New Netcracker. Product. IT Platforms

With the continuous emergence of new content-based services, Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are facing the increasing challenge of having to quickly and efficiently deliver any value-added converged service, over any network, to any device. And it is predicted that the telecommunications industry will see a greater number of advanced services in the foreseeable future. It is also expected that services such as those that allow groups of users, fixed or mobile, to communicate and quickly download large amounts of data will increase rapidly. Operators are looking to Service Delivery Platforms (SDPs) and solutions based on them to support the growth of these kinds of advanced services. The power of SDP enables service providers to deploy a platform that is open and configurable, enables third-party service development, and allows service providers to offer the “application store” model.

With the emergence of new IT platforms such as SDP and XaaS, providing services is becoming much more than just issuing a user with a device and registering it on the network. In effect, the datacenter and IT departments of CSPs are learning to do many things that were previously focused on the Network side of the business: understand what services customers need and how much they should cost, finding inexpensive ways to supply those services using existing infrastructure as efficiently as possible, and learning how to measure customer experience and increase customer satisfaction. The latest version of ITIL — ITILv3 — is squarely focused on this transition, with its introduction of a Service Catalog together with a core CMDB component and an emphasis on service management and service lifecycle.

NetCracker IT Platforms Suite

As a timely response to current demands, NetCracker’s IT Platforms suite enables CSPs to seamlessly decouple diverse applications from their siloed environments without extensive reconfigurations, and to provide a single IT applications environment where applications maintenance is outsourced to service providers, and users can access innovative software with higher interoperability and new services. The CMDB part of the suite allows efficient, ITIL-based managed capabilities that cover both IT and Network domains.

NetCracker’s IT Platforms suite is an integral part of the NetCracker TOMS Suite, and includes pre-integration with NetCracker Customer Management, Product Management, End-user Devices, and Service Fulfillment & Assurance components. This significantly reduces integration costs during implementation, brings necessary consistency of data and functions, and enables rapid deployment. NetCracker’s IT Platforms embodies the critical core characteristics required by a modern IT-centric services platform.

Capabilities Overview

Service Delivery Platform	Rich set of applications and service enablers (presence/location/VoIP/IPTV/messaging) and network services (call control, connectivity, and bandwidth) Web-service gateway, repository, and orchestration Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting Integrated resource planning and capacity management of all infrastructure supporting and assuring the quality of services Integrated management of identity, policy, end-user devices, content, and partners Integrated management of full service lifecycle from creation, deployment, and provisioning to assurance and billing
XaaS Overview	Greater access to innovative and more sophisticated software due to lower shared usage costs Extended capabilities for new service creation and service syndication End-to-end Network to IT solution with comprehensive OSS support including complex subscription management and SaaS Service Catalog Single common platform for hosting a variety of applications, including syndicated applications and those belonging to partners Enterprise and Mass Market orientation
CMDB Overview	Single database of record for all Network and IT asset information Pre-defined workflows for service configuration and problem management Network, datacenter, and workspace design templates that ensure standardization across infrastructures Sophisticated reporting that tracks utilization and costs Powerful security and data system that protects access to information Standards-based information models and processes

Benefits

Optimized network utilization resulting from outsourced applications hosting
End-to-end solution based on proven expertise in IT, telecom, and network deployments
Leveraging of new software and network technologies and their co-existence with traditional ones
Decreased costs for Network and IT applications maintenance
Broad visualization capabilities for IT infrastructure design and planning