Designed for mobile network operators
Canadian test and measurement company EXFO is giving mobile operators more control when a network issue pops up with analytics-driven troubleshooting.
EXFO director of the wireless business unit Alvin Francis explained to RCR Wireless News the difference between traditional troubleshooting and analytics-driven troubleshooting.
In the traditional sense, when something with the network goes wrong, a network engineer will dig into the applicable protocol or interoperability issues, Francis said.
“They would make a decision as to how to prioritize the task,” he said. “Specifically, what issue they’ll focus on.”
Contrastingly, analytics-driven troubleshooting weighs business impact before an engineer gets to work.
“In analytics-driven troubleshooting,” Francis said, “we allow our customers to make those decisions about troubleshooting based on the business impact.”
“If you’re a network operator and you have some VIP customers … you want to make sure these VIP customers are not impacted,” he said. “You want to make sure you prioritize the VIP customers over other types of customers. We provide this type of information.”
EXFO’s product solution is called Xact.
Jeff Cotrupe, global program director for Stratecast, called Xact “an extremely compelling analytics solution. It has cracked several of the key challenges [communications service providers] face by providing a unified view of customers right across the CSP’s business.”
Francis summed up the benefit to mobile network operators of analytics-driven troubleshooting: “They can prioritize based on the issue that would have the most impact on the business.”
EXFO reps will be on hand at Mobile World Congress, March 2-5 in Barcelona, Spain, to showcase the latest in analytics-driven troubleshooting and many other solutions including backhaul small cell deployment, managing voice over LTE networks and other test and measurement products, Francis said.
