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ILC Unveils MaxView(R) 5.0, the New Network Management System for the Broadband Era

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 October 2005, 09:00 CDT

First NMS Designed for Hybrid Networks Accelerates Time-to-Market and Mitigates Ongoing Obstacles to Profitable Broadband Service Delivery

ILC today at Telecom 2005 unveiled its new version of the MaxView(R) Suite, management software that alleviates many of the common network management problems that confront service providers delivering IPTV, VoIP, and other broadband services. MaxView 5.0 for Broadband is the first management product that consolidates management of multi-technology hybrid networks into one view, enables direct control of network device activity, and provides unlimited scalability all in a single solution.

A major operations challenge continues to stand between service providers and the approximately $8 billion in revenue analysts are forecasting they will generate from broadband services over the next five years (Northern Sky Research, "IPTV via Satellite", September 2005). To reliably deliver these services, they must be able to control service levels across the multi-technology networks upon which these services rely. MaxView 5.0 solves this problem by enabling providers to automatically provision and assure services across all technologies residing in a hybrid broadband network.

"One benefit that sets MaxView 5.0 apart from other management products is that MaxView consolidates all network management into one worldview," explains ILC CEO and President Richard Graham. "MaxView 5.0 can also work in tandem with existing NMS deployments to fill the glaring management gaps in hybrid networks that raise operational costs and drain profits out of broadband service deployments."

MaxView's three-pronged network management strategy delivers unprecedented levels of control to operators of broadband networks. First, MaxView stands alone in its ability to handle bidirectional communication with any type of device, system or application. This gives operators the ability to control the actions of devices on the network, a critical advantage over traditional monitoring-only systems.

Second, MaxView's innovative object modeling allows for the direct assimilation of all network devices into the system -- instead of building object managers -- thus mitigating the need for costly middleware. "Because it ties events, devices, and services together in a single view, MaxView is a very powerful tool for achieving service assurance by flattening the management hierarchy for hybrid networks," attests Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) Senior Analyst Jeffrey Nudler, "In this way, MaxView significantly reduces a company's development costs, licensing costs, operational costs associated with monitoring object managers, and associated bandwidth traffic on the network."

Third, MaxView's architecture allows unlimited scalability so that communications companies can easily grow their management system as their broadband network expands.

Other highlights of the MaxView 5.0 release include:

-- Automatic Topology Discovery and Display - MaxView discovers all connectivity within the network and automatically displays the correct topology (i.e., ring, bus), even with a very large number of devices;

-- Root Cause Analysis (RCA) - Based on scenarios users create, MaxView diagnoses the source of network failure (i.e., a fiber cut) and can automatically issue a trouble ticket and execute service recovery actions;

-- Interface to Third Party Systems - New Northbound CORBA interface enables MaxView's Manager of Managers (MoM) capability, allowing MaxView users to provision services and resolve network problems, even if the devices they rely on are being managed by a third party system;

-- Customizable User Interface - Using Java, MaxView customers can tailor user interfaces for integrators, OEMs, other partners, their clients or themselves, allowing them to replicate other applications;

-- Browser-Based Access - Operations staff can access the MaxView user interface from anywhere with a network connection;

-- Advanced User Management - Administrators can limit login to MaxView to a single user for security and management control, and segment user access, assigning specific views to specific logins;

-- Customizable Reports - Users can create and save custom report templates, and schedule them to automatically run;

-- Unified User Interface - All MaxView modules (InSite, Maestro, Aperia, ACE) are integrated into one console.

Deployed on every continent, the MaxView Suite has expanded into a powerful network management solution that fully controls satellite, broadcast, IP, IT, ATM, optical, wireless, audio/video, SONET/SDH, radio, microwave, HVAC, facilities and more from one console. Using this consolidated control, MaxView performs end-to-end provisioning, event scheduling and activation, self-healing automation, simplified new device integration, alarm correlation, carrier monitoring, trouble ticketing, spectrum planning and tailored reporting.

About ILC

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, ILC is a Software 500 Company that provides network control software for commercial and government applications in the telecommunications, satellite and broadcast industries. Specializing in hybrid networks, ILC's MaxView Suite automates fault management; configures, schedules and allocates network resources; and provisions circuits for more than 400 worldwide clients, including PBS, NBC, DIRECTV, NETV, Telmex, Telkom South Africa, France Telecom, EchoStar, Loral Skynet, Portugal Telecom, Iceland Telecom, and U.S. Department of Defense agencies. For more information, please visit www.ilc.com.

Source: Business Wire

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