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Telecom and Managed Service Provider Experts Tackle Next-Generation Network Success in InfoVista's Executive Advisory Panels; Industry Leaders Agree Service Assurance is Key to Service and Technology Innovation and Adoption

Posted on: Thursday, 15 December 2005, 03:02 CST

Recognized Telecom and Managed Service Provider (MSP) industry experts from around the globe came together in Rome, Italy, and Washington, D.C. to attend Executive Advisory Panels hosted by InfoVista (NASDAQ: IVTA; Euronext IFV - FR0004031649), the leading service-centric performance management software company.

InfoVista customers and partners representing a diverse range of operators, outsourcers and industry experts throughout EMEA and the Americas shared their perspectives, lessons learned, recommendations and plans for next-generation network success. InfoVista currently provides performance management solutions to 80 percent of the world's leading service providers. Many of these customers either attended the event or participated in the Executive Advisory Panels (EAPs) as co-presenters.

The panels explored managed IP services, carrier VoIP, Metro Ethernet and triple-play offerings such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). Specifically, EAP participants identified near-term service and technology opportunities including: large scale deployment of Ethernet services in support of enterprise networking offerings and residential triple-play, and pent-up demand for residential VoIP services with significant growth expected in 2006 and beyond.

At the same time, customers lamented the increasing challenge to manage quality of service and ensure a superior user experience. Participants roundly agreed on an urgent need for network and infrastructure equipment vendors to collaborate with service assurance providers to define meaningful and usable instrumentation to deliver the measurements needed for monitoring advanced technology services from Ethernet to IPTV.

In his keynote address, "Service Assurance Outlook," Sanjay Mewada, the Vice President of the Telecom Consulting and Research Service at analyst firm Yankee Group, discussed the factors driving the increased criticality and complexity of service assurance.

"The pendulum is swinging from operational excellence to cut costs toward service and technology innovation to drive growth," according to Mewada. "In the face of new pricing models, new usage patterns, new channels of distribution and disruptive technologies, service providers are striving to deliver IP service quality and reliability that will increase revenues and earn customer loyalty. Performance management is the starting point that will enable end-to-end visibility and therefore end-to-end assurance of a quality customer experience."

The communications industry is experiencing a fundamental shift as telecommunications and managed service providers, cable companies and a new breed of service providers -- players who are delivering voice, data, and video services over transport networks they don't own -- all compete for the customer.

In his presentation, "The Multiple Facets of Triple Play: Are You Ready?," Larry Socher, a Senior Executive in Accenture's Communication & High-Tech practice commented, "The introduction of triple-play services, coupled with a new multi-vendor infrastructure, is posing unprecedented service management challenges. A managed services model is required to meet the high service level expectations of customers of IPTV and VoIP. This dictates solutions that can simultaneously support proactive monitoring and performance management, while scaling to monitor millions of devices."

The EAPs addressed how service providers can turn this highly competitive environment into an opportunity to create new revenue-generating services and capitalize on this trend through InfoVista's approach to service assurance and proven performance management solutions.

"In the race toward next-generation network success, IP must be managed as a service to ensure superior quality of experience for the user," said Jean-Luc Valente, InfoVista's SVP of marketing and strategic alliances. "While these next generation services are more complex than any previously delivered, they unlock tremendous potential for growth. The EAPs are an ideal forum in which to share experiences among industry leaders and uncover opportunities for success."

InfoVista offers a series of EAP events around the world to address the most pressing issues associated with service and performance management. During the calendar year, InfoVista holds separate EAPs focused on the needs of each customer segment it serves -- service providers and enterprises -- across multiple geographic locations.

About InfoVista

InfoVista is the Service-Centric Performance Management Software Company that assures the optimal delivery of business-critical IT services. Driven by a uniquely adaptive and real-time technology foundation, InfoVista solutions improve business effectiveness, reduce operating risk, lower cost of operations, increase agility and create competitive advantage. Eighty percent of the world's largest service providers as ranked by Fortune(R), as well as leading Global 2000 enterprises, rely on InfoVista to enhance the business value of their technology assets. Representative customers include ABN AMRO, Allstream, Banques Populaires, AXA, Banque de France, Bell Canada, British Telecom, Broadwing Communications, Cable & Wireless, Com Hem, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Deutsche Telecom, France Telecom, Savvis Corporation, SingTel, Telefonica, and US Cellular. A Software Magazine 500 company, InfoVista stock is traded on the NASDAQ (IVTA) and on Eurolist by Euronext (FR0004031649). For more information about the company, please visit www.infovista.com.

Source: Business Wire

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