With regards to mounting service level management issues and challenges cable providers are facing, TM Forum has captured the pain points and more importantly—plausible solutions to the problem.  Among issues raised, MSOs need:

• A better way to quickly identify issues and root causes of video impairments.
• To properly gauge comparative quality of source video to allow for quality concerns to be documented and escalated to the source content video providers.
• To allow more insight into end-to-end video services.
• The ability to build and manage to “service levels” across the video supply chain (e.g. ingress to edge).

These bullets may seem to be a “matter of fact” but the reality is, with today’s converged systems, it’s extremely difficult to properly manage the all the critical components that impact service availability and quality — unless you have a unified method to do so. And it’s this unique method that Monolith will be showcasing at this year’s TM Forum in Orlando, Florida, November 9^th through the 11^th.

We call it the Unified Presentation Layer, a unique method to unify IT infrastructure management for service providers. The new approach properly addresses service visibility issues that cable providers are currently attempting to cure with their aging framework architectures and lack of a common interface and database. We have seen this situation many times.

Service providers are extending their portfolios and entering new markets. For example, XO Communications is targeting Verizon; DSL is now IPTV; and cellular is now ISP, video, SMS, and more.  It’s next to impossible to manage new services pumped out by a tangled IT infrastructure web, overseen by a combination of homegrown OSS platforms and enterprise management solutions.  The current management silos do not align with new converged services model. The good news is there is a better way to holistically view the service delivery vis-à-vis comprehensive service level management software.

The Unified Presentation Layer approach offers realtime dashboarding and service level monitoring to allow MSO’s the ability to rise above discrete faults or events in order to see how the various service indicators – video MOS, discontinuity, latency, jitter, bit rates, etc. are behaving across the service delivery tree to more accurately identify issues affecting service quality.

As an added bonus, the solution allows service providers to leverage their existing infrastructure, enhance new converged services and/or retire current management solutions at their own pace.

Delivering new, high-quality converged services are paramount to a service providers’ success — and to create happy customers.  After all, nobody wants to wait from 8 am to 3 pm for a service truck to arrive and troubleshoot a problem — especially when the solution can be pinpointed and fixed, if not entirely avoided, right from the home office.