Central Capacity Management for Sunrise

Pick up the cell phone, dial the desired number - and then we hear the dial tone. And we can quickly access the Internet on our laptop or tablet. Today, we take both of these things for granted. For this to work smoothly, there must always be sufficient capacity in the telecommunications network. This means, for example, that there are enough free FTTH ports or DSLAM connections to connect new customers to the network.

An initial market analysis showed that there were ready-made standard solutions on the market. However, these did not meet all the requirements that the Sunrise team had for the desired solution. One feature in particular was missing from many standard products: the ability to use data from existing systems - for example, the well-maintained inventory and inventory data on the network infrastructure - and to prepare it in a meaningful way for further analysis. This is all the more important because Sunrise takes a multivendor approach to its network infrastructure. Devices, plug-in cards, software, etc. from different manufacturers are used here, and the complexity of the hardware on site is correspondingly high. An automated solution should improve the clarity here and thus also the ability to plan.

Since the standard products on the market did not meet all the criteria, the decision was made to create a customized solution together with an external partner. In the course of a tender, four providers were invited and after a three-month evaluation phase, TIMETOACT was finally chosen as the partner. In addition to the right combination of the desired functions within the given budget, the experts from TIMETOACT were able to convince by presenting a solution concept that made sense of the existing data on the network infrastructure. The basis of trust had also already been established: TIMETOACT had already been working successfully for Sunrise for ten years, primarily in the area of IT monitoring solutions.

Once the decision was made, Sunrise and TIMETOACT set up a joint core team consisting of two employees from each company. These were to drive the project together with an extended team of ten to twelve people and implement the new Sunrise CMIS, which is made up of several components. The solution is as follows:

The initial setup and implementation of the first use cases took about a year. Initially, capacity management for the IP network was mapped in the new system. In a second phase, additional network domains and use cases were added, such as mobile backhaul. This second implementation phase took about half a year.

After the successful implementation, the Sunrise CMIS has become an important support in the daily work routine - the team relies on the reliability and performance of the system every day.

Further expansion of the solution is already planned. In addition to the integration of further domains, the Sunrise CMIS is to become even more efficient through machine learning (ML). The ML capabilities will then be used, among other things, to further increase the quality of predictions. The ML capabilities required for this are already integrated in IBM Cognos; no additional software is required.

Overall, the Sunrise CMIS offers all the functions that will be needed in the near future. This is also helped by the fact that IBM Cognos Analytics, as the "heart" of the solution, is becoming more and more powerful through regular updates. Every year, several new releases appear, which not only provide bug fixes, but also many new functions. Thus, Sunrise UPC GmbH is well prepared for future requirements and the Sunrise CMIS will be the backbone of the Sunrise network for a long time. Customers can thus be sure that they will be able to make phone calls and surf the Internet without any problems in the future.