Tag Archives: Infovista

Infovista enables accurate Open RAN network planning with launch of Planet 7.7

Brings AI-powered, data-driven modeling to O-RAN to maximize operators’ network ROI and subscriber experience

Paris, France – July 21st, 2022 – Infovista, the global leader in network lifecycle automation (NLA), today announced support for Open RAN planning with the launch of version 7.7 of Planet, its AI-powered RF planning solution. Operators looking to deploy O-RAN in greenfield or as a replacement to existing network infrastructure can now accurately model their network deployment to identify the optimal topology. Planet 7.7 also introduces the ability for operators to model end-to-end latency throughout the network. By modeling latency from the core to user equipment for both traditional and O-RAN architectures, operators can understand the latency subscribers will experience, an important first step towards 5G slicing, guaranteeing service-specific SLAs, and the provision of Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services.

The launch of version 7.7 brings Planet’s highly accurate AI-powered RF modeling to O-RAN. As seen recently, improving modeling precision in RAN planning and design optimization can drive significant CAPEX savings for mobile operators by either increasing RAN capacity or deferring investment in additional spectrum and radio equipment. An independent report by analyst firm Mobile Experts, Accurate RAN Planning Saves Billions, published in July 2022 calculated that a nationwide U.S. mobile network could save approximately $2 billion over a 10-year period through a reduction in the number of base stations and smalls cells deployed.

Infovista’s Smart CAPEX solution also receives improvements as a result of enhancements made to the Planet Automated Cell Planning (ACP) module that underpins it in the Planet 7.7 release. Smart CAPEX now allows operators more flexibility in specifying time-to-market and total cost of ownership parameters for backhaul fiber and candidate site locations. These improvements ensure Smart CAPEX provides operators with an optimal network expansion solution by leveraging the finest granularity of time and cost data available.

Finally, Planet 7.7 includes upgrades to support the latest network equipment vendor software versions in its Call Analytics Module. Planet is the only planning solution to offer network troubleshooting capabilities based on geolocated call traces. The Call Analytics Module within Planet allows operators to quickly assess a subscriber’s experience, locate common network problems and pre-emptively resolve RF issues using embedded vendor call trace processing and geolocation intelligence

Regis Lerbour, VP Product & R&D, RAN Engineering, Infovista said: “Planning and deploying a 3G or 4G network was relatively straight-forward compared to the complexity of 5G and operators need architectural flexibility so they can make the most of their existing and new RAN investments. Whether it is a greenfield Open RAN deployment, or mixed network with O-RAN and traditional RAN working together to deliver nationwide coverage, operators need to have confidence that their network will deliver the optimal return on investment. Planet’s AI-powered, data-driven approach enables accurate automated modeling and optimization of operators’ 3G, 4G and 5G networks. Planet 7.7 brings some important capabilities to our customers around the world and we will continue to make sure that we are delivering the innovation they need to drive their business today and into the future.”

Infovista and Rakuten will jointly present at an upcoming webinar hosted by Mobile World Live “How can data-driven RAN planning reduce the time and cost of 5G network deployment”, on 27 July 2022. Registration for this webinar is open here: https://view6.workcast.net/register?cpak=6353143311135452&referrer=InfovistaPR

For a full update on what is new in Planet, please visit: https://know.infovista.com/ra-planet/p/1

Infovista and PCTEL collaborate to co-develop 5G testing use cases

Paris, France – July 19 2022 – Infovista, the global leader in network lifecycle automation (NLA), and PCTEL, a leading global provider of wireless connectivity, today announced a strategic collaboration to co-develop joint 5G network testing use cases for mobile operators and industry regulators.

The joint uses cases will bring together PCTEL 5G scanning receivers and Infovista’s market-leading TEMS software to create differentiated and simplified solutions that address specific customer needs and requirements. The initial set of use cases include 5G C-Band interference monitoring, autonomous testing, beamforming configuration validation, automatic site location detection and automated interference detection, and combine PCTEL’s scanners with Infovista’s AI-powered network testing and assurance software.

One of the first joint solutions sees Infovista and PCTEL combining to deliver automated interference source detection and location. Leveraging Infovista’s NLA cloud platform for automated cross-domain troubleshooting, the solution uses network and service performance data from Infovista Ativa™ and its AI/ML analytics engine to rapidly identify and geo-locate cells affected by interference. With the approximate area of the interference identified, Infovista’s precision drive testing algorithms determine an optimal drive route and diagnostics workflow, and then a tester is dispatched with a PCTEL scanner and guided workflow to quickly find the source of the interference.

Faiq Khan, President of Global Networks, Infovista, said: “Mobile operators and regulators are facing new and specific challenges as 5G spectrum is licensed and networks rolled out. Their complexity requires new approaches to network testing, using the latest in AI, automation and cloud-native technologies to reduce the time and cost of network testing and monitoring while also being more accurate and valuable to the business. The strategic collaboration between Infovista and PCTEL is driven by this customer need, and we’re excited about the future opportunities our combined customer program will unlock.”

Arnt Arvik, Vice President & Chief Sales Officer, PCTEL, said: “Today effective network testing and monitoring requires purpose built scanning receivers to measure hundreds of channels across a broad spectrum including 5GNR and mmWave. Testing needs to be fast and accurate, conducted in multiple environments, and it need to be capable of simultaneously testing multiple technologies and operator networks. We are delighted that our industry leading 5G scanning receivers including our flagship Gflex® will be paired with Infovista’s software solutions. Together we’re bringing the power of two customer-focused teams to co-develop joint 5G testing use cases that solve tangible challenges facing our customers today and in the future.”

PCTEL designs, develops and manufactures industrial-grade products that enable customers to deliver wireless connectivity. PCTEL scanning receivers are precision network testing tools, designed for drive testing, walk testing, troubleshooting, and monitoring of cellular, WiFi, IoT, and critical communications networks worldwide.

Infovista’s TEMS Network Testing Portfolio enables network and services performance quality evaluation, troubleshooting and optimization by measuring and benchmarking end user experience. For Network Operators and Regulators, TEMS delivers the ability to walk test, drive test, and dynamically analyze service performance under real-life conditions — indoors, outdoors, and around the clock. For more on the Infovista TEMS network testing portfolio, please visit https://www.infovista.com/tems

Nokia selects Infovista to deliver cloud-based automated drive testing to accelerate roll-out of 5G deployments

Global partnership includes centralized management and automation of critical testing process for new 5G and legacy networks

Paris, France – July 12th, 2022 – Infovista, the global leader in network lifecycle automation (NLA), today announced a global partnership with Nokia to accelerate the rollout and acceptance of 5G network deployments. The partnership will see Infovista deliver its cloud-based, automated testing solutions to support the verification, optimization and benchmarking of new 5G and legacy networks deployed and managed by Nokia.

The complexity of 5G, magnified by the environments in which networks are being deployed, make multi-site testing a costly and time intensive overhead. Infovista’s cloud-based testing solutions enable Nokia to automate and centralize the management of testing routines, significantly streamlining backend reporting and freeing Nokia engineers and service companies from manual drive testing to focus on high value network optimization tasks.

As part of the global partnership, Nokia will now be able to leverage innovative network testing solutions from Infovista such as Automated SSV solution. The solution not only predicts where to drive and what tests to perform, but also which hot spots and critical areas should be tested and then autonomously conducting the network testing routine. This automation of network testing processes removes trial and error and significantly impacts the time to market and efficiency of Nokia’s network deployments.

Infovista is delivering its TEMS testing solutions to Nokia. The cloud-based automation of network testing routines enables Nokia to centralize and automate reporting and real-time validation of testing, reducing the number of failed drive tests that must be repeated. The cloud-based solutions remove the need to Nokia to maintain dedicated servers and redundancy, reuse of licenses globally and use commercial off-the-shelf devices, significantly increasing the efficiency of network testing.

“5G network complexity combined with the proliferation of device types now requires a set of next generation testing solutions leveraging AI/ML, cloud and automation. For operators that are racing to deploy new 5G sites, while continuing to optimize and expand existing network coverage, this new network testing approach is a gamechanger,” said Faiq Khan, President Global Networks, Infovista. “We’re very pleased to be building on our long-standing partnership with Nokia, extending it from centralized reporting to deliver real innovation with cloud-based automation of critical 5G testing processes.”

As part of the partnership, Nokia will have access to the latest AI/ML data-driven approaches and automation innovations in network testing, including Infovista’s patent-pending Precision Drive Testing™ solution, which powers use cases including network acceptance automation, fine tuning 5G planning propagation models, geolocated troubleshooting and proactive network health monitoring.

Infovista Appoints industry veteran Andrew Miceli to lead US market

Joins as VP Sales for US to drive sales and services operations

Paris, France – May 16th, 2022 – Infovista, the global leader in network lifecycle automation (NLA), today announced the appointment of Andrew Miceli as Vice President of Sales for the US, where he will be responsible for the growth and development of Infovista sales and services operations in the region. Building on Infovista’s proven track record with Tier 1 mobile and wireline carriers, Miceli will work with CSPs and Enterprises to help them benefit from Infovista’s network lifecycle automation approach.

Andrew brings over 28 years of Telecommunications industry technical sales and leadership experience to Infovista. He began his career in the US Army before taking on technical engineering roles at Anritsu and Acterna, and gained valuable expertise growing, transforming and leading high-performance US and global sales teams at Superconductor Technologies, Schema, Teoco (including their integration of Aircom), and most recently Ookla before joining Infovista. He is a graduate of LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas, and is a three-time Ironman triathlon finisher.

“The innovation that we’re seeing among US carriers and enterprises to use connectivity and communications to digitally transform their organizations is second to none,” said Faiq Khan, President of Global Networks at Infovista. “Andrew is one of those unique industry leaders who has experience of managing businesses involving all aspects of our network lifecycle automation portfolio: planning, test and measurement as well as service assurance. Equipped with the right mix of know-how and leadership, Andrew will be laser focused on ensuring we provide the most relevant networking products and solutions to our customers.”

“From Open RAN to private mobile networks, and from AI-powered automation to the cloudification of carriers’ networks and operations, the US market is among the most dynamic in the world,” said Andrew Miceli, VP Sales for the US at Infovista. “Infovista’s combination of technology innovation and proven customer deployments means it is perfectly positioned to work with operators and enterprises at every stage of their network lifecycle. It’s a great time to be joining Infovista, and I look forward to working with a talented team delivering, together with our partners, business value to US customers.”

Miceli will be joining Infovista’s executives and technology experts at the Big 5G Event 2022, sharing insights into how Infovista is today helping some of the world’s largest and most advanced networks benefit from the efficiency and business agility gains of the latest industry technology advancements, including 5G SA and Open RAN.

Infovista is a Gold Sponsor of the Big 5G Event 2022 and will be exhibiting on stand 425. To learn more about the NLA use cases and its portfolio of solutions for 5G network planning, testing and assurance, or to meet with Infovista during the Big 5G, please reserve a meeting with the team at the event.

Infovista to showcase Automated Assurance for 5G networks, services and end-user experiences at FutureNet World

Portfolio of use cases enable CSPs to capitalize on 5G SA opportunity and monetize their network investments

Paris, France – April 21st, 2022 – Infovista, the global leader in network lifecycle automation (NLA), today announced details of its participation at the FutureNet World in London (10-11 May 2022). At the event, Infovista will demonstrate how its uniquely comprehensive NLA portfolio of applications and solutions harness the latest AI/ML technologies with a cloud-native by-design architecture to provide CSPs with 360° visibility, interoperability and predictive automation, from the customer to the network resource and underlying infrastructure.

Infovista experts and executives will be on hand to explain how automated assurance and operations is today enabling network operators to quickly, proactively and cost-efficiently roll out, optimize and monetize advanced 5G NSA and 5G SA networks and services using Infovista’s cloud-native and open platform of world-leading NLA applications.

“5G and cloudified networks are not only transforming the services CSPs can deliver, they are also transforming the CSP organization itself. Traditional assurance and operations silos are no longer fit-for-purpose,” said Franco Messori, Chief Product Strategy & Transformation Officer, Infovista. “Automated assurance is fundamental to operators’ complete visibility and control to monetize new SLA-backed 5G services and experiences and maximize previous investments done for 4G. At FutureNet, we’ll showcase our entire portfolio of cloud-native Automated Assurance solutions and demonstrate how it simplifies network operations and delivers automation across the whole network lifecycle to maximize the return on your mobile network investments.”

During the FutureNet World, Infovista experts will demonstrate new innovative solutions and use cases spanning the 5G network lifecycle, including how it enables CSPs to:

Gain 360° Intelligence

  • Introducing Ativa™, the new Automated Assurance and operations suite of applications, supporting the next generation of automated cloud-based service operations centers (SOC). It equips service providers to improve quality of experience, reliability and performance whilst reducing costs through system consolidation, process automation, system and domain correlation and consolidation, and automated of network orchestration.

Go beyond traditional assurance

  • Demonstrating its new Smart CAPEX optimization solution for operators designing, deploying and operating 5G networks. Smart CAPEX enables CSPs to accelerate and increase the return on investment (ROI) from their 5G network rollout, expansion, and densification by intelligently calculating and optimizing the predicted business outcomes – including revenue, churn and quality of experience – of their 5G CAPEX investments. It enhances predictive accuracy by introducing operational data typically provided by assurance systems, and external business, market, and financial data, with powerful predictive calculation and geospatial mapping capabilities reducing the time needed for planning decision-making.

Accelerate time-to-value

  • Showcasing its new 360° Assurance solutions family that combines the correlation of subscriber QoE, service QoS and network resource performance with advanced troubleshooting capabilities into pre-configured solutions for specific services, including, for example, SLA-backed 5G network slicing, mobile voice (VoNR) and fixed voice, enabling faster and more efficient network and service operations.

Leverage latest cloud technologies

  • Revealing how the new cloud-native Ativa™ Automated Assurance and Operations suite of applications is built upon a powerful, open platform with shared capabilities that unlock advanced automation scenarios, including AIOps, zero-touch configuration, active testing, and workflow automation.

Our participation in the agenda at the event focuses on how to unlock the new monetization opportunities that 5G brings both to CSPs and a diverse range of enterprise verticals. Infovista executives will be participating in industry discussions, including:

Keynote panel discussion:

Wednesday 11 May @ 10:00 – 10:30

Automation Now: Role of automation in running a network with disaggregation technology

  • The time is now: How to accelerate network modernization programs
  • Investment levels, requirements and priorities: navigation the route
  • New partnership models around automation: overcoming the challenge of competitors collaborating on projects
  • How much do CSPs want to rely on AI? What is the model?
  • Operational AI – moving from concept to implementation: keys to success
  • Scaling AI & automation beyond specific tasks to broad capabilities and end-to-end processes

Moderator: Patrick Kelly, Founder & Principal Analyst, Appledore Research Group

Panellists:

  • Neil McRae, Managing Director & Chief Architect, BT
  • Terje Jenson, SVP & Head of Global Network Architecture, Telenor
  • Franco Messori, Chief Product Strategy & Transformation Officer, Infovista

Infovista’s executives and technology experts will be available to share insights into its strategies and case studies, including some of the world’s largest and most advanced networks, such as Rakuten Mobile, Ooredoo and Zain, and how Infovista is today helping them to benefit from the efficiency and business agility gains of the latest industry technology advancements, including 5G SA and Open RAN.

Infovista is a Platinum Sponsor of FutureNet World 2022 and will exhibiting on the show floor. To learn more about the NLA use cases and its portfolio of solutions for 5G network planning, testing and assurance, or to meet with Infovista during FutureNet World, please reserve a meeting with the team at the event.

Infovista launches Precision Drive Testing™ to automate 5G testing

Cloud-native automation of testing routines integrates data from across 5G network lifecycle to increase speed and accuracy

Paris, France – April 12th, 2022 – Infovista, the global leader in network lifecycle automation (NLA), today announced Precision Drive Testing™ to bring a ML/AI data-driven approach and automation to network testing, significantly reducing the cost and time of 5G network testing. The patent-pending Precision Drive Testing leverages 5G network, service and customer data, and ML/AI techniques to increase the speed and accuracy of 5G testing process.

“There’s a misconception that 5G makes drive testing redundant, but the reality is that although enhanced from LTE, the ‘minimization of drive testing’ feature in 5G still only works if users are in the geographic area that needs testing. Drive testing will still be needed to complement the gaps of MDT in testing, at least until 5G is in fully autonomous,” said Dr. Irina Cotanis, Technology Director, Network Testing at Infovista. “But such is the complexity of 5G networks and the proliferation of device types that traditional drive testing processes are not fit-for-purpose. Operators can’t afford for their highly qualified RF engineers to be driving around manually testing; it’s time to automate and make the cloud do the heavy lifting. Precision Drive Testing transforms the drive testing process from being engineering driven to AI/ML data driven, from manual to autonomous and from something very few can do to something that can be done by anyone.”

Infovista’s cloud-based Precision Drive Testing solution automates and guides testing triggered by use cases based on information and/or analytics results from network planning and performance, fault and configuration management, services assurance, and customers’ (or Crowdsource) data, which an operator will use to inform and improve the network lifecycle processes. Results are instantly available as actionable insights to be used by the requesting systems/solutions, creating a closed-loop of automated and guided testing. This reduces testing time and effort and improves the accuracy of service-specific testing KPIs.

When triggered, the Precision Drive Testing use cases automatically calculate the best test route, generate test scripts to run along with their Definition of Done criteria, the correspondent KPIs log masks and context sensitive criteria. The automatic calculation of sweet spots and drive routes, coupled with directions to the tester including error handling and Edge Analytics, improve the speed and accuracy of the testing processes. Finally, real time reporting and data feed of the expected result ensures that testing data is quickly acted up and in turn used to inform network/service/customer data source based on which the drive has been triggered.

Use cases that can trigger Precision Drive Testing across the 5G network lifecycle include, but are not limited to:

  • Automated Single Site Verification (SSV) – Powered by Precision Drive Testing, the Infovista Automated SSV solution directs lay people using commercially available smartphones to conduct tests in the field, leaving valuable engineering expertise free to focus on high value network optimization tasks. Site testing routines and criteria are defined at the backend and key measurements are autonomously evaluated against pre-defined thresholds rather than manually by a field engineer. This reduces errors in data collection and accelerates the time to Definition of Done status in network-wide testing processes
  • Fine tuning 5G planning propagation models – The solution identifies when the 5G propagation model is likely to be less accurate due to varying external factors, for example in areas of known building construction, fast growing trees, or in extreme and challenging locations such as quarries and container ports where the landscape changes frequently. Precision Drive Testing enables to get actual live data that then can improve the model and accelerate the planning of public and private 5G networks
  • Network Acceptance Automation – ‘Site acceptance’ routines in multiple conditions have a challenge using real traffic with enough samples, particularly in greenfield networks. This means if a problem occurs when real traffic starts running, it can be a time-consuming and costly process to identify the underlying problem. In triggering Precision Drive Test, the algorithms identifies the sweet spot for testing the live network, define the testing routine, direct the tester to the site and automatically conduct the tests. This reduces the time and cost of 5G network acceptance through automated and highly specific testing processes
  • Geolocated troubleshooting – Deeper and more advanced assurance can detect problems and prompt Root Cause Analysis for troubleshooting. But if the problem still exists, it can then trigger a Precision Drive Test to get precise fine-grained geolocated data to help solve issue such as ‘Inter-vendor Ping Pong Handover’ that have been detected by the assurance system
  • Proactive network health monitoring – Monitoring a network to ensure delivery of the end-user experience, for example for a network’s top 10 VIPs, can be a labour intensive and unforgiving process. The software can identify and define drive testing routes, such as a VIP’s commute, and trigger Precision Drive Testing to test degradations/problems on the routes and proactively automate regular quarterly drive tests
  • Assurance of Critical Networks – The growth in private networks, and in the future 5G network slices, will see more widespread deployment of uRLLC-based services such as remote control of mining equipment or drone surveillance of utilities’ critical national infrastructure. These critical networks require predictive SLA management. Assurance software can trigger a Precision Drive Test to proactively test critical networks, with assurance processes in turn improved and optimized through the input of live network test data

Infovista’s TEMS Network Testing Portfolio enables network and services performance quality evaluation, troubleshooting and optimization by measuring and benchmarking end user experience. For Network Operators and Regulators, TEMS delivers the ability to walk test, drive test, and dynamically analyze network and services performance under real-life conditions—indoors, outdoors, and around the clock. For more on the Infovista TEMS network testing portfolio, please visit https://www.infovista.com/tems

For more detail on Precision Drive Testing, please read our new blog https://www.infovista.com/blog/how-to-automate-5g-drive-testing.

Infovista launches Ativa™ for Cloud-Native Automated Assurance and Operations

Ativa suite provides 360° intelligence and operations across digital experiences, apps, services, networks and infrastructure

Includes AIOps, zero-touch configuration, active assurance, intelligent workflow automation and outcomes-based solutions

Paris, France – Thursday February 24th, 2022 – Infovista, the global leader in network lifecycle automation (NLA), today announced Infovista Ativa™, its new suite of cloud-native applications for Automated Assurance and Operations of cloudified, fixed, IP and wireless networks. The Ativa suite of applications addresses the complexity of network and service management to provide CSPs with a single source of truth for 360° visibility, interoperability and predictive automation, from the customer to the network resource and underlying infrastructure.

Ativa replaces siloed, fragmented, domain-oriented OSS and assurance systems that focus on multiple disparate domains such as subscriber, service, network, or infrastructure with a single cloud-native suite of automated operations and assurance applications. It enables a wide range of use case-based solutions – such as customer experience and device analytics, network segment performance management, IoT assurance, Smart CAPEX planning, and predictive SLA management.

Ativa includes advanced automation capabilities, including AIOps, zero-touch configuration, active assurance, and workflow automation. This enables a new generation of automated cloud-based service operations center (SOC) that equips service providers to improve quality whilst reducing costs through system consolidation, process automation and the automation of network changes.

“The complex and dynamic nature of 5G and cloudified networks makes effective network and service management impossible without 360° visibility and automation across digital experiences, apps, services, networks and infrastructure,” said Yann Le Helloco, CTO at Infovista. “By combining domain and data silos with a powerful automation engine, Ativa enables CSPs to realize agile, efficient and scalable operations, based on a single source of truth. Ativa is cloud-native by design, correlating subscriber experience, service quality and resource performance to deliver end-to-end automated assurance and network optimization through a single pane of glass.”

Infovista Ativa enables a wide range of real-time and predictive Automated Assurance capabilities to support advanced network and service operations, such as:

  • End-to-end subscriber, service and network intelligence, including geospatial customer behavior analytics and automated correlated visualization of content-specific customer experience KPIs such as mean opinion score (MOS)
  • Enterprise SLA performance visualization, including the real-time normalization and summarization of enterprise SLAs, and enterprise self-service portals supporting initial triage of issues, enabled by a cloud-native architecture providing flexible multi-tenancy capabilities
  • Cross-domain troubleshooting, from the identification of ongoing, or predicted, issues impacting customer experience to the underlying root-cause, including network resource faults, service configuration issues, network congestion and user device compatibility
  • Service and domain orchestrator interoperability, with data enrichment and recommended actions to support open- and closed-loop automation driven by open APIs
  • Automated zero-touch configuration, for network healing actions based on flexible configurable automation workflows
  • Real-time network fault analytics and prioritization, with automated and predictive correlation of events to support the identification and troubleshooting of customer-impacting events

Infovista Ativa is underpinned by an open, cloud-native platform utilizing industry standard Open APIs and software development kits (SDKs) that allow customers and partners to extend the available catalog of pre-configured Infovista solutions and build their own applications and use cases.

Pre-configured automated solutions powered by Ativa include 360° Assurance for mobile operators delivering 3G/4G/5G-NSA and 5G-SA services like SLA-backed 5G slices, overlay services, video and voice, as well as cross-domain, end-to-end geolocated troubleshooting and advanced operational analytics. Ativa also powers 360° Assurance for wireline, broadband, cable operators and roaming carriers to enable the end-to-end monitoring of traffic, performance, service quality and customer experience, from user equipment (UE) and devices to the core network, connectivity services and applications they consume.

Ativa also supports Network Lifecycle Automation solutions that interoperate with Infovista or third-party applications to enhance planning, deployment and monetization with operational intelligence.

The Infovista Ativa suite of applications can be deployed independently or in combination, and include:

  • Ativa Net™ for cross-domain visibility of network resources and infrastructure performance. It correlates network services, VNFs and infrastructure for rapid troubleshooting
  • Ativa App™ for cross-domain visibility of subscriber-facing and resource-facing services. It proactively monitors and troubleshoots QoS and enterprise SLAs across wireless and wireline
  • Ativa Experience™ for cross-domain visibility of perceived subscriber experience, including deep packet analysis
  • Ativa Automated Ops™ for automated AI/ML-driven predictive analytics; network and service orchestrator interoperability; zero-touch resource configuration; NOC/SOC workflow automation; and active testing and validation

Available in June 2022, Ativa is an all-new cloud-native assurance suite that combines new software innovations, microservices from existing Infovista software assets – including from its market-leading planning and testing product lines – and partner integrations.

For more on the Ativa suite, please visit https://www.infovista.com/products/ativa-automated-assurance-and-operations

 

Infovista launches Smart CAPEX solution to deploy and scale 5G networks that deliver maximum ROI

AI/ML-based network planning, optimization, and modelling solution to deliver mobile network with the highest revenue potential

Paris, France – February 10th, 2022 – Infovista, the global leader in network lifecycle automation (NLA), today announced its innovative Smart CAPEX solution for operators and businesses designing, deploying and operating 5G networks. Smart CAPEX accelerates and increases the return on investment (ROI) from 5G network rollout, expansion and densification by intelligently calculating and optimizing the predicted business outcomes – including revenue, churn and quality of experience. The solution enables senior business and technology leaders to develop a holistic business case for network investments based on a common expectation and understanding of how network investment drives revenue growth. This enables, for the first time, a shift in focus in network planning, from network KPI optimization to business outcomes optimization, by combining diverse and numerous network and business predictions within a single vendor-neutral software application.

The Smart CAPEX solution enables rapid, ROI-optimized CAPEX allocation for the highest predicted customer experience and revenue, through precise roll-out and expansion of radio coverage and performance, at the lowest cost. It reduces the time taken to reach investment decisions by incorporating geospatial revenue potential prediction, automated TCO simulation and modern ‘what-if’ analysis technologies. In combination with its business KPI forecasting capabilities, this accelerates time-to-revenue and optimizes ROI in ways not possible through traditional, manually intensive approaches to network planning. Based on Infovista’s cloud-native application portfolio, the solution enables accelerated roll-outs from one region or market to the next in a consistent, systematic way by applying common models, algorithms and analysis tools from a centrally managed and hosted application. This avoids the need to manually deploy and configure planning tools in each market individually, and provides a single point from which all planning and optimization projects can be visualized by senior stakeholders.

When supporting the expansion and densification of live networks, Infovista Smart CAPEX uses powerful AI/ML forecasting capabilities to combine live ‘operational’ network and traffic performance data with external data to provide accurate insights into the impact of network performance on business outcomes both current and future. Operational and traffic performance data provides intelligence into coverage, quality of service (QoS), quality of experience (QoE) and churn. Business metrics from external data include TCO models, ARPU, crowdsourced data, social media usage and customer lifetime value (CLTV).

The Smart CAPEX solution allows CSPs to undertake ROI-based site prioritization based on an accurate analysis and understanding of revenue potential, the total cost of ownership (TCO), and time to market (TTM) constraints for both greenfield 5G deployments and mobile network expansions. This includes automated calculations of both the TCO, such as radio hardware and fibre length, and TTM, such as site acquisition and site construction time, as well as backhaul cost considerations for both. The Smart CAPEX dashboard provides valuable insights in the form of heatmaps with rich geospatial views. They provide ‘at-a-glance’ information about the current and predicted business performance of network investments in specific areas.

“The telecommunications industry today faces exponential growth in traffic; mobile operators, systems integrators, tower companies, equipment providers and ecosystem vendors are investing heavily in 5G to enable the delivery of new 5G-enabled services. Linking the evolution of radio infrastructure with key business objectives around revenue growth is a must. Each participant in the value chain shares a common interest in ensuring they can capture the revenue opportunities while controlling their cost,” said Franco Messori, Chief Product Strategy and Transformation Officer, Infovista. “Smart CAPEX allows business and technology teams to effectively and efficiently plan, optimize and model different network evolution scenarios to deliver next generation networks with the maximum return on investment.”

“Designed for enabling both greenfield and brownfield operators to quickly deploy high-performance mobile networks that fully exploit the potential of 5G, Infovista’s Smart CAPEX helps them to make intelligent, data-driven RF investment decisions based on the priorities they set to deliver against key business objectives. Smart CAPEX is a significant step towards giving 5G operators the insight and intelligence they need to make informed network investment decisions that maximize their ROI and make 5G work smarter,” added Messori.

The main functionalities and deliverables in the Smart CAPEX solution include:

– Geospatial heatmaps: visualizations of current and predicted business KPIs in the form of heatmaps that users can view at various levels of granularity, from the national level down to the cell-site and ‘pixel’ level. The KPIs include: QoE, Churn risk, Revenue, TCO and ROI

– Digital twin modeling: A model that replicates the live physical network alongside population density and traffic demand

– Nationwide network planning & optimization: Smart CAPEX allows you to dynamically scale 4G and 5G network models to the size of whole countries

– Focus area detection: The identification of both current and predicted geographic areas with problems resulting from insufficient capacity, including insufficient capacity and coverage; insufficient or rapidly declining QoE; rapid capacity demand growth; and low spectral efficiency

– TCO and ROI modeling: The configuration of equipment and associated costs, alongside maintenance overhead data to accurately estimate the overall TCO implication of different planning decisions, to support the identification of the most cost-efficient cell layouts

– ROI Optimization: Leveraging its revenue heatmap and TCO modeling capabilities, Smart CAPEX solution identifies the areas with healthy ROI and visualize that in various formats including ROI heatmaps and network upgrade schedule priorities by ROI

Smart CAPEX is part of Infovista’s Network Lifecycle Automation suite, that enables automation of processes spanning multiple network lifecycle phases, accelerating digital transformation for CSPs and enterprises.

To find out more about the Smart CAPEX solution, and how operators can use its AI/ML-based network planning, optimization, and modelling to deliver a mobile network with the highest revenue potential, please download our whitepaper: https://www.infovista.com/solutions/5g-investment-smart-capex.