Infovista and Zain Jordan have recently collaborated for network performance optimization. To enlighten us about this strategic move, Manoj Gulati, account director, Infovista spoke with Telecom Review and gave additional insights on how CSPs and enterprises can boost network performance and customer experience.
Can you share how Infovista is innovating its network lifecycle automation (NLA) approach for the next-gen networks era?
The journey to profitable 5G begins with the network, but culminates in end-user experiences that can be monetized. It’s a lifecycle where every step must inform the next and improve the last. Our NLA portfolio enables the introduction and automation of processes spanning the entire network lifecycle – from planning, testing, deployment and assurance to monetization, and we have tailored these solutions to be ready for a 5G world, incorporating the very latest advances such as AI and ML to help network builders roll out effective and efficient 5G networks that cost less and generate more revenue.
What is the significance of Infovista's partnership with Zain Jordan?
Zain Jordan’s cooperation with Infovista stems from its desire to provide the best possible service to its customers by ensuring that the network operates at the highest levels of efficiency. Zain has partnered with Infovista to measure network performance and examine service quality from an end-user perspective, benchmarking not just their own network performance, but also comparing it to competitors, helping them inform decisions on how to manage and improve the network. Zain Jordan is part of a regional group that spans the Middle East, so for Infovista to have partnered with such an organization is a significant strategic achievement for our goals in the region.
Please share more details about the products selected by Zain Jordan: Infovista’s TEMS Sense, TEMS Director, and Planet.
TEMS Sense provides Zain Jordan powerful multi-mode and end-to-end autonomous network testing and measurement which it can use to undertake active testing statically, on foot, or in-vehicle of all of Jordan’s live mobile networks – both theirs and their competitors’. Key performance indicator data gathered will include network quality, efficiency and throughput, all of which will enable Zain to monitor the quality of experience being delivered by each operator and assist in its own network optimization.
Meanwhile, TEMS Director, delivered from Zain Jordan’s cloud infrastructure, will act as a ‘fleet management’ backend, effectively managing the distributed network of active probes, remotely pushing testing scripts to them to gather data such as the success/failure rate on calls during moments of peak traffic. This data, among other, can be then combined with the Planet RF planning software and optimization solution, which provides Zain with powerful and accurate tools to plan, design and optimize its 3G and 4G networks – making the changes necessary to ensure they can provide the best possible service to their customers quickly and efficiently.
How do you plan to expand your partnership with Zain Jordan, and other Zain operations you are already working with, in 2022?
The solutions that Zain Jordan has selected can benefit network operators throughout the region, supporting 4G and next-generation mobile networks during design, deployment and once they are operational. It is hugely to the benefit of operators that they employ tools which can monitor the quality of the product they are providing and rigorously test for any shortfalls in service provision. This allows them not just to quickly solve problems when they occur, but to anticipate them ahead of time and proactively take measures to ensure quality of experience for users. The benefits of these solutions are transferrable across the Zain Group, and we look forward to deepening our partnership in the year ahead, using our suite of NLA solutions to help other companies ensure continuity of service and helping them build the best possible networks for the future.
In your perspective, what is the key to boosting the network performance and customer experience of CSPs and enterprises?
For CSPs and enterprises to maximize their 5G opportunity, it’s important that they are able to have a single holistic view across their entire network, services and experiences, and use that insight and data to inform their planning, deployment, operations and ultimately monetization of 5G. But if I had to boil it down to three key things, it would be these:
Firstly, operators need to be able to make quicker CAPEX investment decisions in their 5G network roll-out by visualising and predicting revenue, churn and QoE on a map and then locating infrastructure for optimal TCO and ROI.
As they race to deploy and scale their network, they then need help accelerating their 5G roll-out by automating site validation; using planning and testing data to guide automated test routines, improving accuracy and speed while leaving highly qualified RF engineers free to focus on vital RAN optimisation tasks.
And finally, they need support in streamlining their operations, so they can accelerate the monetization of new differentiated and SLA-backed 5G services by taking a predictive, real-time, and comprehensive approach to customer experience assurance across their entire network.