Vivacom
Telecoms provider transforms network management with OpenText Network Node Manager i
Products and services
Solution group
Outcomes
- Provided an all-embracing view of network performance, lowering problem resolution times by more than 50%
- Minimized network downtime, safeguarding business continuity
- Offered a comprehensive reporting capability, satisfying the service requirements of internal and external customers
Challenge
A rapidly expanding IP network, with poor system visibility and troubled service delivery.
Modern IP network infrastructures that support user communications services and revenue generating transactions have become essential business enablers. Networks consequently become strategic commercial components and companies simply cannot let network downtime threaten business continuity.
Operators of large IP network infrastructures therefore need an all-embracing view of their system's performance, proactive detection of potential faults with the infrastructure components and a comprehensive reporting capability to satisfy the service requirements of internal and external customers. This is especially important when organizations have experienced a swift increase in network complexity due to substantial growth. These were the problems faced by Vivacom.
Vivacom offers residential and business customers fixed line and mobile telephony, internet, data transmission as well as IP and satellite television services. As the country's largest telecommunication business, Vivacom serves over three million mobile subscribers, nearly one million fixed voice customers, 422,000 fixed broadband clients and 404,000 pay-television consumers.
Details
Solution
Like most IT projects, Vivacom carefully defined its requirements, identified several of the market's best offerings and approached the vendors with a request for proposal. After assessing the solutions available, the company chose OpenText™ (formerly Micro Focus).
“After comparing the various network management solutions, Network Node Manager i offered the best functionality and the best value-for-money,” says Gavrilov. “The choice was not surprising as we've a long-term partnership with Micro Focus (now OpenText). We started with HP servers and printers, followed with desktops, laptops and, more recently, implemented several Micro Focus (now OpenText) software solutions.”
Network Node Manager i (NNMi), is a highly scalable and multi-tenanted out-of-the-box solution with intelligent automation that manages large physical and virtual networks very efficiently. Smart plug-in modules enhance the software's understanding of Vivacom's network environment, aiding rapid problem identification and resolution.
“Our NNMi deployment is large, with over 50,000 network elements and almost one million interfaces,” declares Gavrilov. “We now have complete visibility of our IP network components together with state and performance indicators.” NNMi features smart plugin modules, enhancing the understanding of the vast and ever expanding network environment. “Thanks to the cooperative relationship between our research and development team and the Micro Focus (now OpenText) technical specialist, our network project has been a great success” recognizes Gavrilov.
After increasing the market penetration of our mobile telephony service from 7% to 30% in only a few years, we launched a big project to manage our expanding IP network more effectively.
Results
After deploying NNMi software, Vivacom has noted some significant improvements to its fixed and mobile networks. Nowadays, network specialists no longer have to manage faults using several monitoring solutions. They have a single view of the network, supporting immediate root cause analysis.
“With the introduction of proactive monitoring and an effective fault management capability, we've reduced problem resolution times for major and critical incidents by more than 50%,” reveals Gavrilov. “We find the auto-discovery feature especially useful as it immediately provides information about newly installed network devices.”
The network management project has also delivered another important capability. Vivacom now has a thorough understanding about the service provided by its IP transport network. This proficiency allows the company to fine tune different network elements, enhancing customer service delivery further.
Looking to the future, Radoslav Zlatkov, chief technology officer at Vivacom, concludes: After enhancing our business's standard services with the network management project, our business plan involves improving more strategic services such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service. We're going to verticalize and monetize these new Internet of Things services to satisfy and maximize shareholder value in both the short-term and long-term.”
After enhancing our business's standard services with the network management project, our business plan involves improving more strategic services such as IaaS and SaaS.
About Vivacom
Vivacom is the brand name of “Bulgarian Telecommunications Company EAD”, the largest telecommunications company in the country. It sought a fault detection and performance monitoring tool to manage a rapidly expanding IP network, increase system visibility and to ensure good service delivery. It needed a highly reliable, multi-tenanted out-of-the-box network management solution, delivering very efficient proactive monitoring and fault-detection capabilities.
