OSS (Operations Support Systems) and Service Assurance systems have once again been pushed to the forefront of importance as operators strive to gain a better understanding of how networks and services impact one another, and ultimately how the customer perceives service quality. Nowhere is this more important than in the high-stakes world of LTE. Customer Service Assurance (CSA) has thus taken center stage as the operational platform of choice, as it offers significant advantages over traditional network monitoring systems (NMS’s) and troubleshooting tools. This Application Note discusses some of the best practices that operators are utilizing to get the most out of their monitoring platforms as they deploy LTE networks, while optimizing the user experience and minimizing operational expenses.

With demand for high-speed mobile services skyrocketing, operators have been searching for mobile monitoring and a unified network architecture that offers users high speed connectivity, and at the same time allows for a phased transition of their current 2G networks. UMTS wireless unifies the different standards used by current second-generation wireless networks and provides a wide range of services including telephony, messaging, paging, Internet access and broadband data services. UMTS is not a simple architecture, however. UMTS requires specialized testing, monitoring and troubleshooting for a successful implementation.

Mobile monitoring and mobile data services such as e-mail, video, multimedia messaging, location-based services and high-speed Internet access are quickly gaining popularity. As a result, operators are seeking ways to enhance their access networks to offer these new bandwidth-intensive IP-based services. For operators who want to offer quality mobile data services, in-depth GPRS/EDGE network monitoring and troubleshooting is essential.