Europacom.net

Smart Active Monitoring and resilient failover solutions

Europacom's Intelligent Network Management System (INMS) offers centralised configuration and asset management for PCI compliant broadband, and the Smart Active Monitoring (SAM) service provides a real time live monitoring service as devices in the field proactively inform central services of any change to their status.

SAM provides a graphical map interface showing traffic light status of all sites and any individual site can be drilled down into, to define the status of the CPE, as well as its last 'smart call home time', and the connectivity performance:

If a device goes into distress, a ticket is automatically logged in the Europacom real time ticket system, Atlas, identifying the site and any non responsive equipment for appropriate action to be taken.

Preventative action includes manual intervention to report deteriorating service thresholds to upstream suppliers and/or to request the resetting of certain thresholds to more stable limits. If a service which is displaying signs of the onset of distress can be caught early enough then the actual failure of a service can often be avoided.

When a condition is discovered that has resulted in a loss of service, the remediation process commences at an earlier stage rather than waiting for a fault to be reported from the site manager. Naturally, the earlier the fault is reported and the remediation process begun, the earlier a resolution can be expected.

Increasingly, as the use and business dependencies' on broadband has become critical, many are looking for greater resilience and Europacom will also be showcasing its Wireless LAN Deployment (WiLD) solution. WiLD is an integrated 3G failover solution that can be installed anywhere on a customer's LAN for optimal coverage rather than traditional methods of connecting a dongle to a router, often in a back office or basement. The WiLD advanced 3G beam forming router provides seamless automatic failover from DSL to 3G or it can be used as an alternative "crash pack" solution that can be deployed quickly to a site.

It is important to know when 3G automatic failover occurs, so not only can the DSL problem be identified and rectified, but also that relatively expensive 3G data usage does not get out of control. Active WiLD devices can therefore be identified in conjunction with any DSL failure using SAM, and in such an event access to a site router is still available over 3G ensuring near 100% service integrity with accuracy and consistency. By providing router diagnostics that would otherwise be unavailable during an outage, any onsite LAN issues can be identified generally minimising the need for an engineer visit.