Displaying items by tag: managed services

Ericsson has launched a new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based managed services offering for communications service providers – the Ericsson Operations Engine. The solution is an end-to-end managed services operating model that, through Artificial Intelligence, automation, and the power of data, reimagines network and IT operations, network design and optimization, and applications development and maintenance.

The Ericsson Operations Engine directly and proactively addresses service providers’ managed services complexity challenges as the industry moves to the reality of 5G and IoT.

The Ericsson Operations Engine has three building blocks: 

• Service-centric business model based on business outcomes: Using AI, automation and data insights, the Ericsson Operations Engine addresses targeted business outcomes for service providers such as enhanced customer experience, revenue growth and efficiency.
• End-to-end capabilities: delivering on business outcomes through AI-based design, planning and optimization, data-driven operations, dynamic deployment, applications development, and collaborative innovation.
• Components: Best-in-class tools and processes that leverage data, AI and automation as well as expertise and investments in the service provider domain.

Peter Laurin, Senior Vice President, Head of Managed Services, Ericsson, said, “Networks are quickly becoming significantly more complex to operate as we introduce IoT and 5G at scale, and virtualize core networks, while aiming to enhance user experience at the same time. The Ericsson Operations Engine enables us to create sustainable differentiation for our managed services customers as it evolves operations from being network-centric to user experience-centric.  It fundamentally changes our way of operating networks from reactive to proactive, leveraging data, automation and artificial intelligence.”

Curtis Price, Program Vice President, Infrastructure Services, IDC, commented: “Managed services will play a significant role in the service providers transformation initiatives taking place worldwide. Nearly 65 percent of service providers indicate that managed services will be key in addressing their main operational concerns around customer satisfaction – improving customer experience is the number one factor that will influence service providers use of managed services – revenue growth and cost efficiency. It's also clear that advanced technologies like AI, automation and analytics represent the underlying pillars for supporting and enabling operational transformation through managed services partnerships.”

The Ericsson Operations Engine, as well as the latest trends and future of managed services, will be showcased by Ericsson at Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Spain.

Ericsson has further extended its partnership with U Mobile Sdn Bhd to transform the Malaysian telecommunications service provider’s Business Support System (BSS) into an industrialized, real-time converged environment.

Originally signed in 2012, the partnership has been extended for another five years until 2022. In the ongoing contract, Ericsson is responsible for competence development, solution design, deployment and systems integration of the convergent billing solutions, as well as managed services.

Ericsson’s BSS solution enables U Mobile to offer a wider range of unique services including real-time promotions and notifications, product and services cross bundling, real-time cost control for post-paid subscriptions, subscriber personalization, and flexible mobile wallets. More than 5 million U Mobile pre-paid and post-paid subscribers are managed by Ericsson.

The five-year managed services contract allows U Mobile to focus its efforts on product development while having clearer visibility and more control over capital and operating expense.

“U Mobile prides ourselves for always being the first in the country to roll out unique plans and services,” said Wong Heang Tuck, CEO, U Mobile. “To successfully do so, apart from having an unlimited commitment to innovate, we need to ensure that we actively reduce time to market in a way that would not affect customer experience. Ericsson's billing solution has played a role in enabling our customers to enjoy our new services more quickly and efficiently.”

With more than 200 telecom billing and charging customers worldwide, Ericsson is a popular end-to-end BSS partner. Two billion subscribers are supported by the supplier’s BSS offerings, helping service providers address new opportunities.

Todd Ashton, Head of Ericsson Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, said, “As U Mobile's digital transformation partner, we are bringing fully-converged business and customer support to their subscribers. Our end-to-end convergent billing and managed services help our partners to strengthen their competitiveness, enable flexibility to meet market demands, and reduce costs through streamlined operations.”

Australian operator Optus announced a strategic partnership with the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) and Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) that will see it become the official support network of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018) and provide the event’s communications infrastructure and managed services.

The partnership also includes sponsorship of the Australian Commonwealth Games team that will compete against 69 other Commonwealth nations across 18 sports during the Games, and offers Optus a range of benefits including event branding and activation opportunities throughout GC2018.

As part of this partnership, Optus will deliver high speed telecommunications infrastructure to more than 30 Commonwealth Games venues, as well as the design and implementation of the Games Network enabling connectivity for broadcasting, telephony, internet and cloud services across all Games venues.

Optus will provide high speed resilient video and audio services at 23 broadcast locations to enable content captured on site to be distributed globally via more than 3,500 accredited representatives, reaching an estimated audience of more than 1.5 billion people over the course of the Games.

Optus will be providing a managed IP telephony solution for more than 2,200 on-site employees, a contact centre solution and 4G mobile services to allow GOLDOC to communicate and collaborate both in the planning period and during the event which will take place across the Gold Coast, Cairns, Townsville, and Brisbane.

John Paitaridis, Managing Director Optus Business, said, “Optus will be delivering an integrated communications solution to one of the biggest global events in 2018 and we are proud to be the official support network of the Australian Commonwealth Games Team.”

“A project of this scale, size and importance requires fast and reliable communications. Optus is delighted to have been selected via the competitive process as the strategic partner for the delivery of high speed connectivity and managed ICT services to the Commonwealth Games venues, enabling the GOLDOC team to work collaboratively at locations up to 1700km apart to deliver a world class sporting event.”

“Optus Business will deliver end to end network and ICT services to drive productivity and efficiencies in costs and support, demonstrating Optus’ strength as a leading ICT partner for enterprise and government organizations of all sizes.”

“We invest billions in our network and technology infrastructure across Australia every year, and we are committed to leveraging the breadth of our network and enterprise services to deliver an amazing experience for athletes, volunteers, media and fans at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games,” Mr Paitaridis said.

GOLDOC Chairman, Peter Beattie AC said Optus’ experience in delivering mission critical communications infrastructure and complex ICT projects were absolutely vital to delivering a great Games in 2018.

“With 6,600 athletes and team officials in and around the field, track or pool, and 3,500 media covering all events, Optus technology will support the global broadcast and provide Games communications for every heat, match and final across every event at GC2018,” Mr Beattie said.

“Our technology platform is complex, delivering a range of services across a large number of stakeholders and venues. It needs to be delivered on time, take advantage of efficient solutions and be consistently reliable. Optus understands the unique nature of delivering major events with multiple stakeholders to deliver innovative and dependable technology and communications solutions.”

“Having a well-known national brand like Optus join the GC2018 Sponsor Family with just over a year until the Games provides further support to the ever-growing commercial program,” Mr. Beattie said.

GOLDOC Chief Executive Officer, Mark Peters said, “With just over one year to go our focus is firmly on how we deliver a great Games and having the right partnerships in place to deliver a seamless experience for our stakeholders. Having an experienced partner and big brand like Optus on board allows GOLDOC to focus on planning and delivering an unforgettable global Games for spectators, broadcasters, working media and a cumulative television audience of up to 1.5 billion.”

“This is one of the largest pieces of Games overlay with 90 Optus technicians to be working across 30 Games locations including the 18 competition venues during GC2018,” Mr. Peters said.

CGA Chief Executive Officer, Craig Phillips said it is important for our athletes to be supported by the best of corporate Australia as they strive to achieve their best. “Commonwealth Games Australia welcomes Optus to the Team sponsor family.  We know with Optus’ support our athletes will achieve their dreams.”

Nokia and the Russian communications and technology company "VimpelCom" (brand "Beeline") have signed a five-year agreement under which Nokia will become the major supplier of managed services for VimpelCom's fixed, mobile and transport network operations.

"This agreement highlights the breadth of Nokia's global services and technology expertise across fixed, mobile and transport networks," said Igor Leprince, head of Global Services at Nokia.

"Working with VimpelCom we will manage network operations and field maintenance with a focus on driving the highest levels of quality and efficiency into operations to enhance network performance and availability. Our innovative service delivery draws from world-class capabilities and the power of extreme automation."

Nokia, which has been managing services for VimpelCom's network in central Russia, will extend this responsibility to manage VimpelCom's 2G, 3G and 4G networks, provided by a variety of equipment vendors, leveraging its innovative network management tools, processes, and software automation. Field maintenance work will be carried out by Nokia in the Southern, North Caucasian and Central regions of Russia, including Moscow.

By consolidating and transforming network operations, VimpelCom will benefit from reduced network and operational complexity, faster time to market and lower total cost of ownership in running multiple networks. In turn, VimpelCom will enhance service quality for more than 58 million mobile and 2.2 million fixed broadband customers in Russia.

"Today we are at a dynamic stage in our business transformation. The transition to a new operating model for "Beeline" network management is another step towards a new "VimpelCom" technological reality," said Martin Skop, Executive Vice President for Infrastructure Development PJSC "VimpelCom".

"The partnership with Nokia enables us to restructure business processes, improve financial performance, keep pace with global trends and drive technological innovations. In addition, smart managed services will help us improve our overall efficiency."

Nokia will also deliver full network planning and optimization services, network implementation, project management and ongoing network support from its global delivery hub in Voronezh, Russia. Nokia will draw on its extensive understanding and experience of end-to-end service delivery with multiple technologies and vendors to serve VimpelCom's specific network needs and provision of high quality network performance.

Nokia has renewed its managed services agreement with Chorus, New Zealand's largest telecommunications infrastructure company, for a further three years. Under the new contract, Nokia will continue to provide fully managed end-to-end operations services to further enhance the customer experience, operational efficiency and quality of the operator's national fixed line network.

"Our decision to extend the existing agreement reflects our satisfaction with Nokia operations and support services," said Ewen Powell, CTO at Chorus. "We need a partner that understands our business and can deliver simplicity over complexity, helping us launch innovative offerings to our partners and their customers while improving the overall reliability of our networks. Nokia has proven its capabilities to do that, so the extension was very straight forward."

Chorus will also leverage Nokia's technical capabilities and global services expertise to continue delivering an optimal customer experience across New Zealand. Extension of the initial managed services contract, signed in 2014, is for a further three years.

Managed services provision includes end-to-end operations and network management from Nokia's Global Delivery Center in India for best-in-class network quality and efficiency. Real-time service management using performance data and proactive correlation of network events will be used to prevent faults and improve network availability, as well as reduce the number of incidents while optimizing the costs.

"This is an outstanding validation of our close, continuing collaboration with Chorus, one of Nokia's long-standing partners," said Ray Owen, head of Oceania at Nokia. "This strategic project aligns with Nokia's global approach to operations and stands as a leading example for broadband service providers aspiring to best-practice management and enhancement of their networks."

Nokia has been working with Chorus since its inception in 2011, providing fixed access solutions, services and network operations support as the operator's preferred supplier. The contract reinforces the partnership between the two companies as well as Nokia's capabilities for managing operations of multi-vendor networks in Oceania.

Nokia and Telefonica Germany have signed a contract under which Nokia will become supplier of managed services for Telefonica Germany for its fixed and mobile network operations, driving increased quality and efficiency in the process.

Nokia currently provides its managed services expertise to the E-Plus network, acquired by Telefonica Germany in 2014. From September 2016 on, Nokia will extend provision of its innovative network management tools, processes and expertise in a phased approach, with development of a simplified management structure across Telefonica Germany's entire mobile access, core and fixed network operations.

Telefonica Germany serves a nationwide fixed and mobile network. In the mobile segment alone, Telefonica Deutschland is responsible for 43.0 million lines - making it the German market leader. In total it serves more than 48 million customer lines. Under the new contract, Nokia will work closely with Telefonica Germany as it continues its network consolidation program, transforming its converged network operations and driving the highest quality of service for subscribers. This will also allow the operator to focus on its goal to become Germany's leading digital telecommunications company.

 "Levering Nokia's expertise as a managed services supplier across our entire network will allow us to simplify operations and enhance performance and quality, allowing us to concentrate on delivering an outstanding subscriber experience across Germany,” said Cayetano Carbajo Martín, Chief Technology Officer of Telefonica Germany.

Nokia will provide real-time remote support for Telefonica Germany's network operations and back office. This includes Level One and Level Two technical support functions such as network monitoring, incident management and resolution, and preventative maintenance, as well as change management support. Nokia will also provide local management expertise in Germany itself to ensure that customer communication is seamless. Telefonica will use Nokia, together with some other partners, in the transformation of the operational model. 

J. Carlos Sampedro, Head of Customer Business Team Telefonica Germany at Nokia, said: "We have already proven our managed services expertise and experience with the management of the E-Plus network. Working with Telefonica we can swiftly centralize support and ensure the highest level of network availability and quality."