Many vendors – both hardware or software vendors – that offer solutions for the telecom industry are required to provide a complete solution for all telecom networks elements. This can include hardware solutions such as CPEs, access and transportation devices and core servers. On the software side, the vendors are required to provide complete management and billing systems that support all network hardware elements. In many cases, vendors use either OEM equipment from other vendors to complete their offering or need to support other vendors’ equipment that is already installed in the customer network. This creates a challenge to support multi-vendor networks – in many cases within a short time frame due to RFP/RFQ requirements. For each new RFP/RFQ, there can be a different combination of networks elements and services from long list of vendors that requires support.
The above example shows a network in which the residential ONU of the PON network is already installed and is from a different vendor than that offering the complete network solution. The mobile access solution offered is OEM equipment from another vendor. This proposal does not allow monitoring, controlling and provisioning of the entire network from the central NMS and a unified billing from the BSS center.
NetACE uses standard API protocols to communicate with each piece of vendor equipment, using its libraries to support all configuration and features for each type of equipment. Currently NetACE supports more than 40 vendors and 1000 device type libraries, covering most of the types of equipment implemented in data centers. A new library to support unsupported equipment can be added in a matter of days. In addition to the control and monitoring, NetACE allows configuration and provisioning of every element in the network – regardless of the vendor that manufactured the equipment.
NetACE is a vendor-agnostic solution that allows unified monitoring and control over a multi-vendor network in a global multi-site topology. NetACE has a built-in automated system that discovers all network elements and the topology that connects them. Once the system topology is discovered, the system allows monitoring and control over any element in the system, regardless of vendor. Communication uses standard management protocols adapted to the protocol that the specific equipment supports. Any change, configuration setting, unit or service activation or replacement of a faulty unit can be done remotely. Activation and control is via user-friendly monitoring systems that allow activation at a click of a button.