[More] PCRF Vendors Respond to Bell Canada Observations

I got more responses from vendors regarding the recent post I had with quotes from an interview with Cassio Sampaio, Bell Canada about policy management (see "Bell Canada: 'Network Policy is one of those things that are easier said than done'" - here; see previous responses from Torres Networks, FTS, Openet and Ericsson - here).

• Arash Razzaghi, Director, CMS ACI-BSS Domain, Americas Region, HP

As the traditional boundaries between Network and IT dissolve further in a world where the network is the application and the application is the network, the types of complexities like the ones Bell Canada is experiencing in the area of Policy Management become more prevalent. Traditional IT application management processes and governance are key to managing such complex environments. The trick seems to be in Products and Solutions that are based on cross disciplined approach: finding the right balance between Network Engineering grade solutions, combined with IT Service Management discipline .

This is the secret ingredient for maximizing revenue and optimizing operations in a merged Network Engineering and IT environment which is today’s reality for our Telecom clients globally. Given our heritage, HP CMS solutions are conceived, designed, developed, and deployed with this fundamental principal in mind.

• Taco Schoute, CEO, BroadForward

Recent surveys of Informa and Heavy Reading indeed identify integration as the main obstacle for deploying Policy Control. The key culprits here are limited interoperability between systems and the lack of flexibility to adapt to changes quickly. What make this issue worse is that carriers have to deal with multiple vendors to enable even the simplest of use cases. This raises questions of ownership and the associated cost vs. benefit. Most vendors rather concentrate on investing in core product functionality than on external interface customizations.

To have a fighting chance to reduce time-to-market for services in the competitive world of LTE, the industry needs to be way more agile. What’s needed is the ability to quickly integrate systems as well as adapt connections to changing requirements on the spot. No-one will dispute this, however the key question that remains is how to achieve multi-vendor interworking in a fast, repeatable and cost-effective manner.