Efficient Solutions

For those in the Service and Network management industry who are not aware of what is going to hit us in the next 5 years, I would like to give an overview of what LTE and SAE and then talk about the effects of these technology evolution on our ways of working. I am Software solutions expert and not a Network scientist and had to get in touch with a lot of folks, do a lot of research and dig a lot of books to find this data. Below are very high level abstract explanation of LTE and SAE networks and the purpose they serve.

LTE [Long term evolution] is the one of the proposed 4th generation radio access network technology and if all goes as planned the world will be wireless and with much higher data rate after a successful implementation. Recent tests on the field have been successful and all the  investments planned by US telecom market indicates that this is definitely going to be the future of access Networks. The main node of this network would be the eNodeB which would encompass the functional behavior of multiple nodes of our current network paradigm. The end goal architecturally is to have a flat architecture for 4G networks. End goal from user perspective is increased data rate and quality, along with reduced cost and access anytime/anywhere.

SAE [System Architecture Evolution] on the other hand will be the core for the 4G networks, is focused on a all IP, flat architecture, improved data rate and reduced CAPEX/OPEX expenditures. Evolved packet core [EPC] to which the eNodeB will connect, serves as the central functional unit of the core architecture.

Now, what does all of the above mean to Service and Network management  as it is known today to what it would become in the coming years of 4G networks. Will get to this in my next post. Stay tuned!

References:

http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/cellulartelecomms/lte-long-term-evolution/sae-system-architecture-evolution-network.php

“Self-configuring and self-optimizing network use cases and solutions: Release 9”; 3GPP TR 36.902; Sept, 2009

For a BSM/SQM/Service Assurance solution, initial solution architecture document is one of the most crucial artifacts which not only details the strategic objectives of the solution but also provides a competitive analysis and an alignment to the existing capability of the organization. Furthermore, it provides an insight into the driving requirements, architectural background and key organizational context to ensure that the solution being built for the organization and is not something rammed down the throat off-the shelf.

Detailed below is the template:

1 Executive Summary

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section an overview of the content of the rest of the report, giving key facts that management would like to know about its contents.  The executive summary should give the most important aspects of the report while omitting details and some supporting information.  Generally speaking, the summary should be not longer than 1 page and preferably as short as possible while conveying the required information.

1B  [Optional, for mature organizations] Strategic Capability Network

Analysis of how the strategy aligns with the organizations capabilities and resources. You can safely skip this section if you already have a defined BSM strategy and a competitive analysis document detailing the value propositions that drive the business. For details refer the patent here and my analysis with an example here.

2 Introduction

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section gives the name of the system and describes its high-level functions.  This is expanded upon by the history and stakeholders sections.

2.1 History

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section provides the historical context for the system.  It answers how the system was developed and by whom.

2.2 Stakeholders

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section provides a list of the stakeholder roles important to the system.  For each, the section lists the concerns that the stakeholder has that can be addressed by the system.

3 Architecture & Problem Background

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: The sub-parts of Section 3.1 explain the constraints that provided the significant influence over the architecture.

3.1 System Overview

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section describes the general function and purpose for the system or subsystem whose architecture is described in this SAD.  Include a high-level context diagram of the system and summarize major inputs and outputs.

If you don’t know how to build an accurate context diagram, look here.

3.2 Goals and Context

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section gives the name of the system and describes its high-level functions that the BSM solution is offering and more importantly how the solution would fit into the current value chain of the organization.

3.3 Significant Driving Requirements

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section describes behavioral and quality attribute requirements (original or derived) that shaped the software architecture. Included are any scenarios that express driving behavioral and quality attribute goals.

This section should only list the key driving requirements and not detailed requirements for the solution.

4 Competative Landscape

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section lists and briefly describes the major competitors of the system.  Competitors are those systems that do the same thing as the system or those systems that could otherwise be used in place of the system.  It also gives a high level overview of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the system explained in more detail in the following sections.

4.1 Strengths

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section describes the functions that the system does well either in comparison with its competition or in absolute terms.

4.2 Weaknesses

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section describes the functions that the system does poorly in relation to its competitors or in absolute terms.  Also included could be features that competitors have but the system does not, or features that the system should have but does not given the stakeholders and high-level requirements described in the previous section.

4.3 Opportunities

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section describes what the opportunities are for the system.  Opportunities are factors external to the system (e.g., in the overall environment) such as general trends or actions of competitors that enable the system to increase its market share or usefulness to stakeholders.

4.4 Threats

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section describes the threats that the system is likely to experience.  Threats are factors external to the system such as general trends or actions of competitors that decrease the market share of the system or its usefulness to stakeholders; in the extreme case, threats might render the system obsolete.

5 Referenced Materials

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section provides citations for each reference document.  Provide enough information so that a reader of the SAD can be reasonably expected to locate the document.

6 Directory

6.1 Glossary

CONTENTS OF THIS SECTION: This section provides a list of definitions of special terms and acronyms used in the SAD . If terms are used in the SAD that are also used in a parent solution description document and the definition is different, this section explains why.

6.2 Acronym List

If you work in telecom or finance world, you would know as i do, the TLA’s [Three letter acronyms] are annoying from organization to organization. So, don’t assume – take 10 minutes and add value to your BSM document.

Acknowledgements:

SEI Architecture documentation

Professor Jeff Thompson

Professor J Vayghan