Aviat Networks to provide Managed Services for Etisalat Nigeria...gets AT&T deal

Aviat Networks Inc, a provider of microwave networking solutions, has announced the signing of a service level agreement (SLA) to provide Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS), operating as Etisalat Nigeria, with a comprehensive suite of Managed Network Services. The agreement, financial details of which were not available, covers establishing a network operations centre, providing an element management system and implementing spares management programme.

This is coming on the heels of the company announcing its earnings results same week, where the company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.02. It is worth knowing that the company’s revenue was down 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

But with this new deal, Aviat Networks will be establishing a Network Operations Centre (NOC) to operate 50 hops of Etisalat's Enterprise Data Network, comprising 100 radios of the Eclipse Packet Node microwave networking solution, on the mobile operator's network nationwide within Nigeria.

It is Aviat’s first deal with Etisalat, said Olawale Osimosu, the Californian Company’s country director in Nigeria. “Aviat Networks managed network services are designed to give Etisalat a cost-optimized solution by leveraging its existing staff in Nigeria and resulting in a better network quality of service for its end users,” said Osimosu. “Overall, this is a great opportunity for us to showcase our market leading capabilities in managed services among all the microwave specialist providers.” 

In addition, the company will implement ProVision, its carrier-class element management system (EMS), for total network surveillance, fault escalation and reporting with up to six months of performance data stored for analysis and also its Comprehensive Spares Management Program (SMP) for the quick replacement of mission-critical components in the field.

The company and the Etisalat Operations team will jointly set up the NOC at Etisalat headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. The NOC will be capable of 24/7 network self-management, with Aviat Networks-trained personnel working from a central site, collocated within its data centre. This will be Aviat Networks' first Managed Network Services SLA with Etisalat of the UAE, a mobile telecommunications company in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

In a related development, the microwave networking solutions expert Aviat Networks, Inc., said it has been named as the microwave subcontractor on the AT&T government Solutions' team to compete for orders to provide tactical communications equipment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. DHS awarded the contract with potential of up to $3 billion in business over a five-year period of performance to 30 companies for commercial-off-the-shelf equipment, infrastructure and related services.

Under this contract for the DHS Tactical Communications (TACCOM) program, Aviat Networks will provide DHS and other federal agencies with the capability to acquire leading microwave radio communication equipment, engineering, design, installation and maintenance services to meet mission-critical operations. The contract is for an indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity of tactical communications equipment and services. Other agencies such as the White House Communications Agency and the departments of Interior, Justice and State can also use the IDIQ to purchase equipment. IDIQs provide for an indefinite quantity of products/services for a fixed time and help streamline the contract process and speed service delivery.

MTN Nigeria looks to the future with Ericsson's SSR 8020 platform

Coming recently from being named as the only African brand to make it to the global top 100 brands, MTN Nigeria has become the first African operator to deploy groundbreaking SSR 8020 platform for wireless IP core network SSR 8020 that supports significantly more subscribers from a single Evolved Packet Gateway (EPG) than competing nodes on the market. This deployment will enable MTN to efficiently meet rapidly increasing demand for data services.

As Africa's biggest operator, MTN Nigeria will boost its ability to serve subscribers and their growing data needs, with the deployment of Ericsson's latest wireless packet core network technology. The Smart Services Router (SSR) 8020 platform allows operators to introduce newer, smarter functions and capabilities to enhance the mobile broadband experience for end users.

With over 120 million mobile subscriptions overall, Nigeria is the largest and one of the fastest growing telecoms market in Africa. Data traffic growth in Nigeria was 100 percent last year and the demand for mobile broadband is not slowing down as internet services are becoming increasingly essential for more and more facets of people's lives.  

MTN hosts over 42 million of those subscribers (about 50% of the market according to latest NCC data), and the company has always worked to meet, and exceed the expectations of its subscribers by improving the quality of its service through a very aggressive network roll out and optimization strategy.

The SSR has a backplane capacity of up to 16 Tbps, state-of-the-art signaling capacities, an easy-to-use administrative interface, and sophisticated availability and resilience capabilities. The router will support the current 2G, 3G, and Wi-Fi networks of MTN Nigeria, plus will also be able to support future upgrades to LTE. This ability to support all the different types of access networks brings significant cost savings to operators because fewer nodes with high scalability can efficiently handle the network bandwidth growth.

The EPG (Evolved Packet Gateway) application has the capabilities to support 2G, 3G and 4G and the rapid increase in demand for IP data services. This deal also includes deployment of the End-to-End Quality of Service solution in order to offer more innovative mobile broadband products.

Lynda Saint-Nwafor, CTO of MTN Nigeria, says: "Deploying this platform will make our network more efficient and scalable to cater for the growing data demands of our subscribers."

Lars Lindén, head of Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa, says: "The flexibility and capacity of the SSR platform will allow MTN Nigeria to introduce newer, smarter functions and capabilities which will enhance the mobile broadband experience for end users." This includes traffic management capabilities for quality of service differentiation and improved operator billing and rating options.

Ericsson service professionals will provide turnkey services including installation, integration and commissioning of the new SSR 8020 platform as well as support services. MTN will deploy the Evolved Packet Gateway on SSR 8020 by the end of 2012.

The Ericsson SSR 8000 family of Smart Services Routers provides operators with a highly scalable, consolidated platform that offers services for both fixed and mobile network infrastructure. It offers services such as IP/MPLS (internet protocol/Multi-Protocol Label Switching) edge routing, and Evolved Packet Gateway functionalities. The Smart Services Router enables complete network convergence so subscribers can access services from any devices or locations. MPLS is now the de-facto standard for many carrier and service provider networks and its deployment scenarios continue to grow.

The unique thing about this platform is that MPLS works by tagging the traffic, in this example packets, with an identifier (a label) to distinguish the LSPs (Label Switched Paths). When a packet is received, the router uses this label (and sometimes also the link over which it was received) to identify the LSP. It then looks up the LSP in its own forwarding table to determine the best link over which to forward the packet, and the label to use on this next hop.

ACG Research conducted an analysis of the sources of growth in control plane traffic: increases in end-user connections, device types, apps, app policy and control requirements, and mobility management requirements. This study projects data and control plane traffic growth at a typical packet core node and analyzes the scalability of the SSR 8020 IP service delivery platform and of a competing service router when configured to serve this traffic growth. The study finds that the SSR 8020 has lower total cost of ownership (TCO) by 66 percent and higher scalability by two to more than three times that of the competitor’s service router.

Stakeholders to discuss issues on Number portability at TechBrandReview Forum

Plans have been concluded to assemble Nigeria's leading lights and stakeholders in the telecommunications sector in Lagos for a one day forum on the implementation of the proposed Mobile Number Portability (MNP) by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) this year.

The event which is the first in the Nigerian ICT Agenda Summit Series is a breakfast session tagged Number Portability – opportunities and pitfalls, and is from the stables of frontline communications managers and publishers, Private Media Mart Limited in partnership with Princelink Communications. This event, billed to hold on the 26th of September at Golden Gate Ikoyi Lagos, is meant to review the development of the telecoms sector since liberalisation and the role number portability will play in fashioning the way forward for the sector.
According to the organizers, the event will seek to answer pertinent questions to clear the air on number portability and the way and manner the policy will affect both the operators and subscribers. Some of the areas to discuss by eminent personalities include setting realistic agenda for the operation of number portability scheme in Nigeria. To achieve this, the Managing Partner of Private Media Mart limited (publishers of TechBrandReview newsletter), Ejiofor Agada stated that the NCC and other notable telecoms stakeholders such as telcos, database management companies, the media and members of the public would participate and present reports of their positions while pointing the way forward for number portability.
By the last quarter of this year, Nigeria would join many other countries of the world to launch the Mobile Number Portability, making it possible for a Nigerian subscriber to migrate from one network apparently having poor services to another which he feels is better, without losing his original phone number.
However, experience has shown that new offerings like this hardly experience general acceptance, not because they are not good, but because very salient facts of the offerings are not thoroughly ironed out between the implementers and the final consumers. Much information about the new offerings is always hidden to the consumers, fuelling suspicion, hesitation and in most cases outright rejection.
With this hindsight, PMM and Princelink Communications as organizers of this one-day forum, will use the avenue to discuss and trash out grey areas on the implementation of Mobile Number Portability in Nigeria.
In the words of Mr Agada, “This event is also meant to analyse and review the porting standard that will be employed in implementing MNP in Nigeria; whether it is the Recipient or Donor led- models”. “The one day event will also task implementers on what call routing method the Nigerian operation will take, considering that there are All Call Query and Indirect Routing methods, also with peculiar effects” he said.
Subscribers and stakeholders would also be able to query the implementers on how long it will take to port a mobile number in Nigeria, as well as what ICT infrastructure, products and platforms would be relevant in the MNP” he added.
Agada also said that the event will afford the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and other stakeholders involved in the implementation, the opportunity to educate the public on the very vast areas of this service, pointing out that it was unfortunate that the regulator has so far not adequately carried stakeholders along in fashioning modalities for MNP.
The event Coordinator, Mr Prince Osuagwu, who is an award-wining veteran ICT media professional, said that the event would provide a turnaround in the way people are consulted before major policies are implemented. “The reason people seem to criticise or kick against every policy, particularly in the ICT sector is that they are not taken into account, ab initio. We are trying to create a paradigm shift with this forum. Subscribers would be permitted to ask questions, operators would be allowed to say how convenient MNP can be to them and the regulator would be tasked to educate all on its plans”.

Signal Alliance appoints Adiele Head, Corporate Services

One of the leading information communications technology solutions providers, and Microsoft top level partners in the west African region, Signal Alliance has announced the appointment of Mr. Adiele Ndunuju Chidi as the company’s head of corporate services.

In a notice signed by the chief executive officer of the firm and made available recently, Mr. Adiele’s appointment was described as “strategic and done to promote professionalism and focus for the Signal Alliance brand”. The appointment, which takes immediate effect is based on the premise of Mr. Adiele’s vast expertise and experience garnered over the years in various sectors including energy (oil and gas), marine and IT.

An experienced HR Practitioner, administrator, and a Marketer with over 10 years cognate post graduation experience, Adiele is known to function well as a strategic partner, change agent, administrative expert and employee champion. With his full understanding of the values and tenets of Human Resources and Administration that drive organizations, he is to bring to bear his expertise in Policy writing, implementation, recruitment, selection, staff orientation and induction, staff training and development, employee talent management, employee retention, succession planning, staff welfare issues, disciplinary matters as well as disengagement related matters to Signal Alliance.

Before joining Signal Alliance, he had also at various times worked in senior management capacity in Officetron Co. Ltd, Ascon Oil Company Limited, Topcon Nigeria Ltd, and Kaneal Nigeria ltd.

Google launch new voice control app to counter Apple's Siri

Even as the Apple, Google tussle take a more drastic dimension, the later has unveiled an enhanced version of its Voice Search app feature as a direct challenge to rival Apple's inbuilt Siri software. This is also coming on the heels of Apple dropping YouTube from its app list due to expired license and some undisclosed hindrances from Google.

The internet search engine giant hailed the revamped feature as 'an important step to building the search engine of the future' after announcing the update this week. Voice Search will be added to Google's iOS App Store, with iPhone and iPad users able to download the update over the next few days.

The conversational voice search feature, which is linked to Google's knowledge graph, will respond to questions from smartphone users such as 'What movies are playing this weekend?'

Google executive Amit Singhai explained: 'Often the most natural way to ask a question is by asking aloud. 'So we’ve combined our speech recognition expertise, understanding of language and the knowledge graph so that Voice Search can better interpret your questions and sometimes speak the answers back as full sentences.

'You just need to tap the microphone icon and ask your question, the same way you’d ask a friend. 'For example, ask “What movies are playing this weekend?” and you’ll see your words streamed back to you as quickly as you speak.'

He added: 'Then Google will show you a list of the latest movies in theatres near you, with schedules and even trailers. 'It works for everything from celebrity factoids to the height of Kilimanjaro and more. When Google can supply a direct answer to your question, you’ll get a spoken response too. 'These are baby steps, but important ones on our way to building the search engine of the future - one that is much more intelligent and useful than it was just a few years ago. 'It’s a very exciting time to be working in this field.'

Siri, originally introduced through the App Store to become an integral part of Apple's iOS after being exclusively built into the iPhone 4S in 2011, is an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator which works as an application for Apple's iOS. The application uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of Web services. Apple claims that the software adapts to the user's individual preferences over time and personalizes results, and performing tasks such as finding recommendations for nearby restaurants, or getting directions.

Siri was originally introduced as an iOS application available in the App Store by Siri, Inc., which was acquired by Apple on April 28, 2010.[3] Siri, Inc. had announced that their software would be available for BlackBerry and for Android-powered phones, but all development efforts for non-Apple platforms were cancelled after the acquisition by Apple.

After launching its Chrome web browser for iOS last month, Google's updated Voice Search feature provides another challenge for Apple on its own doorstep. Apple has seemingly responded to Google's continued encroachment by removing Google's YouTube app from the beta version of its new iOS6.

The move will follow on from the lack of Google Maps being featured, as Apple look to use own-brand services on their products, set to start with the new iPhone (which will be announced at a conference on 12 September before a potential release date later in the month.

While Apple will retain their obvious ambitions to become a presence in more digital markets, will the lack of a link to high-profile video clips hamper sales of their future devices? Only time will tell.