LONDON — Worldwide communications service providers (CSPs) that are installing next-generation fibre access networks are increasingly relying on Telcordia for their network design and management needs. Sonaecom, Portugal’s leading provider in the telecommunications, broadband and media market, is the latest operator to select Telcordia for a national Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) rollout, designed to serve more than one million homes.

For Sonaecom, the key to reducing the cost, complexity and time to market for its broadband installation is Telcordia’s suite of network planning and engineering solutions, including Telcordia® Network Engineer, a geospatial network management system that enables comprehensive design, documentation and management of the physical network and its associated inventory.

Sonaecom initially deployed Telcordia Network Engineer in 2001 and uses it to support a €240 million (US$354 million) FTTH network expansion that will be available to more than 2.6 million Portuguese residents by 2011. Through Network Engineer, Sonaecom will track network inventory all the way to the customer residence, eliminating the time and cost of performing those tasks separately in a computer-aided-design (CAD) system.

Eliminating redundant CAD systems is just one of the ways that CSPs use Telcordia Network Engineer to support major network transformation projects. For example, in its FTTH rollout, a European company reduced planning time by 80 percent by using Network Engineer to automate network design and connection tasks.

“For CSPs worldwide, the decision to deploy broadband is easy. It is the execution that is daunting,” said Bill Wanke, President, Operations Solutions, Telcordia. “Telcordia helps operators during every step of their network transformation, from planning through provisioning, to ensure a fast, efficient rollout for even the most complex deployments. By providing deep, actionable insights into their network inventory and its capabilities, Telcordia gives CSPs the measurable performance improvements that are must-haves at a time when competition and access to capital are tougher than ever.”

“Sonaecom remains steadfast in its commitment to provide market-differentiating services, and Telcordia Network Engineer has proven itself in our network to the point that it was a natural choice to expand it to our FTTH rollout,” said Artur Loureiro, CIO Sonaecom. “By modelling our entire fibre network with Network Engineer, we can now provision millions of FTTH subscribers quickly and cost-effectively, accelerating service adoption and time to revenue.”

The growing number of Network Engineer implementations reflects the general willingness on the part of CSPs to invest heavily in FTTx despite the current economic downturn.

“Smart service providers realise that an economic slump can be the best time to invest in the technologies that will determine their financial and competitive positions long after the recession has ended,” said Vince Vittore, principal analyst for Yankee Group. “That is why operators such as AT&T, Free and Telefónica Spain, as well as the governments of Australia, Greece and the United States, are each investing billions in aggressive broadband build-outs that will reshape their companies and countries for the next decade. Operators must learn from prior mistakes in the broadband market where they didn't have enough capacity to support rapid uptake.”

Source: Telcordia