Analyze user impact and classify all fiber network elements
Broadband service is becoming a critical element of our infrastructure. It has evolved from a convenience to a necessity, essential for the maintenance of vital societal functions on par with electricity, water, sewage, and transportation. As a result, government bodies and the industry are beginning to establish the same kinds of requirements regarding service quality, availability, reliability, and safety as for other critical infrastructures.
To meet these requirements, you need complete documentation of both the fiber network structure and usage. This entails a bottom-up perspective. For all of your fiber network services, the operator must know which customers are using that service. This will vary greatly between telecom value chains, so identifying providers and users is not a straightforward proposition.
As an example, a dark fiber or capacity service sold by the telecom network owner to a mobile operator that connects a mobile mast with a node in the mobile infrastructure is not a service for a single end-customer.
Even when there is a single private customer connection, there is a big difference between the reliability requirements on a connection used for regular internet access and one used for life-supporting telemedicine.
Aggregated information and classifications
The information about the fiber network usage must then be aggregated over cables, passive equipment, active equipment, and all the way up to nodes and ditches. This aggregation provides a basis for classification in terms of the criticality of the fiber network objects. This classification will then be used to determine physical requirements like backup power capacity, redundancy options, monitoring/alarm equipment, and outer protection. The classification will also drive aspects like risk analysis, fault recovery plans, and regular inspections.
dpCom for telecom networks supports network owners with features and functions including:
- Classification of services in terms of user impact and SLA levels
- Aggregation of information in the service objects for all objects (cable, equipment, node, and similar) participating in carrying the service
- Documentation of backup power
- Support for risk analysis
- Workflows for fault recovery
- Inspection plans and inspection forms
- Fault-impact analysis and notification to customers
- Reports summarizing object reliability information