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Comarch Telecommunications Business Unit
no 2/2009 (10)
in focus
Mobile Technologies
>> Behind the Scenes of Mobile Products – Smartphone Operating Systems
>> Loyalty Card Killer!
>> Location-Based Services: New Opportunities for Innovation
>> Smartphone – the Best Tool for Cutting Field Service Costs and Increasing Productivity
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Change the way you plan and operate your
network with comarch next generationnetwork Planning!If you want to discover how to simplify network planning and optimization, automate network operation and reduce OSS system complexity visit ngnp.comarch.com
Editor-in-Chief: Katarzyna GajewskaDTP&Graphics: Jakub MalickiProofreading: Martin JonesPublisher: Comarch SA, Al. Jana Pawła II 39a, 31-864 KrakówTel. +48 12 64 61 000, Fax: +48 12 64 61 100, e-mail: [email protected]: Skleniarz Printing House, ul. J. Lea 118, 31-033 KrakówCirculation: 1 000
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Since 1993, Comarch’s Telecommunications Business Unit has been specializing in designing, implementing and integrating solutions and services for telecommunication operators. Experience gained during this time, along with its knowledge of the latest industry trends, allows the company to flexibly adapt itself to the needs and expectations of every client.
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In today’s times, we’re all aware
that the world is mobile.
And it’s not only because people carry mobile handsets
and laptops around with them religiously, but rather
mainly due to the outstanding possibilities offered by
existing services, systems, environments, resources and
communities when mobilized. Mobile devices are simply
enablers. More important, is how each and every solution
should be tailored to the mobile device in order to enrich
the end-user experience and provide the right content at
the right time: “Here and Now”, on demand and without
limits. Business models for mobility will be driven by QoS
and AoS of services, as well as by the interoperability of
voice, data, multimedia and payment services. Telco “dumb
pipes” or “smart pipes” network services will support user
communication, interaction and mobility, entertainment and
professional activities.
In this issue of Technology Review we present various
aspects of mobility as it opens new markets and
opportunities emerging from already existing legacy
solutions in telecommunications, as well as NGN and 4G,
which have vast potential for converging and evolving, and
both of which are enriched by mobile access channels.
From Smartphone technologies, through applications
in LBS, Loyalty and Digital Homes, towards the solutions
in telecommunications providing a third dimension to
Service Assurance and Networking, the excellence of
intelligent networks with mobile assets is presented step-
by-step.
At Comarch, we strongly believe that when the right
approach to mobility is adopted, services can evolve
rapidly, systems can be enriched with network intelligence,
self-tuning and self-adaptation; environments can be
simplified to service delivery platforms; resources can be
managed more easily by All-IP technologies; and unified
processes and communities can grow dynamically. All
these factors will enable positive market segmentation
and lead to highly lucrative business openings in the near
future. Join us in our vision and enjoy reading! <<<Comarch SAPosition: Mobile R&D Department Director
Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
Piotr Madej
Comarch SAPosition: EVP Professional Services
Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
Paweł Bieryt
Preface < 3
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Complete integration with existing operator order management, billing and even legacy CRM systems
Business process automation helping to optimize and standardize the processes
Coverage of the entire acquire-grow-retain customer lifecycle, with integrated functional modules
Learn more at:crm-for-telecoms.comarch.com
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
IN FOCUS
6. Behind the Scenes of Mobile Products – Smartphone Operating SystemsDespite the global recession, Smartphone sales
surpassed 40 million units in the second quarter
of 2009, according to Gartner. This is a 27 percent
increase from the same period last year, while over-
all mobile phone sales declined 6 percent. What
kind of factors should you take into account when
planning a mobile product? Is the mobile devel-
opment process for mobiles the same as it is for
desktops? Is it really possible to write one appli-
cation that serves all, or at least the majority of all
devices available on the market?
12. Loyalty Card Killer!Currently, there are loyalty programs for almost
every business on the market: retail, finance, airline,
as well as telecommunications. However, the lat-
ter receives the fewest benefits from these types
of loyalty programs. Frequent Flyer Programs offer
tickets as a highly lucrative reward, while retail
companies facilitate quicker points collection. Is
today’s technology able to change the situation,
reap more profits for mobile operators and grant
them tools which are also desired by loyalty pro-
grams in other industries?
15. Location-Based Services: New Opportunities for InnovationLocalization technologies are becoming an increas-
ingly integral part of our lives and helping to improve
the quality of services we use. Some experts claim
that it is a technology powerful enough to become
a leading component of the IT world in the near
future. According to Gartner, the LBS market is set
to grow from $41 million in 2008 to $95.7 million in
2009. This is likely to be a slightly optimistic fore-
cast, yet it is still quite apparent in today’s world
that the number of services using location-based
technology will increase. This article gives a broad
outline of LBS technology, its present and possible
future applications, and discusses the innovation
trends in the area of LBS.
19. Smartphone – the Best Tool for Cutting Field Service Costs and Increasing ProductivityDoes your field service continuously use up more
and more money? Do your customers appear to be
dissatisfied and are the number of “Where is my
tech?” escalations refusing to decrease? There is
a simple solution: buy gadgets, go with the trends
and become green. Your company will not only save
money, but will also be able to increase revenue.
24. Digital Home – a Dream or a Fact?UPnP is the technology of tomorrow that began the
day before yesterday. The main goal of UPnP tech-
nology is to enable the seamless connectivity of
various devices, forming networks in home or cor-
porate environments and enabling a digital home
experience. Due to its design, adding new devices
or programs to the network should be as easy as
plugging a piece of hardware into a PC. The devices
and programs connected familiarize themselves
with the current network setup due to service dis-
covery and advertisement, and immediately config-
ure themselves accordingly, with regard to already
connected devices. In short: UPnP is a framework
for building networked applications.
OPEraTIONaL ExCELLENCE
27. Towards Self-Organizing NetworksThe current mobile market landscape with dropping
revenues per bit and increasing demand for a diversi-
fied service portfolio forces operators to reduce OPEX,
while investing in new technologies and solutions.
Constantly growing multi-technology and multi-vendor
networks become more complex than ever before, and
significant network planning and management effort
is needed to ensure satisfactory end-user experience.
This effort can be minimized with the implementation
of Self-Organizing Networks (SON), which will enable
operators to simplify network operation and extend
their network via plug & play. In Comarch’s view, net-
work management automation is key and is a crucial
factor for investments in next-generation wireless
technologies such as LTE, and supports SON use
cases with its product portfolio.
32. Service assurance: Bridging the Gap between the Traditional Management SilosEach service provider has their own business model.
One may focus on being the technological leader
delivering the highest possible quality to customers,
while others may find their niche in simple and inex-
pensive services available for a flat rate. Yet they all
face the same problem: the customer will leave if the
services do not work. Throughout the years they have
been mitigating this potential threat with a number of
different fault management tools, which keep the net-
work in a good state of operation. However, business
models have changed and this no longer appears
possible. Today, even simple services have become
dependent on several different platforms, which are
often delivered by business partners. Service provid-
ers must bridge the gap between old tools and new
models. They must shift their operations to the next
level: Service Assurance.
Table of Contents < 5
35. Telco on Demand? Can a telecom provider outsource everything besides the marketing department?Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a model of soft-
ware deployment whereby a provider licenses an
application to customers for use as a service on
demand. The SaaS model has become one of the
most popular trends in today’s IT environment.
Software vendors are starting to offer their soft-
ware via the SaaS model for many industries. But
is SaaS already mainstream in telecommunica-
tions? How far can a telecom provider go into SaaS?
Are there any IT or network areas that cannot be
outsourced?
40. Self Tuning OSSAn economic slowdown always pushes market
players to reduce costs and pursue new revenue
sources, which is a more effective strategy than sim-
ply increasing the effort applied to employ the tenet
of efficiency improvements as a continuos cycle. The
article than simply increasing the amount of effot
applied is to employ the tenet of efficiency improve-
ments as a continuous cycle. The article describes
the concept of the OSS system which should not
only promise to add value to CSP, but also contain
self-assessment and self-tuning mechanisms to
measure the system performance in business ori-
ented KPIs and improve performance. See how the
concept of a continuous improvement cycle imple-
mented in the Next Generation Service Management
solution can help CSPs maintain profitability, while
under pressure to reduce time-to-market for new
services. Find out about customer service compo-
sition optimization, as it relates to the notion of Self-
Organizing Networks.
nr 2/2009 (10)
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Behind the Scenes of Mobile ProductsSmartphone Operating Systems
6 > In Focus
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
for one OS), or even choosing a web browser (two main
browsers with around a 90 percent user share). This is
normal, however, since competition drives quality and
innovation, and since users can select what fits their
needs best. On the other hand every possibility must
be researched, and it is far more difficult to make your
product accessible to the majority of users.
Symbian
In 1998, Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, and Psion founded
a company called Symbian Ltd. “to exploit the con-
vergence between PDAs and mobile phones”. Psion
created the EPOC16 operating system for its pocket
computers, Psion Organisers, in the late 1980s. Part-
nership between the leading phone manufacturers
was most likely to have been driven by fear of losing
the smartphone market to PDA companies. Psion’s
EPOC32 operating system, developed in the mid 1990s,
was primarily used in the Ericsson R380 (November
2000). Later, EPOC32 was renamed Symbian OS, and
was utilized in the Nokia 9210 and Nokia 7650 (2001).
Symbian Ltd’s shareholders have changed over
time (e.g. Siemens, Samsung, Panasonic, Sony Eric-
sson), while the company licensed the Symbian OS
to even more manufacturers (e.g. LG, Arima, Fujitsu,
Lenovo, BenQ, Sharp). On Symbian Ltd’s 10th anniver-
sary Nokia announced that they intended to acquire
and transform it into a non-profit foundation. The Sym-
bian Foundation was founded by Nokia, Sony Ericsson,
NTT DoCoMo, Texas Instruments, Vodafone, Samsung,
ST Ericsson and AT&T hoping to “provide royalty-free
software and accelerate innovation”. Comarch also
contributes to the development of Symbian through
its membership in the Symbian Foundation, sharing
the vision of creating an open and compelling mobile
software platform.
The Symbian Foundation will publish the Symbian
platform under the open source Eclipse Public License
by 2010. This is a fantastic opportunity not only for all
developers interested in writing applications for Sym-
bian and looking to explore the source code while
uncovering Symbian OS secrets, but also for device
manufacturers, who can now equip their own devices
with Symbian OS free of charge. This will likely result
in an easier, faster and more cost-effective creation
of Symbian applications.
Currently, Symbian is the leading smartphone
OS, and with the support of nearly 150 members of
the foundation, including mobile network operators,
semiconductor vendors, software companies, and
phone manufacturers, it probably will be for some
time to come. Although its market share has recently
declined in favor of RIM, iPhone and Android, its posi-
tion remains very strong.
Despite the fact that Symbian is the leading global
smartphone OS, this is quite different in the North Amer-
ica region, likely due to Nokia’s (smaller) market share.
When it comes to application development on the
Symbian platform, it is important to note that it enables
developers to implement almost anything imaginable.
The only limitation is due to the capability model, which
restricts some APIs crucial for maintaining the plat-
form’s integrity. However, before beginning to imple-
ment your solution, you should be aware that the
development of the Symbian system can consume
a lot of time. Symbian’s dialect of the C++ program-
ming language is not particularly straightforward and
experienced developers are necessary, in order to
meet the deadlines and obtain high-quality software.
Nevertheless, when completed, the application is fast,
smooth, user friendly and satisfies even the most fas-
tidious customers.
rIM BlackBerry
The BlackBerry Operating System is produced by
Research In Motion Limited. The first BlackBerry device
was released in 2002 and since then has gained pop-
abstract
Despite the global recession, Smartphone sales sur-
passed 40 million units in the second quarter of 2009,
according to Gartner, which is a 27 percent increase
from the same period last year. In comparison, overall
mobile phone sales declined 6 percent. When this is
considered together with the rapidly growing functional-
ity of these devices (fast CPU, GPS, accelerometer etc.),
and the mobile application stores boom, it comes as no
surprise that more and more companies decide to build
their products for the market, or add mobile functional-
ity to already existing products. Due to the number of
Operating Systems that can be found in smartphones,
the decision regarding which to choose can be crucial.
What kind of factors should you take into account when
planning a mobile product? Is the mobile development
process for mobiles the same as it is for desktops? Is
it really possible to write one application that serves
all, or at least the majority of the devices available on
the market? These are questions that service provid-
ers new to the mobile world may not have answers for.
In this article we try to answer them and give a broad
outline of today’s mobile software landscape.
Key Players
Choosing a Smartphone Operating System is much more
difficult than choosing an OS for a PC (around 90 percent
nr 2/2009 (10)
In Focus < 7
Figure 1. The market share in Q2, 2009 according to Gartner
Please note that these results are based on the number of units sold in Q2, and are not a true representation of
the number of smartphones currently operated by users (a larger share for Symbian OS and Windows Mobile
at the expense of iPhone and Android).
Symbian 51%RIM BlackBerry 19%
iPhoneOS 13%Windows Mobile 9%
Linux 5%
Android 2%
Other 1%
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
by a third party. Application distribution is also far
from satisfactory – the only methods for shipping
are through Apple. However, since the phone itself is
in high demand in the United States and is gaining in
popularity in other parts of the world, it is wise to also
provide an iPhone version of your application.
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is Microsoft’s operating system for
smartphones, PDAs, and other devices. The first ver-
sion was released in 2000. Due to Microsoft’s domi-
nant position on the market for operating systems for
PC, office suites and web browsers, many believed
that the impending success of Windows Mobile is
just a matter of time. Indeed, the option to easily
exchange and use documents and emails with a PC
is still a major selling point of the OS.
The most plausible reason for the less sizeable suc-
cess of the Mobile version in comparison to desktop
Windows is likely related to the unwillingness of lead-
ing smartphone manufacturers to integrate it into the
majority of their devices – Windows Mobile is pres-
ent mainly in HTC phones. In 2009, Microsoft signed
an agreement with LG Electronic to license Windows
Mobile. However, with the attention of HTC focused pri-
marily on other platforms (mainly Android), it may not
halt the trend of a decreasing market share.
Following a common theme, Windows Mobile mar-
ket share is also more extensive in North America than
in to other regions.
Development for Windows Mobile-based devices
is similar to development for standard Windows. Third
party developers have several options available to
them when deploying a mobile application, includ-
ing writing a native code with Visual C++, which pro-
vides more comprehensive APIs, or writing a managed
code that works with the .NET Compact Framework,
which is actually a subset of the .NET Framework and
hence shares numerous components with software
development on desktop clients. The resemblance
to desktop Windows and the .NET Compact Frame-
work makes Windows Mobile particularly suitable for
business application implementation, although other
applications can also be created.
ularity mainly in North America. From its very incep-
tion, the key feature of BlackBerry was push email (the
possibility to receive email directly), which attracted
real interest from various companies.
Although BlackBerry has recently increased its
market share, the alliance between Nokia and Micro-
soft announced in August, may bring it to a halt. The
purpose of the agreement is to bring business soft-
ware to smartphones and (officially) pose high-end
competition to companies such as BlackBerry. Nokia
smartphones containing both Microsoft Office and
email programs are likely to be the key development
born from this collaboration.
The usage of Java language makes development for
BlackBerry relatively easy, for instance when compared
to Symbian. It is also easier to find developers who can
start developing for the platform without additional
problems. The range of APIs available is another advan-
tage of the BlackBerry platform, though it may not be as
comprehensive when compared to the Symbian case.
However, with popularity limited to North America this
renders it suitable only for selected solutions.
iPhone OS
The first iPhone was released by Apple Inc. in June 2007.
onsidering the recency of its innovation, the iPhone’s
immense popularity is impressive, and is only continuing
to grow. Although the contribution to its success made
by marketing is still being debated, the iPhone undoubt-
edly has vast influence on all the other platforms.
Similar to the BlackBerry, the iPhone’s popularity is
far greater in North America than in other regions.
Currently, there are only 3 iPhone devices out on
the market: Original, 3G and 3GS, which is potentially
problematic, with regard to wider adoption of the OS.
Unfortunately, developing for the iPhone is not as
easy as using it. Objective C, the language used in
iPhone development is not widely known, and is gen-
erally limited to Apple-related developers. The number
of APIs available is also underwhelming, and there
are numerous features that cannot be implemented
Linux
No royalties or licensing fees and the ability to
freely change virtually anything were likely the main
motives behind the decision of many smartphone
manufacturers to use the Linux kernel as the base for
their own platforms. Platforms produced by Motorola
and DoCoMo gained the most popularity on the Asian
market. Nokia and Google also invested in Linux-based
platforms: Maemo and Android respectively.
The variety of different vendors’ Linux-based
platforms, highlights the fact that many sides are
interested in its growth, yet the lack of compatibil-
ity between them currently makes it impossible to
treat “Mobile Linux” as competition to the platforms
described above. Industry standards or de-facto stan-
dards can alter the situation. An additional opportunity
for Linux on smartphones is the scope for single plat-
form success. These days, Android and Maemo look
the most promising. In fact, media reports surface
nearly every six months, claiming that “undisclosed
Nokia sources” reveal that the company will, in fact,
abandon Symbian in favor of Linux.
android
Following the release of Apple’s iPhone in 2007, many
expected that internet giant Google would release its
own gPhone. Eventually, this turned out not to be the
case, but in November 2007 Google did announce the
early version of the smartphone operating system
‘Android’. The congregation of companies officially
interested in Androids’ success is the Open Handset
Alliance, which consists of mobile operators, software
companies, semiconductor companies and handset
manufacturers (e.g. HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung Elec-
tronics, Sony Ericsson). The OS is developed as open
source on the Apache License, and is based on the
Linux kernel on the GPL license.
The first Android phone hit the market in October
2008. It was made by HTC and sold as HTC Dream,
but was also branded as T-Mobile G1, Era G1 and Rog-
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
8 > In Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
ers Dream. Android phones did not sell as rapidly as
the iPhone, but this may change with the arrival of
additional phones from alternative manufacturers. For
instance, Google expects 18 Android phones by the end
of the year from 8 manufacturers. Currently, the main
selling point of the OS is the possibility for integration
with Google services, such as GMail and GoogleMaps.
Google provides developers with Java API powerful
enough to satisfy most needs and implement various
types of solutions. Moreover, advanced developers
may implement the native C application and deploy
it within the phone, making it possible to use virtu-
ally all of the telephone’s functions. The development
for Android is not very difficult and finding developers
should not be an issue. Although there aren’t many
devices on the market yet, Android’s popularity is
growing and platform should certainly be considered
when planning a new product.
Maemo
Maemo is a Linux-based OS for mobile devices devel-
oped by Nokia. The first device, Nokia 770, was released
in November 2005, and was classified as an “Internet
Tablet”. Due to the lack of GSM telephony hardware
and a fairly large touchscreen, it was far more effec-
tive as a tool for web browsing than the majority of
alternative phone screens. Various voices claimed that
the device was not intended to challenge Symbian
OS Nokia devices. Finally however, in August of this
year Nokia announced the first Maemo phone – N900,
preceeded by rumors that Maemo will be chosen by
Nokia for their smartphones.
The major advantage of the Maemo platform is that
its development is similar to standard Linux, thereby
making it attractive to Linux enthusiasts, who want to
extend their product range to mobile devices. Due to the
enormous capability of the platform, it is hard to imagine
an application which cannot be implemented to Maemo.
Currently, there is only one smartphone available on
the market, since the previous Maemo-based devices
released by Nokia were not equipped with telephony
features. However, the platform is extremely powerful
and it is likely that it will become more popular in the
future. Thus, it is crucial to take this into account when
planning a long-term project.
Palm webOS
Another Linux-based platform that could become
a major player in the future is the Palm webOS.
Palm Inc., a company with vast experience in the
PDA market, aspires to become the “iPhone killer” and
repeat its success. The first stores selling the device
with the OS (Palm Pre) witnessed long lines, while
favorable reviews in the press highlight its potential.
However, only time will tell.
There is an SKD for WebOS and developers can
consider writing code for the device. However, due to
its current small market share, this device is a less
attractive target for mobile applications, unless the
device is shipped to your customers together with
the software.
Hardware
Smartphones tend to utilize the most advanced hard-
ware currently available on the mobile phone market,
although they often differ from one another. In fact,
significant differences may exist even with devices
based on a single operating system. As a result, the
product developer should know what hardware is
essential for the product, and which particular smart-
phones utilize it.
For some products, CPU speed (e.g. for encryption)
might be key, while others may require advanced ani-
mation effects and hardware graphics acceleration.
The majority of smartphones have a built-in cam-
era, with differences in resolution and the time the
device requires for saving a picture. Many smartphone
products use a camera to obtain information from the
environment or for scanning barcodes.
Today, one can find smartphones with various types
of hardware, which can be used to connect to other
devices. As a result, the smartphone can remotely con-
trol other devices, as well as exchange data.
A WiFi connection enables access to fast, cheap,
and unlimited Internet, and facilitates the operation
of more mobile web scenarios.
An accelerometer and magnetometer are used
to trace the actual motion of the phone, and allow
users to interact with the application in a far more
natural manner.
GPS and information from the GSM network can be
used to retrieve information regarding where a phone
is and enables creating location-based products, such
as Google Latitude or Comarch Mobiloc.
In addition, user interface hardware varies with
different smartphones, although following recent
developments (since iPhone’s success) it appears
that the touchscreen may now be the standard. For
some products, miniature QWERTY keyboards may
be especially useful, while wheels can be used for
certain additional buttons, to improve user interac-
tion with the product.
In addition, the Asian market currently enjoys
smartphones with a number of unusual hardware
features, including ones which alter the phone’s scent,
or check the intoxication level of the user.
Smartphones also differ in screen size. They vary
from fairly small monochromatic versions found in the
older devices to those which are (surprisingly) quite
sizeable: 16 million colors and even 800 x 480 pixels,
such as on the Nokia N900. Handling such a variety
of screen resolutions is not always an easy task from
the programmer’s point of view. Complicating the situ-
ation further, is the orientation, which in some models
changes on the fly, depending on the physical posi-
tion of the device or the location of the keyboard slider.
Additionally, some telephones, such as the Nokia E90
Communicator, have more than one display.
restrictions
One of the biggest traps waiting for those with a lack
of experience in developing mobile products is likely
to be the number of restrictions. Many think that the
smartphone OS will grant them access to everything,
similar to that of an OS on a regular PC.
Symbian includes the Symbian Signed program,
through which a product must go in order to obtain
access to certain phone capabilities. To pass the
program, one has to guarantee that the product has
passed a number of tests and must also pay for the
signing process. There are also capabilities that require
the device manufacturer’s approval, which might be
both difficult and extremely time consuming to achieve.
The official reason for Symbian Signed’s existence is
to prevent the installation of malicious software on
the phone.
In order to develop applications for the BlackBerry
device and use certain features noted as “sensetive”
a fee of $20 is required for signing keys and registering
on the RIM website. This process is used to track the
usage of these sensitive APIs, and does not require
any testing or the RIM’s approval.
Development for the iPhone was originally restricted
to Apple Inc. and several other companies selected
nr 2/2009 (10)
In Focus < 9
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
uses its own dialect in addition to C++ that must be
understood in order to write the most advanced and
efficient programs.
BlackBerry uses two versions of Java, Java
Micro Edition and its own Java API.
Apple decided to create a language entitled Objec-
tive C, also incorporating it into the iPhone. Generally
speaking, this language is only popular within Apple’s
own ecosystem, and there are few developers with
expertise in its field. Although it is worth noting that
its popularity has been growing with the success of
the iPhone.
Android development can be conducted using its
own version of Java.
One to rule them all
Excluding those that are native, some smartphone
OS’s enable writing programs in alternative languages.
Such programming languages are less efficient and
grant more restricted phone access. However, they
are also are more straightforward, and, if supported
on more than one platform, enable users to write a sin-
gle program (single code) for more than one operat-
by Apple. Currently however, there is a public SDK
(Software Development Kit), as well as the option to
create an application for the iPhone after purchas-
ing a Macintosh computer and paying for an iPhone
Development Program membership ($99). It is worth
noting that even this public SDK lacks the API for cer-
tain features only available to Apple.
One of Android’s design bases is that “All Apps are
Created Equal”. The notion is that there should be no
difference in the possibilities available for applications
preinstalled on the phone by the manufacturer and
all 3rd party applications.
Programming Languages
Knowing which programming language is native to a
particular platform is crucial, as this is the key deter-
minant of product development cost and mainte-
nance. The more popular a language, the easier it
is to find developers. The less complicated it is, the
more optimum the speed at which the product can
be developed.
Symbian’s native development is carried out in
C++, which is a popular language. However, Symbian
ing system. Typically, a non-native language can be
useful for relatively simple products that should work
on as many types of devices as possible.
Java Micro Edition (JME) is the language designed
to operate on all low resource devices, and works on
most phones, not just smartphones. However, the
more recently created platforms (iPhone, Android)
lack its native support. Furthermore, various bugs
exist within different implementations of JME on dif-
ferent phones, and the advantages of writing one
code for several platforms are diminished, due to the
necessity of solving a variety of issues specific to
each phone model.
Following Nokia’s acquisition of Trolltech (the com-
pany that developed the Qt Framework) in 2008, there
has been an ongoing effort to provide Qt on Sym-
bian and Maemo phones. When this is completed,
an option to utilize QT for writing a single code for
Symbian, Maemo, desktop Windows, Linux, and Mac
should exist.
The Internet is also a common environment for
all mobile operating systems. There is no access to
smartphone capabilities from a web browser, but for
certain products, for which most logic can be shifted
to the server side, mobile web is also a possibility. For
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
10 > In Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
advanced products there are also web-related technol-
ogies, such as Flash Lite and Mobile Web Widgets.
application Development
When compared to desktop, mobile applications are
far less portable and usually must be written sepa-
rately for all required platforms, as there is no uni-
versal programming language for all mobile devices.
Java Micro edition is sometimes viewed as a univer-
sal language (although not supported on certain plat-
forms), but using it frequently leads to more problems
than solutions. It is not the native language for most
devices, meaning that the application almost never
appears to be native. Moreover, compared to a native,
usually lower level programming language, Java appli-
cations offer inferior performance and are less user-
friendly, which may result in customer reluctance to
use them. An additional disadvantage of Java is the
lack of APIs, which means that only certain features
can be implemented. Thus, inexperienced develop-
ers may not even realize that a feature they plan to
acquire is not actually feasible in Java prior to start-
ing development. This often leads to bitter disappoint-
ment and, what is more important, financial losses.
However, it should be said that some, not very com-
plex applications can be successfully implemented
utilizing Java ME.
When dealing with moblie software, one should
also be aware of the various differences between
devices based on the same platform. Due to the binary
breaks between different versions of the same plat-
form, APIs availability, screen resolutions and hardware
configurations, it is impossible to write an all-in-one
application even on a particular platform, unless it is a
fairly simplistic piece of software. However, going into
specific details of such issues is outside the scope of
this article. Thus if you do encounter similar problems
and do not have experienced staff, it is advisable to
use the services of an experienced company to help
you complete your project.
The required effort is not the same for all plat-
forms, and varies strongly depending on the type
of application to be implemented. Some features
may also be impossible to implement for cer-
tain devices, as described above. A general rule of
thumb is, the lower the level of programming lan-
guage, the longer the development. Therefore, creat-
ing a native Symbian or Linux Maemo application will
usually be more time-consuming than implement-
ing one for Android, BlackBerry or Windows, provid-
ing that you can use the .NET Compact Framework.
Comarch SAPosition: Senior Software Analyst /
R&D Manager
Department: Telecommunications
Professional Services
Info: Grzegorz leads the R&D unit, the main
goal of which is exploring new mobile-rela-
ted technologies, in addition to searching
for new opportunities on the mobile market.
Comarch SAPosition: Senior Software Developer
Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
Info: Piotr has been developing for Mobile
platforms (mostly Symbian) for 4 years.
Currently located in Helsinki, he supports
one of Comarch’s key clients, and closely
follows changes in the mobile world from
an expert perspective.
Grzegorz Wąchocki
Piotr Janas
However, the iPhone is a completely different story as
the platform is reasonably closed and the first ques-
tion should always be whether the functionality can
be implemented. Following this, if you are certain of
the feasibility and have experienced developers, the
implementation should not take longer than it does
for Android or BlackBerry.
Summary
Without a doubt, choosing a mobile operating system
is case specific – there is no single platform ideal for
every product, and you can make the most informed
decision simply by choosing a platform that best fits
your particular situation.
Usually, the most important factor is popularity of
the platform – the larger the number of devices, the
larger the market for the product. It is important to take
into account the fact that popularity varies by region
(especially North America), and can change drastically
over the product development period (such as in the
recent case of the iPhone). Popularity can rarely be
ignored, if the product can work on devices bought
especially to run it.
Most products have hardware without which they
simply cannot function. In fact, some products can
operate significantly better, using specific types of
hardware. Access to a phone’s hardware is enabled
for programmers in programming languages that have
a major impact on the cost of product development
and its maintenance. It is also important to remem-
ber that there are restrictions that can make some
products impossible, or even unprofitable to create
for a particular operating system.
Finally, creating a comprehensive mobile applica-
tion is not an easy task and some may try to avoid
it altogether. However, the mobile market is growing
quickly, and ignoring this fact is not wise. Thus, if you
do not have sufficient experience, it is recommended
that you select a company that will aid you in repre-
senting yourself in the mobile world. It is important to
note that creating a high-quality multiplatform mobile
service is not impossible and there are people who
can do it for you. <<<
nr 2/2009 (10)
In Focus < 11
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Loyalty Card Killer!
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
12 > In Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
These days, loyalty programs are
available for almost every busi-
ness on the market: retail, finance, airline, as well as
telecommunications. However, the telco sector like-
ly receives the fewest benefits from these types of
programs. Frequent Flyer Programs offer tickets as
a highly lucrative reward and retail companies facilitate
quicker points collection. Is today’s technology able to
change this situation to reap more profits for mobile
operators and grant them tools that are also desired
by loyalty programs in other industries?
Evolving analytics
One important benefit for retailers that utilize loyalty
programs is the possibility for tracking customer pur-
chases, something almost impossible to achieve with-
out their use. Without a loyalty program, knowledge
about customer behavior is very limited. However,
this problem doesn’t exist in the telecommunications
arena, since customers are identified by SIM cards,
with all their data available for analysis. What’s more,
a loyalty card could be easily lost or forgotten, while
most people usually keep their mobile phone in their
pocket. Usage of the mobile phone as a loyalty iden-
tifier therefore seems to be the perfect solution. The
only problem that needs to be resolved relates to
recognition of the phone by the retailer’s POS sys-
tem. To resolve this, NFC (Near Field Communication)
technology can be employed. Based on well-known
RFID technology, it can be used for activities includ-
ing payments, ticketing, loyalty program operations,
lotteries, entertainment and marketing.
The use of mobile phones as a program member
identifier, as well as payment device could flip the
situation with customer recognition completely on its
head. Every transaction made using an NFC-equipped
mobile will contain the customer ID in the form of an
NFC tag, so, theoretically, a loyalty program would
not even be required to analyze customer behavior.
Because the NFC tag will be homogenous for all cus-
tomer transactions regardless of where they are con-
ducted, companies will be able to exchange this data.
The current legal regulations are most likely to be irrel-
evant to this type of situation: transferred data does
not have to contain personal information. Companies
will be able to identify a customer by his tag, analyze
his activities, and direct a fully customized offer dur-
ing his next visit and ensuing use of his mobile phone.
No personal data collection is required for any of the
coalition partners. NFC and mobile phone payments
can influence promotions, as well as offer selection;
companies with more thorough knowledge of a cus-
tomer’s spending power, habits, hobbies, as well as
periodic and one-off activities, will be more compre-
hensively equipped to target their promotions, select
better selling products and will have the capacity to
more precisely adjust their discounts and prices.
Even though in this example customer identifica-
tion is possible without loyalty program membership,
there are two main factors guaranteeing that loyalty
programs will be prominent on the market for some
time. The first is the use of the NFC device itself. Not
every transaction will be paid using a mobile, as in
today’s world not all customers use their credit cards.
The percentage of people willing to use such new solu-
tions varies between different countries. The second
factor is the appeal of the loyalty program to custom-
ers and its impact on sales. It is crucial for companies
operating in highly competitive markets to search for
and utilize every option available for attracting cus-
tomer attention.
Evolving CrM activities
Customized offer presentation directed at the cus-
tomer could also evolve with NFC use. Commonly used
channels such as emails, direct mailing and SMS don’t
provide the required flexibility, so the offer could be
presented, but quickly forgotten. NFC allows for more
sophisticated activities – uploaded during a visit at
the point of sale, the offer could reveal its content at
a certain point in time, or could even offer periodic
reminders for a certain promotion. Transferred data
can contain virtual coupons, lists of the promoted
products with points and discounts, or links to media
content. Calendar entries can automatically inform of
company events, commencement of any promotions,
or offer notifications of any points/coupons expiry
dates. NFC can be also used for collecting customer
feedback. Uploaded questionnaires can be completed
by customers at a time most convenient for them, and
promoted with additional points or discounts.
Coupon promotions are particularly popular on
certain more fully developed markets. Generally, com-
panies use paper coupons, utilizing such distribution
channels as newspapers or direct mail. This limits
the efficiency of such promotions, since customers
often lose their coupons or simply forget about them.
Because coupon implementation is easier now than
ever before, NFC can serve to improve these activi-
ties. The coupon tag will be automatically loaded to
the phone during the transaction and the appropriate
loyalty application will take over displaying the cou-
pon offer to the customer. To use the coupon you only
need to fulfill the coupon conditions, and select the
coupon from the phone menu prior to the transaction.
Following NFC customer identification, all coupon-re-
lated operations can be performed automatically by
the POS, and loyalty systems, discounts or additional
nr 2/2009 (10)
In Focus < 13
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
points can be granted. For a fully interactive solution,
additional customer-facing displays of the POS sys-
tems can also be used, and these are able to present
all coupons and offers that the customer is entitled to.
The coupons will also be transferable between phones,
since sellers generally do not have a preference as to
which customer actually uses the coupon, focusing
instead on the additional profit generated.
Of course NFC also has some limitations. With the
bandwidth limited to 424 kbit/s, it is impossible to
send large volumes of marketing information over
a short connection period. NFC should then be used
as the first point of offer presentation, with customers
receiving more detailed information and audio-video
content via an Internet connection.
Evolving Market
The revolution could also take place in our wallets, as
mobile phones containing built-in NFC technology can
be recognized by numerous different loyalty programs.
This should eliminate loyalty cards from the market,
with their only remaining presence being on the opera-
tor’s company logo on the phone display background.
Joining a new loyalty program will be a very simple
process as well, requiring only minimal application
installation, which can also be sent by a NFC device
or downloaded from the Internet. The installed appli-
cation will primarily collect registration data and take
care of appropriate presentation of the marketing offer,
as well as coupon management.
Like any other type of technology NFC can also
be used for entertainment, which generates profit.
An example of this potential usage is the POS lot-
teries. During the transaction, the loyalty system is
able to select a prize for the customer. This could
be a gift, additional points or even a discount. If the
customer wins, the relevant notification is displayed
on his phone. This lottery concept is already present
in some loyalty systems (a good example would be
Comarch Loyalty Management – CLM), but there are
numerous cases where the necessary device at the
POS (which would inform the customer of the lottery
and the win) is not available. Here, a mobile phone can
act as an additional marketing canvas.
There are also various potential benefits for telco
companies. The first of these is based on basic human
nature. With the increasing role of mobile phones and
the number of services they provide, people are less
eager to switch their phone and the operator. This could
have an impact on the loyalty aspect of mobile compa-
nies, without the need to operate a single loyalty pro-
gram. There are a number of other possibilities as well.
One of them is the usage of NFC-enabled phones as
top up collectors. During cash transactions, there could
be an option for taking mobile top up in exchange for
relinquishing the change.
Summary
As it appears, Near Field Communication technology
can evolve into a highly potent marketing tool for loy-
alty program operators. With the use of NFC, compa-
nies could reap double the rewards. Directing expertly
targeted offers to the relevant customers will increase
sales, and will also bring about a reduction in costs
due to the now extinct requirement for producing
advertising and promotional materials in paper format.
In addition, customers can appreciate additional ser-
vices, faster payments and simplified usage. Further-
more, telecommunication companies can still claim
their share, even if their loyalty programs do not benefit
directly from NFC solutions. Besides, they own a tool
which would most likely bring about a radical change
in loyalty operations in other industries.
An obstacle to the common use of this solution is the
currently limited number of NFC-ready phones, and the
even smaller availability of NFC receivers at the POS. But
the situation is changing, and the prices of the devices
are decreasing successively. According to a report pro-
duced by the UK-based company Juniper Research, NFC
mobile payments will exceed $30 billion in 2012, whilst
the forecast for 2009 is currently at $8 billion*. Also, the
first loyalty programs utilizing NFC technology are already
on the market. A good example is Italian fashion house
Miroglio, which commenced operations this year. <<<
Comarch SAPosition: Product Manager
Department: Business Development Center
Info: Tomasz is responsible for selection,
development and promotion of applications
from the CRM and customer loyalty domain.
Tomasz Dudek
Dictionary
NFC Near Field Communication: a short-range
high frequency wireless communication
technology, enabling the exchange of
data between devices over a very short
distance.
RFID radio-frequency identification: the use of an
object (typically referred to as an RFID tag)
applied to or incorporated into a product,
animal, or person for the purpose of identi-
fication and tracking using radio waves.
* from the “NFC Mobile Payments & Marketing Opportuni-ties: Forecasts & Analysis 2009 – 2014” report by Juniper Research
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
14 > In Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Location-Based ServicesNew Opportunities for Innovation
Localization technologies are increasingly becoming an integral part
of our lives and help improve the quality of the services
we use. Some claim that this technology is powerful
enough to become a leading component of the infor-
mation technology world in the near future. According to
Gartner, the LBS market is set to grow from $41 million
in 2008 to $95.7 million in 2009 [2]. Though this may
be a slightly optimistic forecast, it is quite apparent in
today’s world that the number of services using loca-
tion-based technology will increase. However, it is dif-
ficult to say what form future LBS applications will take
and what steps should be followed in order to create
a user-friendly, fully localization-enabled and compre-
hensive functionality. This article gives a broad outline
of LBS technology, its present and possible future ap-
plications, and discusses LBS innovation trends.
What is a Location-Based Service?
The Global Positioning System consists of satellites
orbiting the Earth, control and monitoring stations
positioned on Earth itself, and GPS receivers owned
by users. GPS satellites broadcast signals from space
that are used by GPS receivers to provide a three-di-
mensional location.
nr 2/2009 (10)
In Focus < 15
the device is located. The accuracy of the location may
then be improved by combining the cell-id with a tim-
ing advance value, which is an estimation of the RTT
(Round-trip delay time) between base stations and the
terminal. The estimation is then used to determine the
distance between both parties. GPS on the other hand,
is a satellite-based system, with 24 satellites broad-
casting location data. A GPS receiver processes the
signals received from several satellites and calculates
its location basing on the time differences between
those signals. The main disadvantages of GPS location
are the extended time to first fix (TTFF) and poor indoor
coverage. Thus, in order to improve the efficiency of the
system a new technology called “Assisted GPS” was
introduced. This approach combines GPS technology
with various methods of determining position using
cellular network information. In addition to the men-
tioned outdoor positioning systems, indoor types exist
as well. The main difference between them is the target
area. The indoor positioning systems focus on closed
areas. Such systems are mostly based on monitoring
the signal strength characteristics.
Current applications
Today, LBS products are employed within numerous
domains, ranging from mass-market consumers, cus-
tomers in specialties applications, and business cli-
ents, in addition to being used in industrial and corpo-
rate environments, where a vast number of objects and
inventory must be identified and tracked on a map.
Most of all LBS-related demands originate from
mass-market consumers. The majority of their
requests are related to location and navigation que-
ries, including yellow pages listings and business
descriptions in a given geographical area. In fact, all
types of activities that take location into account are
also popular, such as detailed maps and directions,
traffic condition alerts and information regarding ser-
vices such as gas or food. Sports-related applications,
such as running distance or calorie counters, using
which one can track the path traveled or calculate
overall distance, speed, and so on, are also popular
among mass-market consumers. Another group is IM
applications for mobile phones, which enable locat-
ing and chatting with friends who are nearby. Today,
countless standard IM systems add this feature to
their offer. Location-based games in which players
must visit different parts of the city in order to retrieve
information about other users or further game direc-
tions are another example.
Certain multimedia data can also improve location-
aware services. Users prefer listening to audio directions,
rather than reading maps about their current location.
However, not only data-related directions alone may be
of interest in this case. For instance, if someone is rid-
ing a bicycle and using a navigation application, in addi-
tion to receiving directions, that person may also like to
listen to the sounds of the surrounding environment,
such as the trickle of rushing water when approach-
ing a mountain stream. It is also possible to add three
dimensional data, such as models of buildings to a flat
map, or including touch user interface support in order
to increase user experience [1].
Niche consumer applications target limited areas
of the market. These generally tend to be slightly more
sophisticated services and devices tailored for the
most wealthy. For example, golf carts equipped with
computers providing information such as golf course
A location-based service (LBS) is defined by the
Open Geospatial Consortium as a service which deliv-
ers information about a location to people who are
using wireless, position-aware devices, such as cell
phones and PDAs [8]. The LBS can also utilize alterna-
tive information related to users and their devices such
as account context information, user location history
or even personal preferences, in order to improve the
quality of the application and user experience.
Location-based services have a long history. Since
the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Defense has been
operating the global positioning system (GPS), a sat-
ellite-based infrastructure used to determine the posi-
tion of any object on Earth. Initially, GPS was intended
for military use only. However, in the 1980s, the U.S.
government chose to make it available worldwide
to a variety of other industries. Since then, a num-
ber of applications have used location data in order
to enhance their products and services. However,
the boost of LBS in the 1990s was not driven by GPS
technology, but rather by another type of location
technology gaining popularity at that time. Mobile
network operators started using their radio station
infrastructure to obtain the location of a device. This
technology played an essential role in creating the
market for location-based services.
Today there are even more ways of obtaining loca-
tion data (Table 1) using a mobile device. All of these
have pros and cons, and are suitable for different
types of applications.
In cellular networks, the determination of a loca-
tion is carried out through proximity sensing, where
the position of a device is determined using the coor-
dinates of the base stations. Generally speaking, the
mobile network possesses the area number, in which
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
16 > In Focus
Type Methodology Pros Cons Industry application
Cell Identifier (Cell ID) Base station uses radio
frequency signals to
track mobile device
Relatively widespread
infrastructure
Hard to pin down user’s
exact location to within a few
meters
Wireless network providers, police, banking,
government, security, welfare
Global Positioning System
(GPS)
24-satellite network Outdoor precision within
five-meter range
Expensive.
User device must be in direct
line of sight.
Device needs special embed-
ded chips.
Military applications, commercial applica-
tions, such as real estate security, police (not
as successful in consumer settings)
Assisted Global Position-
ing System (AGPS)
GPS enhancement.
Continuously locates
device and coordinates
data flow, unlike GPS.
No “cold starts”
Faster fix on location
Expensive.
User device must be in direct
sight.
Device needs special embed-
ded chips.
Military applications, commercial applica-
tions, such as real estate security, police (not
as successful in consumer settings)
WLAN-based Location
Services
Depends on signal
strength utilization
No additional hardware
infrastructure is needed
Suitable mainly for indoor
positioning
Indoor commercial applications
Table 1. Mobile network platforms for identification [3]
Demand Level Typical Services Typical Business Models
Consumer Demand Location and Navigation Person-
alized Content
Maps, driving directions, yellow pages Subscription-based services, pay-per-view, syndi-
cation, micropayments
Niche Consumer and Business Maps, shopping locator service, coupon discounts,
alerting services
Subscription-based services, advertising, revenue-
sharing, micropayments
Industrial/Corporate Supply chain management, inventory management,
customer relationship management, intelligent
transportations and system infrastructure
Application service provider, consultation services,
infrastructure provider
However, this is not the case when it comes to LBS.
Introducing new features to existing solutions is not
always possible. Furthermore, it typically fails to uti-
lize the intrinsic nature of location. As a result, we are
offered certain sophisticated location-based features
added to a recognized application or service, some-
times leaving us to wonder why we would ever even
need them. Have you ever set an alarm notifying you of
when a friend is within 100 meters, using your Instant
Messenger (IM) client? Companies try to convince us
that location within your IM contact list is a crucial
component, though many users do not agree.
Unlike many other features, such as multimedia
support or local connectivity, location capability within
mobile phones not only adds extra features to the
device, rendering it more attractice, but, most impor-
tantly, opens up new and as yet unkown application
areas. It is difficult to specify what types of services
can be implemented based on location. But it is very
important for these additional services to not be viewed
solely as an answer to customer needs. They are used
to create new markets, revealing services that are yet
unknown, and offering a chance to see the utility of
these products. A good example of this is GPS navi-
gation. A decade ago, noone expected to have a small
box telling them to turn left in approximately 50 meters,
attached to the windshield of their car. There was no
directly expressed need for this product on the market,
simply because people were not even aware that such
a contraption could be created. Location-based services
should be viewed in the same light. Upon introduction
they should make us wonder how we ever survived
without them. That is real innovation.
Here and now – the need is always context spe-
cific, the user wants something at that very moment
and at that very location. We should be able to predict
this need and provide its solution. The users and their
needs take precedence, everything else is irrelevant.
Thus, in order to create an innovative location-based
service, it is crucial to stop thinking about how to improve
our current products with geographical coordinates. It is
essential to give up looking for an application that may
benefit from knowing our friends’ or our own location.
Instead, we should start thinking about what types of
services users may need at their location at that very
moment. It is the “here and now” that really matters. Unfor-
tunately, these services may also be risky investments.
It is impossible to predict whether something will suc-
ceed or end up in utter failure until it is presented to
the customer. Sometimes, such as in the case of the
internet, it is vital that people be taught how and what
the service can be used for. Only then does it begin to
generate revenue.
Another area in need of further progress is middle-
layer support for LBS solutions within the mobile plat-
form. As it stands, there is no recognized, platform-in-
dependent and commonly acceptable standard or API.
Moreover, typical platforms do not tend to have generic
middle-layer LBS support. Certain APIs may be used to
access GPS coordination or cell-id. However, sometimes
a more sophisticated method for finding the coordinates
of the device (using all possible data sources, such as
GPS, cell-id, IP address, etc) to obtain at least an esti-
mation of the coordinates, and guarantee their highest
accuracy given the circumstances, is desired. In these
cases, it is necessary to implement these calculations
yourself. There are countless techniques for calculating
the coordinates of a mobile device, yet it is fairly difficult
to find a ready-made tool which can combine different
location data sources and provide final values, while
also guaranteeing their accuracy. Nor is there a consis-
tent specification of what sort of data is to be provided
to developers. In addition to position, other properties,
such as the speed or direction of movement may be use-
ful. For example, a gas station advertisement on a high-
way should only be displayed to drivers who are able to
move over, or in other words those that are able to move
in a particular direction. The ideal situation would be to
provide developers with reliable APIs for accessing loca-
tion data, to specify what types of data this should be,
and, potentially, a uniform way to handle different loca-
tion data sources on different platforms and program-
ming languages, in order to facilitate the implementation
and migration of LBS applications.
maps or playing tips, or fishing boats equipped with
shoal finders.
Another category is alert services, used during
natural disasters or accidents. During the SARS out-
break in 2003, for instance, Hong Kong mobile phone
operator Sunday launched a service that warned sub-
scribers via SMS (Short Message Service) messages
about buildings where SARS cases where suspected
or confirmed. Such messages were sent to all people
who were within approximately within a one kilometer
radius of the case location.
Business and corporate customers may also ben-
efit from LBS concepts, using it to track goods, people
or even entire projects. There are several technolo-
gies that facilitate enhancing such activities; devices
designed to monitor and control the supply chain,
the amount of materials and their positions. Another
example is the concept of ambient intelligence or
pervasive computing, where almost all materials and
devices contain sensors and form a large network of
intelligent, location-aware devices.
Innovation
Be different. To be successful, your service must be dis-
tinctive, as well as recognized by users amongst millions
of similar products.
Innovation is a great concept, but just what exactly
is innovation in the LBS-related segment of the mar-
ket? The natural way to create new products involves
incorporating new technologies into existing software
as new features complementing their previous function-
ality, as opposed to creating completely new products.
This is a common and simplistic approach to introduc-
ing new technologies onto the market, in addition to
stimulating growth of current services, while they are
enhanced with increasing new functionality in line with
technological development. Additionally, this is a rela-
tively safe way to conduct business, since customers
are already accustomed to the service and do not need
to be taught how to use the new services, or informed
of why they actually need them.
Table 2. Business opportunities in LBS [3]
nr 2/2009 (10)
In Focus < 17
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Comarch SAPosition: Team Leader
Department: Mobile Software R&D
Info: Marek is currently responsible for
leading and coordinating test teams in Pro-
duct Testing projects for portable devices..
Making Money
New revenue streams are great when they are mak-
ing money. But can you predict the earning potential
of these same services in 10 years?
Taking profitability into consideration, there are numer-
ous ways of making money on a mobile service. However,
since users do not want to pay directly for the services
they use, it seems that advertising is taking the lead.
The key to success in mobile advertising is making the
advertisement truly context dependent and not explic-
itly visible to the user. An advertising model based on
texts and banner ads used by popular web browsers
may serve as a good example: users are given not ads,
but additional links to sites they are already searching
for. Mobile advertising should and can be enhanced to
contain similar features. It is vital that mobile applications
and services are highly context dependent. This means
that the system must be able to predict what types of
services the user might need at that very moment, and
the device should be ready to offer those services to the
user. Predicting what a user wants and when the technol-
ogy is capable of doing it is not easy. However, we can
be sure that the location of the device will play a crucial
role in making the application context-aware. As such,
we believe that the location is the most important and
powerful context-related factor imaginable.
Many of today’s users are fed up with the amount
of services, applications, information and advertising
presented to them in the virtual world, and are look-
ing for a higher level of specification. No one wants to
hear about a new tariff promotion when sitting in a res-
taurant, and this is something the software should be
able to predict. Numerous things can be inferred from
the device position, speed, direction, average move-
ment or the area where the user spends the majority
of working hours. When at work, users are likely to be
more interested in services such as a new option for
dinner or a new parking service. Conversely, during
their first visit to a city, a person may want to know
the three most important historical monuments to
see during a single day trip. Then, a few days later,
a shopping center available nearby serves as a new
point of interest.
With the exception of advertising, we are not
aware of many other ways of effectively profiting
from the popularity of a service. Thus arises the
question of advertising’s dominance over alternative
methods for creating profit from LBS in the future. Are
there any other possibilities? What will be the main
source of funds for LBS creators in 10 years? We do
not know the answer, but we are certain that every-
body expects the mobile services being provided
to be free. The free-of-charge model fosters inter-
est in the application among customers. Thus, LBS
applications should also be free, in order to gener-
ate popularity and guarantee that their designers
achieve success in the market. However, noone has
yet been able to provide a truly free, comprehensive
location-based service, that has not also incorpo-
rated advertisng. Why? The answer may be as simple
as this: we do not know how to generate profit from
a service without either selling the service itself to
the customers or selling advertising space. Thus, we
believe the monetizing of mobile services is a good
place for innovation. If someone finds a novel, effi-
cient way of making money from a service, which
is free for the user and does not involve bombard-
ing customers with more ads, it would be a ground-
breaking invention.
Conclusions
Localization-based services combine vast numbers
of formerly separated technologies into one location-
aware platform. LBS have been treated as an addition
to what is already available within the device. However,
we believe it is powerful enough to evolve into the heart
of mobile platforms and mobility itself in the future. It
is highly likely that future mobile applications and ser-
viceswill be driven by knowledge of where the device
is currently, and what is the most necessary service
at that time. The handset should determine what is
needed at that moment and how this should be made
available to the user. This constitutes the road to pro-
viding a reliable service, fulfilling customer needs and
guaranteeing revenues.
Marek Konieczny
references
1 Magnusson, C., Tollmar, K., Brewster, S., Sarjakoski, T., Sarjakoski, T., and Roselier, S. 2009. Exploring
future challenges for haptic, audio and visual interfaces for mobile maps and location based services.
In Proceedings of the 2nd international Workshop on Location and the Web (Boston, Massachusetts,
April 04 – 04, 2009). LOCWEB ‘09, vol. 370. ACM, New York, NY, 1-4.
2 Dataquest Insight: Consumer Location-Based Services, Subscribers and Revenue Forecast, 2007-2013,
http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=1035015&subref=simplesearch
3 Rao, B. and Minakakis, L. 2003. Evolution of mobile location-based services. Commun. ACM 46, 12 (Dec.
2003), 61-65.
Comarch SAPosition: Senior Software Analyst /
R&D Manager
Department: Telecommunications
Professional Services
Info: Grzegorz leads the R&D unit, the main
goal of which is exploring new mobile-rela-
ted technologies, in addition to searching
for new opportunities on the mobile market.
Grzegorz Wąchocki
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
18 > In Focus
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Smartphone: The Best Tool for Cutting Field Service Costs and Increasing Productivity
nr 2/2009 (10)
Does your field service continually require more and more funds? Do your customers seem to be dissatisfied, and
are the number of “Where is my tech?” escalations refusing to decrease? There is a simple solution: buy gadgets, go
with the trends and be green. Your company will not only save money, but will enjoy increased revenues as well.
nr 2/2009 (10)
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
An attractive offering, high quality of prod-
ucts and satisfied customers are factors
that may contribute to a telecom operator’s success
on the market. Two of these factors are clearly related
to the work of field staff. Field employees are respon-
sible for the high quality of services, as they maintain
the operator’s network infrastructure to ensure ac-
cess to all services adhering to contracted service
level agreements (SLA). For customers, field forces
are also company representatives. If a company uses
self service solutions, they may even be the only rep-
resentatives who are in contact with the customers.
This shows that quality work of field service staff is
the key element for an operator’s success.
As a result of the recent economic downturn, the
cost of telecom services has become the main focal
point for providers. Operator business costs have
a great impact on product prices, and telecoms have
used methods of improving productivity and rational-
izing customer field service costs for a long time. Con-
sequently, field service management (FSM) and opti-
mization systems should be planned by the majority
of service providers. Not only do FSM systems allow
automated scheduling and effective resource man-
agement, but they can also support work order dis-
patching and fulfillment of field work orders. This brings
real benefits to network maintenance and customer
service departments. But perhaps operators can do
even more?
To affirmatively answer this question, vendors of
FSM systems extend their product portfolio with solu-
tions based on mobile technologies. Mobile software
and hardware available on the market today ensure the
following:
> Possibility of building ergonomic and high-usability-
focused mobile systems
> Hardware parameters enabling advanced, elaborate
mobile application functionalities
> Moderate costs
The elements of operator strategy that can be sup-
ported by mobile technologies include high quality
field service, higher level of field staff control, as well
as simplified fulfillment of work orders. This article will
consider how mobile technology support in the field
service management domain enables rationalizing
costs and productivity. Is investment in mobile soft-
ware and hardware cost-effective? If the answer is
yes, as advocated by research conducted by Aberdeen
Group for instance, then which mobile functionalities
and features can help in reducing costs and increas-
ing productivity in field service departments?
Optimization in Practice
Because customer service and network maintenance
are usually the main components of a service provider’s
operational costs, methods and technologies respon-
sible for their improvement and optimization have been
used for many years. They allow optimizing staff and
equipment use, dispatching cost and efficiency, as well
as all additional costs related to services, such as phone
calls, drive costs, paper usage, etc. The most popular
methods of field workforce optimization are:
> Scheduling with intelligent mechanisms of optimi-
zation
> Dedicated task lists for field employees
> Dispatching based on a wide range of criteria, tak-
ing into consideration the availability of employees,
locations and competences
These mechanisms, which in theory bring many oppor-
tunities for an increase in productivity and rationaliza-
tion of service costs, are blocked or limited because
of general organizational problems, namely:
> Minimal possibility for real-time dispatching
> Schedules based only on estimation of task dura-
tion without determination of actual task duration
> Limited possibilities for rapid task reassignment
(employees often spend their mornings on mak-
ing to-do lists)
> Limited possibilities for real-time task completion
reporting, and updating of business processes (task
reports are usually filled in after all daily field tasks
are completed)
> Absence of exact knowledge regarding current
pending assigned field work and no possibility for
assigned the best resources to urgent tasks
20 > In Focus
Figure 1. The main cost drivers in field service and average improvements from mobile support.
Cost Drivers Increase Focus On Mobility Average Performance Improvements | From Mobile Field Service
Increasing service-related costs (workforce, fuel,parts,fleet, vehi-cles, etc.)
Customer demand for faster and improved service issue resolution
Need for improved data capture and information form management insight
Shrinking product margins placing more pressure on service revenue contribution
Source: Aberdeen Group, 2008 Source: Aberdeen Group, 2008
% Of All Respondents
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
61%
44%
40%
20%
Performance Category average Improvement
Mean time to repair - 21%
Overtime costs - 13%
Service profitability + 17%
Workforce productivity + 22%
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Comarch FSM Mobile, all information regarding field work on the handset screen.
nr 2/2009 (10)
Mainly, the problem is the lack of current knowledge
and shortage of tools for rapid operational activi-
ties.
However, mobile technologies may help, since they
allow putting the right strategy, such as optimization,
on the front line of field service. Due to mobile features,
front line staff are drawn closer to the dispatcher/
scheduler. Mobile solution functionalities that resolve
this basic problem of optimization include:
> Current status of planned work – employees don’t
have to complete a report at the end of the day.
Instead, they fill in task completion reports online,
right after completing their work. Optimization mech-
anisms are able to update schedules in real-time
and fit plans more efficiently for real field staff work.
Another benefit is that business processes related
to field staff work may be updated automatically in
real-time. For example, installation of new services
can be reported as finished on-line, and service time
of activation is shortened, raising customer satis-
faction.
> real locations – Today, GPS tracking is a common
element of mobile equipment. It sends location data
from the field and allows next step planning of the
field service department by a dispatcher. For exam-
ple, in urgent cases (emergency orders), it allows for
the dispatch of whichever employee can reach the
location the quickest.
> real-time schedule changes – this is done auto-
matically by sending information to a field employ-
ee’s handset, without the necessity of looking for the
employee telephone number in the database, or for
calling the employee back to the office for new print-
outs with an updated task list.
> Fast and accurate documentation – smartphones
come with standard multimedia tools, such as
a camera and a dictaphone. This allows for quick
and full document intervention, as well as for add-
ing file attachments in real-time. This is vital in emer-
gency situations and is useful for sequence tasks
on the same site where complete documentation is
immediately accessible for consecutive activities.
Mobile applications in the hands of field staff become
a tool similar to a remote control in real-time, leading
to increased productivity and efficiency of any opti-
mization mechanisms. This shows synergy between
field service management modules (mobility and opti-
mization), which is a great advantage.
A number of areas can be optimized by using
mobile technologies. We will focus on several of these
in this article:
> Fuel and drive time
> Papers, calls and resulting mistakes
> First-time fix rate
> Optimizing usage of up-sell opportunities
Fuel and Drive Time
When discussing cutting costs and increasing produc-
tivity, the cost of a particular field intervention and its
average duration should be taken into consideration.
Fuel consumption and vehicle utilization are easy to
calculate and important for every intervention cost.
Both of these are simple driving distance functions.
Mobile technologies and applications can support the
service provider in several ways in this regard.
One such supporting solution is the aforemen-
tioned synergy between optimization mechanisms
and mobile solutions. The field work optimization sys-
tem, which is responsible for calculating the shortest
and easiest route between work order locations, is
able to send this optimal work orders list in the right
order, to the right technician in field, provided they use
a mobile application. As a result, the field technician
knows exactly how the work should be organized in
order to optimize driving time and distance.
Distance-effective field service management may
be achieved by integration with mobile navigation
systems. Customers and network elements may be
placed in various locations. Being on time and using
the easiest and shortest route is certainly very impor-
tant. Field service management systems with mobile
applications support field staff by sending locations
of work orders to navigation systems, as a ‘Point of
In Focus < 21
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Interest’ on the planned route. Thus, the field employee
is relaxed due to the optimization of his route and no
subsequent waste of time and fuel. Additionally, he
also knows his exact destination and is able to go
there directly.
Another important aspect that should be consid-
ered when discussing cutting driving costs is the
immediate handling of emergency orders. Due to real-
time employee location monitoring (GPS data from
mobile devices), this type of order may be fulfilled
by employees who are in the nearest physical prox-
imity. Thus, the intervention occurs as soon as pos-
sible, while also cutting down costs, due to a reduc-
tion in distance.
Time is money – this common saying proves very
true in relation to field service. Faster order fulfillment
lowers costs of order execution and can help increase
the number of completed work orders per day. The use
of mobile applications by technicians, effective route
planning and mobile navigation all lead to the afore-
mentioned cost-effectiveness. This results in a time
savings as well. One of the many reasons is that an
employee no longer needs to go to the office to print
all of his daily tasks. Because he has a detailed task
list on his mobile, he may go to the first order in the
field directly from his house. If he does need to print
something, he can do it with his smartphone as well.
The employee may not only begin his work at his home,
but also finish it there. Field staff aren’t required to go
to the office to complete reports about executed tasks;
this may be done online using their handsets.
Papers, Calls and Mistakes
The evolution of IT technology has created more pos-
sibilities for performing various activities on a com-
puter screen, including reading books, contacting other
people, watching movies, drawing pictures, etc. With
the evolution of mobile technology and devices, more
and more people are using IT technology functionalities
on the go. Similarly, the use of mobile technology for
business purposes is become more frequent as well.
Another significant benefit of electronic technologies is
that knowledge, documents, agreements and pictures
no longer have to be printed on paper. This not only
saves money (paper cost) but most importantly helps
protect the environment. Mobile technology allows for
an entire office to exist within a single handset, aiding
the user in becoming truly ‘green’.
Paper printouts in field service management unsup-
ported by mobile technologies are used as basic doc-
uments, with information regarding schedules, task
details and execution reports. All of this data may be
accessible via a mobile application, and the com-
pany doesn’t have to invest in and waste a significant
amount of paper to perform field service department
tasks. At the same time, back office employees don’t
have to waste their time copying data from paper to
electronic forms, because all important information is
instantly placed in the right database.
The situation is quite similar when it comes to
phone calls. In field service departments without any
22 > In Focus
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Figure 2. Field order fulfillment – both with and without mobile application support
Fiel
d o
rder
fu
lfill
men
t (w
ith
out
adva
nce
d m
obile
su
pp
ort)
Cos
ts fo
r op
tim
izat
ion
Fiel
d o
rder
fu
lfill
men
t (m
obile
su
pp
ort)
Fiel
d o
rder
fu
lfill
men
t (m
obile
su
pp
ort)
Technician calls
dispatcher to change
order status
Technician
fulfills an order
Technician
drives to order
site
Back office
copies data
from paper to
electronic forms
Technician takes
printouts with list
of tasks from his
office
Technician time,
Printing costs
Real time schedule,
Optimal route
Navigation
On-line access to order data,
On-line completion reports,
e-documents and e-signatures
Fuel, Vehicle
utilizationPhone calls,
Dispatcher timeTechnician time
Back office
employees time
Technician
goes back to
the office to
leave protocols,
paper
agreements Technician calls
Dispatcher for order
details
Technician drives
to order site
Technician
fulfills an order
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Comarch SAPosition: Telco Consultant
Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
Info: Szymon is currently responsible for
the Comarch Field Service Management
solution for telecom service providers.
Szymon Uczciwek
nr 2/2009 (10)
support of mobile technology, the dispatcher’s job is
mainly to speak on the phone. He not only notifies
field employees about schedule changes over the
phone, but also uses it to report task completion or
status changes, and inquire about task details. The
cost of calls and the dispatcher’s work is clear, but
there is an additional cost – mistakes and their con-
sequences. Mistakes are caused mainly by providing
imprecise information over the phone. Mobile solu-
tions for field staff enable access to detailed data
regarding tasks and current schedules in real-time,
without making any phone calls. They make it possi-
ble to fill the task completion data online with memo-
rized facts, without any misunderstandings or prob-
lems. This also decreases the dispatcher’s workload,
enabling him to perform more orders and cooperate
with more technicians. Because the range of dis-
patchers’ responsibilities is lowered, people working
in this position wouldn’t be expected to have exten-
sive qualifications, further lowering HR costs.
First-time Fix rate
An increase in the first-time fix rate is always a key for
the telecommunication operator. The higher its value,
the higher the productivity and the greater the cus-
tomer satisfaction (there is nothing worse for a cus-
tomer than not having the problem solved on the first
attempt). This indicator is also important in the context
of cost-effective management. Every field interven-
tion creates costs. If there are more field interventions
associated with a given work order, its cost becomes
much higher. There are also other expenses related to
multi-intervention orders, for instance those related to
lower indicators of task realization per day.
However, there are a lot of ways that field work can
be improved in this regard, including increasing field
staff competences, assigning tasks to accurate, skilled
employees, etc. Mobile access to field service manage-
ment tools for workforces is a solution that may help
obtain a higher first-time fix rate. The main mobile tools
used to improve the quality of field service, as well as
to decrease unsuccessful interventions are:
> Access to important data related to the task and to
the Trouble Ticket knowledge database
> Access to network elements/inventory data
> Possibility of conducting additional activities related
to work order, such as printing completion protocols,
capturing customer signature, etc.
If a technician has online access from his mobile
device to all tools required for a given task, he can
easily finish his work without having to go back to the
office because he forgot or requires additional infor-
mation regarding the task. Field work is supported by
the mobile application, which, according to particular
purposes, stores and presents the field employee with
data about the customer, work order, tasks, required
activities and equipment. It provides access to net-
work data and enables its update. Additionally, it also
prints documents and captures customer signatures.
A technician’s smartphone can present a very wide
variety of data and have numerous supporting tools.
In field work, the more information about the task is
provided to the filed staff, the more likely the interven-
tion is to bring a positive resolution.
Technician as a Salesman
A mobile handset as a solution to improve first time
fix rate is a fascinating concept, but is it possible to
make this indicator exceed 100%?
If a technician is equipped with accurate data and
appropriate tools, he, in effect, becomes a sales person
for the service proivder. An appointment with a cus-
tomer is a great opportunity to increase the value of
the contract and convince that person to buy other
products or services from the operator. Customers
do not typically favor telemarketing, but they may be
more willing to listen to the technician, who has just
activated a service or quickly solved a technical prob-
lem. To play this role however, the technician must have
tools which will “sell the products for him”. If a telecom
operator wants to benefit from this appointment oppor-
tunity, they should provide the technician with mobile
tools that will work as an extension of ones he already
uses. Applications supporting order fulfillment can
have an additional module for up-selling. Immediately
after the technician has finished his task, he would
report that he has the opportunity to present the cus-
tomer with the company’s offer or fulfill the customer’s
request for additional services. This information would
be presented on his handset screen. If a customer is
interested in a service, or he wants it activated imme-
diately, the technician would have all the tools needed
to prepare a contract, capture a signature on the touch
screen and install additional services. All this may occur
during just one field intervention.
Effective changes in technical service depart-
ment organization and mobile tools to guide techni-
cians through selling, may not only bring productivity
increases and decrease general costs of the company,
but may also have a highly positive impact on sales.
This concept is certainly worth considering, since it
may lead to opening an extra sales channel, and ulti-
mately improving business performance.
Summary
In the competitive telecommunications market, any
activities carried out by a telecommunication com-
pany resulting in cost cutting and improvements in
employee productivity are extremely important. Mobile
technology, by effectively supporting field service
work, meets the challenges and opportunities of the
telecom market. Operators should start looking for
vendors who are able to offer vast support in this
domain, have experience on the market and provide
elaborate solutions, which will help revolutionized field
services grant highly valuable benefits that are very
difficult to achieve by other means. It is important to
consider vendors who are experienced not only in the
field service management area, but in mobile technol-
ogy as well. Mobile solutions have different features
when compared to those of other IT systems. Mobile
equipment for large field service departments results
in significant costs (each technician must be equipped
with a smartphone, which in many cases is highly
professional and fitted precisely to the technician’s
needs). If the service provider deploys a safe, easily
adoptable and stable solution that has an additional
range of functionality, changes in monthly reports
regarding cost, productivity and revenues are sure
to follow. <<<
In Focus < 23
a Dream or a Fact?Digital Home:
UPnP is the technology of tomorrow, which began the day before yesterday. This year, the UPnP Forum
initiative is going to celebrate its 10th anniversary, incorporating almost 900 international leading compa-
nies in computing, printing, networking, consumer electronics, home appliances, automation, control, secu-
rity and mobile products. The main goal of UPnP technology is to enable seamless connectivity of various
devices, forming networks in home or corporate environments, and enabling a Digital Home experience.
Due to its design, adding new devices or programs to the network should be as easy as plugging a piece
of hardware into a PC. The devices and programs connected familiarize themselves with the current net-
work setup due to service discovery and advertisement, and immediately configure themselves accordingly,
with regard to devices already connected. In short: UPnP is a framework for building networked applications.
24 > In Focus
technology review [www.comarch.eu]technology review [www.comarch.eu]
The Dark Side of Living Digitally
At the beginning there were only zeros and ones. All
could use them, but soon it was discovered that each
had their own unique way. Many wanted to be the first
to establish a standardized method of playing with
bits. As a consequence, the darkness of misunder-
standing fell, and people could no longer communi-
cate with each other.
Electronic devices have generally tended to only
be compatible with the same manufacturer’s devices,
without a common language that would enable com-
munication with numerous complementary machines
from other vendors. To extend a home entertainment
system for instance, one has been limited to the ven-
dor of the appliances they had already purchased. But
real trouble was still to come…
Consider a simple, everyday case. Imagine you
want to share pictures taken during your last sum-
mer vacation, showing you standing proudly by the
erupting Strokkur geyser in Iceland. Your friends have
just popped in, the pictures (zeros and ones in this
case), recorded by your mobile phone’s high resolution
digital camera are still sitting snuggly in your pocket,
and your brand new panoramic HD plasma is ready
and waiting in the living room. At your disposal is the
perfect medium to begin the show and make your
friends truly jealous of what a fantastic vacation you
had. All you need to do now is transfer the pictures
from your mobile to a laptop using a USB cable (by the
way, do you happen to have one on hand?), burn the
picture onto a DVD (of course, you have a spare disk
ready, right?), insert the disk (still hot) into your DVD
player and press ‘play’. Here you are; the zeros and
ones are now being transferred from the DVD player
straight to your plasma set. Two questions arise: do
you have the feeling that the fact that your attention
has been focused on trying to manage “zeros and
ones” rather than actually enjoying the pictures is
fundamentally flawed? And secondly, are your friends
still there in the room, waiting patiently to see the final
result following a painstakingly slow ten minutes bat-
tling with raw data?
Trouble-free Solution
Universal Plug and Play saw the light in the late 1990s,
just as networks were growing in popularity. Several
vendors were coming up with solutions to make net-
works and networked applications easier to manage.
One of the earliest attempts was Sun’s ‘Jini’ offer, with
its innovative lookup service concept (continued to
this day within Apache Foundation’s River project),
to which Microsoft quickly responded with their UPnP
model. In October 1999, the UPnP Forum was formed,
as an industry initiative designed to enable simple and
robust connectivity among consumer electronics, intel-
ligent appliances and mobile devices from different
vendors. UPnP technology is a key standard required
for an interoperable network in a digital home, but it
does not specify all aspects of interactions between
devices, defining rather the frame protocol of com-
munication.
Today’s consumers continuously acquire a wide
variety of digital content on their devices. At the same
time, they want to be able to easily and conveniently
manage, use and enjoy this content, wherever they
are and whatever devices they have at hand. In order
to address this need, the Digital Living Network Alli-
ance (DLNA) was established in 2003, with the aim of
creating a generic, interoperable network of compat-
ible devices from various vendors. DLNA guidelines
were created and published to provide manufactur-
ers the opportunity to innovate and differentiate their
products, and to simultaneously satisfy the consum-
ers’ desire for trouble-free access and management
of their content.
Today, a vast number of Home Network, Mobile
Handheld and Home Infrastructure Devices are DLNA
certified, including media servers, renderers, players,
printers, up- and downloaders and controllers from
approximately two hundred vendors, including Alcatel-
Lucent, Canon, Dell, AMD, Hitachi, Lenovo, NEC, Nokia,
BMW or Sony Ericsson.
The Future
After all the devices on the market are DLNA/UPnP cer-
tified, configuration of the home network will be easy
and secure like never before. “One click of the button”
or “Touch and click” slogans will eventually come into
full force and cease to be merely promises. With no
additional configuration, or installation of drivers, you
will be able to interoperate with all home devices in
your network, such as TVs, media storage devices,
laptops, mobile phones, digital cameras and printers.
But more is coming, if you dare to imagine…
Think about sharing your favorite pictures from your
private home collection with your friends, while drink-
ing a beer in a downtown bar. Even if your computer
is shut down, you can wake it up remotely from your
mobile phone and access the content you want.
How about streaming your local team’s hockey
game while in a hotel on another continent? You don’t
want to miss it, but there’s no need for concern: you
can watch it hundreds of miles away, streamed right
nr 2/2009 (10)
In Focus < 25
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Comarch Competences
Comarch has been engaged in Digital Home tech-
nologies since 2004. With extensive knowledge
of basic DH standards such as TCP/IP, UDP, HTTP,
XML, SOAP, UPnP and DLNA, the Professional Ser-
vices Business Unit highlighted the strength of
its competences within the field. Important mile-
stones include:
> Joining the UPnP Forum as a member
> Contributing several successfully completed proj-
ects, including:
> Extending the UPnP Certification Test Tool
implementation for the UPnP Implementer
Committee. The tool is used for verifying the
conformance of Control Points with UPnP
standards
> Implementation of UPnP/DLNA compatible
stack for Symbian OS-based devices. The com-
ponent is now used in several Nokia smart
phones, including N95, N81, N78, N96 and
N97
> Engagement in commercial projects involv-
ing UPnP: Linux-based tablets, Internet Radio
devices and UPnP Certification Test Tool
Upgrade
> Participating in DLNA Plugfests and interoper-
ability testing UPnP workshops internationally
(2005 – Lihue, Hawaii, USA, 2006 – Sapporo,
Japan, 2006 – Taipei, Taiwan, 2007 – San Diego,
CA, USA, 2007 – Sanya, China, 2007 – Portland,
OR, USA, 2008 – Kobe, Japan, 2008 – Durham, NH,
USA, 2008 – Seoul, Korea)
> Presenting the Digital Home Demo Booth for the
Symbian Smartphone Show 2008.
to your room, thanks to remote access to your home
network. Or perhaps you are not particularly interested
in hockey, but would like to check on how your young
daughter is doing in her room, using an IP camera,
which will send the video image directly to the TV set
in your hotel suite?
Or perhaps, once you have driven into the garage,
you would like your car’s entertainment system to
automatically download a couple of MP3 files, which
your wife has just downloaded to your PC from mys-
pace.com the previous night?
With DLNA and UPnP, the above cases of tomorrow
are already happening today. <<<
Comarch SAPosition: Mobile R&D Department Director
Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
Info: Piotr is responsible for mobile SW
development for Symbian, mobile Linux,
Android, iPhone and Blackberry.
Piotr Madej
26 > In Focus
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
nr 2/2009 (10)
Toward Self-Organizing
The current mobile market landscape
with dropping revenues per bit and
increasing demand for a diversified service portfo-
lio, forces operators to reduce OPEX, while investing
in new technologies and solutions. Constantly grow-
ing multi-technology and multi-vendor networks are
becoming more complex than ever before, and sig-
nificant network planning and management effort
is needed to ensure satisfactory end user experi-
ence. This effort can be minimized with the imple-
mentation of Self-Organizing Networks (SON) which
will enable operators to simplify network operation
and extend their network in a plug & play manner.
Comarch considers network management automa-
tion to be a key requirement, as well as a crucial fac-
tor for investments in next-generation wireless tech-
nologies, such as LTE and supports SON use cases
with its product portfolio.
Networks
Operational Excellence < 27
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Ideas in brief
> Increasing network complexity and OPEX reduction pressures, causes operators to change the way they
operate their networks
> Self-Organizing Networks (SON) promise to reduce the manual effort needed for network operation, by
making networks capable of self-organization and resource management
> Comarch’s product portfolio supports SON use cases via automated process management and integra-
tion of planning and optimization, configuration management and network provisioning capabilities
28 > Operational Excellence
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Ideas related to network automation and introduc-
tion of self-organized mechanisms have always been
on operator wish lists. According to Yankee Group, OPEX
related to network operation constitute as much as
20% of the cost and tend to grow as networks mature.
As the number of technologies, vendors and base
stations in a network increases, so does the network
planning and management effort. Time-consuming
manual work is still required in many workflows, such
as parameter planning, optimization and handling of
site failures. On the other hand, the technology and
market dynamics put pressure on faster rollouts and
network upgrades to stay ahead of competition. New
technologies, such as LTE, will increase network com-
plexity, and parallel operation of 2G/3G/HSPA and LTE
networks will be a must for some years ahead. More-
over, potential mass femto-cell deployments will sig-
nificantly increase the number of base stations and
will require a self-organized approach for integration
of new cells with a macro layer.
All of the factors decribed above indicate that we
need to change the way how we operate networks.
The required manual work needs to be significantly
reduced, and the network itself should be capable
to self-configure and continuously self-optimize in
response to network and traffic changes. Operators
will define workflows and policies through which they
will control the network but the hard work will be done
by the network itself.
Principles of Self-Organizing Networks
Self-Organizing Networks are defined as sets of use
cases covering all aspects of network operation, from
network planning to maintenance activities. These
use cases express high-level requirements for future
networks and are based on the paradigm that a net-
work should self-organize and manage its resources,
so that optimal network quality and performance are
achieved. SON use cases can be grouped into func-
tional domains, which are described in the following
paragraphs.
Self-PlanningSel-planning is achieved via self-configuration of ini-
tial parameters and re-computation of parameters
during continuous self-optimization. The amount of
manual pre-planning activities should be reduced
to minimum and cover basic coverage and capacity
planning. As a result, the planning tool will deliver only
a few parameters, such as location, number of sectors
and other basic cell parameters, while the rest will be
derived automatically.
Self-OptimizationThe aim of self-optimization is to fine-tune initial param-
eters and dynamically re-calculate them in case of net-
work and traffic changes. Network optimization should
be based on live measurement data. Self-optimization is
an important improvement area, because current auto-
matic optimization tools focus on small number of radio
parameters and a lot of manual effort is required for opti-
mization activities. The aim is to make following optimi-
zation activities automatic:
> neighbor cell list optimization
> interference control
> handover parameter optimization
> QoS related parameter optimization
> load balancing
> RACH load optimization
> optimization of home base stations
Self-ConfigurationSelf-configuration refers to the plug & play behav-
ior of new network elements. Automatic deployment
of new base stations is key and covers the follow-
ing activities:
> automatic configuration of initial radio/transport
parameters
> automatic data alignment for neighbor nodes (real-
ized for LTE via standardized Automatic Neighbor
Relation (ANR) management)
> automatic connectivity establishment
> self-test
> automatic inventory
> automatic authentication and SW download
Self-HealingFault management should be simplified and automated
via information correlation mechanisms. Operators will
be responsible for the definition of correlation rules and
corrective actions to specific faults, but the fault correc-
tion itself will be autonomous. Self-healing covers use
cases such as cell outage detection and compensa-
tion via automated root cause analysis, and such cor-
rective actions as routing traffic to nearby cells. Another
example is the migration of unit outage based on auto-
matic mechanisms for adaptation and reconfiguration
of hardware.
Figure 1. Self-x capabilities of Self-Organizing Networks
self-configuration
self-healing
self-optimization
Operational Excellence < 29
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
nr 2/2009 (10)
The key to understanding SON is that only part of
SON use cases can be adopted while other remain
manual. This enables gradual introduction of SON
mechanisms and does not require the ‘big bang’
approach.
In order to address inter-operability in multi-vendor
scenarios, SON solutions should be based on stan-
dardized interfaces, however the detailed implemen-
tation of SON functions is vendor specific. Depending
on where SON algorithms will reside, different SON
architectures can be distinguished:
> distributed – SON algorithm(s) will reside in one or
more network elements
> centralized – SON algorithm(s) will reside in existing
NMS or in an additional SON server
> hybrid – SON algorithm(s) will reside is partly in network
elements and partly in the management system
Distributed and centralized SON architectures are pre-
sented in Figure 2.
Current Status of SON activities
The concept of SON was introduced in 3GPP Release
8 specification due to the flattening architecture of
E-UTRAN and the resulting growth in number of nodes
in the network. The main SON use cases, such as the
self-establishment of a new eNodeB and Automatic
Neighbour Relation (ANR) management have been iden-
tified and described. Moreover, Release 8 standardizes
important interfaces from the SON point of view:
> X2 interface between eNodeBs
> S1 interface between eNodeBs and EPC
A strong motivation to increase operational efficiency
caused SON concepts to become one of the key areas
addressed by the operators’ lobby through the Next
Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) initiative, which
complements the work on future mobile broadband
networks within standardization bodies.
There are many projects addressing self-organi-
zation issues. As an example, the Socrates project
concentrates on the development of self-organiza-
tion methods for wireless access networks, in par-
ticular related to LTE air interface. The Gandalf project
defined solutions for self-diagnosis, self-testing and
self-tuning in multi-system environments.
Vendors are also active in the field of SON. Recently,
Motorola announced an advanced SON solution, a part
of its LTE offering. Other vendors such as NSN, Erics-
son and Huawei are also working intensively on their
SON solutions.
Our View on Self-Organizing Networks
Like the majority of operators and vendors, we agree that
network management automation is a key technology
requirement and a crucial factor for investments in next-
generation wireless technologies, such as LTE. Therefore,
we designed our products to support process manage-
ment and task automation, and we continuously seek
algorithms and solutions enabling self-organization.
When it comes to adoption of self-organization
concepts in operational networks, we envision that
this process will be gradual. Besides the technical
challenges related to algorithm implementation, such
as coping with ping-pong effects and algorithm con-
vergence issues, there is also a human factor which
cannot be underestimated. For years networks have
been operated manually and time was needed to build
trust in automatic network operation. Initially, planners
may want to view the results of self-x algorithms in
order to be sure that network quality and performance
will not be affected.
Our approach for Supporting SON Use Cases
A high level definition of SON use cases enables the
use of various implementation strategies, ranging from
centralized support of SON functions to fully decen-
tralized solutions. The selection of an implementation
strategy should depend on the problem to be solved.
A centralized apporach is appropriate for SON use
cases related to larger amount of cells such as cov-
erage and capacity optimization. Decentralized solu-
tions are better for solving localized problems, such
as neighbor list management and enable faster reac-
tion times than centralized solutions.
We propose a universal approach to address par-
ticular SON use cases for various wireless access tech-
nologies, rather than concentrating purely on tech-
nologies such as LTE. Although our portfolio enables
a centralized and hybrid approach depending on the
specific SON use cases to be supported, most of our
efforts are concentrated on hybrid solutions in which
SON logic is divided between network management
system and network elements. Distributed use cases
need to be tackled by hardware vendors who are able
Figure 2. SON architectures
networkmanagement
networkmanagement
centralized SON
O&M
network
distributed SON
SON
SON
SON
SON
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
to implement particular algorithms directly in the net-
work elements.
The heart of our solution is a Process Driven Inven-
tory with flexible Process Management and Automation
Engine. With Auto-discovery & Reconciliation, Fault Man-
agement; as well as advanced planning and optimization
algorithms, combined with a powerful Network Provision-
ing module, our product portfolio enables automation and
self-organization of network operation activities.
Process ManagementThe Process Management engine allows for the fully
managed and controlled execution of all operational
processes. It can act as a SON coordinator, and
orchestrate various SON workflows and processes.
The freedom of process definition is ensured by the
Process Designer, which provides GUI for process
composition.
auto-discovery & reconciliationWhen applied together, advanced tools such as
Auto-discovery and Reconciliation, gather informa-
tion about the current network status, as well as SON
function configuration and act upon needs. Auto-dis-
covery allows the collection of data from network ele-
ments directly or via systems managing these ele-
ments. Reconciliation enables data to be imported
from external systems, containing information about
network configuration.
Fault ManagementFault management is a complete solution for ongoing
fault issues inside operator networks. It monitors all
mportant elements of the network, and receives, dis-
plays and tracks alarms, allowing management of poten-
tially dangerous network problems. It provides root cause
analysis based on correlation engine and combined
with Process Management enables to automate fault
corrections.
automation EngineThe engine enables the automation of most manual
activities related to network operation. Automated
operations flows can be run by users, or be part of
processes controlled by Process Management mod-
ule. They can also be provided as a web service and
triggered via an external system.
Planning & Optimization ModulesAside from the very few parameters calculated by the
external planning tool, the remaining parameters are
calculated in a self-organized manner by planning
& optimization modules, which are pluggable pieces
of logic utilizing prediction and OSS based data. Exter-
nal algorithms can be integrated with the solution to
address operator specific needs.
Network Provisioning Network Provisioning is an Inventory-driven provision-
ing system capable of configuring all network ele-
ments, while simultaneously reflecting all changes
in the inventory database. Comarch bi-directional OSS
Mediation is used to easily integrate the Network Pro-
visioning system with many network devices in the
multi-vendor environment.
Figure 3 demonstrates how SON use cases can
be achieved with our product portfolio. Operators will
define SON policies and map them to corresponding
processes, which will be automated via the Automa-
tion Engine. Execution of certain processes will be
triggered dynamically based on information from the
network (i.e. configuration changes, alarms, KPIs) or
external events (i.e. request of site rollouts, customer
complaints). Processes will orchestrate the interaction
of various modules, such as Fault Management and
Algorithm modules, providing configuration changes
or new settings for SON functions implemented in net-
work elements via the Network Provisioning module.
Figure 3. SON use cases with Comarch product portfolio
processmanagement
automationengine
SON policies
network informationKPIs alarms
network configuration
SON functions information
SON functions configuration
auto-discovery & reconciliation
network provisioning
planning/optimization module
faultmanagement
30 > Operational Excellence
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Comarch SAPosition: OSS Product Manager
Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
Info: Krzysztof is currently responsible for
conceptualization of new OSS solutions
in the area of network planning and opti-
mization, as well as sales and marketing
support of Comarch OSS systems.
Krzysztof Marcisz
references
1 TS 32.500-800 – Self-Organizing Networks (SON); Concepts and requirements, 3GPP
2 TS 32.501-800 – Self Configuration of Network Elements; Concepts and requirements, 3GPP
3 TS 32.511-810 – Automatic Neighbour Relation (ANR) management; Concepts and requirements, 3GPP
4 TR 32.816-800 – Study on management of Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)
and Evolved Packet Core (EPC), 3GPP
5 Next Generation Mobile Networks Beyond HSPA & EVDO, NGMN Alliance White Paper
6 NGMN Informative List of SON Use Cases, NGMN Alliance Annex Deliverable
7 NGMN Recommendation on SON and O&M Requirements, NGMN Alliance Requirement Specification
8 NGMN Use Cases related to Self Organising Network, Overall Description, NGMN Alliance Deliverable
9 “SOCRATES: Self-Optimisation and self-ConfiguRATion in wirelESs networks”, J.L. van den Berg, R. Litjens,
A. Eisenblätter, M. Amirijoo, O. Linnell, C. Blondia, T. Kürner, N. Scully, J. Oszmianski & L.C. Schmelz, COST
2100 TD(08)422, Wroclaw, Poland, February 6-8, 2008.
10 Gandalf Project (www.celtic-gandalf.org)
11 Yankee Group research (www.yankeegroup.com)
nr 2/2009 (10)
Sample Use Case: Self-Planning of radio Parameters for a New Base Station
Installation of a new base station requires definition
of an initial set of radio parameters, such as power
settings, frequencies, handover parameters and
neighbor lists. This process should be as automated
as possible, with best practices being the main goal.
Self-planning of initial radio parameters with Comarch
modules has been depicted in Figure 4.
The parameter planning process is initiated by
the request for the integration of a new base sta-
tion. This event triggers the reconciliation task, which
updates information about current network configu-
ration. Next, a set of planning algorithms is launched
in batch mode to calculate basic radio parameters
for new cells. Depending on radio access technol-
ogy, appropriate algorithms are triggered and intra-/
inter- layer parameter dependencies are resolved.
The resulting basic parameter set is enriched based
on predefined templates by configuration manage-
ment logic and provided to the network via the Net-
work Provisioning Module. If an ANR function is avail-
able, neighbor planning can be realized at eNodeBs,
otherwise planning modules will be responsible for
neighbor list generation.
Summary
As network complexity and OPEX reduction pressures
grow, concepts related to Self-Organizing Networks are
regarded by operators as the key technology require-
ment. The manual work associated with network opera-
tion needs to be significantly reduced, and the network
itself should be capable of self-configuring and continu-
ously self-optimizing in response to network and traffic
changes. Comarch’s products are designed to support
automated process management, and we continuously
design algorithms and solutions enabling self-organiza-
tion. With our clients, we develop hybrid SON solutions
and concentrate on the integration of planning and opti-
mization, configuration management and network provi-
sioning capabilities. This allows our customers to quickly
integrate new network elements and implement con-
figuration changes to the network. Many manual activi-
ties can be avioded and operational efficiency can be
increased, through task automation. <<<
Figure 4. Self-planning of initial radio parameters
planning/optimization module
auto-discovery & reconciliation
networkprovisioning
process management & automation engine
1 2 3 4
event, i.e. request for integration
get current network info
generate conf files & provide them to network
auto-calculate parameters
Operational Excellence < 31
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Traditional Management Silos
Service assurance: Bridging the Gap Between
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Each service provider has its own busi-
ness model. One may focus on
being the technological leader delivering the high-
est possible quality to customers, while others may
find their niche in simple and inexpensive services
that are available for a flat rate. Yet all of them face
the same problem; the customer will leave if the ser-
vices do not work. Throughout the years they have
been mitigating this potential threat with a number
of different fault management tools, which keep the
network in a good state of operation. However, due
to today’s business models, this no longer seems
possible. Today, even simple services have become
dependent on several different platforms, which are
often delivered by business partners. Service provid-
ers must bridge the gap between old tools and new
models. They must shift their operations to the next
level: Service Assurance.
The Picture Today
Many service providers still use different management
tools for different types of networks. Typically, a new man-
agement system is introduced, with the introduction of
the vendor into the network. It covers only one vendor,
one type of network, with no link to the surroundings.
Even if service providers have an umbrella type of fault
management, the required details can still be found in
the management silos. Service information is scattered
between different systems, such as performance man-
agement, CRM and monitoring tools.
Strategy for Moving Forward
More and more service providers begin different proj-
ects focused on service management. They issue RFIs
looking for different solutions for bringing all service
related information into one place. There are two main
ways for introducing service assurance in operation
departments.
The first approach is to start with service models.
Service providers begin documenting services within
models recording cross-service dependencies, IT assets
and network resources required for service availability.
They then focus on changes in the existing fault man-
agement solutions to allow them to monitor services
based on these models. Constant improvements of the
models trigger constant change requests in the monitor-
32 > Operational Excellence
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
nr 2/2009 (10)
ing solution, which increases their operational costs and
lengthens the time-to-market for new services.
The second approach is to start with dedicated tools
for service assurance. Then, based on functionalities,
a number of different sources of information are inte-
grated with the service assurance solution, with the hope
that all available information will be enough to monitor
the service. Each time a new source of information is
identified, the service models are updated.
Both methods have their advantages, but the best
approach lies somewhere in the middle. Investing in a
solution, which has core capabilities for service assur-
ance, is a must. No single service provider wants to
be a sponsor of a unique, non-COTS solution for ser-
vice monitoring. Solutions which are already available
on the market, have required modules, functionalities
and algorithms for not only service assurance, but
also incident management, root cause analysis or
customer impact analysis. In addition, sound service
documentation, recording all the information pertain-
ing to IT assets, network resources and use cases
of the service is also a must for service assurance.
It is important to remember that service models will
change. Therefore, it is strongly recommended not
only to have a project for documenting the service,
but also such reorganization of the service lifecycle,
which enables the operations department in service
Change Management processes.
The new approach leads to an increase in the effec-
tiveness of the service provider’s operations. Existing
management silos are either no longer needed, or are
incorporated in the service assurance platforms, allow-
ing technicians to use just one solution for investigating
service malfunctions, finding the root cause and fixing the
solution. When determining why a service is not work-
ing, automation saves the most time, which increases
effectiveness, as well as provides an additional benefit
by shortening the service unavailability time. Many of the
corrective actions can be automated in the service assur-
ance solution, as they deliver both correlation engines
and process automation engines. This additionally allows
for solving the potential service incident without the end
customer even noticing it.
Figure 1. Vertical silos architecture vs horizontal architecture
Figure 2. Service models reusage in different departments
Horizontal – Layered ArchVertical – Layered Arch
OSS OSS NGOSSOSS
Network
IP Access Voice Data TV ContentIP Access Data IP
Network Network Network
S
S
S
rr r
CfS
rfS
rfS
S
S
S
rr r
CfS
rfS
rfS
S
S
S
rr r
CfS
rfS
rfSSI&P: servicedefinition
OS&R: service model storage & sharing
Assurance:
> S&R Incident and Problem
Management
> Service impact calculation
Fulfillment:
> Service assembly
& delivery
> Resource allocation
!
!
!
Operational Excellence < 33
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
It’s always about Interfaces
Even if a service provider begins implementation of the
best service assurance solution on the market, a cer-
tain degree of its legacy solution will require mainte-
nance for some time afterwards. There is a possibility
which excludes the need for the big bang approach:
immediate replacement of all IT landscapes. The solu-
tion is reliant upon the definition of an interface, based
on certain standards, in order to handle the legacy sys-
tem as a Resource Facing Service – a component of
the new service model. It is vital that such an interface
provides provides, at a minimum, a functionality that
forwards incidents from the legacy system, passes on
provisioning requests an d enables control of the ser-
vice management process. There is no single standard
on the market today that can be applied. It is there-
fore useful to implement several APIs into the legacy
solution, or to alternatively adopt an API at a unified
level. Although this may entail a significant cost for
integration of the legacy system, in many cases it is
still an worthwhile investment. Solutions such as those
of COTS Service Assurance or Service Management,
and some legacy integration continue to preserve
benefits, such as increases in the effectiveness of
service management, minimized time-to-market for
new services, and most importantly – thorough and
precise service state monitoring.
What about the Service Quality?
Together with service assurance solutions, investing
in Service Quality Management completes the service
picture. In particular, when a service is dependent on a
number of different and constantly changing network
resources, SQM facilitates measurement of the impact of
network degradation and its propagation to the service
models. Additionally, it integrates the numbers of exist-
ing performance management silos into one source of
information regarding state and quality of the service.
Even if SQM is not currently a part of the service assur-
ance projects, it is absolutely on the road map for all
major service providers.
What Happens Next?
Ongoing projects for delivering service assurance will
allow service providers to see the big picture in terms
of the service, in order to measure its state. Once this
information is acquired, new opportunities open up,
and new business models and service offerings can
come into existence.
Typical network operation was oriented to solving
incidents and problems. Using service assurance, pro-
viders can focus on proactive network management.
It’s possible to plan the changes and investments in
the network and optimize them from the service avail-
ability and quality perspective. They can offer the same
services to the mass market, but of a higher standard
and at a different price. Tailored offers can even be intro-
duced for the most important customers, while deliver-
ing and assuring heightened quality in selected areas
or for chosen services.
If service providers integrate service assurance with
CRM or SLA management systems, they can enable cus-
tomer monitoring, as well as network and IT resources
prioritization based on customer impact. If problems
arise, technicians are able to view the real business
value of all resources, and have the capability to plan
workarounds and add a protection mechanism for the
most essential resources.
Existing service providers are no longer autonomous
in service delivery. They have started to share the network
and depend on partners delivering service components.
It is even more important to have a comprehensive ser-
vice assurance solution that will support not only the
service provider itself, but also its partners, with clear
information about the service state and the division of
responsibility regarding service maintenance.
Currently, the telecommunications world is a keen
advocate of measuring customer experience. Service
assurance, in addition to bringing about a unification of
operations and bridging gaps between management
systems, is the first and most crucial step in this pro-
cess. Moreover, automation not only optimizes operations
costs, but also enables new business models. <<<
Comarch SAPosition: OSS Product Manager
Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
Info: Jakub is currently responsible for sales
support of Comarch OSS systems.
Jakub Zaluski-Kapusta
Figure 3. Interface between systems handling service information
S
S
CfS
rfS
rfS
rfS
> Incidents resulting from
customer problems
> Provisioning/activation
requests
> Process control during the
entire lifecycle
> Incidents resulting from
network problems
> Planned service incidents
(approval)
S
S
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
34 > Operational Excellence
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Telco on Demand?
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a model of software deployment where a provider licenses an appli-
cation to customers for use as a service on demand. The SaaS model has become one of the most
popular trends in today’s IT environment. Software vendors are starting to offer their software in the
SaaS model for many industries. But is SaaS already mainstream in telecommunications? How far can
a telecom provider go into SaaS? Are there any IT or network areas that cannot be outsourced?
Can a telecom provider outsource everything besides the marketing department?
nr 2/2009 (10)
Operational Excellence < 35
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Figure 1. Differences between on-premise, AsP and saas software delivery modelsO
n-p
rem
ise
aS
PS
aaS
Company a
Company a
Company a
Data Center
Data Center
Data Center
employees
employees
employees
APP A APP B
APP A, B, C
APP C
A’s customers, partners
A’s customers, partners
A’s customers, partners
Company B
Company B
Company B
Data Center
employees
B’s customers partners
B’s customers partners
B’s customers partners
Company C
Company C
Company C
Data Center
employees
C’s customers partners
C’s customers partners
C’s customers partners
employees
employees
employees
employees
36 > Operational Excellence
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Business Drivers for SaaS
The basic concept of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
appeared in the late 90’s. Sometimes called “on-de-
mand software,” and superseding the “ASP model” or
“hosted software,” SaaS has now become one of the
main trends for delivering software in modern IT. The
basic goal of the SaaS model is to reduce investment
costs in software licenses and hardware, by sharing
one instance of software hosted on an application
provider’s infrastructure and on-demand accessed by
many customers, at the same time, remotely.
SaaS applications are developed to leverage web
technologies, such as a web-browser for user-interface
and Web Services for integration purposes. The data
architecture is based on the multi-tenant concept,
with a single instance that enables multiple users to
access a shared data model with the separated data
of each customer.
The following business advantages are the key driv-
ers for the popularization of the SaaS model:
> Low cost of initial investments (CAPEX)
> Responsibility for data, operations and maintenance
shifted to the SaaS provider
> Pay-for-use model (OPEX cost-effectiveness)
> IT staff responsibility limited to integrating (if required)
and extending SaaS platform, both of which are rela-
tively easy
> Short setup time
A low entry cost means reducing the risk associated
with investments in software deployment. A very impor-
tant benefit of SaaS is that a customer can fully test
and verify the functionality of a real instance of the
application, before deciding to buy it. Also, the cus-
tomer does not invest directly in software and hardware
upgrades. Instead, they pay only for the use of the soft-
ware on demand by paying a monthly subscription fee
for access to the system, providing specified param-
eters. All these parameters must be specified before
signing an agreement with the vendor.
In simple applications the setup period on the ven-
dor’s side usually takes minutes or hours. In more
advanced cases, the setup may also require some
additional integration tasks on the customer side.
These tasks may include integration of local systems
with a remote service through an API, integration tests,
etc. SaaS vendors usually provide easy-to-use and
well-documented API with working examples attached.
Thus, the integration process takes less time than it
would when deploying a local instance of the system.
In addition, SaaS makes the Quality Assurance process
simpler than in typical deployment.
A customer usually accesses the application
through the Internet, but it is also possible to set up
a VPN or leased-line between a customer and the ven-
dor. Dedicated network connections may be required
for real-time operations when network link Quality-of-
Service influences the stability of company operations
or revenue-related processes.
SaaS providers generally charge per-user – system
core, additional features, extra bandwidth or storage.
Since the revenue stream for the SaaS vendor is usu-
ally more stable than for a typical software vendor, this
often results in new features that are directly requested
by users. Releases of new features are significantly
more frequent, since all customers can benefit from the
new functionality. The new features are often developed
according to best practices of each industry, because
the vendor has constant input from customers, based
on their everyday experience.
From a technical point of view, SaaS model imple-
mentations are characterized by:
> Multi-tenant architecture
> Centralized upgrades transparent to the customer
> Shared data model
> Application scalability
> Configuration & extensibility
> Web-based access to applications
> Security of data
> Business continuity assurance, often with geograph-
ically separated disaster recovery center
All these features translate directly into business ben-
efits – TCO optimization, flexibility and security.
a Bright or Dim Future for SaaS?
There have been a lot of rumors lately related to the
validity of the SaaS delivery model and the business
models around it. These have been stirred up by SaaS
providers struggling to achieve profitability and the
critical mass required. Certainly the large numbers of
SaaS start-ups are not helping the situation. However,
a tough and uncompromising economy has paradoxi-
cally brought SaaS into the spotlight, as businesses
are looking for ways to improve the bottom line. There
are some indisputable facts indicating that the future
will be more favorable for SaaS initiatives:
> People and companies alike are less inclined to
purchase licenses, hardware and other products
(copiers, cars, office space, etc.), turning instead
to service providers that rent them out; this leads
to subscription-based models that are increas-
ingly better understood by customers and widely
accepted
> Globalization of social networks and businesses
requires tools that are available at anytime, any-
where, including online; while improving internet
connection availability and speed helps on the con-
sumer side
> Availability of utility computing clears the way for
new ideas to evolve into productive innovations; this
leads to faster time-to-market, greater interest from
VC and revitalization of the entire SaaS sector
> Narrowly focused SaaS startups begin to combine
and form partnerships, creating entire value chains
for their customers, as well as up-sell and cross-sell
channels for themselves (as they cannot afford tra-
ditional types); this leads to mashups that can func-
tionally match best-of-breed software suits
> Even the market leaders can no longer turn their
back on SaaS. As an example, SAP, initially directing
their SaaS initiative solely towards the SMB market
(fearing cannibalization of their license and main-
tenance revenues), announced recently that they
intend to promote their on-demand offering to their
entire installed customer base.
The analysts’ predictions are also favorable. The SaaS
market is forecasted to grow at least twice as fast as
the general software market, reaching $13B in 2009,
and more than $20B in 2011. Some regions, such as
India or China, may see a compound annual growth
rate of up to 76% thru 2011. The market is also divided
into functional areas. While it began in CRM and HCM
(Human Capital Management), it has since spread into
web conferencing, collaboration, IT Services Manage-
ment and security.
One of the consequences of the SaaS boom has
been the growing demand for tools that would sup-
port billing processes for all these subscription-based
services; naturally, SaaS tools. This has proven to be
relatively easy, and such applications are already
available. But if a telco startup tried to use them, they
would clearly see that those tools are well-suited for
newspaper subscriptions or private wallet manage-
ment services. To bill a telco operator’s customers you
need something much more advanced, especially
if you have prepaid customers and want to charge
them in real time. That’s when you turn to a telco bill-
ing specialist.
Comarch Billing on Demand
Comarch has been involved in the on-demand mar-
ket since 2001 with our ERP package. Recently we’ve
expanded our SaaS offer by providing the Comarch
Billing SaaS service - a telecom-grade compact billing
system available in the SaaS model. The service sup-
ports typical business processes, including customer
management, product management, rating, invoic-
ing, dispatching, partner management processes
and customer self-care. Special care has been taken
to ensure user acceptance, with video trainings and
extensive documentation.
nr 2/2009 (10)
Operational Excellence < 37
Figure 2. Comarch Billing SaaS – GUI
Comarch’s solution supports billing processes ded-
icated to small/medium sized service and network
operators, with up to one hundred thousand subscrib-
ers activated in post-paid or pre-paid mode, in particu-
lar: ISPs, VOIP, IPTV and WIMAX operators.
Comarch provides a billing solution in the Soft-
ware-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, hosted at farms of
our own servers located at the Comarch Data Center
(CDC). The service can be accessed through the Inter-
net, a VPN or a leased line.
The service provides the following functionalities
to an operator:
> Offline Charging of the services that a customer
would like to pay after the service has been deliv-
ered (in post-paid mode). In the post-paid mode the
system charges sessions and provides rated CDRs
to the built-in invoicing module.
> Online Charging of the services that a customer
would like to pay in advance (pre-paid mode). For
pre-paid mode the system controls the customer
balance in real-time.
> Billing/Invoicing of the services in post-paid mode.
The system provides the following functionalities:
discounts and promotions, invoice creation, pay-
ment collection functionality, dunning scenarios
(reporting and actions such as account blocking).
> reporting and analysis Tool for analyzing business
data directly within edited documents. Users who are
not familiar with database technologies should be
able to use the analysis tool to conduct advanced
data analysis and present the results in the form of
a professional, presentation-ready report.
> Customer Care – a CRM tool that supports processes
necessary in everyday customer management: cus-
tomer management, order management and trouble
ticketing; regardless of whether the actual CC user
interface is used in the call center, front office or
back office.
The service can also be delivered with the following
additional modules:
> Top-Up and Voucher Management that can be
configured to deliver various methods of recharg-
ing and payments. It generates and validates PIN
codes that can, after some integration, be used
by customers via IVR, scratch cards, web pages,
ATM, etc.
> Self Care – telco consumer web-based interface for
self-management of accounts, contracted services
and personal data.
The broad competences of Comarch, active in various
sectors of the economy, allow us to bring even more
value to our customers. Comarch Billing SaaS is not
the only on-demand initiative, and soon we will be able
to offer additional services, preintegrated into a single
Telco as a Service platform, enabling our customers to
outsource virtually all their IT requirements:
> ErP – online application for all ERP needs, the first
Comarch on-demand offering
> IP PaBx – phone switch to provide all internal and
external phone communication, conferencing and
other advanced services
> Call Center – Call Center as a Service (called C2aS)
allows operators to distribute their Customer Ser-
vice Representatives, who use a supplied IP phone
with embedded VPN software to connect to the Call
Center application
> IP VPN – makes it easy to use distributed IP-enabled
devices in one virtual office network
> VoIP operator – with the addition of interconnection
to wholesale telco providers the platform can run the
VoIP provider operations
> Campaigns – from simple mailing to advanced loy-
alty program, we can support every initiative of the
Marketing Department, or even be one for our cus-
tomers
> Online Backup – provides a secure vault for docu-
ments and other files for the operator’s peace of
mind and regulatory compliance
> IPTV VoD – enables smaller IP operators to provide
their customers with a high-end VoD service.
This way, service providers will be able to outsource to
Comarch everything except for product management,
marketing communication and customer support; focus-
ing instead on core competences that will allow them to
differentiate their offering from their competition.
Conclusion
Deciding whether to use SaaS should be preceded by
a thorough analysis of service functionality, specifica-
tion of customer requirements and potential risks of
using on-demand software in the customer business.
However, for many medium-sized operators the answer
is already known, as Software as a Service is already
‘mainstream’. The benefits of using SaaS are not only
reducing CAPEX and OPEX costs, but sometimes even
shifting the full responsibility of a specified business
process to the service provider. Since, depending on
the application type, a potential failure on the vendor
side or network interruption can result in propagation
to the customer and its core business operations, the
customer should carefully verify how stable the service
provider is, not only from the technical, but principally
from the business point of view.
We are positive that Comarch is the right choice
as the billing SaaS provider, due to its global reach,
solid business foundations and extensive on-prem-
ise and on-demand experience. Basing the service
on our stable products, we can guarantee business
continuity, both short and long-term, with virtually no
limits in functionality or capacity. Ultimately, when an
operator’s business comes out of the nascent phase,
migrating the data and processes to their own on-
premise deployment is very easy. <<<
technology review [www.comarch.com]
38 > Operational Excellence
Comarch SAPosition: Product Manager
Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
Info: Lukasz is currently responsible for
Billing in SaaS area, Comarch NGTV and CDS
in VAS area.
Comarch SAPosition: Senior Consultant
Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
Info: Grzegorz is currently responsible for
presales consulting in the areas of sales
channel support, outsourcing/SaaS and
Comarch’s VAS offering.
Lukasz LuzarGrzegorz Kot
Comarch Billing on Demand
The solution is offered in the Software-as-a-Service
model, allowing an operator to use this fully func-
tional, powerful and modern billing system without
the need to purchase any licenses. An operator
can start their business without initial investment
in on-premise software and hardware. In the SaaS
model the operator only pays for setup and use of
the service. Our solution minimizes risk of invest-
ment (CAPEX) and maintenance costs (OPEX).
Top features:
> Provides a telco-grade billing solution from
a leading BSS vendor, in the SaaS model
> Supplies post-paid and pre-paid billing capabili-
ties
> Enables easy integration with open API
> Reduces investment (CAPEX) and operating costs
(OPEX)
> Offers Pay-Per-Use & Subscription pricing models
> Provides white-labeling capabilities of Customer
Self Care
> Facilitates easy migration to “on-premise”
model
> Guarantees constant innovation by reusing expe-
rience from Comarch on-premise deployments
nr 2/2009 (10)
Figure 3. Comarch Billing SaaS - Deployment
Network operator ComarchBilling SaaS
Network Billing System
Clearing-houses, other billers etc.
Customer Care
Self Care(white-label
product)
admin
End user
access toCustomer Care
access toSelf Care
Involces
EDrs
Invoices
Operational Excellence < 39
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Support System
An economic slowdown always pushes market players to reduce costs and pursue new revenue sources.
However, a more effective strategy is to employ the tenet of efficiency improvements as a continuous
cycle. The article describes the concept of the OSS system, which should not only promise to add value
to CSP, but also contain self-assessment and self-tuning mechanisms that can measure system per-
formance in business oriented KPIs and improve its performance. See how the concept of a continu-
ous improvement cycle implemented in the Next Generation Service Management solution can help CSPs
maintain profitability while under pressure to reduce time-to-market for new services. Find out about cus-
tomer service composition optimization, which aligns with the notion of Self-Organizing Networks.
Continuous business efficiency improvements within your operations
Self-tuning Operations
40 > Operational Excellence
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
nr 2/2009 (10)
A period of economic slowdown
or even recession has
always been a time in which all market players try to
improve the efficiency of their business. All are seek-
ing new ways to reduce operation costs and maxi-
mize revenue. Tough times simply force every player
to fight for better efficiency. It is a game of survival.
However, it seems that improving business should be
a constant driver. The reality is that we need a painful
incentive to make the effort. Some experts even con-
sider a slowdown or a recession necessary therapy,
which, though painful, helps to heal the economy. This
is likely simply human nature, that during the period
of prosperity when the revenue stream is wide, we
don’t pay attention to small enhancements that do
not cause double digit revenue growth. We forget that
small enhancements carried out systematically and
methodically can bring a significant business improve-
ment. On a global scale, a continuous fight for effi-
ciency even during a period of prosperity might help
prevent a recession, or at least lessen the impact of
a slowdown. The next question is why we don’t actually
do something that seems so reasonable. The answer
is probably not only human nature, but also the fact
that efficiency improvements cost money. This is espe-
cially true for businesses that rely on complex systems
like telecommunication infrastructure. The answer to
this problem could be applying the IT technology that
not only supports operations, but also contains self-
tuning mechanisms.
The traditional approach to business optimiza-
tion is to apply business intelligence (BI) technology,
which works in the following way. First, it gathers data
from as many existing operations support systems as
possible and places it in a corporate data warehouse.
The purpose of the data warehouse is to give the data
business meaning, which involves OLAP (Online Ana-
lytical Processing) techniques. The business meaning
is expressed through KPIs (Key Performance Indica-
tors), which is the language understood by business
executives. KPIs measure how the business is run-
ning. Business measuring is a prerequisite for any
methodical optimization and the term KPI-driven busi-
ness captures that idea. KPIs that fall below expecta-
tions highlight highlight inefficiencies and optimiza-
tion opportunities.
The problem with the described business optimiza-
tion is that this process is rather slow. This is because
corporate BI systems are disjointed from operations
systems. It derives from the nature of the corporate
data warehouse, whose main goal is to shift from raw
technical data gathered from OSS systems, to the black
box business view. It means that there is no automatic
loop-back mechanism. Once inefficiency is detected
by examining KPIs, the corrective actions need to go
through the live decision flow process, rather than an
automatic loop back to the underlying OSS systems.
This means that the optimization cycle is slow.
The answer to this problem is applying a self-tun-
ing Operations Support System. A self-tuning system
can self-assess its added value and close the loop by
supporting the corrective actions in the case of dis-
covered inefficiency. The system self-assessment is
expressed through KPIs, which measure the business
performance of the process supported by the system.
The corrective action support includes identification
of the system configuration that needs to be ehanced
in order to improve business performance.
The need for self-tuning Operations Support sys-
tems becomes critical in times where Communication
Service Providers strive to shorten time-to-market for
new service introduction. However, fast often means
inefficient. The self-tuning platforms can answer this
problem by introducing optimization into the service
lifecycle.
reducing Time-to-Market and Maintaining Profitability
After the Internet and mobile revolution, Communica-
tion Service Providers (CSP) are forced to quickly pro-
vide composite services, combining fixed, mobile net-
work access with content based services. The winner
in this highly competitive environment is whoever can
provide compelling services to customers the fast-
est. However, the fight for new customers should be
balanced with profitability concerns. This problem is
highlighted in the recent industry report [1] published
by TMF Business Benchmarking. The report warns that
exciting new services can bring a Pandora’s Box of
additional complexity that can eat up profit.
The answer to this potential problem is leveraging
an OSS system with self-tuning mechanisms. The prob-
lem of fast new service introduction into the market is
addressed by hyped Service Delivery Platforms (SDP).
The main promise of this type of OSS system is reduc-
ing time and cost of new service introduction by lever-
aging reusable service components. This concept is
detailed in a separate white paper [2]. From the profit-
ability assurance point of view, it is important that this
kind of system contains the self-tuning mechanism.
First, it means that these systems should self-assess
their business effectiveness. Business effectiveness
should be measured by KPIs. The KPIs are expected to
enable business executives to validate the promise
of SDP, which is reduced time and cost of new ser-
vice introduction. The self-tuning mechanism means
that after identifying KPIs that do not meet business
goals, it is possible to track down the configuration
of the system that needs to be corrected. Examples
include: the ability to identify which service compo-
Operational Excellence < 41
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
nents bundling, although deliverable, are not profitable;
and the ability to identify which technology based ser-
vice bundling is most profitable.
Efficiency Improvement as a Continuous Cycle
The introduction of a new Operations Support System
into a communication service provider (CSP) environ-
ment has always been driven by the hope of improv-
ing the efficiency of operations and thus improving
business results. Before any OSS product delivered
as COTS can start adding value, it must be integrated
with the CSP environment. This process involves tun-
ing the OSS product according to CSP requirements.
Traditionally, it was the only time during which the
OSS product was optimized to deliver the best pos-
sible outcome. The assumption was that once the
OSS product was configured, it should work without
a need for further tuning. Even throughout the period
in which the competitive environment did not force
rapid innovation rates, this approach lead to ineffi-
ciency, as improvement is innately an iterative pro-
cess. From a practical viewpoint, efficiency cannot be
achieved as a one off task. Instead, it should be done
step by step, with each optimization cycle ending by
assessing the improvement of KPI’s. This concept is
depicted below.
If the result is still not satisfactory, a further opti-
mization cycle can be started. The iterative approach
is cheaper and can lead to better results. The first
statement is true because it allows the CSP to start
with optimization that is easiest to implement. Prior to
further investment in optimization, the results of the
previous enhancement cycle can be measured. If the
KPI’s improvements are satisfactory, further improve-
ments can be delayed until new business goals are
set. The better results of the iterative improvements
derive from the “measure first” strategy, meaning that
the iteration is preceded by KPI assessment which
leads to fine tuning.
Self-assessment: a Way to Keep the Promise
All OSS systems claim to add value to the CSP environ-
ment, either by reducing costs of operation or extend-
ing CSP capabilities. But do they really do that? How
can it be checked? A good answer to this problem
can be found in the self-assessment mechanism that
should be provided by OSS products. The self-assess-
ment mechanism is a materialization of the “measure
first” concept introduced in the previous chapter, enti-
tled ‘Efficiency improvement as a continuous cycle’.
The provision of such mechanisms by OSS products
should be beneficial for both sides: OSS vendors and
CSPs. For an OSS vendor, the self-assessment mech-
anism can be the perfect way to highlight the ben-
efits of the solution. It may be an effective way to
convince a CSP to spend its hard earned money on a
truly valuable product. For a CSP, the self-assessment
mechanism provides a tool for validating promises
of the OSS vendor. Checking KPIs provides a method
for comparing the OSS vendors marketing materials
with real product performance. The ideal situation
from a CSP point of view is the possibility to organize
a “Proof of Concept” stage where vendors demon-
strate their products. Ability to compare the products
using hard metrics should make choosing the prod-
uct much easier.
The self-assessment mechanism of an OSS product
is not only a way for a CSP to validate vendor prom-
ises, but also is expected to facilitate the business
decisions process. Having OSS product performance
expressed in KPIs with business meaning should
enable the less technically oriented business execu-
tives to make more rational decisions. OSS KPIs are
Figure 1. Continuous improvement lifecycle
Improvement lifecycle
42 > Operational Excellence
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
nr 2/2009 (10)
expected to bridge the gap between the technical
characteristics of an OSS system and the business
impact of the system.
Service Fulfillment KPIs
As the key benefit, hyped Service Delivery Platforms
reduce time-to-market for new customer services. Once
a new service is ready to be delivered to the customer,
the SDP should also reduce the time and costs of ser-
vice order fulfillment. It is important that this rapid service
introduction does not result in poor customer experience.
To be able to verify whether an SDP keeps its promises,
the appropriate KPIs must be defined.
Time-to-market is one of the basic KPIs that can
be used to verify the performance of any SDP prod-
uct. One way of measuring this KPI is registering the
time between introducing a new service into the ser-
vice catalog and the time the first customer order
can be fulfilled.
The ‘average time to fulfill the service order’ KPI is
a metric that can be easily traced, assuming that the
SDP exploits the order management solution.
The ‘average cost of fulfilling a service order’ KPI is
harder to measure using the OSS system unless the cost
metrics are defined per order fulfillment process step. As
an alternative, KPIs measuring the automation rate of
the fulfillment can be used. This is easier to measure in
the OSS system and has a more direct relationship with
the self-tuning mechanism. For example, KPIs express-
ing the number of manual steps vs. automatic steps of
service management can be used.
The quality of the fulfillment process can be mea-
sured using the percentage of service orders that
resulted in service incidents.
A useful insight can be gained by combining the
above KPIs with the network technology used to imple-
ment customer facing services.
The ability to measure SDP performance is useful,
but the ability to tune the system to improve the per-
formance is even more desirable. As the tuning mecha-
nism is related to the mechanism employed within the
solution, the self-tuning capabilities are described in
the subsequent chapter regarding the Comarch Next
Generation Service Delivery Platform.
Service assurance KPIs
Employing an OSS system in Service Assurance prom-
ises to reduce the time and costs needed to resolve
service incidents. An equally important benefit of this
solution is early service problem detection, which
means proactive capabilities. Network related prob-
lems that impact services can start to be resolved
before a customer experiences the problem.
Examples of KPIs that can be used to measure the
OSS performance in relation to fulfilling the described
benefits are: Average Incident Resolution Time (AIRT),
Average Incident Resolution Costs (AIRC) and percent-
age of problems by cause type. The proactive capa-
bility can be measured using the number of network
faults that affected customer service but had been
resolved prior to a customer issuing a complaint.
The AIRT is the easiest to measure, assuming that
OSS employs a BPM platform for managing incident
resolution processes.
The AIRC is more difficult to measure using the OSS
system unless there are cost metrics defined per inci-
dent resolution step. However, a good alternative is
introducing KPIs that measure the automation ratio.
These KPIs are easier to measure using the OSS sys-
tem and have a more direct relationship with the self-
tuning mechanism. Good examples of such KPIs are:
number of service incidents reported by a customer
which required manual root cause analysis, number of
network faults detected by the network which resulted
in manual correlation with other network faults.
The KPI percentage of ‘problem by cause type’ can
be even further detailed to identify which network tech-
nologies used to implement customer facing services
are the most fault prone.
The ability to measure service assurance KPIs is
half the story. The other half is the ability to tune the
solution to improve KPIs. The self-tuning capabilities
heavily depend on mechanisms employed within the
solution and this is why they are described in the sub-
sequent chapter regarding Comarch Next Generation
Service Assurance.
Service Fulfillment Tuning in NGSDP
Service Fulfillment is implemented in the Comarch
solution using the Next Generation Service Delivery
Platform (NGSDP). The main premise of this solution
is fast and cost effective introduction of new cus-
tomer services to the market. New service introduction
refers to the ability to deliver the services to custom-
ers. NGSDP also promises to reduce time and costs
of service order fulfillment.
The NGSDP provides a self-assessment mecha-
nism which can be used to verify how the solution
keeps its promises. The self-assessment mechanism
is based on KPIs provided by the NGSDP, which are
described in the previous chapter ‘Service Fulfillment
KPIs’. To describe tuning capabilities, some details on
the NGSDP must be provided.
The main concept is based on the premise that
customer services are not monolithic services, but, on
the contrary, are composed of service components.
The service composition is based on the SID model,
which assumes that Customer Facing Services can
be composed of Resource Facing Services.
The benefit of reducing time-to-market is real-
ized by leveraging the concept where new Customer
Facing Services (CFS) can be built up from reusable
service components represented by Resource Fac-
ing Services. Once the new CFS is defined in the ser-
vice catalog its decomposition to RFS is interpreted
by the service assembly process as a skeleton for
the delivery process. The whole idea is depicted in
the dedicated NGSDP whitepaper [2]. From the tuning
mechanism perspective it is interesting to analyze
the RFS interpretation. A Resource Facing Service
is also understood as a technical service encapsu-
lating the technology used to implement services.
This may lead to tuning which aims to identify the
most effective technology for customer facing ser-
vices implementation. For example, the Broadband
IP CFS can be leveraged for the second mile techni-
cal service and the Ethernet Aggregation RFS. As an
alternative technology, ATM Aggregation may exist.
The NGSDP provides KPIs defined per RFS. These
statistics enable the discovery of which technol-
ogy is better. For example, if the Average Time to
Fulfill a Service Order is higher for services based on
the ATM Aggregation RFS than those based on the
Ethernet Aggregation RFS, this may give a hint that
the Ethernet Aggregation is the more time effective
option. The higher the fulfillment order failures, KPIs
for the Ethernet Aggregation may indicate that this
technology is more fault prone. This type of interest-
ing analysis can also be conducted using the Ser-
vice Assurance KPI per RFS. This can indicate which
technology is optimal for Customer Facing Services
from the assurance point of view. Details regarding
assurance based KPIs tuning are provided in the
subsequent chapter.
The notion of discovering the best technology for
implementing Customer Facing Services means cus-
tomer service composition optimization is controlled
from the service catalog. The service composition
optimization and self-tuning capabilities align with
the ideas of Next Generation Networks (NGN), and
with Self-Organizing and Optimizing Networks (SON)
in particular. The SON idea can be perceived as opti-
mization within technical service components (RFSs),
with NGSM providing the service composition optimi-
zation. The service composition optimization is envi-
sioned as a way to bring the value of network opti-
mization to customers via Customer Facing Service
composition optimization.
Operational Excellence < 43
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Service assurance Tuning in NGSa
Service Assurance is implemented into the Comarch
solution using the Next Generation Service Assurance
(NGSA) model. The main premise of the product is time
and cost reductions for customer service assurance.
Additionally, the product aims to provide a proactive
solution, enabling issue resolution prior to a customer
experiencing a problem with the service. NGSA not
only promises to bring benefits, but also provides
self-assessment and self-tuning mechanisms. The
self-assessment functionality enables you to mea-
sure the performance of the solution and express
it using KPIs, allowing you to validate the business
value of the solution.
To describe the self-tuning mechanism, some
details of the NGSA must be provided. NGSA provides
a service meaning to the network related alarms col-
lected from the network. This “bottom-up” process is
accompanied by the “top-down” method, used to pro-
vide service incident resolution support when a cus-
tomer reports a complaint. The bottom-up process
means that network related alarms are translated into
the customer service impact. The top-down process
enables you to trace the customer complaint down
to root cause network resources. The idea of provid-
ing the service assurance meaning to the network
related data is depicted below.
The mechanism providing customer service mean-
ing to network related data is leveraged in the process
layer realized by the ITIL based library of processes.
The ITIL library implemented in NGSA provides service
incident and problem management processes, which
are the core assurance processes. The ITIL processes
operate using knowledge that gives service meaning
Figure 2. Service catalog’s CFS-rFS model as a skeleton for service composition
NGSDP
Other business unit Third Party Component
Service Layer
CFSIP
CFSIP
CFSIP
RFSIP
CFSTV
RFSTV
RFSIPRFS
FFTH
CFS
CFSTV Channel
RFSContent
Service LayerUser
TVIP
Program TV
44 > Operational Excellence
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
nr 2/2009 (10)
to network related data and ensures efficient utiliza-
tion of this knowledge. The self-tuning mechanism
is based on identifying the gaps in this knowledge.
The knowledge is organized along the service cat-
alog TMF SID model, which decomposes Customer
Facing Services (CFS) through Resource Facing Ser-
vices (RFS) down to Resources (R). The basic SID CFS-
RFS-R model is augmented with assurance manage-
ment data. The most essential extension to the SID
CFS-RFS-R model is the alarm propagation model,
which captures the knowledge regarding translating
resource related events up to the customer facing
service impact. More details about the NGSA can be
found in the dedicated white paper [3].
The self-tuning mechanism is based on the most
detailed KPIs measuring the automation ratio. The KPI:
the number of service incidents reported by a cus-
tomer that required manual root cause analysis has
a direct relationship with the tuning mechanism.
A high value of this KPI may indicate that knowledge
defined along the CFS-RFS-R model is incomplete.
First in the tunning process, a customer facing ser-
vice (for which there are numerous customer com-
plaints whose root cause analyses involves manual
steps) must be identified.
Second, the resource type most frequently man-
ually indicated as the cause of the service incident
can be identified. Once it is determined, the knowl-
edge defined along the SID CFS-RFS-R model should
be updated. For example, it may be discovered that
the BlackBerry CFS is not mapped on the Authenti-
cation Service, whose outage impacts the customer
service. This tuning is intended to improve the auto-
mation rate, so it has an impact on more business
related KPIs, such as Average Incident Resolution
Time (AIRT) and Average Incident Resolution Costs
(AIRC). This tuning also improves proactivity levels.
Ability to better translate network related faults into
service impacts means early service issues detec-
tion. This means that service issues can start to
be resolved even before a customer experiences
a problem. This impact can be assessed by analyzing
improvements in KPIs describing the total number of
customer complaints. Early service issues detection
and proactiveness should result in a decrease in the
total number of customer complaints.
Figure 3. Providing the customer service meaning to network alarms
Customer Facing Services
Intermediate Services
Resource Facing Services
Network Resources
BlackBerry RIM Platform
Auth Server
BB for BusinessBB Prosumer
BSC
Customer BB
BB Instance
UTRAN
...
GERANSpecific BB Mechanism
Generic BB Mechanism
TransportBB Mechanism
BTS BTS BTS BTS BTS
t
Operational Excellence < 45
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Comarch SAPosition: OSS Product Manager
Department: Telecommunications
Business Unit
Info: Lukasz is currently responsible for the
Next Generation Service Management solu-
tion, specializing in service fulfillment.
Lukasz Mendyk
Further reading
1 “Next Generation Service Delivery Platform.
Integrated Service Fulfillment”, Comarch white
paper.
2 “How to move Service Assurance to the Next
Level”, Comarch white paper.
references
1 “Winning in a Shrinking World: Points to Con-
sider”, TMF Business Benchmarking, industry
update report.
2 “Next Generation Service Delivery Platform.
Integrated Service Fulfillment”, Comarch white
paper.
3 “How to move Service Assurance to the Next
Level”, Comarch white paper.
technology review [www.comarch.eu]
Conclusions
Comarch Next Generation Service Management not
only promises to reduce time and costs of introducing
new services to market, but also contains a mecha-
nism which allows CSPs to validate these benefits
and implement efficiency improvement as a contin-
uous cycle. NGSM can measure its performance by
means of business related KPIs, allowing a CSP to gain
insight into its operational efficiency. NGSM realizes
the measure first tenet, which is leveraged to imple-
ment efficiency improvements as a continuous cycle.
This feature appears extremely important as CSPs
are forced to shorten service innovation cycles. Fast
service introduction may lead to inefficiency, which
may eat up profits. Optimization organized in cycles
aligned with new service introduction cycles should
resolve this problem. NGSM covers both service ful-
fillment and service assurance, guaranteeing that
fast service introduction is not achieved at the cost
of degraded customer experience. NGSM provides
interesting optimization capabilities that enable us to
analyze which network technology is most effective
for customer service implementation. These analyses
enable us to optimize the service catalog built accord-
ing to the SID CFS-RFS-R model. The CSP can discover
which technology represented by the Resource Fac-
ing Service (RFS) is better suited for Customer Fac-
ing Service implementation. NGSM leverages the CFS-
RFS-R model as the customer service composition
mechanism which is a skeleton for service fulfillment
and service assurance processes. Optimizing the ser-
vice composition enables rapid improvement of CSP
operations. <<<
46 > Operational Excellence
marginss/e/f – 4pt – 6p
Fulfilling the promise of component-based service creationBoost the value of your network through an open service composer
Comarch Next Generation Service Management
Learn more at:ngsm.comarch.com