Viavi and Brocade deliver scalable subscriber data analytics solution for mobile operators

Viavi Solutions and Brocade has announced a joint solution that enables mobile operators to capture and analyse subscriber data to quickly resolve quality of experience (QoE) issues.

An industry-first solution, Viavi’s xSIGHT Targeted Subscriber Search (TSS) leverages the Brocade Packet Broker and Brocade Session Director to filter and deliver targeted subscriber traffic so only the data required to resolve customer experience problems is forwarded to xSIGHT TSS. In addition to significantly reducing resolution time for QoE issues, the solution enables mobile operators to open up opportunities for new value-added services.

Viavi and Brocade developed this highly scalable solution to dynamically optimise the visibility of mobile networks. The joint solution is in production at a U.S. Tier-1 mobile operator to help provide better QoE to their subscribers and enable new premium services.

As subscribers increase network usage through more diverse devices and applications, the conditions for optimal QoE become more complex and unpredictable. Mobile operators are trying to improve the subscriber experience by allocating network resources based on application-specific requirements.

This approach requires rapid analysis of network performance and subscriber QoE. Gathering data in trace files for full seven-layer analysis can take hours for each subscriber via traditional assurance systems. This length of time makes proper analysis prohibitively difficult as the capture received may no longer be relevant.

The xSIGHT TSS and Brocade Packet Broker address this operational inefficiency by targeting specific subscribers — for example, VIPs or corporate customers covered by SLAs — and capturing correlated control and user plane traffic, at a scale applicable to a Tier-1 mobile network.

By reducing the average time spent gathering end-to-end subscriber traces from several hours to minutes, xSIGHT TSS and the Brocade Packet Broker can save mobile carriers up to tens of thousands of labor hours per year.

Kevin Shatzkamer, chief technology officer of mobile networking, Brocade
Kevin Shatzkamer, chief technology officer of mobile networking, Brocade

xSIGHT is Viavi’s customer experience assurance portfolio including an analytics platform fed by agents distributed throughout the network. The agents passively analyse traffic in real time, build network and application performance metrics and selectively store traffic for troubleshooting purposes. xSIGHT TSS is an agent which can be programmed to capture all control and user plane data for targeted subscribers defined by the service provider.

The Brocade Packet Broker helps to scale the capacity of the xSIGHT solution to thousands of dynamically targeted subscribers per TSS, with programmability of all dynamic rules and filters with less than 1 ms latency, a critical requirement for today’s mobile provider networks.

“As mobile operators chart the course to 5G and re-architect their networks to software-based, virtualised, and open New IP architectures, their visibility and analytics infrastructure needs to follow suit,” said Kevin Shatzkamer, chief technology officer of mobile networking, Brocade.

“With solutions from Brocade and Viavi, mobile subscribers can rest assured that networks are monitored, key performance indicators are measured, and service level agreements are provided to meet their growing need for reliable mobile communications. This allows operators to efficiently manage the consumption of Internet and video services as well as Internet of Things and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections.”

“Network traffic is pushing mobile service providers to the limits of technology and human capabilities, and they are seeking efficiency in order to maximise productivity of their resources,” said Sameh Yamany, chief technology officer, Viavi Solutions.

“To stay ahead of the compounding challenges in front of the industry, an ecosystem approach becomes increasingly essential. We are delighted to collaborate with Brocade in this successful implementation with one of the world’s largest carriers.”

Comment on this article below or via Twitter: @ VanillaPlus OR @jcvplus

RECENT ARTICLES

Phoenix Tower International gains investment from Grain and BlackRock

Posted on: March 29, 2024

Phoenix Tower International (PTI) has announced that Grain Management (Grain), through its flagship funds, and BlackRock, through a fund managed by its Diversified Infrastructure business (BlackRock) have made an investment

Read more

Connectbase expands baltic connectivity with Bitė partnership

Posted on: March 28, 2024

Connectbase has announced the addition of Bitė to its ecosystem. This partnership marks a step forward in enhancing connectivity options within the Baltic region, providing a link between local and

Read more