Enhanced Network Reliability is a Competitive Advantage

Network reliability is the crucial driver of customer satisfaction. It doesn't matter how low your prices are - if your network services are not reliable, you will drive customers away.

While this concept may be the cornerstone of your business, how can you ensure that your network in indeed running at 100% capacity at all times?

Anything you can do to increase your network reliability will give you the competitive edge you need to survive in today's environment.

You cannot protect the network reliability you require with an insufficient legacy monitoring system. You have to upgrade, but perhaps you are hesitant to change your system. Not because you are blind to its faults, but because you consider upgrades to be more trouble than they are worth.

You might not want to change your system, but your competitors are upgrading theirs.

You are thinking that a system-wide replacement is expensive. That may be so, but when you consider that you are placing the future of your business and reputation at stake, the cost is minimal by comparison.

This is also an opportunity for differentiation, as many telecoms are not investing in network monitoring equipment. However, they are the ones with low customer retention levels and low quality service levels.

Perhaps then, the most effective method of protecting your network reliability is to take the time and effort in understanding the needs of your alarm network system and using that knowledge in choosing the best solution.

Here are 3 burning questions to ask when you are selecting a monitor vendor:

• Will you fly someone to my site; do a site survey to review my alarms, transport and general needs; help me design a perfect fit solution; conduct field trials; and support me after installation?
• If I have a problem at 4:00 a.m., can I get emergency tech support?
• Does your remote support dual interfaces/protocols for both my new sites as well as my legacy sites?

The master station is the weakest point of an older system. If it dies, the entire system is dead. This is obviously the component that most urgently needs to be replaced. However, the master is also the most important component of your network reliability management system.

A better master gets more out of your existing remotes. By extracting the most valuable information from your remotes - the information your staff needs to know in order to determine the root cause of network faults - you can achieve better network reliability management without a monitoring overload.

As a result, a new master can instantly take your existing monitoring and remote telemetry units to a whole new level of effectiveness.

While not every vendor can help you overcome an inadequate or aging monitoring system, if you are armed with the right information, you can separate the vendors who do from the ones who don't.

While not every vendor can help you overcome an inadequate or aging monitoring system, if you are armed with the right information, you can separate the vendors who do from the ones who don't.

Those who are best equipped to assist you are the ones that provide the following services:

• 24/7 service
• Custom engineering
• Technical support
• Products built to order

How to choose a good vendor?

Alarm presentation and notification: Send detailed alarm descriptions and correction instructions to NOC and field techs via pager notifications and web interfaces.

Alarm collection and device monitoring: Do not settle for limited remote network monitoring equipment. Get multi-protocol support for every monitoring device in your network, plus discrete alarms, analog alarms, ping alarms, and redundant path reporting.

Here's a handy checklist of items essential for network reliability, which can be used to rate the systems you are evaluating.

Critical alarm collection and device monitoring functions

Control relays:

Many common site problems, from power outages to high temperature alarms, can be solved by quickly turning on a generator or an air conditioner. Remote operation of site devices is the best way to eliminate unnecessary site visits and it's a lot faster than going in the truck.

Live analog monitoring:

You cannot adequately monitor battery levels, temperature, and humidity with one-threshold contact closures. Look for support for analog inputs, including live management of actual analog values.

Multi-protocol support for your existing devices:

Make sure your next master system collects alarms from all your existing devices, including your older legacy gear. You can get rid of all your specialized consoles and monitor your network from one screen.

Back-up dial-up reporting:

Do not rely on your primary network to bring back alarms. If anything goes wrong with your transport, you will lose your telemetry data just when you need it the most. Look for a system that supports dial-up alternate path reporting.

SNMP support and ping alarms:

If you are responsible for both telecom and IP equipment, consolidate all your management on one system.

Key alarm presentation and notification functions

Web interface:

Everybody knows how to use a Web browser, which makes sure all your field techs can access your alarm system, from any computer at any location.

Pager and e-mail notifications:

Pager and e-mail notifications let your field techs respond to alarms while they are still in the field, speeding repairs and reducing windshield time. Look for a system with SMS support, which can send detailed alarm notifications to alpha pagers, cell phones, and PDAs.

Alarm correction instructions:

Detailed instructions included in alarm notifications ensure that system operators, without extra training, will know precisely what to do and who to call if an alarm happens.

Detailed alarm notifications:

Summary "major/minor" alarms do not give you enough information to make dispatch decisions. Look for a network alarm management system that includes detailed diagnostic information in each alarm.

Essential alarm sorting and analysis functions

History and trend analysis:

Identify problem areas and eliminate recurring problems with a system that keeps a complete alarm history that's exportable for trend analysis.

Custom combination alarms:

A low battery is not a serious problem, and neither is a failed generator, but they are pretty serious when they occur at the same time. Look for a system that can spot critical alarm combinations.

Nuisance alarm filtering:

Even the best NOC staff stops taking alarms seriously if they are bombarded with status alerts, oscillating conditions, and unimportant alarms. Look for a system that filters these out.

Root cause analysis:

Finding the underlying cause between alarm cascades can take hours of patient detective work. Look for a system that can automatically correlate repeated combinations of alarms.

Alarm sorting:

A large, complex network can create a cascade of alarms. Some are unimportant, but others are critical. Look for a system that can automatically sort and prioritize this flood of information for you.

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To find out more about this and other DPS applications, give us a call at our toll-free number and talk to one of our network specialists. They'll help you put together a perfect fit solution for your network!