HOLMDEL, New Jersey, March 3 /PRNewswire/ --
- Leading Russian Wireless Service Provider Deploys OnePlan Network Resource Planning to Reduce Backhaul Expenses and Strengthen Network for Next Generation Services
Call it Wireless 2.0. Seeing their voice service revenues plateau, wireless service providers are bringing a new generation of data services to market in the hopes of invigorating subscriber revenue growth (ARPU). Launching those new services, however, requires providers to strike a perfect balance between adding sufficient backhaul support to ensure a superior quality of experience (QoE) for users and minimizing backhaul expenses to grow net revenue and not just ARPU.
Sky Link, a leading wireless communications provider and the largest CDMA operator in Russia, is managing these competing priorities with the help of VPIsystems' network resource planning system, OnePlan(TM). One of the largest operating expenses for wireless service providers like Sky Link is leasing backhaul lines from carriers, accounting for roughly 30-40 percent of an average service provider's operating expenses. This percentage is predicted to rise as service providers enhance their networks to handle the bandwidth demands of the new video and bandwidth-heavy data services. OnePlan helps service providers constrain backhaul costs by optimizing networks for peak efficiency. In a recent test on a U.S.-based wireless service provider's network, OnePlan was able to eliminate 36 percent of a metro market's leased lines, which represented an average of almost US$1M in savings per year for the first three years in that one market alone.
Sky Link is working with VPIsystems to ensure its backhaul and core transport networks are optimized for both peak efficiency and high QoE for its customers. With OnePlan, Sky Link will be able to simulate multiple network congestion and failure scenarios, enabling the provider to plan for and ensure service quality and continuity for its customers.
"Sky Link was the first service provider to launch next generation mobile services in Russia," said Nikolai Golovkin, CTO of Sky Link - Moscow. "With OnePlan, we will be able to build on that initial success by delivering more valuable services to our subscribers while ensuring that our network not only delivers those services efficiently, but delivers them at a quality level that clearly differentiates them from competing offerings."
OnePlan integrates information and requirements from wireless service providers' business planning, marketing and engineering departments to enable networks to be properly planned and designed for the demands of next generation services. Traditionally, these critical information centers were not integrated and as a result, network deployments were planned predominantly through historical trending, which resulted in over and under provisioning network resources.
With services as demanding as video and interactive gaming, however, over and under provisioning are not options. Underprovision capacity, and a new service doesn't stand a chance. It will slowly bleed to death as subscribers leave for other services or networks (as Apple and AT&T discovered when users "unlocked" their iPhones to run them on faster networks). Overprovision capacity and the bottom line suffers significantly. OnePlan enables service providers to provision capacity that is synchronized to demand.
"Nothing will slow a new service's adoption faster than poor QoE," said Hank Firey, CEO of VPIsystems. "Given the revenue potential, all wireless service providers are adding or planning to add next generation data services to their suite of offerings. The smart service providers are taking the steps Sky Link has to ensure those services are introduced with a quality level that facilitates rather than hinders adoption."
About Sky Link
Sky Link provides high-speed mobile Internet access and voice services based on 3G technology IMT-MC 450 (CDMA450) on the territory of 31 regions of the Russian Federation. The technological advantages of the new digital standard allow Sky Link to offer its subscribers mobile Internet access and data services at speeds of up to 2.4 Mbps, high-quality voice services, storage and online access to any information, and multimedia services not available on existing 2G networks. As of October, 2007, Sky Link provides services for more than 508 thousand subscribers. The company's strategy is focused on further development of services based on high-speed mobile data and new generation intellectual mobile services.
About OnePlan
OnePlan offers communications service providers a single, cross-domain (geography, technology, discipline and network domain) integrated capacity and network planning capability, OnePlan has become the system of choice for any carrier planning transition to a next-generation, IP-enabled network. Through its modular design, OnePlan provides a scalable solution that can start as a single technology module, and grow to a high-availability system spanning multiple network layers where OnePlan automates all network planning, engineering and decommissioning activities.
About VPIsystems, Inc.
VPIsystems is the only provider of integrated capacity and network planning software and services for the global telecommunications industry. The company's OnePlan(TM) software system gives telecommunications and multi-service providers the ability to cohesively plan the financial, technical and marketing aspects of their network evolution, for all current and future network types. Headquartered in Holmdel, NJ, and with offices in Europe, Asia, and Australia, VPIsystems' software is used by over 150 communications service providers and network equipment manufacturers to assess current and future capacity needs, and optimally plan their QoS-constrained service networks and underlying transport infrastructure. For further information, visit us at www.vpisystems.com.
Contact: Barbara Pistilli VPIsystems, Inc. barbara.pistilli@vpisystems.com +1-732-332-0233 x120 Gerald Kimber White RF|Binder Partners gerald.kimberwhite@rfbinder.com +1-781-455-8250
Web site: http://www.vpisystems.com
Barbara Pistilli of VPIsystems, Inc., +1-732-332-0233, ext. 120, barbara.pistilli@vpisystems.com; or Gerald Kimber White of RF|Binder Partners, +1-781-455-8250, gerald.kimberwhite@rfbinder.com
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