Skyline Communications, the global supplier of end-to-end multi-vendor network management and OSS software solutions for the broadcast, satellite, cable, telco and mobile industry, has announced that VodafoneZiggo, one of the Netherlands’ leading service providers, has selected DataMiner to monitor and orchestrate IP-VPN business services delivered by its core IP network to several thousands of business-class enterprise terminals.

The business-to-business IP-VPN service called “Ziggo Zakelijk” is delivered across owned fiber and coax as well as third-party DSL infrastructure. The service connects multiple corporate facilities – often spread across many geographic locations – seamlessly into a single virtual, private and secure network. Depending on the communication needs of each individual location, corporate customers can choose from a palette of service profiles, ranging from 10 Mbps all the way up to high-speed 1 Gbps symmetrical.

Nowadays, secure and reliable LAN and WAN connectivity is the lifeblood of many enterprises. As a consequence, service assurance is highly strategic to VodafoneZiggo and its customers. The VodafoneZiggo Network and Operations Center (NOC) made the well-considered decision to select Skyline Communications’ DataMiner NMS/OSS platform to continuously manage availability and performance indicators (KPIs) of each VPN service, for each customer, end to end from the IP core to the enterprise terminals.

The DataMiner NMS/OSS solution is used by VodafoneZiggo to integrate many thousands of enterprise terminals, sourced from multiple suppliers. Those terminals are spread across the entire country and as a result connected over different access network technologies, including a mixture of cable DOCSIS, telco DSL and fiber. Some of the network segments are leased from other network providers. All of these variations can of course greatly complicate operations and quality assurance.

DataMiner gives the VodafoneZiggo teams the visibility and control they need to meet the SLA levels of their business customers. It not only manages all the readings that are directly collected from the enterprise terminals, but also complements this information with advanced statistics from specialist Test & Measurement (T&M) devices, so that VodafoneZiggo gets the 360° views it needs. Building on the success of this project, VodafoneZiggo also deployed DataMiner for the collection of Wi-Fi KPIs from all cable modems within VodafoneZiggo’s business-to-consumer operations.

“Service providers continuously need to assure customer QoS, even while they are under constant pressure to improve operational efficiency. Well-defined and accurately measured KPIs form the basis to align and set goals in service provider organizations. We have witnessed many times that KPIs set on availability, performance and utilization of infrastructure result in tangible gains in operational effectiveness and in an improvement of the QoS,” said Steven Soenens, VP Product Marketing at Skyline Communications. ”It is an immense technical challenge to measure and manage KPIs sourced from millions of network elements and service end points, practically in real time. The continuous innovations of our DataMiner platform, in close collaboration with customers like VodafoneZiggo, raise the bar in the NMS/OSS landscape.” “Service providers are currently going through rapid shifts in business models, with rapid transitions in technology and operational practices as a result. It has become of crucial importance to any operation to meet the target service levels and user experience, while still benefiting from the freedom to deploy any network technology from any supplier or even use third-party network and cloud services,” said Ben Vandenberghe, CEO of Skyline Communications. “We are delighted to work and partner with VodafoneZiggo to unlock these new opportunities and operational practices, and bring unmatched flexibility, quality, reliability and cost savings to its operations.”

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