ZTE Corporation, a publicly-listed global provider of telecommunications equipment, network solutions and mobile devices, is to participate in the Next-Generation Converged Operations Requirements (NGCOR) project to drive efforts to develop advanced future network management technologies.
The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) alliance formed the NGCOR project to spearhead efforts to reduce complexity and operational costs in network management. NGCOR successfully demonstrated a showcase version of this technology at the recent TM Forum (TMF) Management World 2013 in France, showing the path to enhanced integrated management of next-generation networks and improved customer experience. ZTE played an important role in the “Converged Network Operations Improving Customer Experience” showcase, providing its NetNumen EMS wireless network management software and virtual base station technology.
One of the most significant challenges faced by mobile operators is realising unified management of different components and subsystems, such as the integration of mobile and fixed networks. With support from Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom-Orange, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, ZTE, HP, Comarch, Orchestral Networks and Juniper Networks, NGCOR was able to present the first ever demonstration of such converged operations.
Based on the NGCOR requirements and definitions under different networking conditions and through the adaption layer and open application programming interface (API), NGCOR’s showcase implementation used the Umbrella Information Model (UIM) proposed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and TMF to interconnect with the upper-level OSS, which is the first step towards the evolution of interface standardisation.
The successful NGCOR demonstration is not only testimony to the feasibility of NGCOR, but also proof that the NGCOR method is very effective in integrated network management. It is an important step towards the integrated management of wired and wireless networks.
ZTE believes NGCOR’s efforts will be the key to the future direction of network management as the telecommunications industry looks for ways to enhance network management while reducing complexity and operational costs. ZTE will continue to support the NGCOR project, and will be active in the development of the NGCOR showcase and follow-up TM Forum projects, and in promoting successful NGCOR deliverables.