Servers for core and
value-added services.
A customer receives a single bill or uses a prepaid
account for many mobile and non-mobile services such
as voice, content, parking or ticket payments. The user
may check his account status and services history in a
single self-care application.
Simultaneous multi-network mediation and provisioningThe Network Abstraction Layer consists of a set of pro-
tocol/network adapters which mediates in real-time
Figure 4 Service level & Customer experience Convergence
Billing System
Off-line charging
On-line charging
Off
-lin
e, p
ost
pa
id
Application Server
On
-lin
e, p
ost
pa
id
PSTN, NGN/IMS, 2.5G/3G, Cable, Broadband, IP, ...
Mediation Network Adapters Provisioning
CORE application VAS application
Web Self-Care CRMWeb Dealer-Care
Network Abstraction Layer
on-line interaction
off-line interaction
Database
Manage prepaid and postpaid subscribers
internet acces service
CORE application
Billing, invoicingOff-line rating
Prepaid applicationP
Usage data storage Prepaid Balance update
ED
R
SIP
Video browsing service
Mobile voice service
Signalling processing
Payment gateway Content subscriptions Parking payments
Real-time rating
Single bill
technology review [www.comarch.com]
12 > in Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Krzysztof Kwiatkowski
Comarch SAPosition: Product Manager
department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
info: In Comarch for 8 years, all the time
in Teleco Department, currently Product
Manager of Real Time Billing Systems
Figure 5 Simultaneous multi-network mediation and provisioning
Billing System
Off-line charging
On-line charging
Off
-lin
e, p
ost
pa
id
Application Server
On
-lin
e, p
ost
pa
id
SIP SS7 adapter RADIUS
CORE application VAS application
Web Self-Care CRMWeb Dealer-Care
Network Abstraction Layer
Database:- customers- accounts- balances- products
CORE application
Off-line rating
Parlay X
aaa for iP services
Real-time rating
3rd party Service
Provider
Provisioning GTP adapter (more)Parlay/SOA Mediation DIAMASTER
iMS services charging
2. xg SS&-based services control
iMS services control
Mediation from legacy fixed etwork
IPCable
BroadbandNGN/IMS
PSTN
2.5G/3G
between the network elements and the Application Server
Layer.
The Network Abstraction Layer supports PSTN, NGN/
IMS, 2.5G/3G, Cable, Broadband and other IP-based net-
works and complies with many standards related to SIP/
IMS, OMA, Parlay, SS7, IP-based and more.
Comarch mediation components are used within the
convergent solution to handle the following aspects:
> Billing mediation – on-line (near real-time) and off-line
CDR processing,
> Service provisioning mediation – on-line service and
subscriber provisioning.
BenefitsHaving introduced Comarch Billing System for Conver-
gent Services, the following benefits may ultimately be
listed as the most important:
> increased competence – fast time to market for new
services,
> decreased OPeX and CaPeX by reusing system infra-
structure for launching new services in next generation
and legacy networks,
> increased customer satisfaction – a single Customer
Self-Care system and single account/bill for all ser-
vices,
> customer diversification – easy integration with 3rd
party service providers who can provide services for
niche-markets,
> reduced churn rate – telco-grade solution – upgrade
and service changes with minimal impact to existing
services <
david gourdelier
Comarch Software AGPosition: Consultant
department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
info: David is BSS consultant working for
main Comarch telecommunicaiton
accounts in France and Western Europe
nr 1/2008 (06)
in Focus < 13
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
On-premise CRM a sinking ship or a flying fortress?
14 > in Focus
The CRM market has gone through its phases
of hype, disappointment and recovery.
Now a returning wave of interest based on
a more realistic approach to customers and ven-
dors offers reasonable alternatives to the big
CRM implementations that have historically been
expensive, troublesome and time-consuming. One
such interesting alternative is CRM on-demand.
technology review [www.comarch.com]
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
what is on-demand CRM? What are
the advantages and risks?
The do’s and don’ts? For a telecom operator, is on-
demand worth considering?
The rise and fall of CRMWhat comes to mind when you hear the acronym
CRM? Is it: „a single view of a customer, driving
customer satisfaction, enhancing the bottom line
by being better able to understand and fulfill cus-
tomer needs”? These all sound promising. However,
maybe you have other associations, ones more dif-
ficult to find in marketing brochures but more eas-
ily heard by listening to those actually involved in
CRM projects in recent years. They would say that
the hard reality is that CRM is a never-ending proj-
ect, an initiative with a colossal budget and a high
risk of failure. Eventually, even if a CRM system does
get successfully deployed, it is often used improp-
erly (if at all), not taking advantage of its strengths,
leading to results that are far from expected, espe-
cially in terms of return on investment.
These negative associations we may still have
of CRM aren’t coming out of nowhere. As of the end
of 2002 Gartner, as well as several other analysts,
informed us that 70% of all CRM projects fail. The
top reasons for these failures include: lack of a
strategic, enterprise wide approach with little or
no board-level commitment, undefined success
metrics, poor methodology and a focus on technol-
ogy instead of customer and business processes.
Clearly, most of the problems companies had with
the implementation of CRM were not particularly
technology-related. The problems were organiza-
tional, often boiling down to a single misconcep-
tion, a misunderstanding of the CRM concept. The
CRM market had to fall.
But what can we say today? CRM is not dead -
it may be bruised, but it’s back. Large-scale, long-
term CRM initiatives are beginning to be approved
again. Spending on open-source CRM is projected to
increase threefold, there is a comeback of in-house
built CRM applications and vendors are transition-
ing to new service-oriented architectures (source:
Gartner 2006). Having learned their lesson, vendors
as well as their clients are increasingly cautious
while attempting to reduce the risk associated
with a CRM initiative by seeking new models and
approaches. On-demand CRM is one of the most
meaningful and influential new models.
nr 1/2008 (06)
in Focus < 15
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Some like it hostedThe idea behind on-demand CRM (or in other words,
hosted CRM) is simple: we don’t buy the software,
we buy the services – this is precisely the concept
of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or Application Ser-
vice Providing - ASP (for various reasons ASP, like
CRM, also has negative connotations which is why
the term SaaS tends to be used instead). We don’t
care about the technical details too much, the pro-
vider does. CRM software is available through the
Internet and less often via a dedicated line. In on-
demand CRM, multiple end-customers share the
same hardware, databases and functionality with
various customization options (This is called the
multi-tenancy model. There is also a single-ten-
ancy model, where each customer has his own
database and server, but purists say that in such
a case software cannot be considered as a service).
In this way, vendors achieve an economy of scale,
allowing them to set lower prices for services of
guaranteed quality.
On-demand differs from traditional on-site or
on-premise CRM when we purchase licenses and
own the software (another possibility is when we
own a home-grown application). Commonly, we
have to take care of all the technical details, main-
tain the software and infrastructure, keep dedi-
cated IT personnel and train them so they don’t
get behind. No two clients of a CRM vendor have
the same on-premise system. Usually only 30-50%
of the enterprise CRM software is standard, the
rest represents customer specific functionality,
customization and integration. This is probably
why it always takes so long to deploy an on-prem-
ise CRM system – because 50% must be built from
scratch! On-demand differs from on-premise in
that it aims to make you switch-off the function-
ality you don’t need rather than build-up the func-
tionality you do (in the on-premise model). Which
approach sounds easier?
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, recently said „peo-
ple want hosted CRM”. Although some analysts see
the future of on-demand CRM as not that bright
(AMR Research predicts that even by 2009, hosted
CRM applications will account for only 12% of the
total U.S. CRM market) there definitely is something
to it. Why do people want hosted CRM? Because it
is low risk, low cost and high ROI. There is no enor-
mous up front investment and only a low monthly
rental fee with minimal or no service fees. The risk
is low, because the service provider takes it on and
delivers guaranteed system availability and per-
formance (usually providers agree to an SLA much
more willingly than the internal IT departments of
their customers). It is very easy to get users quickly
up and running, a provider’s implementation pro-
cesses are mostly uniform and are often repeated
– deployment of a single department package takes
from 30 to 90 days. On demand CRM provides a lot
of flexibility in upgrades – behind the scenes, devel-
opers have on-line access to the system giving
them unprecedented possibilities for continuous
software improvement. They can observe and track
usage patterns to optimize and automate the most
popular instances of use. When the amount of
tasks, client base and data size grows, we don’t
need a complex process for explaining the need,
getting approval and purchasing additional hard-
ware or technologies. We just let the provider know
that we need additional users or functionality and
they assume the challenge and responsibility for
which they receive a payment.
The third wayIt seems on-demand CRM allows you to focus on
your customers and not on the technology while
relieving you from the risk and overhead of an on-
premise approach. But is on-demand really this
attractive? What’s the catch? As always, the devil
is in the details - what constitutes an advantage
can also pose a threat. Short deployment time is
only a promise, getting the system to work could
take longer than expected because of problem-
atic customization. Possibilities offered by the API
are usually limited and once we want something
more, we fall into the trap of an on-premise model
– the vendor sends a team to work through a solu-
tion, extending the implementation time tremen-
dously. Moreover, upgrades can be tricky – and tend
to break existing customization and integration,
which leads to abandoning valuable new function-
ality. Some institutions may be wary of being over-
dependent on the service provider. They have all
the data which sometimes can be sensitive (banks,
health care), difficult to protect from unauthor-
ized access when out of your control and difficult
to get back from the vendor should relations go
south. Other organizations may feel like opting
for on-demand results in losing their competitive
advantage – everyone has the same software, so
The future, or what the CRM crystal ball told me:
“Dispersed CRM” – a single view of a customer, but
across multiple dispersed packages – a multi-sourc-
ing and hybrid approach – on-demand solutions for
one or more service providers mixed with on-prem-
ise installations.
Convergence of on-demand and on-premise - migra-
tion between models will be possible (it is already
possible for some vendors), infrastructure will get
more and more robust and „invisible”, outsourc-
ing will start to pay off not only on paper but also
in reality.
Commoditization – The commoditization of CRM
functional areas, such as sales force automation
or customer service and support will be driven by
on-demand vendors, the difference between their
offerings will be in their ability and willingness to
act globally, effectively customize software and
integrate with a customer’s systems. We will get
cheaper, more rapidly implemented and more use-
ful CRM.
Knowing the negative connotations of the CRM
term, and that it can be associated purely with a
technology investment, other terms begin to be
used instead:
> Customer Management,
> Customer Centricity
> Relationship Management,
> Relationship Marketing
> Customer Experience Management
> Customer Service Excellence
> Single view of a customer,
> Sales productivity growth
> ...
However, behind all these different names there’s
a common concept of a business strategy whose
outcomes optimize profitability, revenue and cus-
tomer satisfaction by organizing around customer
segments, promoting customer-satisfying behav-
iors and implementing customer-centric processes
(source: Gartner).
technology review [www.comarch.com]
16 > in Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
where’s the difference? However, the greatest prob-
lem with on-demand CRM is the time scale. Surely,
we can achieve the lowest initial cost, the lowest
risk, but all in the short term. In a three-year period,
the cost can be the same for on-demand and on-
premise, yet in the on-demand model the organi-
zation doesn’t own the system, it can’t be custom-
ized to grow along with the needs of the business.
All in all, we might end up with our hands tied and
a miserable ROI.
A mixed approach is the best method to avoid,
or at least compensate for most of the risks related
to implementing CRM in either of the models: on-
premise and on-demand. There are at least three
blends of mixed approaches: the hybrid, “first
host, then buy” and “first buy, then host”. Under
the hybrid model, companies could use hosted
CRM at one site, such as a small division, or a dis-
tant office, while keeping the rest of the company
on an enterprise, on-premise CRM application. It is
currently possible with Siebel, RightNow and SAP
solutions. The hybrid model can be applied not only
to geographical locations, but to functional areas
of CRM since many vendors offer specialized soft-
ware packages. A company could use the hosted
solution for sales automation or customer service
& support, and an on-premise application for the
rest. The best candidate for on-demand CRM is the
area where requirements are changing least often,
where processes are rather stable and mature and
there is no need for a high degree of non-standard
customization or integration. In the “first host,
then buy” approach, we initially buy on-demand
CRM services from a provider and if all goes well,
we purchase the software and begin to manage
it ourselves. This way, we benefit from the “low
cost, low risk, high ROI” advantages during the first
two or three years and afterwards, take over the
entire thing and benefit from the “greatest power,
flexibility, easier integration and customizability”.
The third approach is “first buy, then host”. This is
when the on-premise solution, purchased or home-
grown software is outsourced together with the
infrastructure. Although the system is a managed
service rather than becoming on-demand, the same
combined positive effects occur: cost reduction,
increased quality of services, increased business
agility and less focus on technology and more focus
on the customers. These benefits will be particu-
larly visible for large companies that are no longer
able to react to changes in the market, have enor-
mous IT costs and are unable to fully meet internal
user and customer expectations.
On-demand is the perfect choice for small and
mid-sized companies able to function with stand-
ard processes and data structures, with no real-
time or complex integration requirements, no inter-
nal IT support, yet who want a rapidly deployed
solution. On-demand is therefore a very interest-
ing option to consider for MVNOs and start-ups.
But what about larger telecom operators? Their
primary business imperative is growth signified by
partnership, innovation, cost control, risk manage-
ment and availability of talents. On-demand is defi-
nitely a chance for cost control, risk compensation
(or at least diversification) and an increased avail-
ability of talent (as top talents continue to gather
around global leaders). On-demand CRM might
also be seen as a chance for innovation (when the
vendor is offering outstanding and future-oriented
solutions, which other vendors have yet to adopt)
and partnership (this may be wishful thinking, but
major hosted CRM providers are struggling hard to
enter the lucrative telecommunications market and
have a real interest in building long-lasting, profit-
able partnerships). Having said that, it is still too
early, and there is probably a good reason that most
telecoms stay away from on-demand CRM. Nor-
mally, for telecom operators, customer relationship
management is an area of strategic importance,
and experiments aren’t welcome. Nevertheless,
on-demand starts to be a relevant option. Gartner
predicts that by 2007, 30 percent of new sales force
automation (SFA) production applications will be
deployed as a service. So for most telecoms, maybe
the first shot at on-demand will be for SFA as it is
perceived to be an easy, inexpensive and safe way
to try out an on-demand CRM deployment.
SummaryAfter a phase of disappointment, CRM is com-
ing back, perhaps under different names. The on-
demand model is becoming more and more popular
with functionality beginning to reflect the most-
wanted, tried-and-true features. At the same time,
companies are ready to opt for a compromise and
require merely the necessary integration and cus-
tomization. So, without a doubt, on-demand is here
to stay and represents a viable alternative to cum-
bersome and expensive licensed CRM projects. Is
on-premise doomed? Definitely not. However on-
demand is a warning sign to license vendors to get
more realistic about CRM deployment costs and
times. On-premise will continue to be the most
popular type of deployment for large companies,
with on-demand increasingly being chosen by less
conservative telecoms as well as small and mid-
sized companies, including MVNOs. <
Paweł lamik
Comarch SAPosition: Business Solutions Manager
department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
info: Main fields of expertise: CRM
systems, BI and outsourcing
nr 1/2008 (06)
in Focus < 17
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Why CRM does not deliver*
* – sometimes
Surprisingly, telco operators
continue to perform miser-
ably when it comes to: selling
a product to a customer who
wants it badly, retaining a valu-
able customer who does not
think about churning away, and
acquiring a new customer who
falls “straight into their hands”.
The reason is operators’ inabil-
ity to gather information and
properly leverage it, with the
use of CRM class systems.
most telco operators pursue the
same strategic goals: increase
revenue and retain customers. However, when
a customer completely resigns from services or
considerably reduces their service usage, there
is a negative impact on these. If there are more
of such customers, the reduction in revenue and
the high costs for acquiring new customers to
replace the ones who left becomes increasingly
painful. Customers need to be well taken care of
and sales needs to be well taken care of. It may
seem these conclusions are too obvious to even
write about. Yet, I only wonder, how my own ex-
perience as a former, as well as a potential, cus-
tomer of three different major Polish telecommu-
nications providers proves these conclusions as
merely theoretical.
Operator a – Partial revenue lossFor over a dozen years, I’ve had a fixed line phone
from this operator. Recently, I phoned the call-cen-
ter and asked for a tariff downgrade to the least
expensive possible level (ca. 50% less than the
one I had). “This is certainly possible. Please note
however, a charge for one minute is higher in the
cheaper tariff and there are no additional services
which decrease the cost of calls (i.e. free minutes
pack)”, the consultant warned me, “Looking at the
calls you have made in the recent months, I sus-
pect that you will pay much higher bills, are you
sure you want to downgrade? – Yes I am sure. – All
right then, the new tariff will be active as of next
month, thank you and have a nice day.”
What’s wrong with this? Well in short, the ques-
tion “why?” was never asked. I had no reason to
hide that I’ve made a decision to go for VoIP tele-
phony services from a British provider and to keep
the existing fixed-line from Operator A only in order
to keep the existing number and to have a back-up
line. Why should the operator need such informa-
tion? Firstly, this operator offers VoIP services, so
by having this information from me, they could
try to cross-sell thereby saving revenue in the
long term. Secondly, it can provide data for anal-
ysis (i.e. to analyze the scale of the phenomenon,
to develop the offer, to track market trends). The
current assumption that Operator A has made is
that I have made a tariff downgrade and that I will
probably pay more if my usage remains the same
(however it won’t – this usage has left for good
to another operator). It is possible they think I’ve
downgraded because I’m leaving the country for
a long period of time.
Operator B – loss of a customer (and revenue) Until recently, I had cable television at home from
one of the biggest cable TV providers. The origi-
nal subscriber was my sister. However, after she
moved out, I wanted to transfer the contract into
my name. I phoned the call-center, provided my
details – name, address – and told them about
the situation. I was told that what I wanted to do
technology review [www.comarch.com]
18 > in Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
was certainly possible (they always say that), but
that I needed to pay a cession fee – equivalent to
about a one month subscription fee. For over 10
years, I have been regularly paying monthly bills
for one of the highest tariff variants. I declined to
make the cession and asked my sister to terminate
the contract. However, I was accustomed to this
operator and I already had the cable installed. Per-
haps a little naively, I decided to register as a new
customer, thinking they would treat a prospec-
tive customer better. Alas however, it turned out
there was an “installation” fee, also equivalent to
about a one month’s subscription fee. “But listen, I
already have everything installed, there will be no
installation, the cable is there, it is plugged in and
it was working only yesterday. Turning the signal
on for the cable doesn’t really cost that much does
it? – Yes, unfortunately we have such procedures.
There is always an installation fee.”
By requiring these small, annoying fees, this
operator decidedly lost an entire stream of future
revenue, which had been consistently flowing from
my address for years.
Operator C – loss of a potential customer (and potential revenue) However, it is difficult to live without television.
I decided to buy services from a leading satellite
television operator. They offer the channels I’m
interested in and at a reasonable price. I phoned
their call-center to learn more about their offer
and the details pertaining to the installation. I told
them I was interested in quickly closing the deal,
however the consultant didn’t ask for my phone
number or service details. They could have trans-
ferred my data to a local partner who would possi-
bly take better care of a potential customer. Instead,
I was merely instructed to look for the closest local
partner on their web page. I opened the web page
and found the contact form. I selected the “I am
interested in signing a deal” option and entered
my data: e-mail, mobile phone and exactly what I
needed. I even received a confirmation e-mail stat-
ing that within 48 hours somebody would contact
me (by the way, why not within 1 hour?). What hap-
pened then? Nothing. There has been no contact
so far, and that was 16 days ago. Well, I guess I will
try my luck with their competitors.
Obviously, this operator is not very interested
in acquiring new customers, the call-center is only
a cost center (not generating revenue) for this oper-
ator, and when it comes to the web form that was
intended to generate leads, it only serves to gener-
ate the frustration of potential customers.
gather information, make use of knowledgeThe operators described have one thing in com-
mon – they use customer service and CRM sys-
tems, including the best in the world (operator A).
Did these systems fulfill their role well enough?
To some extent, yes, they facilitated common
operations – registering subscriptions, answer-
ing inquiries about prices, changing tariffs, termi-
nating subscriptions. However, the systems neither
helped retain a customer nor ensured sustained
(or increased) revenue. Furthermore, they did not
even gather information necessary to understand
“why”. In the examples reported, advanced or costly
techniques (loyalty programs, direct marketing, etc)
were not required to keep or acquire a customer.
For instance, what would be an appropriate reac-
tion in the case of operator A, to a customer will-
ing to downgrade his tariff? Maybe the system’s
suggestion of “ask why”, with some area for input-
ting the customer’s answer. Additionally, further
suggestions aimed at addressing the needs the
customer expressed while answering the “why”
question could be made. For operator B, the system
should have suggested overriding or reducing the
cession fee required from a good customer (based
on a differentiated fee policy for each segment, i.e.
based on a customer’s lifetime value calculation).
In the case of operator C, most likely the call-cen-
ter employees were not sales oriented, however
the system could have suggested “take his phone
number, a mobile if possible”. As far as the flow of
leads from the web-site to the sales department
is concerned – automated detection and alarms
for overdue contacts, and better control of han-
dling leads from the sales department would be
a possible solution.
SummaryOperators do what they can to secure themselves
from revenue and customer leakages, but they still
make simple errors. “Let’s manage our customers,
so they wouldn’t want to leave us and would want
to buy more from us – let’s buy a CRM system” this
is an idea most of them already brought to life
long ago. The idea that a CRM system alone is not
enough to manage customer relationships well,
we have known for a couple of years. CRM systems
tend not to deliver on this promise. Why? There are
many different reasons. One of the main reasons
is that customer data is not integrated in a single
location and managed consistently, and even if
it is somehow, it is not always turned into useful
knowledge in day to day operations.
Comarch CRM for TelecomsIt is a comprehensive customer relationship man-
agement solution for operators and MVNOs. With
BI-enabled modules for Marketing, Sales, and Cus-
tomer Service our product helps increase revenue
from new and existing customers, and improve re-
tention. The built-in Business Intelligence provides
contextual hints and drill-in dashboards, supporting
timely and knowledge-driven decisions. Unlike the
one-size-fits-all solutions from traditional vendors,
our lean and flexible solution was designed to fit an
operator’s existing data models and help express
their own differentiating processes with a built-in
workflow engine.
Paweł lamik
Comarch SAPosition: Business Solutions Manager
department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
info: Main fields of expertise: CRM
systems, BI and outsourcing
Today, BPM and BI are increasingly popular con-
cepts aimed at developing the capability of CRM to
deliver the intended results: revenue growth and
customer retention. This direction looks promis-
ing – in the fight for customers, a successful oper-
ator’s CRM system will manage centralized and
integrated customer data and turn it into knowl-
edge with Business Intelligence while providing
leverage by injecting it into business processes: in
a BPM-driven process, appropriate data is gathered,
which BI uses to deliver relevant, real time sugges-
tions for “what to do”. This should help eliminate
the situations described in this article, making both
the customers and the operators happier. <
nr 1/2008 (06)
in Focus < 19
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Comarch OSS Suite 4 next generation OSS systems are just around the corner
OSS systems have never been as important as
they are today. Their importance will grow even
further with the rising popularity of Next Genera-
tion Networks. Nowadays, operators can not even
think about delivering services without strong
help from supporting systems. There is no such
army of people who can plan, provision, deliver
and bill these new services in a matter of seconds.
technology review [www.comarch.com]
20 > Solutions & Case Studies
Traditional OSS organization consists of a set of isolated
systems each built for a specific technology, vendor or
service type. In each silo you can identify the systems
responsible for configuration management, quality as-
surance, service provisioning and billing. Provided from
different vendors and usually along with equipment,
such organization suffers from inflexibility. Information
exchange is also limited by a lack of open interfaces.
Next Generation OSS is the alternative solution for leg-
acy systems. It is focused on functional areas instead of
technologies. Each vertical layer represents a system
providing functions from a single functionality area
(readiness, assurance, provisioning) however support-
ing all network technologies and services.
Figure 1 Unified OSS vs an isolated silo approach
Migration from silo-based OSS
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
the Internet has had an unprecedented
impact on the world of telecom-
munications. It made the IP protocol the de facto
standard for telecommunications networks and
has rendered obsolete many of the “officially ap-
proved” technologies and protocols.
ngn networksIP has become the standard for building almost
all modern telecommunication networks and ser-
vices. Many telecoms have started projects aimed
at migrating circuit oriented services to entirely
packet based Next Generation Networks (NGN)
with a set of IP based services (VoIP, IPTV, VoD etc.).
IP is inexpensive in implementation and provides
an operator with flexibility and a great platform
for delivering new types of services at a minimal
cost. This revolution has resulted in the removal of
segregation between fixed line, mobile and cable
providers that has traditionally been present. All
operators are able to deliver the same services
using a similar infrastructure. The only difference
is the access network.
This transition to NGN networks has increased
competitiveness in the telecommunication mar-
ket and forced all operators to optimize their
expenses and make their offer much more attrac-
tive for the end customer. This optimization can
not be achieved using the previous generation of
OSS systems. Next Generation Networks require
Next Generation Operations Support Systems to
fully utilize their new potential.
The end of OSS silo eraThis revolution has had an enormous impact on
OSS infrastructure. Services provided by the net-
work infrastructure that used to be simple and
straightforward, are now a complex mesh of con-
nected resources, content and suppliers. They are
now logically separated from the underlying trans-
port network. Such changes in the services model
approach make the traditional “silo-based” OSS
organization obsolete. Building a separate stack of
systems for each new service or network takes too
long and is too expensive. Operators must reorga-
nize themselves, transforming their OSS infrastruc-
ture along with their entire network into the new
era. This is the place where modern NGOSS com-
pliant systems take their role.
The core element of modern OSS is the inventory
management system. Knowledge about facilities is
an essential requirement for management. A typi-
cal network infrastructure consists of hundreds of
thousands of network elements composing a com-
plex web of connections and relations.
More importantly, the network is constantly
evolving and changing due to expansion, failures
and optimizations. It’s a living organism that can’t
have a day off even for maintenance. The main goal
of an OSS system is to provide mechanisms for
isolated OSS silos Unified OSS
Radionetwork
OSS
iPOSS
Transportnetwork
OSS
PSTnOSS
Pro
visi
on
ing
ass
ura
nce
Bil
iin
g
Pro
visi
on
ing
ass
ura
nce
Bil
iin
g
Pro
visi
on
ing
ass
ura
nce
Bil
iin
g
Pro
visi
on
ing
ass
ura
nce
Bil
iin
g
Telecommunication network Telecommunication network
element abstraction
Common OSS
assurance BiliingProvisioning
nr 1/2008 (06)
Solutions & Case Studies < 21
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Figure 2 Comarch OSS Suitee
nte
rpri
se S
ervi
ce B
us
Comarch OSS Suite
FulfillmentOperations Support & Readiness
Comarch Network Inventory
Auto-discovery & Reconciliation
Comarch Service Inventory
Provisioning
assurance
Network Performance Management
Fault Management
Service Level Management
OSS Mediation
Service assuranceComarch inventory Management
Comarch OSS Process Management
managing this organism, providing functionalities
which allow operators design services, delivering
them to the customers and assuring their qual-
ity. Additionally, OSS systems help maintain the
network, optimizing connections and exchanging
information between external networks or sup-
pliers. All of these tasks are performed according
to well defined processes or procedures. Unfortu-
nately, each operator has their own specific char-
acteristics and organization. Lack of standard OSS
processes and procedures makes the implementa-
tion of any business process management system
a complex and expensive task.
The standardized approach for defining all man-
agement processes to be carried out by Telco oper-
ators have been proposed by TeleManagement
Forum in the Enhanced Telecom Operations Map
(eTOM). Thanks to eTOM, all interested parties can
communicate in the same language. TM Forum’s
eTOM describes management processes by divid-
ing them into a number of areas in the four layers
(customers, services, resources, suppliers) and at
several levels of details.
Comarch OSS Suite 4Comarch OSS Suite 4 is a Next Generation OSS Sys-
tem. It is focused on NG networks and provides
operators with functionalities necessary for the
optimal management of their network and ser-
vices. Comarch OSS Suite 3 was an inventory ori-
ented system - the fourth version of the Comarch
OSS Suite focuses on processes.
Comarch OSS Suite 4 is aimed at helping oper-
ators with the execution of management pro-
cesses from the Readiness, Fulfillment and Assur-
ance areas in the services and resources layers
(see figure 2). The main element of the new suite is
Comarch OSS Process Management, the business
process management class system. As opposed to
generic BPM systems, Comarch OSS Process Man-
agement has been designed especially for manag-
ing the processes of Telco operators. It includes
predefined processes and task definitions to drasti-
cally reduce system deployment time. The strength
of Comarch OSS Process Management relies on
tight integration with the Inventory Management
System. All operations on inventory are controlled
by predefined processes. For example, the system
can check which resources are used by given ser-
vices and execute the proper sub-processes in order
to provision the new service. During resource prob-
lem resolution, the system operator can see if a
given resource is affected, what the parameters
of the device are as well as view the entire history
of changes made to the device. This seamless inte-
gration greatly improves the efficiency of the OSS
system. In most cases, operators do not need to use
several systems to get all the required information
or execute a crucial management task. Everything
can be controlled from one application. For inven-
tory management, Comarch OSS Process Manage-
ment can use Comarch Inventory Management
or third party inventory systems with standard
based interfaces.
Comarch OSS Process ManagementComarch OSS Process Management includes the
implementation of the following processes:
> incident and problem management,
> change management,
> configuration,
> service activation,
> planning and building.
Furthermore, the above processes are extended by
several supporting processes such as information,
notices and approvals which greatly improve the
efficiency of the system.
The second essential element Comarch OSS Pro-
cess Management provides to Telco operators is
technology review [www.comarch.com]
22 > Solutions & Case Studies
Customer
Strategy, infrastructure & Product Operations
Strategy & Commit
Supply Chain Development & Management
Resource Development & Management
Supplier/Partner Relationship Management
Service Development & Management
Marketing & Offer Management
BillingAssuranceFulfillmentOperations Support & Readiness
Product Lifecycle
Managent
Infrastructure Lifecycle
Management
Comarch OSS Process Management
Strategy, infrastructure & Product
Knowledge & Research
Management
Human Resources
Management
Strategic & Enterprise
Planning
Enterprise Risk
Management
Enterprise Effectiveness
Management
Financial & Asset
Management
Stakeholder & External
Relations Management
Figure 3 Comarch OSS Process Management on the TM-Forum eTOM
damian dygoń
Comarch SAPosition: Product Manager OSS
department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
info: Since 2003 he is a Product Manager
for Comarch OSS Suite, responsible
particularly for QoS issues
Customer Relationship Management
Resource Management & Operations
Service Management & Operations
Jakub Załuski-Kapusta
Comarch SAPosition: Product Manager OSS
department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
info: Currently responsible for sales
support of Comarch OSS systems
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
the automation of management tasks. In large
scale networks where provisioning, supervising
and other kinds of processes are executed thou-
sands of times daily, manual operations must be
reduced and even completely eliminated. Automa-
tion allows operators to reduce time-to-market for
new services and enables the on-line provisioning
and real-time assurance of offered services. Sys-
tem operators only have to focus on uncommon
actions, solving unusual problems and performing
other non-typical tasks. All other defined processes
and procedures are automated.
Comarch OSS Process Management provides
several mechanisms and tools which enables pro-
cesses automation at different levels. Each typical,
common task can be defined on the highest level
as an automatic process. By using business rules,
such processes can be customized or adopted.
Finally, Comarch OSS Process Management pro-
vides a scripting mechanism to define actions
even at the atomic level and use them in high level
processes as automatic tasks. Originating from
Comarch OSS Process Management, these three
functionalities combine together to create a very
sophisticated and powerful tool for OSS process
automation.
Comarch OSS Process Management is the first
application to be released in the fourth version of
Comarch OSS Suite. The latest version brings a new
system architecture based on SOA principles and
open interfaces. In comparison to the previous ver-
sion of Process Management, there is a complete
change of technology both in the engine and the
GUI. OSS Process Management version 4 will be
available in the fourth quarter of 2007. Initially it
will work with Comarch OSS Suite 3 products (e.g.
Inventory Management). Other components of
Comarch OSS Suite will be successively migrated to
the new architecture in the following year. <
nr 1/2008 (06)
Solutions & Case Studies < 23
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
technology review [www.comarch.com]
24 > Solutions & Case Studies
Is your network expanding really quickly?
Are the competitors just waiting for your
bad move? Do the network outages cost
you Millions? In that case it is high time to
think about a unified Fault Management
system tailored precisely to your needs!
Comarch Fault Management in PTC
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Catalysts for changeThe implementation of Comarch Fault Manage-
ment in Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa had solid busi-
ness and technological justification. Over the past
several years we have been witnessing a series
of revolutionary changes related to the telecom-
munication market. Therefore, in order to repulse
constant pressure from competitors, the operator
must quickly react to the situation on the market,
while accommodating for the rapid growth of the
company itself.
Taking all this into account, a unified, fully scal-
able and configurable fault management and ser-
vice monitoring solution, seamlessly integrating
with existing systems, is one of the crucial keys to
the company’s success.
The challengesPTC required an easily configurable and extend-
able solution acting as an “umbrella” over a series
of already implemented proprietary management
systems. At the time of the project’s kick-off, PTC’s
network consisted of more than 15,000 network
elements of over 30 different types from differ-
ent vendors. Consequently, these elements were
managed by a number of separate, vendor-spe-
cific applications.
The main aim here was to unify and simplify
the management process by providing a common
interface to handle all devices and to correlate and
subsequently present data (events) gathered by
the existing systems in one consistent view. This,
however, required synchronization with existing
external systems and data bases. Therefore the
solution had to include a number of specific data
adapters, most of which needed to be created from
scratch based on the analysis of the proprietary
protocols employed.
edging out the competitionPTC placed their trust in Comarch’s state-of-the-art
OSS Suite, specifically the Comarch Fault Manage-
ment module — based on a cutting-edge technol-
ogy solution for on going fault issues inside an
operator’s networks. Comarch was able to pro-
vide a flexible, cost-effective solution employing
the newest technologies and fulfilling all of the
customer’s requirements.
The strongest aspect of Comarch’s offer was the
possibility to precisely tailor the solution to cus-
tomer needs and the quick reaction to frequently
changing requirements, as well as fast implemen-
tation of requested additions to the system.
The solutionThe Comarch Fault Management module moni-
tors all the existing network elements constitut-
ing the network infrastructure. It receives, displays
and efficiently tracks alarms, all of which allows
us ers to manage potentially debilitating network
problems quickly and effectively. The system also
enables users to fully configure the way that alarms
are processed. This is done through the creation
of rules utilized by the built-in correlation engine.
This feature speeds up identification of failures and
allows users to allocate tasks according to internal
company processes (integration with the Trouble
Ticketing system).
In PTC the Fault Management system required
on-line integration with the existing network and
service inventories. Accordingly, the collected
alarms regarding network elements were addi-
tionally mapped to particular services in order to
reflect and present their actual state. As for the
presentation of gathered data, a sophis ticated
alarm visualization interface was provided. It is
capable of presenting both current as well as his-
torical alarms. Apart from displaying a plain list
of alarms, it is possible to use maps to visualize
the status of the net work infrastructure as well as
services. The system offers a GIS map based visu-
alization, a logical and hierarchical layout as well
as a floor plan view of the network and the faulty
elements within. This detailed view enables users
to obtain a maximum amount of information on
the exact location of faulty elements that can be
further passed onto members of technical crews
in order to speed up repairs.
Additionally, PTC was provided with an advanced
reporting tool that facilitates performing thorough
network analysis, and consequently taking appro-
priate measures in order to improve the network’s
performance and reliability.
Business and operational benefitsThe crucial benefits following the implementa-
tion of the Comarch Fault Management solution
included:
> improvement of network reliability,
> centralized and unified control across all network
domains,
> quality monitoring of complex services,
Service Management Unit Manager at Technology
Operations Support department
Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC)
At PTC we needed a sophisticated and open Umbrel-
la Management System, which would perform the
central role in our Technology Operations Center.
After the pilot phase with four selected products we
chose Comarch OSS Suite to implement our Fault
Management System. We can recommend Comarch
as a reliable company with professional and expe-
rienced staff. We are convinced that Comarch OSS
Suite is a modern and flexible solution that will en-
able us to achieve rapid time-to-market with next
generation services management.
Dariusz Antoniewicz
Michał Zajączkowski
Comarch SAPosition: OSS Solution Manager
department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
info: Currently responsible for building
up OSS solutions for Comarch customers
> seamless integration with existing systems,
> full automation of fault management tasks,
including correlation and the handling of Trou-
ble Tickets,
> future-proof design (easy adaptation to accom-
modate new management systems).
Thanks to its wide scope of functionalities, Comarch
Fault Management is a sure step to wards better
network management. <
nr 1/2008 (06)
Solutions & Case Studies < 25
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Twilight – the dawn of the new OSS/BSS
Operators are recognizing the market of wireless
Internet more and more often. Business opportu-
nities are evident however the cost of entering
the market is high. With basic Internet access
services, enterprise class OSS/BSS solutions may
become too cumbersome and too expensive.
Perhaps it is a good time to evaluate more
cost-effective alternatives...
technology review [www.comarch.com]
26 > Solutions & Case Studies
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Twilight coverage map2
Twilight Inventory1
What is the reality of the internet today?Will it be shaped by network enthusiasts, as in the
70’s? The romantic era of the Internet pioneers who
established the first BSS has long since passed by.
The Internet during this time was a collection of
links and hosts managed by a group of enthusiasts
– just to note that for the first 10 years of opera-
tions, the network reached 111+ hosts. The first
commercial use of the Internet only happened in
the early 90’s and from then, the domination of
the Internet by large telecoms slowly began. This
process was further enforced by the high costs of
infrastructure and the activity of regulatory offices,
which required telecommunication licenses.
However, in recent years we have seen changes
shake the telecommunication market. Deregula-
tion efforts, the availability of unlicensed band-
width and widely available inexpensive transmis-
sion equipment spawned numerous enterprises
investing in wireless Internet access networks. They
can be compared to the early Internet enthusiasts,
exploiting new technologies and a DIY approach
in order to built alternative infrastructures. They
cover each fragment of space not yet occupied by
large providers and provide both bandwidth, for
those who simply can’t have Internet from other
sources, and competitive access, for those who
just like to have a choice.
WiSP – easy money?The idea of running a WISP may be compelling, and
starting the business may indeed be smooth and
promising. It is quite easy to setup the first antenna,
get a few customers and a broadband uplink etc.
However, the trouble begins when you have tens
of access points, hundreds of customers, when you
start contemplating value added services and per-
haps VoIP. It is precisely then that a simple invoic-
ing application mixed with MRTG and manual, CLI-
based management will not work. There are too
many devices, there are too many invoices to print,
and you simply don’t know what is going on in your
network. It’s the time for another investment.
What you need is OSS/BSS software, and as usual
when you want to find something, you entrust the
task to your friends named Google... Voila! You’ve
just found a bunch of advanced systems, with
excellent references, ready to go! There’s nothing
better you could dream of!
tailored to the needs of your business, rather than
a sophisticated enterprise-class OSS/BSS suite pre-
pared to meet all the challenges of the global tele-
com industry. You can spend perhaps a few bucks
per customer in order to automate payment pro-
cesses, perform simple invoicing and optimize your
network management. And you don’t want to wait
3-8 months to have it installed and configured. You
are looking for something different.
Value for the moneyAfter some research, a handful of enquiries and a
few presentations from ambitious sales represen-
tatives, you end up with the feeling that the 6-digit
price tag attached to the solution and the several
months of system implementation are something
you simply cannot afford. It seems like everyone
offers you a heavy-duty, 18-wheeler Mack Truck,
when you could just as well get by with a Ford
pickup. You are looking for a simplified product,
nr 1/2008 (06)
Solutions & Case Studies < 27
Twilight of the gods – RagnarökIn Norse mythology, Ragnarök (“Twilight of the
Gods”) is the battle at the end of the world. It will
be waged between the Æsir, led by Odin, and the
various forces of the Jötnar, including Loki. Not only
will most of the gods, giants and creatures involved
in this apocalyptic conflagration perish, but almost
everything in the universe will be torn asunder. In
Viking warrior societies, dying in battle is the high-
est honor a man can attain. One earns an afterlife in
Hell by dying in bed. One earns a place in Valhalla by
dying, with honor, in battle. This is carried over into
the worship of a pantheon in which the gods them-
selves will one day die in battle at Ragnarök.
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
OSS/BSS TwilightThis is where Comarch Twilight comes in handy.
This product built in a lightweight, flexible architec-
ture supporting OSA and ESB architectures, offers
all the functionality necessary for running small
and medium WISPs while maintaining excellent
TCO per subscriber, making it affordable for virtu-
ally any enterprise. Based on 10 years of OSS/BSS
production experience, Twilight has been care-
fully designed to meet the demands of small and
medium WISPs – including:
> support for the most important OSS/BSS areas,
> Performance Management (with a look & feel
similar to the popular MRTG tool),
> Fault Management & Trouble Ticketing,
> Flexible, lightweight inventory,
> interactive network coverage/status map,
> Customer Care portal,
> Self Care portal,
> billing & invoicing,
> pre-integrated payment gateway,
> online charging (allowing for pay-per-use, pay-
per-minute charging),
> support for VoIP integration (pre-integrated soft-
switch, PBX),
Twilight Customer Care3
Michał Przybylski
Comarch SAPosition: Telco Consultant
department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
info: Michal works as a consultant and
product manager in Telecommunication
Business Unit
> low hardware requirements (the basic version,
without online charging, can run on virtually any
home PC),
> short integration time (approx. 2 weeks in most
cases),
> limited 3rd party licenses (Oracle SE One required
for online charging).
Why Twilight?The advantage of Twilight over traditional OSS/
BSS systems lies in the fact that it is probably the
only product offering tightly coupled OSS and BSS
while at the same time is affordable for small and
medium WISPs. Tailored to the needs of WISPs with
multiple pre-configured features, yet flexible and
affordable, Twilight seems to be a good support for
any modern WISP. Thanks to ESB integration it can
be easily upgraded, module by module if need be,
as your business grows. There is no need for large
investments – you can pay as needed as you grow,
rather than spending a fortune upfront with the
hope that it will not ruin your business.
More information about Twilight can be found
at http://twilight.comarch.com <
technology review [www.comarch.com]
28 > Solutions & Case Studies
Trends & Strategies < 29
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Comarch eSB > True SOa
> a case of empowered integration
The enterprise Service Bus conceptEnterprise Service Bus is often used as a market-
ing term, a modern catch-phrase (not a standard!)
describing the architecture designed for easy and
efficient systems integration. While there is great
interest in such systems, ESB remains a relatively
uncommon integration solution for contemporary
telecommunication systems.
Comarch Enterprise Service Bus (also called
Comarch ESB) is Comarch’s contribution to the
main body of ESB implementations. Comarch
ESB has been thought of as middleware software
responsible for communication between individual
components of complex, heterogeneous and often
geographically distributed systems. The original
assumption of Comarch ESB was to allow seam-
less communication between components work-
ing in different environments and exploiting dif-
ferent interfaces by using an event-driven engine
and message transmission mechanisms.
Technically speaking, ESB enables the effective
communication of software components by pro-
viding common interfaces, abstracting the called
functions and services and decoupling them from
the transport medium.
Basic functionalityDescribing all the functions of Comarch ESB would
exceed the limits of this magazine. As much is inher-
ited from common ESB architecture, there are sig-
nificant amounts of related reading on the Inter-
net. In this article, we would like to focus on the
most important ones, including those specific to
the Comarch solution:
> mediation – Comarch ESB can accept messages
in virtually any format and translate them to
the internal format to be further used for mes-
sage processing; functional components of the
Comarch solution are, by default, equipped with
Easy and effective integration – a myth or a real
business requirement? Enterprise Service Bus is
mature enough to enhance integration processes
by introducing: faster deployment, transparent
communication, control and scalability. Yet a solu-
tion integrated using ESB remains open to other
components, not necessarily originating from
the same vendor. This ensures enterprise busi-
ness security and the independence of suppliers.
nr 1/2008 (06)
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
> virtual services – the system allows the creation
of virtual, complex services built with basic func-
tions provided by integrated components;
> enhanced large data management mechanisms
– this is a functionality designed for the telecom-
munication environment; it increases the effec-
tiveness of large data transfer by decoupling
transport and transport control functions.
Real world scenarioComarch ESB has been selected as the basic inte-
gration component of a complex, next-generation
Fraud Detection System realized by the European
consortium of research organizations within the
research project called Misuse Detection System*,
co-financed by the European Community. The proj-
ect is managed by Comarch and supported by a
large Polish mobile service provider.
The main objective of the system is to provide
innovative AI technologies for streamlining analysis
and correlation of mass telecommunication data.
The analysis ultimately results in the detection and
localization of new fraud (very broadly defined,
from unusual subscriber behavior to odd network
alarms patterns and more generally known forms
of misuse). This objective is achieved by creating
several AI-empowered systems, concurrently pro-
cessing and correlating the real network.
ChallengeThe challenge of the integration task is due to the
fact that each organization has developed their
module using technologies related to their exper-
tise. As such, it is no wonder that the Fault Man-
agement (FM) and Performance Management
(PM) parts are written in Java, the Fraud Detec-
tion (FD) module is provided in C++ while the GUI
has been developed in .Net technology. To add to
the complexity, the solution integrates the existing
Comarch Matrix system (performance, alarms, SLA
management) and a mass data repository (CDRs,
alarms, performance data).
Integration of such a system is anything but a
straightforward task. We have faced many chal-
lenges:
(*) The MDS project is a research project co-financed
by the European Commission. The goal of the proj-
ect is to research innovative techniques for misuse
detection in telecommunication networks.
Project partners include:
TZI - Universität Bremen (DE),
Bournemouth University (UK),
University of Bradford (UK),
Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PL),
Comarch (PL)
an ESB interface and a set of basic functions
required for integration;
> persistent and reliable message delivery –
Comarch ESB is compatible with a variety of mes-
saging engines, supporting ActiveMQ, SonicMQ,
JBossMQ, FioranoMQ, IBM WebSphereMQ, etc.
> flexible invocation models – synchronous, asyn-
chronous, one-way, unicast/multicast communi-
cation is supported;
technology review [www.comarch.com]
30 > Trends & Strategies
Figure 1 Sample eSB integration
ORACLEAQ
BS Work Flow Self Care
CorelationIn
TransformerOut
Transformer
Inbound Router
Outbound router
OracleAQ provider
CorelationIn
TransformerOut
Transformer
Inbound Router
Outbound router
In Transformer
Inbound Router
3rd party CRM
SOAP providerX provider
Inbound Router
Outbound router
Virtual Service
3rd party CRM
CorelationIn
TransformerOut
Transformer
Inbound Router
Outbound router
Hibernate provider
CorelationIn
TransformerOut
Transformer
Inbound Router
Outbound router
RMI provider
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Figure 2 eSB message passing and Virtual Service concept
COMARCH ESB
Message Broker System
System monitoring
& management
GUI
FMS DB FM AI
Hea
rtbe
at
Hea
rtbe
at
ESB plugin
FD/BP AI
Hea
rtbe
at
ESB plugin
Hea
rtbe
at
PM AI
Hea
rtbe
at
ESB plugin
Matrix Alarm Repository
Virtual Service [3]
Bulk data download & upload
ESB pluginESB plugin [1]
Check for
Data [5]
Create learning
set [6] Start learning using learning set [7]
SOaP [2]
Start learning process [4]
Return learning status [8]
Large data handling
Michał Przybylski
Comarch SAPosition: Telco Consultant
department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
info: Michal works as a consultant and
product manager in Telecommunication
Business Unit
> heterogeneity of operating systems (both Win-
dows and Linux machines were in use),
> heterogeneous interfaces (each team imple-
mented interfaces to their specifications, using
selected technology. No common interface speci-
fication has been mandated),
> geographical distribution of the teams and their
operating environment,
> individual communication concepts (synchro-
nous, asynchronous...).
This environment is particularly interesting in an
ESB implementation, since it very closely resem-
bles the heterogeneous environment of a typical
telecom operator.
The solutionESB has become the communication core of the
system. The ESB plugin[1] has been developed for
each integrated system in order to translate the
original commands from native system interfaces
to internal ESB message format. While a majority of
the systems require the development of dedicated
plugins, the GUI will communicate with other sys-
tems using the standard SOAP[2] plugin.
Plugins are also responsible for registering and
monitoring components’ health (including the so
called heartbeats). Another type of plugin is the
“virtual service”[3] plugin, which is usually devel-
oped during integration and provides high level
functions to external systems.
Figure 2 illustrates this case: GUI analytics define
a high level command called “Start learning pro-
cess”[4]. They do not care how this function is per-
formed by other systems. The resulting process is
that the GUI will issue this command to the integra-
tion bus. The message containing this request will
be routed internally and forwarded to the appro-
priate plugin, where the internal plugin’s logic [3]
decomposes it into the following set of commands
(executed asynchronously):
> check if data is available[5],
> create learning set[6],
> start learning process on a particular learning
set[7].
The aforementioned actions are managed by the
virtual service plugin, and upon completion, the
plugin returns the high level operation results to
the GUI[8].
Comarch ESB is also equipped with a Large Data
Handling plugin, which optimizes the manipula-
tion of bulk file transfers. This is a function typical
for a Telco environment, which ensures that mas-
sive amounts of data (such as Call Details Records,
raw performance data, etc.) are serviced using a
dedicated channel rather than the general ESB
mechanisms. <
nr 1/2008 (06)
Trends & Strategies < 31
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
next-generation TVThe revolution of user experience
Next-generation television is approaching! It
is time to stop being merely a Network Opera-
tor and time to become a Multimedia Service
Enabler. This article shows how IPTV works and
discusses the business model that lies behind it.
technology review [www.comarch.com]
32 > Trends & Strategies
Figure 1 global iPTV Subscriber Forecast Figure 2 global iPTV Service Revenue Forecast
aSia eUROPe nORTH aMeRiCa
Mil
lio
ns
Bil
lio
ns
$
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
15
10
5
02006 2007 2008 2009 2010
60
40
20
0
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
many years have passed since peo-
ple bought their first televi-
sion set. This not so trivial device has come a long
way since then. Progress over the last couple of
years has been significant. Current TVs have so-
phisticated hardware inside them and offer a large,
colorful and high-quality picture. TVs are no longer
only content receivers – they can be enriched via
the use of IP Set-Top Boxes (IP-STBs). With an STB it
is possible to offer premium services to subscrib-
ers and extend beyond the capabilities of stand-
alone TV’s.
With the growth of IP network capacity, a new
business model has emerged by way of connect-
ing an STB directly to a broadband DSL connection
delivering Internet access to homes. This with the
addition of Voice-over-IP (VOIP) services is referred
to as triple-play. Due to this concept, cable TV oper-
ators are in a position to provide full triple-play
services over a single cable. IP-based transmission
offers very advanced, versatile and interesting
possibilities from a subscriber’s point of view. For
example, operators can offer a whole multitude
of interactive services extending QoE (Quality of
Experience) and thus raise the attractiveness of
its service offerings.
TV & PC MarriageA TV equipped with an STB is therefore a device
capable of not only being used for displaying mov-
ies and channels. Nowadays an STB and its IP coun-
terpart, an IP-STB are fully-equipped computers.
They feature an advanced operating system, pow-
erful 2D and growing 3D graphics support, 802.11g/
n and Gigabit network hardware and often even
a hard disk drive (HDD). Many are controlled by
Figure 3 The iPTV Business Model
advertising Companies
CommisionCommision
ad Slots ad Slots
Copyright institutions
COnTenT & SeRViCeS
Content Providers
Content Aggregators
TV Broadcasters
Service Providers
deliVeRY
DSL Operators
Cable TV Providers
Mobile Operators
Payments
Content
Commision
Copy Rights
Commision
Content
nr 1/2008 (06)
Trends & Strategies < 33
Figure 4 an example of a simplified iPTV infrastructure
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
a remote controller, but optionally may be used
in conjunction with a wireless keyboard.
infotainment Within the near future, IPTV will become the center
of home entertainment. Combined benefits from
large screens, network capabilities, application
programming and high-quality content provide
unlimited possibilities for IPTV application devel-
opers and service providers.
Many video-based interactive, revenue generat-
ing services can be implemented, for example:
> Information portals,
> Online Shops,
> Lotteries ,
> Gambling,
> Multiplayer Games,
> Home-banking.
Future possibilities will enable users to share their
documents, photos and music with others. They
will also be able to create their own TV channels
and broadcast them to an open or closed group of
friends. People will be able to participate in inter-
active TV shows just by sitting in front of their
screen.
Another interesting issue is IPTV-based gaming.
We can predict select IP-STB’s eventually converg-
ing into gaming capable consoles or becoming
a gateway to powerful multiplayer online gaming.
Payments for such games can utilize the pay-per-
play billing model.
Market forecastsAccording to the IPTV Global Forecast 2006-2010
published by Multimedia Research Group, the num-
ber of global IPTV subscribers will grow from 8 mil-
lion in 2006 to above 50 million in 2010. The com-
pound annual growth rate is expected at 58%.
The figure above shows that the estimated
global IPTV revenue forecast was about $1.7 bil-
lion in 2006 and is expected to grow to $12.8 bil-
lion in 2010.
The report suggests that prospects for IPTV in
Asia have resulted in a higher forecast as compared
to that of North America, due to the significant
delays of IPTV deployments in the United States.
In the second figure we see that Asia is generating
lower revenue due to lower average prices.
We can distinguish three basic entities in the
IPTV business model: the Subscriber, the Opera-
tor and the Content Provider. In addition, optional
entities may be Advertising Companies or Service
Providers. We depict these and the flow of money
and content in the attached figure, which details
the business model.
How to startWhat is required to launch IPTV?
> Set-Top Boxes,
> A well-designed network infrastructure,
> Video Distribution hardware,
> Content,
> Services.
The process of launching IPTV services on a net-
work includes: deciding what will be offered to
subscribers, the analysis of network capabilities to
define necessary changes that need to be applied
in order to fully support high-quality video trans-
mission but also redesign and rebuild the existing
network infrastructure, deployment of the neces-
sary IPTV hardware and finally the launch of the
service.
IPTV service delivery requires an Internet Group
Management Protocol (IGMP) enabled network
infrastructure. This is necessary for delivering mul-
ticast transmissions between video servers and
IP-STB’s. Unicast is the sending of data to a single
destination or node. In contrast, multicast is the
delivery of data to a group of destination nodes
simultaneously instead of individually in a sequen-
tial manner. This makes for more efficient use of
network bandwidth. A variety of core and tree
based multicast routing protocols exist to enable
this paradigm.
technology review [www.comarch.com]
34 > Trends & Strategies
interactive Services
Signal encoder
Service & Content Management System
Vod Server
Streaming Server
BSS/OSS
VOiP
iP Set-Top Box
dSl Modem
Computer
Phone
TV
Figure 5 examples of interactive iPTV-based services
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Łukasz luzar
Comarch SAPosition: Product Manager
department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
info: Currently responsible for two
products in VAS area: Comarch Next
Generation TV and Comarch Convergent
Services Platform
Most IPTV services therefore utilize multicast
transmissions for delivering broadcast data to
a group of IP-STB’s, these normally grouped by
locality or type and identified via their unique IP
address. Unicast is however used for delivering
Video-on-Demand services.
The phenomenon of convergenceWhen viewing the above devices, we notice the dif-
ferences between them constantly fading i.e. most
devices now include a colorful screen, extended
keyboard or control input functionality and ever
powerful microprocessors to power new and excit-
ing application paradigms. Most of them also sup-
port multiple wireless or cable data transmission
and thus enable the implementation of video based
services. Of course there are limitations between
them such as connection bandwidth capability and
screen size and resolution - but these will gradually
be overcome and from a CTO perspective, video ser-
vices are de facto deliverable to both mobile and
home users. The Return On Investment (ROI) which
stems from businesses pursuing this opportunity
holds potential.
What about the future?Judging by the progress made in mobile technolo-
gies and growing network bandwidth, we may pre-
dict that in the not so distant future, existing solu-
tions will converge and the role of an IP-STB may
be equally handled by a smartphone.
Such IP-STB equivalent could be wirelessly con-
nected to a large screen or a video headset. Notice
that despite the device changing, the business
model and opportunities remain the same. There
is a definite future for businesses which decide to
take on IPTV as part of their portfolio.
ConclusionsIPTV provides network operators with an excellent
opportunity to make their business more profit-
able. Generating revenue from the delivery of inter-
active services and interesting content requires
cooperation with an entire network of IPTV com-
panies. Consequently, it is very important to work
with an experienced partner who has both the
knowledge and vision to succeed. <
nr 1/2008 (06)
Trends & Strategies < 35
Personal TV-page services Telemedicine services
Multiplayer games – an example based on SecondLife.com
Interactive TV shows with gambling“UEFA EURO 2012 is trademark of Union of European Football Associations. It was used only for illustration purpose”
Home-banking services
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Service-Centric OSS The first step of next generation OSS transformation
Today, we see an increasing level of changes in
the telecommunications environment. We see a
major shift from traditional, heavy architecture to
next generation networks, with the service layer
separated from the networking equipment. This
change enables telecom providers to quickly and
easily introduce new services to get subscribers’
attention. As a result, the telecommunication ser-
vices market is getting more and more dynamic.
technology review [www.comarch.com]
36 > Trends & Strategies
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
everyday we can see
new emerg-
ing services, and service lifecycles are getting short-
er. This situation introduces new requirements for
Operations Support Systems. Only tools that are
flexible enough to keep pace with the reality of dy-
namically changing service management are able
to help an operator manage this live environment
of network resources and services.
The challengeThe move from traditional architecture into a next-
generation telecommunications network intro-
duces additional problems into network manage-
ment and operation. In the traditional architecture,
services provided were embedded in the network-
ing equipment. Analysis of services was easy and
straightforward. But in modern networks, services
are no longer associated with a single device in the
network. Instead, each service is composed from
resources provided by many devices operating
within the network. Introduction of multi-layer
network architecture simplifies the development
and introduction of advanced services, but hides
the relationship between services provided and
network resources used.
In the case of a telephone switch failure, manual
identification of affected customers and services
was feasible. All customers directly connected to
the affected ports were cut off from the voice ser-
vice. In a next generation network, the relationship
between the equipment and provided services is
much less straightforward. In the case of an edge
router failure, it is not a simple task to determine
which services are affected by this failure. Ser-
vices offered over an IP network can vary, from
basic residential Internet access, to highly critical
IP VPN for enterprise customers. Since these ser-
vices are not provided directly by the edge router
itself, it is usually difficult to quickly determine
the set of affected services. As these are the ser-
vices that are sold directly to the subscriber, the
quantity and importance of the affected services
usually determines the severity of the network fail-
ure. Therefore in a next generation network, exact
information about the service state is essential for
network management and operation. With more
advanced services offered, the structure of services
can become even more complicated.
Service ModelingIn a modern telecom network, services are becom-
ing increasingly separated from particular devices
operating in the network. Therefore, network-level
information is not sufficient for quick and effi-
cient evaluation of provided services. While ser-
vices are becoming more complicated, network-
level information, while still necessary, is becoming
less relevant to the service condition. It is no lon-
ger sufficient to analyze the performance of each
device separately. While the amount of informa-
tion collected from network devices is sufficient
to describe the condition of a network, it is not
Figure 1 Service-Centric OSS in the eTOM Business Processes Model
eTOM Model – Operatoins area
Customer Relationship Management
Service Management & Operations
Resource Management & Operations
Supplier/Partner Relationship Management
BSS
Service – Centric OSS
BSS
Figure 2 Handling a customer complaint in a traditional and Service-Centric environment
Helpdesk
Network Service – Centric OSS
Helpdesk
Network Resource – Centric OSS
?
Internet service interrupted for customer John Smith Internet service interrupted for customer John Smith
Internet service interrupted for user John Smith caused by Router WRT-385, port 162 failed
Router WRT-385, port 162 failed
nr 1/2008 (06)
Trends & Strategies < 37
Małgorzata Kwatera
Comarch SAPosition: OSS Solution Manager
department: Telecommunications
Sector
info: Currently responsible for building
up solutions for Comarch customers,
she also takes part in major implementa-
tions of Comarch’s OSS/BSS systems
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
ture and resources used directly into the network
management system. When the structure of the
services is kept in the network management sys-
tem as a part of the system knowledge, network
management is able to automatically analyze the
state and performance of the services using net-
work level data received from the fault manage-
ment and performance management system.
Service inventory has been a part of operators’
management systems for some time. But the addi-
tional value provided by service modeling is in its
ability to associate services with resources used,
and to analyze the internal structure of each ser-
vice. The service modeling approach is based on the
systems used in the IT environment, adapted to the
needs of telecom operators. With the introduction
of all-IP networks and IMS as the cornerstones of
new generation networks, telecom services have
become more similar to services provided by com-
puter networks.
Service-Centric OSS vs. eTOMService-Centric OSS can be mapped into several
applications from the enhanced Telecom Opera-
tions Map (eTOM). The solution operates in two lay-
ers: Resources and Services, and interfaces with BSS
in order to provide seamless integration with the
supplier/partner management, customer manage-
ment and product management layers. Thus, Ser-
vice-Centric OSS enables filling in the gap between
the network and the business as detailed in Fig-
ure 1. Real life advantages from the Service-Cen-
tric OSS architecture can be seen in the scenarios
described below.
Scenario 1: Incident Management
Within a traditional, resource-centric OSS approach,
when a complaint about a service disruption is
received from a customer, network operators have
to analyze the structure of the affected service and
check each utilized network element for poten-
tial problems. Previously, when offered services
were static and relatively simple, it was possible
to quickly analyze the condition of a specific ser-
vice based on the system operator’s experience. In
today’s world, telecom services are far more com-
plicated and change on a monthly basis. Therefore,
it is impossible for the operator to analyze the ser-
vice structure and condition without the help of a
network management system (Figure 2). Service-
Centric OSS enables online business impact analy-
sis of network failures, problem prioritization as a
function of business value and SLA monitoring.
Figure 2 Handling a customer complaint in a tradi-
tional and Service-Centric environment
Scenario 2: Service Activation
Service-Centric OSS enables end-to-end control over
the service activation process (Figure 3). Checking
resource availability, resource reservation, ser-
vice activation and initiation of monitoring are
all subtasks of the same end-to-end process. With
a flexible data model that enables the creation
of new service templates on-the-fly, the service
activation process can be accelerated in order to
keep pace with the requirements of customers no
longer content to wait for their services to be up
and running. <
directly usable for monitoring the service condi-
tion. The system operator is simply overwhelmed
by the amount of network-level information and
is unable to see the big picture and know the con-
dition of the services directly from the network
management system.
The only solution for this requirement is to inte-
grate service modeling in the network monitoring
system. The main aim of the service modeling sys-
tem is to put knowledge regarding service struc-
Figure 3 Service activation in a Service-Centric OSS environment
Request ReceivedCheck Resource
AvilabilityCreate Order Reserve Resources
Create Customer Account
Activate Service
Notify Customer
Start Service Monitoring
Service – centric OSS
Service Database
Resource Database
technology review [www.comarch.com]
38 > Trends & Strategies
Learn more at
oss4.comarch.com
We are currently in the dawn of a new era in telecom-munications. Introduction of Next Generation Networks and growing market competitiveness is forcing opera-tors to extend their offer with more sophisticated and attractive services at lower prices. OSS systems are the most essential enablers of success for this new strategy. Short time to market and high quality of service can not be achieved without cutting-edge process driven OSS infrastructure. Understanding these trends, Comarch is launching a 4th version of its OSS Suite. The new version builds upon experiences acquired through numerous
projects over the past 15 years. The main objectives for the new version include management via layers of in-formation and implementation of eTOM and ITIL-based processes. In moving OSS capabilities to the next level, Comarch offers standardized process based management of utilized resources and provided services. Comarch OSS Suite 4 will provide a unique way to manage and monitor services directly from the OSS level, enabling operators to effectively operate in new market conditions.
Speed up the operational process
Comarch oss suite 4
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Learn more at
crmtelecoms.comarch.com
Comarch CRM for Telecoms is a comprehensive customer relationship management solution for operators as well as MVNOs who need to execute marketing campaigns in a structured and cost-effective manner, drive sales towards stable revenue growth and deliver a seamless customer experience across multiple customer service channels. Comarch CRM for Telecoms provides a unique breadth of CRM functionality, with BI-enabled modules
for sales, marketing and customer service, in a single, integrated suite. The built-in Business Intelligence pro-vides contextual hints and drill-in dashboards, support-ing timely and knowledge-driven decisions. Unlike the one-size-fits-all solutions from traditional vendors, our lean and flexible solution was designed to fit your exist-ing data models and help express your processes with a built-in workflow engine.
Become truly customer-centric
Comarch Crm for telecoms