Service assurance

Areas covered

Service assurance encompasses the following:

• Fault and event management
• Performance management
• Probe monitoring
• Quality of service (QoS) management
• Network and service testing
• Network traffic management
• Customer experience management
• Service level agreement (SLA) monitoring
• Trouble ticket management

Adoption

There are many drivers for service assurance adoption, with some considering the most important to be the ability to measure the performance of a service. A subscriber’s service experience quality can be directly linked to customer churn. Therefore, maintaining satisfactory service quality levels is key to creating “customer stickiness.”

Other factors driving growing interest in service assurance include increasing competition, new challenges due to the convergence of networks, services, applications and devices, enabling services over IP and the merging of IT and telecommunications services. But ultimately, it is the CSP’s ability to ensure a satisfactory level of QoS that will have the greatest impact on revenue.

The importance of service performance is also reinforced by research stating that two thirds of subscribers will stop trying a new service after two failed attempts with that service. Therefore, it is increasingly apparent that service assurance tools must be put in place prior to the introduction of a new service if it is to be successful in the market. This is particularly true of deployments of such services as VoIP, IPTV and mobile video.

Service assurance spending by CSPs is forecast to grow to $USD 3.0 billion by 2011. Leading global service assurance providers include InfoVista, VIAVI, TEOCO, Ericsson, nsn, EXFO, MYCOM OSI, Centina, Anritsu, Epitiro, Riverbed Technology, Spirent, Empirix, JumpSoft, Computer Associates, EMC, Telcordia, Tektronix, RADCOM, CENX, Agilent, Cisco, HP, IBM, IBM Tivoli/Netcool and Softenger (I) Pvt Ltd.

References

References

1. [http://www.ossobserver.com/reports/details.cfm?reportID=190 Service Assurance Market Review February 2007, OSS Observer]
2. [http://www.yankeegroup.com/ResearchDocument.do?id=16269 Service Assurance Bridges the Gap Between Reality and Expectation, Part 1: Demand-Side Analysis, Yankee Group]
3. [http://www.ossobserver.com/reports/details.cfm?reportID=190 Service Assurance Market Review February 2007, OSS Observer]
4. [http://www.yankeegroup.com/ResearchDocument.do?id=16675 Anywhere Consumer: 2007 US Communications/Customer Satisfaction Survey, Yankee Group]
5. "Why Service Performance Is the New Measure of Brand Success".
6. [http://www.ossobserver.com/reports/details.cfm?reportID=190 Service Assurance Market Review February 2007, OSS Observer]
7. [https://www.lightreading.com/automation/close-the-loop-to-automate-service-assurance/d/d-id/736163 Close the Loop to Automate Service Assurance September 2017, Light Reading]
8. [http://www.ossobserver.com/reports/details.cfm?reportID=190 Service Assurance Market Review February 2007, OSS Observer]