Published twice a year, Comarch Technology Review provides expert commentary and analysis on current trends shaping the telecommunications market, as well as gives insight on how to solve problems most commonly faced by telecom operators. This unique and comprehensive publication is written by our specialists with expertise in various fields, ranging from BSS and OSS to VAS and professional services.

1. no 1/2010
[11]
The Magazine of Comarch
Telecommunications
Business Unit
www.comarch.com
In ThIs IssUe:
Customer spotlight
Marcus Ras, One Phone:
What Difficulties Do Corporate
Customers Face With Regard To self
service systems Automation?
TR Contest Winner
Does Cloud Computing have A Bright
Future?
Oss/Bss Features
Is Your Business Reaching Its
Optimum Performance?
Cable TV Operators: Which service
Are You Missing?

2. Telco Sphere blog
a place to share ideas on
the developments in the telecom world
telcosphere.comarch.com

3. Preface 3
The Human Being and the Internet
of Things
or communication service providers (CSPs), as well the role of real-time telco and non-telco mass data
F as technology and software vendors, 2009 was
a year of cost-cutting programs and rethinking
processing, revenue sharing and wholesale. Although M2M is
not a novel concept for CSPs, we expect significant changes
of strategies. After the first quarter of 2010, and a review of in the business model and increasing adoption of the idea of
2009 annual reports and 2010 strategies, it is evident that for an “internet of things,” in both the consumer and B2B markets.
CSPs this will be a year of further offer consolidation focused While the MVNO market was regulated from the beginning,
on core services and the target customer segment, as well the M2M market grows based on traditional and simple
as consolidation and simplification of the IT environment. business rules in a competitive business environment.
On the other hand, technology vendors will focus on
strengthening services and moving as close as possible to It appears that leading CSPs will take a significant step
end customers, with their own COTS products. towards the global concept of FTTx and Ultra speed mobile
broadband projects in 2010. Infrastructure investments are
All Mobile Operators, Multiservice Operators (MSO), Cable not likely to be great immediately, growing gradually based
and Broadband Operators, ISPs, and even application and on market needs and utilizing stimulus founds. We believe
IT vendors will take a part in NGN as Cloud global challenge. that the mobile backhaul problem will be solved by the CSPs
However, the battleground has changed. There are no and electricity, gas, water companies and private-public PIOTR MAChnIk
big differences between mobile, fixed or cable access companies who own fiber networks. Our entire perception Comarch sA
technologies, because network equipment is moving toward of the internet is going to change in the near future. We will Vice President, Product
the unification of configuration and service management. choose not between 1Mbs or 10Mbs, but rather between a set Management & Marketing
The real differentiators will be a smart offer, high quality of services. HD voice will be standard, with additional options Telecommunications
services and low cost. The next step in network progress for mobile communication, M2M, home zone services and Business Unit
toward new and cheaper technology will be the adoption entertainment, based on our own virtual access point to the
of Self-Organizing Networks and network sharing. Network NG Access Network.
neutrality? Maybe not in 2010.
Perhaps next year an edition of our magazine will be shown
Fortunately for Comarch, the business and operation on an ultra flat nano-tech screen printed on the first page
processes are not usually self-organizing. Thus, in 2010, and presented for you by avatar of the leader of Comarch’s
we see many opportunities in the area of service quality Business Development Center. For now, we wish you
management; NG network planning; further network accurate business decisions and many opportunities to
transformation and consolidation; adoption of new business increase your business and market share. We are always
models, including two-sided business models; and increasing committed to your success.
Comarch Technology Review is a publication created by Comarch experts and specialists. It is created
to assist our customers and partners in obtaining in-depth information about market trends and
developments, and the technological possibilities of addressing the most important issues.
editor-in-Chief: Katarzyna Gajewska Technology Review is a free publication available
Layout & DTP: Jakub Malicki by subscription. The articles published here can be
Photos: www.fotolia.com copied and reproduced only with the knowledge and
Proofreader: Alina Tylman consent of the editors. The names of products and
Publisher: Comarch SA companies mentioned are trade marks and trade
Al. Jana Pawła II 39a, 31-864 Kraków names of their producers.
Tel. +48 12 64 61 000, Fax: +48 12 64 61 100
e-mail: marketing@comarch.pl To receive your subscription to the electronic
www.comarch.com version or see the previous issues, please visit:
Print: Skleniarz Printing House tr.comarch.com
ul. J. Lea 118, 31-033 Kraków
Circulation: 1 500

4. 4 table of contents
26 Is Your Business Reaching Its Optimum
Performance?
As your sales margins decrease, time becomes
news oss/bss features crucial. Performance management methodology
5 What’s new 16 slicing Up the M2M Revenue Pie: how To Get is one of the most important tools enabling
Your share And Boost Your Business managers to make the right decisions, at the right
customer sPotlight What is the main benefit of such automatic time. Considering the current communications
6 Interview with Marcus Ras: communication? The owner of the machines does market situation, it is important to measure all
What Difficulties Do Corporate Customers not need to visit them personally to verify their critical business figures and processes, and
Face With Regard To self service systems operation or read certain measures manually. effectively link them to goals.
Automation? Such machines can automatically send the
Self Service is gaining in popularity in the SME and information to the owner or to another machine 30 Managing Your network Quality And
corporate segments. But creating a self service that processes the data further. Such Machine-to- Guaranteeing A First-Class Customer
system that is valuable both to the operator and Machine communication (M2M) is cheaper, faster experience
the customers is not easy. Marcus Ras, the CIO and brings new possibilities. Customer experience is considered the new
OnePhone Services AB of One Phone, discusses battleground, and has recently evolved into
his view on the challenges and opportunities in 20 Cable TV Operators: Which service Are You the most discussed topic. But how do you
this field. Missing? manage customer experience without extensive
The last few years have been very good for cable investments? One answer lies in augmenting
8 Case study: operators. With merger and acquisition strategies, the existing network performance management
Comarch Oss suite Implementation at and rapid service portfolio expansion, these systems, to refocus them on the customer.
T-Mobile Germany operators have been able to achieve sustained
The results of R&SI project implementation revenue growth – an enviable feat. But that’s the telcosPhere blog
are improved Incident, Problem and Change bright side. What went wrong? The customer 33 Comarch Oss/Bss User Group Commentary
Management processes due to end-to-end relationship management side of things has
service visibility, smooth integration of Service unfortunately been neglected. 34 Reactions To MWC 2010
and Resource layers and consolidated overview of
ownership for services. 22 self Organizing networks: To have or not To 35The iPhone vs. the Rest of the World
have Control?
10 Case study: Most people are familiar with the blackout 36striker, Midfielder or Defender – Which
Comarch Oss suite Implementation at scenario within an electricity network. A single Position Is Your self Care Portal?
Telefónica O2 Germany local failure at a specific network point can lead
With the implementation of the Comarch to a blackout affecting half a nation. So what can technology a& innovation
OSS Suite, an advanced network and service the blackout problem in electricity networks teach 37 Uniform Communication With everyone,
management solution, O2 in Germany aimed to us with respect to telecommunication networks? everywhere
unify and simplify the entire network management Next generation telecommunication networks Due to the massive increase in the capabilities
process, while decreasing maintenance costs. regularly utilize Self Organizing Network (SON) of mobile devices, the range of communication
concepts in order to significantly reduce the costs services provided to users has also increased
tr contest winner of managing the increasingly complex network. significantly over the recent years. In addition to
12 Robert Dygas, PhD, The Besen Group MVne regular voice calls or SMS messages, handsets
Advisor 24 Common service Models Across the Oss/Bss may also be used to make video calls, transfer
Does Cloud Computing have A Bright Future? Landscape – (Im)possible To Achieve? media files, perform text chats or keep track of
The phrase “cloud computing” is based on the In today’s world of service- and customer- what our contacts are doing
cloud symbol frequently used to represent the centric OSS/BSS environments, service modeling
internet. A great definition of cloud computing is essential. The main question is: are these 40 semantic Modelling of network Physical
was put forth by Frank Gens, IDC analyst, who the same services? If we look at the service Devices: A Prototype
stated that “…cloud computing means consumer layer of eTOM (specifically the horizontal level In this article we present a prototype application,
and business products, services and solutions 1 process grouping “Service Development and which enables modelling the equipment using
delivered and consumed over the internet.” Management”), everyone is able to talk about a dedicated Domain Specific Language (DSL)
services. They should be in theory (this is the enriched with the best available logic-based
assumption behind eTOM), but are very far from it reasoning services. This allows us to define
in practice. a rich layer of semantics on top of the structural
description of the devices.
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

5. news 5
What’s New
Recent Contracts: Recent Award 03 | 09 | 09
16 | 03 | 10 07 | 04 | 10 Comarch Releases A new solution For
Mobile Operators: Comarch next Generation
Comarch Completes the Implementation Comarch service Quality Management – network Planning
of Comarch’s Field service Management Product of the Year 2010 Comarch announces a new solution for
solution for WildBlue Communications On the 25th of March 2010, Comarch was mobile operators, Comarch Next Generation
At the end of 2009, WildBlue Communications, awarded a third Golden Antenna (“Zlota Network Planning, which provides support
Inc., a leading high-speed satellite Internet Antena”) for its Service Quality Management for activities related to the planning and
service provider, signed a master technology tool, which has been recognized as management of mobile networks. It enables
and services agreement with Comarch, Inc. “Product of the Year 2010” in the category of simplification and automation of network
Telecommunications Operator Solutions. operation, delivering Self-Organizing Network
24 | 11 | 09 (SON) capabilities to your doorstep.
Comarch Completes Polkomtel sA project
Comarch SA, has recently completed the last Recent Partnership:
phase of a project at Polkomtel SA. The result
is the complete implementation of a robust 22 | 10 | 09
solution based on Comarch InterPartner
Billing. Comarch enforces Its Presence On The
Mediterranean Market
16 | 11 | 09 Comarch, has signed a Memorandum
of Understanding with Ergoman,
Comarch Deploys Its Bss/Oss Platform For provider of tailor-made solutions in the
OnePhone Deutschland telecommunications and IT business sector,
OnePhone Deutschland, a new German in order to conduct common business
operator created as a joint venture between Recent Product Launches: development activities in Greece, as well as
KPN and OnePhone Holding with the purpose realize commercial contracts on the Greek
of offering telephony services specifically for 11 | 02 | 10 market.
enterprises, decided to deploy Comarch’s BSS
and OSS Suite. new solution For satellite Broadband
Providers Available On The Market
10 | 11 | 09 Comarch releases a comprehensive solution
for satellite internet access providers - the
Comarch has Been selected By e-Plus As Comarch Satellite Package.
A strategic Outsourcing Partner For next
Generation network Planning 10 | 02 | 10
Comarch has been selected by E-Plus as
a strategic outsourcing partner for Next Comarch Introduces Its Latest solution – the
Generation Network Planning. According to M2M Platform for Mobile Operators
the letter of intent, Comarch and E-Plus plan To help mobile operators enter the M2M market
to conclude the 5-year contract by the 18th of Comarch has designed a platform containing For more information, go to:
May, 2010. the necessary features for operators to provide
services for M2M partners.
www.press.comarch.com
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

6. 6 customer sPotlight
What Difficulties Do Corporate Customers Face With
Regard To Self Service Systems Automation?
elf Service is gaining in popularity in the SME and [MR] It is too early for us to tell at this point, but given
S corporate segments. But creating a self service
system that is valuable both to the operator and the
that we are offering such a complete self service tool
to our customers, we expect that they will find it much
customers is not easy. Marcus Ras, the CIO OnePhone Services more convenient, performing any necessary actions
AB of One Phone, has kindly agreed to discuss his view on the when and how they want. We will, of course, still
challenges and opportunities in this field. support our customers through other more traditional
channels, such as account management and call
Could you describe the self service options you offer to centers. However, we believe that the self service tool
your customers? will be an attractive selling point in our overall telephony
solution.
[MR] OnePhone offers customers an almost complete
self service tool. We offer our customers the ability how can aversion to self-service be minimized?
to virtually manage their entire telephony solution on
MARCUs RAs their own, after the initial implementation has been [MR] Seeing is believing, meaning that educating the
OnePhone services AB set up. This includes setting up new subscribers customer regarding the benefits and possibilities of the
Chief Information Officer and providing appropriate products. Pending the self service tool will serve to convince them of its value. It
product, these can be provisioned by the customer is crucial to understand that customers will not find and
themselves in near real-time. Even complex PBX explore these value-added functions on their own. Thus, it
products and functions can be managed by the is up to OnePhone to pro-actively assist the customer in
customer themselves, through our service/client using the self service portal.
portal. Of course we offer more traditional functions
such as FAQs and Support. However, in the area of how will you encourage customers to use the self care
cost structure management we have once again portal instead of other, more expensive channels?
stretched beyond the average functional set, to offer
not only complex cost hierarchies, but also extensive [MR] As mentioned earlier, in taking on an active
reporting capabilities. With our solution, not only do all role, we are hoping to get our customers to use and
subscribers of a customer have access to the service appreciate the self service tool that we have made
portal, but the customer telephony administrator can available to them. An important first step is education.
also assign different functional privileges to users As part of the customer implementation project,
within their company. some of our customers’ telephony administrators
will be invited to attend a course to learn more about
Please tell us about customer attitudes towards self- OnePhone tools. The second step is to bring the new
service. Do they like the idea or would they still prefer features and functions that will be made available,
being helped by a customer service agent? throughout the customer lifecycle.
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

7. customer sPotlight 7
Which customer inquiries would you say are What are your thoughts on the self service effectively executed if the customer could
best handled via traditional customer service portal working as a sales tool, rather than perform these themselves during the contract
channels, such as a call center, and which are just an online bill presentation, ordering and period. Typically, this includes managing
handled better by customers themselves? ticketing solution? accounts, subscribers, ordering products, etc.
For more complex inquiries, such as customer
[MR] There will always be exceptions to the rule, [MR] In order for a self service portal to be expansion projects or serious service outages,
but traditional inquires such as “How do I…? a successful and realistic selling point, it needs it is again important to allow customers
How much do we spend on…? How does this to truly show value to the customer. This is, to speak directly with customer service
function work? When is this function becoming of course, much easier said than done. Our representatives or account managers. No single
available?” are all traditional self service approach is to give the customer as much channel is the answer to how to communicate
portal inquires that are very easily addressed functionality as possible, not only through with customers correctly. Instead, this is driven
and answered by this tool. We have tried to our telephony offerings, but throughout the mainly by the strategic decisions made by the
increase the transparency of the information surrounding services as well, wherever such company.
we store about the customer to the customer integration makes sense. This gives the
themselves. This means that traditional call customer the added value of not just a few What is difficult to automate by self service
center data, such as personal information disparate functions, but a more thought- systems for corporate customers?
and address information is provided to the through end-to-end solution. This value add is
customer through the self service channel, something that we can then package and use [MR] Primarily, the most difficult thing
including ability to manage actual cost as a sales point to our customers. to “automate” is the personal customer
structures, such as bills. experience. Many corporate customers,
Where do you see self service going within specifically small to medium businesses,
If you were OnePhone’s customer, what your company, in the next few months and feel that personal service is often neglected,
features/benefits would you look for in a self further? and that this is often a luxury only afforded
service portal? to large enterprises. However, it is important
[MR] We intend to offer more functions to to not forget that while customers
[MR] We are looking for things that we can customers through self service. The more would frequently like to execute tasks
learn from other industries. The biggest lesson a customer can do without being dependant independently, they would also appreciate
that operators can learn comes from the more on the operator, the more seamless their being served by a real person on certain
traditional e-commerce service providers, telephony solution. So as we grow our occasions. Therefore, it is important that,
specifically from their functional offerings. For telephony product portfolio, we will also for instance, contact information is not
instance, we can learn a lot from the postal grow our self service portal. Additionally, this so hidden on the self service portal that it
service industry, where customers can track will include further integration between our seems forbidden. In fact, the opposite should
the current location and expected delivery telephony offerings and our administrative be the case. If a customer wishes to contact
of a package minute by minute, by using capabilities. We also look forward to hearing OnePhone, they should be able to easily do
a tracking number. These functions could be from our customers over the next few months, so. With this information readily available,
similarly applied in provisioning and/or in ticket to gather their initial perceptions and feedback. they are likely to trust the new contact
management. Another example is the airline Based on the information received, we will work channel for further interactions. This trust,
industry, which has an extremely complex to accommodate their wishes into our product gained by interacting through a self service
pricing structure, and yet it is very easy to roadmaps as much as possible. portal, has the same impact and importance
search, book and pay for airline tickets through as interacting through the more traditional
the web with no human assistance. If the Which contact channel between corporate contact channels.
airlines can quote, order and provision through customer and operator do you think is better
the web, so should the telecommunications for the customer: face-to-face contact with Service providers usually have applications
industry. The simpler a complex service is a sales representative, self service via web allowing their corporate customers to manage
perceived to be, the more popular it seems portal, contact center or other? Why? the standard product offering. However, these
to become. While this is a generalization, it applications are not adept at handling “exceptions,
is still a major argument for the development [MR] Given our target customer segment and and exceptions from exceptions,” such as
of simpler functions representing complex the type of solutions we offer, it is difficult mass ordering of services, special discounts
solutions. It is often difficult to build solid to single out a preferred channel. There are on handsets, logistics (e.g. tracking, reservation
business cases around this type of many different scenarios that impact the of handsets) and bill disputes. Even if these
functionality and development. Therefore suitability of a contact channel. For instance, applications are able to reflect corporate structures
these functions are often only deployed by during the customer acquisition stages, face- – it is only to show spending reports. Subscription
startup companies, which are later forced to to-face meetings with sales, technical sales, management is not always possible in the same
re-prioritize for reasons given above. However, project managers and customer service context or even in the same application.
the customer and business value of this type of representatives are very important. There
functionality should not be underestimated. are a number of tasks that could be more
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

8. 8 customer sPotlight
Comarch OSS Suite Implementation
at T-Mobile Germany
aced with the challenges of today’s The Business need
F telecommunications world, T-Mobile Germany was
consolidating its OSS landscape using NGOSS T-Mobile’s operations are constantly faced with increasingly
principles. The Resource and Service Inventory (R&SI) is used to complex provided services, along with the need to optimize
CuStomeR manage Customer-Facing Services, Resource-Facing Services Incident, Problem and Change Management processes,
T-Mobile and resources used for these services coming from different at the resource and service level. These challenges led to
Germany Inventory and Configuration Management systems. The T-Mobile introducing a Service Inventory system, integrated
Resource and Service Inventory system is also integrated with with Inventory and Configuration Management systems
InduStRy other OSS systems, such as Fault Management and Trouble already present in the environment.
Communications Ticketing. The R&SI project is a crucial element of T-Mobile’s
strategy of migration towards next generation networks and The main problem of the T-Mobile project was the
T-Mobile is a business OSS. This is the first step towards a self-organizing and self- cooperation between the Service Inventory and different
unit of Deutsche optimizing network concept, which is a natural continuation of Resource Inventory Management systems.
Telecom. Responsible the R&SI project.
for mobile operations,
it concentrates on the
most dynamic markets
in Europe and the
COMARCh ResOURCe & seRVICe InVenTORY
United States. By the
end of the first quarter s s s
of 2009, more than 149 editable resource
R (managed by R&SI)
million customers were s s s
s s s
served on ten T-Mobile
read-only resource
markets. T-Mobile is R (provided by 3rd s s
gradually integrating party)
OSS systems used in its R R R R R R R
European operations in s editable service
order to simplify network R R R R R R R
management and provide providing
the resources
a common management
platform for an entity that
is composed of multiple
national GSM operators in R R R R R R
Europe.
R R R R R R
Figure 1 Logical architecture of the solution
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

9. customer sPotlight 9
The Approach Comarch Service Inventory provides a flexible The Result
service modeling function that enables
Because of the large scope of the project, it was representation of complicated mobile service The results of R&SI project implementation
divided into several phases. Proof of Concept was in today’s networks. It allows for definition of are improved Incident, Problem and Change
realized in the first phase. Comarch implemented many-to-many relations between resources and Management processes due to end-to-end
basic functions of the system and provided sample Resource-Facing Services layers and between visibility of the services, smooth integration of
integration with other T-Mobile systems. The goal of Resource-Facing Service (RFS) and Customer- Service and Resource layers and consolidated
the initial phase was to develop and agree on the Facing Service (CFS) layers. The data model of overview of ownership for services.
system functions and to check the functionality of Comarch Service Inventory is based on SID. It
integration interfaces. Meanwhile, the requirements enables association of RFSs with different types of Cooperation between T-Mobile and Comarch is not
for the final solution were gathered and crucial resources: limited to a single system installation. Rather, this
functions were also discussed. is only the beginning of a complex transformation
Equipment of the entire T-Mobile environment. With an
When the system was accepted by the operator, ongoing effort towards environment consolidation
the functionality developed during the first phase Equipment groups composed of multiple national operators, solutions
of the implementation was only a basis for further developed by Comarch will play a central role in
expansion of the Inventory Management system, Connections T-Mobile’s future operations. An increasing need
within functionality and integration. for unified operations will inevitably push T-Mobile
Connection groups towards integration, and Comarch will be a key
T-Mobile demanded a system that offered enabler in this process.
integrated and flexible service modeling, and Device components
a wide integration ability to seamlessly cooperate Case study was published in the 8th Volume of TM
with other systems Applications Forum Case Study Handbook, December 2009.
Configuration
Why Comarch?
It also enables flexible service representation in
Of all vendors offering similar OSS solutions, only mobile networks. According to NGOSS and eTOM
Comarch offered an already established product principles, R&SI is the master system for the
with significant market position, together with the service models, i.e. the service models maintained
possibility of implementing specific functional within R&SI are used by Fault Management and
requirements for advanced data sharing. Trouble Ticketing applications, and in the future,
all applications requesting access to Service
In some network domains, R&SI is the master Inventory (e.g. SLA Management). This approach
system for resource creation, while in others it results in more consistent service modeling ComaRCh pRoduCt:
holds only the read-only copy of the resources processes and management. Event propagation up
used for services creation. The integration with to service level and alternatively down to resource Comarch Resource & Service
3rd party systems was realized by common level are possible, as well as event suppression Inventory
information present in the environment, which based on change information.
enables simplification of the overall architecture
and reduction of the number of interfaces.
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

10. 10 customer sPotlight
Comarch OSS Suite Implementation
at Telefónica O2 Germany
With the implementation of the Comarch OSS Suite, available through the dedicated Element Management
W an advanced network and service management
solution, O2 in Germany aimed to unify and simplify
Systems used previously, including firmware upgrades, while
at the same time enhancing these systems with additional
the entire network management process, while at the features. Further, the integration of the systems entailed
CuStomeR same time decreasing maintenance costs. All provider the development of unified network-level management
Telefónica O2 telecommunications networks are comprised of a wide functions. Additionally, the system needed to correlate and
Germany range of network elements, supplied by various vendors. subsequently present data gathered from all the managed
The reason for this is quite simple: the highly competitive network elements in one consistent view.
InduStRy nature of the equipment market allows operators to choose
Communications the most cost-effective and technologically advanced
solution, regardless of which vendor provides it. Going one The Approach
Telefónica O2 Germany step further, it is important to remember that operators need
Gmbh & Co. OhG belongs to manage all of these network devices. Of course this can The strongest aspect of Comarch’s offer was the ability to
to Telefónica Europe and be done with a set of disparate proprietary management specifically tailor the offered solution to customer needs.
is part of the Spanish systems. However, this kind of approach is usually expensive In this case this meant, among other things, enhancing
telecommunication and has additional flaws making it unacceptable for O2. Comarch’s system with a set of specific management
group Telefónica S.A. What the operators should be trying to achieve is a single, consoles, each for a different type of network element.
The Company offers comprehensive and integrated Network Management System
its German private and that directly manages and monitors all the different network The introduction of Comarch InsightNet* is a good step
business customers elements and services. in operations optimization, integrating the management
postpaid and prepaid of our transmission technologies into one homogeneous
mobile telecom products platform.
as well as innovative The Business need
mobile data services Günter kaufmann
based on the GPRS and For this project, O2 did not restrict itself to acquiring Manager, Operation Support Systems, Telefónica O2 Germany
UMTS technologies. In a solution that would act as a manager of managers, *InsightNet is the former name of the Comarch OSS Suite
addition, the integrated integrating with its already existing management systems.
communications provider Instead, the company sought to completely replace the
also offers DSL fixed element management systems in use. This required a system Why Comarch?
network telephony and with a direct interface to thousands of network elements
high-speed internet. from different vendors. In order to achieve this, a set of Comarch Inventory Management is the basis for other
Telefónica Europe has specific data adapters needed to be created. modules, which operate using data collected and stored in
nearly 49 million mobile and its database. It is designed to store complete information on
fixed network customers One challenge was to equip the system with functionalities network resources. The information is kept up-to-date with
in Great Britain, Ireland, the enabling the configuration of every network element. The changes occurring in the network thanks to the integrated
Czech Republic, Slovakia solution should allow the operator to perform all actions network reconciliation module.
and Germany.
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

11. customer sPotlight 11
Comarch Configuration Management supports the The Result
configuration of network elements of O2 network ComaRCh
infrastructure in Germany. The functions of this module The implementation of the Comarch OSS Suite resulted in pRoduCtS
cover: software/firmware management, including scheduled the following benefits: & SeRvICeS:
upgrades, direct configuration of each of the network
elements via a dedicated GUI, population of the initial Centralized and unified control across all network Comarch Network
configuration of new devices, as well as modeling and domains Inventory
provisioning of end-to-end connections. Management
Information on network elements and their
The Comarch Fault Management module monitors existing configuration gathered in one place Comarch
network infrastructure elements. It receives, displays and Configuration
efficiently tracks alarms, all of which allows users to manage Seamless integration with the existing environment Management
potentially debilitating network problems quickly and
effectively. The system also enables users to fully configure Unified solution for real-time network performance Comarch Fault
the way alarms are processed. This is done through the management and monitoring Management
creation of rules utilized by the built-in correlation engine.
Improved network reliability Comarch
The main goal of Comarch OSS Performance Management Performance
(PM) is to provide a centralized point of performance policy Full automation of fault management tasks, including Management
monitoring and network performance reporting. Here, the correlation
module focuses on collecting all performance data (both
short- and long-term) and forwarding it to O2‘s central PM Future-proof design (easy extensibility)
data analysis system.
Due to its wide functionality scope, the Comarch OSS Suite
A sophisticated sophisticated visualization interface was is reliable step towards an integrated network management
provided for the presentation of the gathered data. This system, simplifying the management process and reducing
interface is capable of displaying all elements and alarms. OPEX.
In addition to simply listing devices and alarms, it is also
possible to use maps to visualize the status of network
infrastructure and services. The system offers a GIS map-
based visualization, logical layout, as well as a hierarchical
view of the network and the devices within.
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

12. 12 tr contest winner
Does Cloud Computing Have
A Bright Future?
The Concept of Cloud Computing can be provided over the internet, such as access to data
warehouses, IT platforms, servers, applications, etc. Even
The phrase “cloud computing” is based on the cloud symbol the cloud computing business process can be provided as
frequently used to represent the internet. A great definition a service. According to a forecast from the IDC, the cloud
of cloud computing was put forth by Frank Gens, IDC analyst, computing market will reach $42 billion by 2012. What does
who stated that “…cloud computing means consumer and this figure mean? If compared to Microsoft’s or Google’s
business products, services and solutions delivered and revenue for 2008, which was $58.4 billion [1] and $22.3
consumed over the internet.” Additionally, these can be billion respectively, this is clearly a significant market. Merill
delivered and consumed anytime, anywhere. This is the Lynch estimates the market to be worth $160 billion by 2011,
essence of the cloud computing concept, which is easy to including $65 billion from online advertising. Regardless of
define, but can be difficult to control and manage in practice. which figure is correct, it is clear that the cloud computing
This concept arises mainly due to technology development, market is significant and continues to grow. Some of
ROBeRT DYGAs service specializations, as well as the current economic this market’s key attributes include shared services that
The Besen Group crisis, which has forced companies to look for cheaper can be offered to multiple parties, scalable and remotely
MVNE Advisor solutions in using IT and telecom services. It is difficult to manageable turnkey solutions, packaged services that
imagine a telecom operator without the physical network or customer pay for based on usage, authorized and secured
infrastructure, but this way of thinking is outdated. Several network access, and web service APIs.
of today’s mobile operators, such as Virgin Mobile, are
completely virtual. They do not possess the infrastructure As can be observed in Figure 1, not surprisingly, the most
themselves, typically utilizing already available services significant attribute is competitive pricing (83.2%), while
from the internet, or specially designed interfaces. Thus, a lack of previous business relations is not very important
today’s market is service, rather than product-oriented. (30.4%). Also crucial is which service is commonly used
What infrastructure elements are needed? Any service that by customers. Based on Paralles.com research (2008),
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

13. tr contest winner 13
internet application hosting, on-demand remote storage risk an investor is exposed to, the more profit is expected in
and database centers are the most valued, due to the return. But what is the real value added in cloud computing
digitalization of services, requiring special applications and service models? Cloud computing allows companies to start
software to operate. a business with very limited capital investment. Providers
use platforms for direct volume sales of different services to
There are different types of cloud computing companies, potential customers, who strongly believe in the brand power
including IBM Cloud Service, Saleforce.com, Amazon EC2, of the service provider. Customers are often able to try out
Symantec.com, GTS CE, Alcatel-Lucent, Comarch, Huawei, etc. the product before deciding to purchase and are charged
The main threat for traditionally organized companies is the proportionately as their usage grows (pay-as-you-go). This
possibility of a reduction in their own IT resources. Increasing is key for the value of the cloud computing business model.
competition and open access to new technology requires However, is this stable over time or is the value of cloud
new business models in order to survive on the market. This computing only temporary? Because cloud computing is
is why today’s IT world is showing significant interest in the not regulated, this cannot be confirmed. But a business
value cloud computing business models can bring. that begins operating by utilizing cloud computing may be
able to construct its own infrastructure as it develops. The
same is true in business acquisitions where assets need to
The Value of Cloud Computing Business be estimated. So, could the cloud be the asset? Financially
Models speaking, probably not, therefore complicating the situation
for modern CEOs, since the concept is attractive, but difficult
Business models are typically public, private or a hybrid of to monetize and audit.
the two. Here we focus on the value each of these can bring
when applied in the real world. Most companies believe that Of course cloud providers want to see value as well. The
cloud computing will transform expenditures from capital majority of efforts are spent on finding the optimal strategy,
to operational, which may help optimize financial ratios and giving the customer freedom to decide which option is more
improve business flexibility. This is the virtualization impact convenient (see Figure 2). Besides the freedom to choose
on the business, which strongly influences the company’s it should be also financially attractive. The key is to have
finances. Since there’s no such thing as a free lunch, either a high usage or low cost per each user. On the other
a price has to be paid. In this case, it is the Service Level hand, more users and more traffic require extra investments
Agreement, and the security of data flow and transactions, for development (i.e. capacity for data centers on-demand).
which are web based. Thus, virtualization makes business Thus, it is important to ask how much is necessary for
more flexible, but less secure the same time. This is similar a cloud computing company to break even. If both the
to the risks and gains in the stock market, where the more fixed costs and the contribution margin are measurable,
Q: Importance of IT cloud services supplier attributes
(1=not important, 5=very important)
Offer competitive pricing 83.2%
Offer performance-level assurances/SLAs 81.1%
Understand my business and industry 68.0%
Can move cloud offerings back on-premise 67.2%
Can provide a complete solution 61.9%
Are future-oriented, an innovator 58.2%
Can support many of my IT needs 55.4%
Have a large network of partners 54.1%
Have local presence 46.3%
Are a large, established company 40.6%
Have done business with my organization 30.4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
% responding 4 or 5
Figure 1. Importance of IT cloud services (supplier attributes) / Source: IDC Enterprise Panel, August 2008 n=244
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

14. 14 tr contest winner
provide enabling offer customers
2 technology to other cloud
1 a growing number of
providers applications as SaaS
PUBLIC CLOUDs services PRIVATe CLOUD
SaaS SaaS
paaS InteRnet paaS IntRanet
IaaS
IaaS
paaS/IaaS enabler or 3 Give customers the
users
provider choice to deploy
technologies in either
private clouds or public
IaaS clouds
objectives:
Ensure that cloud computing is fully enterprise grade
Support both public and private cloud computing – give customers choice
Figure 2. Possible cloud computing strategy / Source: Oracle
the answer can be easily found. The question then becomes of this article includes customers, business products, and
how to calculate the price based on usage and number of infrastructure offered and consumed anytime, anywhere
customers over time, for a variety of services (XaaS). This in real-time over the internet. This is, of course, a much
potentially requires the calculation of margin thresholds to broader concept than defined by Gartner. Cloud computing
determine exactly how volatile usage may be over time. There itself appears to be a temporary trend, drawing the
are no winners yet on today’s market, because no standards attention of many CEOs, although the concept of software
are available to measure and compare the profitability of as a service (SaaS) is actually most important, and has
cloud computing services. Everything is on-demand and the most promising future in the IT world. It is important to
tailor-made with no industry standardization. Therefore, cloud recognize that something that is a valuable business today
computing should not initially be used for any particularly can evaporate like a cloud tomorrow. Cloud computing may
sensitive activities that may have a dramatic impact on the have a bright future, provided security and SLA issues can
core business. As a result, mobile operator billing systems be resolved. Otherwise it will be nothing more than a trend,
are not expected to be based on cloud computing services surrounded by operational and financial risk.
in near future.
The Future of Cloud Computing
According to Gartner Group [2], research virtualization [1] The Economist, October 17th 2009, page 72-73
and cloud computing are some of the top ten disruptive
IT strategies in 2009. Specifically, cloud computing here [2] Gartner lists 10 most disruptive technologies of 2009 http://
means computing capabilities (mainly software) as a service itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/server-farm/gartner-predicts-
(SaaS). The definition of cloud computing for the purpose technologies-to-watch-in-2009/
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

15. featureD ProDuct 15
achine-to-machine (M2M) traffic can provide
m additional revenue sources for operators battling
against reduced revenues from voice services. telCo opeRatoR m2m paRtneR
The number of connectable machines is 5 times greater
than the amount of humans (source: eTsI), and the number
of machines currently connected is extremely low. Gartner
external Systems
predicts that the level of mobile M2M modules will continue
to grow at a rate of 28% CAGR until 2011. Self partner’s
Comarch management administrators
As the level of M2M traffic increases and M2M devices existing BSS m2m
become more common, the price of individual M2M hardware platform platform
components falls, boosting M2M popularity even further. In
Integration m2m partner
addition, the declining price of data services facilitates more
existing oSS Systems
M2M business scenarios. Scenarios that a couple of years
platform
ago were deemed useless, due to high costs, now present
an attractive business opportunity, with telco operators able
to attain a new revenue source by offering M2M connectivity
Integration
services.
underlying network
The Comarch M2M Platform for mobile network operators Services
and M2M enablers supports rating and charging, and
also provides tools for actions such as performing mass
operations on SIM cards, and integration with inventory and
a self service portal. The platform contains a B2B Gateway
for secure web service integration with a partner, thus
enabling self management and provisioning functionalities
that partners can utilize via their systems. This platform can
be added to the existing MNO infrastructure in the same way
that MVNE platforms are added to support MVNO business. the Comarch m2m platform is designed to support
mobile network operators and m2m enablers with their
Comarch M2M Platform – Benefits: m2m business operations. In addition to rating and
charging, the solution contains other functionalities
Single platform for various types of M2M services:
such as mediation, provisioning, self-service (including
service-agnostic data processing for multiple types of
industries
self-provisioning) and partner management, depending
on the requirements of the m2m enterprise. With this
Able to process vast amounts of data solution, the operator and m2m enabler are able to
control resources (such as SIm cards) and manage
Increased automation and cost efficiency workflows.
Enhanced cooperation with business partners
Flexible integration with external systems: standardized More info is available at:
interfaces, modern and open technology http://m2mplatform.comarch.com/
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

16. 16 oss/bss features
slicing Up The M2M Revenue Pie:
How To Get Your Share
And Boost Your Business
n our everyday lives we are using more and Why should You Be Interested In M2M?
I more automated and intelligent machines. These
include vending machines, new energy meters M2M communication is developing into an interesting
in homes, monitoring equipment and many more. Such business opportunity for telecom operators struggling
IdeaS In BRIeF: machines can provide important information (e.g. various to maintain or increase their revenues. As the revenue
measures or alarms). They also need to be managed and growth from voice services’ declines and the market
How can M2M monitored. Increasing numbers of machines are able to do becomes more saturated, the M2M segment shows a lot of
communication this automatically and without the control of their owners. potential to introduce additional revenues. The number of
help you acquire This sounds dangerous, especially in a scenario where all connectable machines is five times greater than number of
additional our household appliances are capable of sending such people (source: European Telecommunications Standards
revenue sources? information to the producer regarding our lifestyles and Institute [ETSI]), although the number of machines currently
behavior. Fortunately the situation hasn’t reached this stage, connected is extremely low.
What types of yet. Machines initiate communication in order to provide vital
companies are information and save time and money. Such technology is Figure 1 presents a very basic M2M communication
active on the currently employed by energy meters, vending machines, or business case from a mobile operator’s perspective, where
M2M market? monitoring equipment, etc. connectivity is provided to the M2M partner.
What are the What is the main benefit of such automatic communication? As the level of M2M traffic increases and devices
typical features of The owner of the machines does not need to visit them become more common, the price of individual hardware
an M2M platform personally to verify their operation or read certain measures components falls, boosting M2M popularity even further.
and how can manually. Such machines can automatically send the According to Gartner, the average price of an M2M module
they support your information to the owner or to another machine that processes (one that is attached to a connectable machine and
enterprise? the data further. Such Machine-to-Machine communication contains the necessary communication capabilities, such
(M2M) is cheaper, faster and brings new possibilities. as SMS/GPRS) will amount to approximately 20€ by 2011.
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

17. oss/bss features 17
Compare this to the average price of a similar module in connectivity services to M2M partners who own or operate
2007 – almost 40€, and we can see that the hardware cost these machines. The second group, M2M partners, represent
has decreased by half. various business sectors – for example, vending machine
operators, electricity suppliers, monitoring companies and
In addition to the reduced hardware costs, the declining many more.
price of data services allows for additional M2M business
scenarios. Scenarios that a couple of years ago were If the operator is only offering M2M connectivity services, the
deemed useless due to high costs, are now an attractive revenue stream in most cases originates solely from monthly
business opportunity. Instead of taking the market share fees for M2M subscriptions. However, there are numerous
away from mobile operators, the companies that use M2M other possibilities and services, which can be offered to M2M kRzYszTOF
services introduce new business opportunities. partners helping operators maximize this revenue. kWIATkOWskI
Comarch sA
Other aspects important for operators should also be Figure 2 presents a scenario where a mobile operator BSS Product Manager,
considered. The churn rate for M2M subscriptions is gains additional revenues from the services it offers to the Telecommunications
extremely low, the machines can be controlled in groups, M2M partner. Compare this to Figure 1, in which the mobile Business Unit
and the data from machines does not usually overwhelm the operator only provides connectivity services – the difference
network. Additionally, most of the M2M subscriptions do not between the levels of revenue can be quite significant.
require complex customer service. Of course, the ARPU of an
individual M2M subscription is lower than that of one person, The most substantial difference is in offering services such
but the amount of connectable machines is higher. as provisioning, self service portals, B2B gateways, rating,
charging services and resource management. This decreases
M2M is a new and promising area that is developing very the complexity of the IT systems required by M2M partners,
rapidly, with machines becoming an increasingly important enables faster and easier startup of M2M businesses and
customer segment for mobile operators. simplifies the management of M2M subscriptions. Such
services can be delivered by the mobile operator through the
platform, which operates like a gateway (or service enabler)
A Multiplayer Game placed between existing mobile operator systems and various
M2M partners. Delivering such services to M2M partners PekkA VALITALO
Telecom operators are not the only players in the Machine- facilitates mobile operators with increasing revenue. Comarch sA
to-Machine world. At this moment in time they offer BSS Market Analyst,
Telecommunications
Business Unit
Invoice
moBIle opeRatoR m2m paRtneR Machine-
existing Systems It Systems of m2m to-Machine
of mobile operator partner communication
(M2M) is cheaper,
faster and brings
new possibilities.
Connectivity
Services
network
equipment m2m devices
Figure 1. Basic M2M business model – mobile operator provides connectivity services to the M2M partner
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

18. 18 oss/bss features
Invoice
moBIle opeRatoR provisioning m2m paRtneR
Self Service portal
existing Systems m2m It Systems of m2m
of mobile operator platform B2B Gateway partner
Rating & Charging
Resource mgt
Connectivity
Services
network
equipment m2m devices
Figure 2. Extended M2M business model – additional revenues from auxiliary services
new Roles emerge – M2M enablers M2M partners? Figure 3 presents an example of a business
case, in which an M2M platform is integrated with the
In addition to the operators that are expanding into M2M, new existing systems of a mobile operator and provides services
It is important that types of players have arisen as a result of M2M business to M2M partners.
operators can add growth – M2M enablers offering services to M2M partners.
the M2M platform Let’s take a look at the typical features of an M2M platform
to their existing A typical M2M enabler is the owner of the M2M platform and how they support the business of a mobile operator or
systems. (Figure 2), delivering services to various partners, with an M2M enabler. With these features, they can both attain
a connection to more than one mobile operator or ISP in most additional revenue by offering advanced services to their
cases. M2M partners. These features include:
An M2M enabler’s business model bears many similarities Provisioning of services such as activation and
to the business model of a Mobile Virtual Network Enabler deactivation of SIM cards; the M2M partner does not
(MVNE), already known in the telecommunications world. need to perform complex integrations with mobile
Both offer necessary network connectivity (that can be operator systems, yet the mobile operator can provide
obtained from the MNOs), back-office operations and IT easy-to-use interfaces, allowing the partner to perform
Cooperation with platforms allowing end operators to concentrate on their core mass provisioning operations on M2M SIM cards on an
M2M enablers businesses. ad hoc basis
or with mobile
operators offering The enabler’s role in the M2M business is very important, Data mediation for the M2M partner to collect, unify and
the appropriate especially when considering how many of the new M2M correlate data from the machines (e.g. meter readings),
services can boost partners and enterprises on the market came from industries which is then sent for further processing
the development of other than telecommunications (e.g. utilities, security and
M2M business. automotive markets) and lack the sufficient expertise to Rating of events allowing the mobile operator to charge
cooperate closely with mobile operators. the M2M partner for the service usage, as well as
provide charging services for end users of the M2M
partner as a value-added service; in this case the M2M
What should You Look For In An M2M partner does not need to have their own billing system
Platform?
Integration with inventory as a repository of M2M SIM
What features are essential for an M2M platform used by cards and M2M equipment with customized structure,
a mobile operator or an M2M enabler providing services for lifecycle management and logistics
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010

19. oss/bss features 19
moBIle opeRatoR m2m paRtneR
existing Systems existing Systems It Systems of m2m
of mobile operator of mobile operator partner
Rating
Invoicing Interface CRm
Retail Billing System & Charging
partner Billing System monitoring Business Interface
process
management
m2m
Service provisioning mediation Subscribers database
Self
m2m
Service monitoring Service Interface monitoring
provisioning
portal
Service & network Resource B2B
management Gateway Interface provisioning
Inventory
network
equipment Connectivity
m2m devices
Figure 3. A single M2M platform – multiple M2M partners with customized services
A self-service portal for M2M partners and end- Conclusions M2M is a new and
customers enables the operator to lower costs by promising area
shifting the focus of customer service to the web The M2M revenue pie is likely to be substantial in size, but which is developing
it is still an open issue as to who will get the biggest piece. very rapidly,
Mass SIM card management enables M2M partners Telecom operators and M2M enterprises are not the only with machines
to control the SIM cards (such as mass activation or players that will benefit from M2M business growth. M2M becoming an
deactivation in a specific building or area) on their own, enablers may also play a key role in this market and can increasingly
without involving the mobile operator benefit directly from it. important customer
segment for mobile
B2B gateway making it possible to safely expose all Cooperation with M2M enablers or with mobile operators operators.
features of the platform to multiple partners with easy- offering the appropriate services can boost the development
to-use interfaces (e.g. Web Services) and integration of of M2M business. With this approach, partners and
the M2M partner systems. enterprises can focus on their business without the need
for investment in complex IT systems, which are not directly
It is important that operators can add the M2M platform connected with their core business.
to their existing systems similarly to the way in which the
MVNE platform can be added to the MVNOs infrastructure. Mobile operators and M2M enablers should prepare their
With the M2M platform, mobile operators can enter the platforms for offering services to M2M enterprises and
M2M market without performing complex changes to their management of M2M services and traffic. The current
existing systems, limiting the risk and increasing potential systems designed for management of human-to-human
profitability. traffic may not be capable of processing this increased
amount of data and the different characteristics of these
new “customers”. To reap the rewards of the M2M business,
appropriate adjustments to the underlying IT platforms are
required, and it is important to make these adjustments early
on in order to be a step ahead of the competition.
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20. 20 oss/bss features
Cable TV Operators:
Which Service Are You Missing?
Conquering new Markets billion in telecom services revenues just in the first half of
2009 alone. Leading cable operators have succeeded in
It isn’t news that communications service providers have transforming their businesses, and almost 40% of their
always had to explore new markets. Fixed operators have revenues come from telecommunication. To compare, telcos’
IdeaS In BRIeF: gone mobile. Mobile operators have started to provide revenues from IPTV are well under $10 billion per year (where
internet services. ISPs have begun offering VoIP and TV. total global annual revenues are at $1.7 trillion).
Cable TV operators Cable TV operators, too, were forced to transform and
were forced to became triple-players or quad-players, in order to secure And the future is bright as well. Cable operators are expected to
transform and revenues and compete effectively. When the economy was double their telephony revenues within five years.
assumed the still booming, many went on a merger and acquisition spree.
roles of triple- or Due to market deregulation and all-IP transformation, cable
quad-players, in operators began to bite and sneak more and more of the houston, We have a Problem
order to compete incumbent operators’ cake.
effectively However, it seems that this transformation was too quick for
These strategies seem to have yielded very good results. MSOs. With operators merging and services portfolio growing,
Transformation According to TeleGeography Research, since 2003, cable IT infrastructures began to swell and succumb. This has been
was successful, companies around the world have been increasing their a step-by-step process, with each step adding more silos,
but occurred revenues from telecom services (primarily broadband complexity and limitations, in both the network and BSS/
to quickly for internet and telephony) by an average of 28% each year. OSS layers. As a result of chasing competition, new systems
MSOs - customer MSOs (Multiple System Operators) generated over $30 were added quickly, without paying attention to the general
relationships
appear to have
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contract
With operators Case no 1
merging and the
Customer Cable Customer Cable
services portfolio operator operator
expanding, IT
infrastructures
began to swell, please hold please hold
on the line on the line
meaning a Case no 2
significant cleanup
may be necessary
Customer ReGISteRInG ISSue Customer 30 mInuteS lateR...
High quality
services can offer
now you can
a sustainable We changed watch 5 kids
competitive Case no 3 your program channels instead
package of your favourite
advantage on sport channel
markets with Customer Customer
multiple MSOs
Figure 1. How cable operators care about their customers
Comarch Technology Review 01/2010