PARIS, FRANCE - March 11, 2007 - Enterprise customers want better control of their sprawling fixed and mobile voice/data networks - and they want the carriers to get the problem sorted. Service providers have answered the call with managed IP services, and Current Analysis provides a wide-ranging, in-depth Solutions Assessment of the leading global carriers' Managed IP Services capabilities. This latest analytic component focuses on the carriers' ability to provide customers with near-real-time management capabilities, by integrating their OSS/BSS capabilities to support user-friendly front-end customer portals.
The Current Analysis' mapping of the five global operators' progress highlights major differences in how they approach the task. The following table is a subset of the data points available in the full Current Analysis report:
Carrier: AT&T Current Analysis Perspective: Very Threatening Platform Name: BusinessDirect & IGEMS Availability: 88 countries Comments: AT&T has spent over $250 million on developing its BusinessDirect portal and iGEMS back-end engine over the past ten years. Its wide range of functions and the ability to adapt to the customer's managed IP services profile and the existing preferred network management platform, puts it at the head of the league table.
Carrier: Verizon Business Current Analysis Perspective: Threatening Platform Name: VBCC & IMPACT Availability: 142 countries Comments: The hottest challenge comes from the new Verizon Business Customer Center delivering deep monitoring and management solution to its customers across the range of Verizon Business IP services as well as rapid fault analysis and repair capabilities based on inputs from some 50 support tools.
Carrier: Orange Business Services Current Analysis Perspective: Threatening Platform Name: WebVision Availability: 220 countries Comments: Orange Business Services provides the widest global footprint for its portal, as well as the most advanced end-to-end application based SLA service. Going forward OBS must develop a lighter end-to-end application monitoring solution at a lower price point without the need for a large professional services staff.
Carrier: BT Global Services Current Analysis Perspective: Competitive Platform Name: VBC & AAI Management Centre Availability: 95 countries Comments: The BT Global Services Virtual Business Centre (VBC) offering covers the whole range of BT IP services and can be tailored to individual customer requirements, but remains a fragmented offering despite the new My Account thin portal. Customers are provided with a wide range of choices, but no clear assurance that what they chose optimally fulfills their needs.
Carrier: T-Systems Current Analysis Perspective: Vulnerable Platform Name: FlexSolutions & point solutions Availability: 50+ countries Comments: The T-Systems FlexSolutions portal provides a limited range of capabilities, lacking interactivity. It measures network parameters to improve the transparency of contract SLAs, but the monitor-only approach of FlexSolutions requires customers to utilize other ways of managing their overall corporate networks.
Additional findings include the following:
- The carrier services supported are consistently VPN, VoIP and DIA (Dedicated Intern Access) whereas Ethernet and managed Contact Centers are not on yet. Connections to security services are also widespread mostly through links to a separate security platform or via a second set of log-on procedures. Some carriers also provide a medium level of secure access for MAC (Moves, Adds & Change) functions.
- Applications performance and user controlled MAC tasks along with historical data, billing and ordering functions are also widespread, whereas integration with 3rd party applications is still limited, but becoming increasing important as carriers transition their major business customers' networks to their IP infrastructures.
