Granite Systems Inc., a Manchester, N.H.-based provider of network configuration management systems for the telecommunications industry, plans to announce its Network Interface Module this week at SuperComm in Atlanta.
The NIM is designed to facilitate automated discovery and reconciliation of network configuration data, said the company. John Borden, president and chief executive officer of Granite, said the NIM answers one of the thorniest issues associated with network management.
“The network as it is built keeps diverging from the network as it is reported,” said Borden. “The question is how do you update that information?”
Borden explained that the NIM collects data about certain network elements, reports back their configuration, compares that information with what is expected and alerts the user.
“Engineers can reconcile what was planned against what was constructed,” said Borden, who noted some discrepancies automatically can be fixed and others can be fixed after receiving input from the user.
Granite said the product eliminates the need for manual data entry by customers and can help maximize efficiency of network-element loading based on utilization and status reports generated by the Xpercom database.
The NIM works off the latest release of Granite’s Xpercom system-version 3.4. Xpercom 3.4 includes new features such as channel options on split paths, which enable an existing path to split and pass the original configuration onto the new path; improve data link capabilities; and improve views of historic data.
Since the company announced earlier this year three new additions to the Xpercom family of products, Granite has received contracts from competitive local exchange carrier Logix Communications and personal communications services provider Powertel Inc. Granite recently won a contract from AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which calls for the company to deploy Xpercom nationwide for management of network interconnect information. AT&T Wireless had been using Xpercom in certain locations since last year.
Granite also this week plans to announce new strategic relationships. The company has signed an integration and joint marketing agreement with Thor Technologies, a telecommunications order management company, which calls for Thor to integrate Granite’s Xpercom software with Thor’s CarrierBase to provide operators with flow-through provisioning and integrated solutions.
Granite also has partnered with Objective Systems Integrators Inc. to integrate Granite’s Xpercom design and assign software with OSI’s CM Exel configuration-management software system.
In addition, the company has formed partnerships with Logica and Compaq.
