WOM to launch high-speed FTTH services in Chile using Alepo AAA

WOM to launch high-speed FTTH services in Chile using Alepo AAA

by | Jul 10, 2020

  • The mobile operator is set to enter the fixed broadband market to meet increasing demand in Chile
  • Alepo AAA with its stateless server is highly scalable and will support surging data usage and increasing subscriber base
  • Alepo’s solution will help WOM manage and monetize the data services
  • To overcome global travel restrictions due to COVID-19, the project will be remotely implemented

Friday, July 10, 2020, Santiago, Chile – In keeping with current network demands, Chilean mobile operator WOM has partnered with digital enablement and revenue management software provider Alepo to enter the fixed broadband (FTTH) market. Alepo’s 3GPP AAA for broadband will help the operator introduce uninterrupted high-speed data services with 24×7 remote customer support, online payments, and a customer-first approach.

Set for a July 2020 launch, the project will be an entirely remote implementation to work around ongoing COVID-19-related travel restrictions. Alepo will partner with a local hardware system integrator for the installation of new servers with virtual environments on geo-redundant sites that the AAA applications will run on.

Alepo’s stateless AAA server is highly scalable and will help WOM monetize network usage through a flexible policy framework. Alepo’s AAA will offer WOM the ability to launch postpaid and prepaid unlimited data plans with speeds up to 1 Gbps, as well as limited data and fair usage packages. Customers will be redirected to Alepo’s digital portal to renew their plans or pay past dues, completely automating their experience and reducing calls to customer care.

Implementation of the AAA will provide WOM with zero revenue leakage, accurate usage-based billing, and usage reports that help monitor subscriber data consumption patterns to quickly adapt through a centralized configuration manager.

With this project, WOM expects to acquire over 500k subscribers within the first year and eventually build up to 1.5M subscribers by the end of 2023.

“We are pleased to partner with Alepo given its history of delivering innovative and award-winning digital broadband solutions to service providers around the globe. With the shift to working from home and social distancing, there has been unprecedented demand for broadband networks. We are confident that Alepo’s AAA will help us alleviate this load with the introduction of ultrafast services. Its monetization capabilities will help us drive ROI while ensuring customer satisfaction,” said Christopher Adam Laska, CEO, WOM.

Juan Espinosa, Director LATAM Alepo, said, “Alepo’s AAA will create greater data monetization opportunities for WOM by facilitating data usage reporting and providing new billing capabilities, while simultaneously minimizing service activation and delivery costs. Our robust and scalable solution will help WOM increase customer satisfaction with higher data speeds and expand its broadband presence rapidly in Chile.”

About WOM

WOM, meaning ’word of mouth’ in Spanish, was launched in July 2015, after the purchase of the old telecommunications company Nextel Chile. According to official statistics, as of March 2019, WOM had 4,120,000 clients. They offer 4G voice services as well as Voice WiFi that facilitates users to make and receive calls through any WiFi network in the world that offers an internet connection, regardless of whether or not the WOM client is in the operator’s coverage area. This is ideal for use abroad and avoids expensive international roaming. The Voice 4G and Voice WiFi services were made available to all the company’s customers (prepaid and postpaid) from December 13, 2018, thus becoming the first telecommunications company in Chile to implement such services nationwide.

For more information, please visit www.wom.cl/

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How to tackle NFV AAA deployment challenges

How to tackle NFV AAA deployment challenges

by | Jun 12, 2020

How to tackle NFV AAA deployment challenges

 

12th of June 2020

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) helps service providers transform deployment and operational processes. The maturing of NFV means that AAA can now be deployed virtually – a game-changer that optimizes resource utilization and network operations. From our experience in deploying virtualized AAA (vAAA), we’ve noticed there are some frequently occurring challenges. The good news is, we’ve also identified how to address them.

First things first: the most important thing about NFV

Conventional hardware infrastructure deployments mean the installation of application-specific servers or appliances on the customer’s premises. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technology introduces a well-defined cloud architecture that eliminates the bind between application and physical server by virtualizing network services.

Deploying virtualized network functions (VNFs) reduces the need to maintain vendor-specific or customized physical infrastructure. Applications can now be deployed on standardized and shared infrastructure, significantly reducing operational costs and making it faster to implement.

What objectives do NFV-based deployments meet?

Important outcomes that make NFV software-defined networking (NFV SDN) increasingly valuable include reduced complexity of networks, faster services, and lowered dependence on expensive physical storage. Further, NFV-based deployments aim to maintain a standard-based infrastructure shared by all VNF vendors, keeping OPEX and CAPEX low. Its core objectives include:

Efficiency

The NFV platform must have availability-adjusted NF SLAs that are identical to SLAs offered with dedicated services, specifying, for instance, the average delay, bandwidth, and availability of all services provided to the subscribers. To ensure SLA compliance, it needs to closely track network performance and dynamically adjust resources.

Scalability

The NFV platform should support a large number of VNFs and scale as traffic volumes and application usage increase. The ability to deliver a variety of NFs per subscriber could lead to the creation of new services, opening new ways for operators to monetize their networks.

Reliability

The NFV platform must comply with reliability requirements to offer high service availability, which is defined as end-to-end service availability including end-to-end service elements (VNF and infrastructure components).

How to overcome challenges in NFV AAA (vAAA) deployments

Let’s take a look at the top six NFV implementation challenges and the ideal solutions we’ve developed to address them.

ChallengeSolution
Configuration management

Managing file-based configurations for AAA nodes becomes complex and error-prone when each AAA node runs with its own copy of the configuration and requires syncing as nodes are dynamically added or removed.		Centralized configuration management

This helps manage the configuration changes (scripts or license files) through a web-based configuration portal, allowing changes to every AAA node in real-time. Alternatively, all configurations can be held in a centralized configuration database.
Lack of compatibility for VNF management interfaces

Many NFV infrastructure (NFVi) vendors require a custom interface for VNF management than standard-based, making them incompatible with other vendors.		Flexible VNF management

Selecting AAA vendors that offer flexible VNF management interfaces based on ETSI-compatible interfaces or custom interfaces based on NFVi instances is ideal to expedite deployment.
Vendor-specific user access management systems

Different vendors have their own access management system for their applications. This adds to operational overheads as user logins and access permissions are maintained in multiple systems.		Centralized access management


A centralized user access management system for all vendor applications eases operations, improves control over access controllers, and enhances application security.
Impact of session cache synchronization

In NFV deployment, each AAA node is dynamically added or removed based on traffic needs. This requires each node to replicate the session cache to other nodes, increasing complexity and introducing errors.		Stateless AAA

It is important to externalize application states and stores session contexts in a centralized database that can be shared across all AAA nodes. A stateless AAA ensures any node can process an ongoing user session request previously handled by another node and that simplifies dynamic scaling without having to worry about session cache synchronization.
Low variety of load balancers

For virtualized AAA deployment, load balancers are needed to distribute signaling traffic across multiple AAA nodes. In the NFVi environment, very few software-based load balancers support RADIUS/UDP messages.		In-built load balancer

Software-based load balancer VNFs are part of new-generation vAAA solutions and this helps implement RADIUS/UDP as well as HTTP traffic load-balancing.
Common network interface for all network traffic

AAA deployed with a common network interface for handling applications and database traffic leads to security concerns and also prevents resource optimization based on traffic type.		Multiple networks for different traffic

Separate network interfaces address key security challenges and optimize network resources. Each AAA node has multiple virtual network interfaces to handle different data traffic, applications, and database, making it more secure and scalable.

Conclusion

NFV reduces dependence on dedicated infrastructure. As a result, a vAAA solution enables significant customization and scalability that cuts across the operator’s entire network framework. Operators can, therefore, earn additional revenue without investing in any new hardware.

One of just a handful in the market, Alepo’s NFV- and 5G-compliant virtualized AAA (vAAA) can be deployed in any NFVi environment according to ETSI standards. Manage the entire AAA VNF life cycle with Alepo using its specific Virtual Network Function (sVNF), or integrate with a generic Virtual Network Function (gVNF) from any NFVi vendor. The carrier-grade 3GPP AAA is designed to optimize mobile, WiFi, and fixed network performance. Equipped with a proven and scalable integration framework, it optimizes scalability and resource utilization through orchestration. It can be rapidly deployed and offers quick insights into the way IP data services are accessed and consumed.

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Rajesh Mhapankar

Rajesh Mhapankar

Director, Innovations

A seasoned professional, technologist, innovator, and telecom expert. With over 20 years of experience in the software industry, Rajesh brings a strong track record of accelerating product innovations and development at Alepo. He supports the company’s mission-critical BSS/OSS projects in LTE, WiFi and broadband networks, including core policy, charging, and control elements.

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Alepo Shortlisted for Digital Transformation Award by Telecoms World Middle East

Alepo Shortlisted for Digital Transformation Award by Telecoms World Middle East

by | Aug 13, 2019

  • Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on September 24, as part of the two-day Telecoms World Middle East conference in Dubai
  • This is the second consecutive year Alepo has been shortlisted for a Telecoms World Middle East award
  • The nomination recognizes Alepo’s success in its own complete digital transformation, thus benefiting the telecommunications industry, particularly in the Middle East
  • The transformation has helped Alepo achieve faster project delivery, better development cadence, and the ability to do more remotely
  • Results of the transformation have been evidenced by key announcements including a comprehensive digital BSS, one of the industry’s first 5G core solutions, and a cloud-native version of Alepo’s Carrier WiFi

Tuesday, August 13, 2019, DUBAI – Digital enablement and revenue management software provider Alepo has been shortlisted for the 2019 Telecoms World Middle East Awards in the digital Transformation – Vendor category. The shortlisting recognizes Alepo’s success in the Digital transformation of its own products, processes, and tools – a transformation that has benefited the telecommunications industry, particularly in the Middle East region.

Winners will be announced on September 24 at an awards ceremony as part of the two-day Telecoms World Middle East conference to be held in Dubai.

“We’re thrilled Telecoms World Middle East recognizes our team’s efforts and dedication to digital transformation. It is a testament to our longstanding commitment for self-improvement and our mission to give operators of all sizes the ability to harness leading technologies,” said Derrick Gross, President, Alepo.

Alepo’s nomination is supported by key milestones from the last year including several new product releases, automation of its testing processes, and significant reduction of delivery efforts and timelines. Most significantly, Alepo has introduced a new comprehensive digital BSS platform, with capabilities like omnichannel customer experience, open APIs, rapid configurations, and modularization of the legacy codebase.

The BSS player has also introduced one of the industry’s first 5G core (5GC) solutions, providing authentication and subscriber management for 5G networks. The 5GC works alongside the digital BSS to monetize and deliver 5G services such as IoT and network slicing.

In addition, Alepo released a cloud-native version of its AAA solution and has since upgraded a tier-1 telco in the Middle East to its virtualized AAA – a unique deployment in that all professional services were performed remotely.

Vishal Mathur, Vice President – Solution Integration at Alepo, said, “Digital transformation is not only about technology, but also about culture, processes, and people. This is what we mean when we talk about a holistic approach and this is what we have implemented. Seeing the impact of our own transformation on our customers is truly gratifying.”

With over 1,000 attendees, 200 speakers, and 600 telcos, the annual Telecoms World Middle East Awards and conference bring together the technology, media, and telecom ecosystem to discuss and acknowledge technological developments in telecommunications. Alepo has been shortlisted from a list of eminent vendors operating in the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and North Africa.

About Telecoms World Middle East

Entering its fifteenth consecutive year in Dubai, Telecoms World Middle East is the go-to event for CXOs from across the TMT industry who want to learn how technology, innovation, variation, and partnerships can transform and diversify the future of telecommunications.

The two-day conference hosts over 1,000 attendees, 200 speakers, 75 sponsors and exhibitors from the Middle East, North Africa, East Africa, Central, and South Asia.

For more information, please visit Telecoms World Middle East 2019

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Alepo’s AAA shortlisted for innovation award by Telecoms World Middle East

Alepo’s AAA shortlisted for innovation award by Telecoms World Middle East

by | Aug 21, 2018

  • The nomination recognizes the “innovative technological advancement to telecommunications” made by Alepo’s AAA
  • Alepo’s AAA is virtualized, fully convergent, and provides seamless integration with non-standard CRM/BSS
  • It is being used by some of the largest telcos in the Middle East, who have seen significant improvements in their networks, including reduced network disruptions, lower operational costs, improved customer experience, and increased security
  • Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on September 17, as part of the two-day Telecoms World Middle East in Dubai
  • The conference will host 1,000 attendees, 200 speakers, and 600 telcos; Alepo will be at booth no. 51

Tuesday, August 21, 2018, Austin, TX, USA- Alepo has been shortlisted for the 2018 Telecoms World Middle East Awards. Its AAA has been nominated in The Innovation Award – Vendor category, which recognizes the core network and software solutions provider’s contribution to making “innovative technological advancement to telecommunications.”

Alepo has been shortlisted from a host of vendors operating in the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and North Africa.

AAA is an often-ignored part of operators’ networks, but it can have a transformative effect on overall network performance, resiliency, and customer experience. It is essentially responsible for ensuring that customers can access the services to which they have subscribed. When done right, the function is practically invisible. But when it goes wrong, it can mean disconnections, poor quality of service, and compromised security.

Alepo’s latest version overcomes several limitations of traditional AAA, including scalability, network heterogeneity (convergence), multimodal authentication methods, complete network virtualization, and integration with non-standard network elements. It is virtualized, high-performance, self-healing, open (via REST and API gateway), and highly configurable.

Used by some of the largest telcos in the Middle East including Saudi Telecom (STC) – and currently in the process of being deployed by one of the most established telcos in the region – it has helped operators reduce network disruptions, cut operational costs, improve customer experience, and increase security.

“We are heartened by the faith many of the Middle East’s biggest operators are placing in our technology to replace their legacy AAA with Alepo’s. The fact that operators across the region are seeing significant improvements is a strong vote of confidence for us. This awards nomination further bolsters our belief that the usually sleepy AAA market can and should be disrupted,” said Brian Scoble, Alepo’s Vice President of Sales (Middle East and Africa).

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on September 17. The awards are part of the two-day Telecoms World Middle East conference to be held in Dubai, bringing together the entire technology, media, and telecom ecosystem to discuss the digital revolution, technological developments, and the future landscape for MNOs, MVNOs, OTTs, suppliers and the wider industry. It is expected to host over 1,000 attendees, 200 speakers, and 600 telcos.

About Telecoms World Middle East

In 2004, Terrapinn brought the global Telecoms World brand to Dubai to serve the Gulf region. At that time, Middle Eastern telecom and mobile operators were in a period of rapid growth and searching for new ideas, and the technology that would enable them to revolutionise their business models. Today, while technologies have evolved, interest from key industry stakeholders and government is as strong as ever.

Telecoms World Middle East brings together leading executives from the wider region on one platform. It offers the opportunity to learn, as well as to network and build relationships with key stakeholders from across the TMT industry.

The annual Telecoms World Awards, now in their twelfth year, are the undisputed mark of success for the telecoms industry in the region.

For more information, please visit http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/telecoms-world-middle-east/index.stm.

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