Sigma Systems has announced that LIWEST Kabelmedien GmbH has deployed the Sigma Systems Service Management Platform to support its newly launched Voice over Internet Protocol service offering.
LIWEST is the second largest cable operator in Austria.
Sigma's multi-service platform is designed to provide the order management, service provisioning and billing system integration for LIWEST's Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offering, and interfaces with the standards-based Service Activation Manager (SAM), developed by C-COR Inc.. This combined VoIP solution set between Sigma and C-COR also sets the service management foundation for multi-service provisioning of LIWEST's future services which includes advanced voice.
The modern infrastructure of LIWEST, with its principally two-way ready network, has allowed it to become a triple play service provider. Faced with the spiraling complexity and cost of managing voice, video and data services across its cable network, LIWEST uses Sigma's centralized OSS platform to manage its entire portfolio of services and allows it to configure and define new business rules for future offerings. Sigma's software has allowed a migration path for LIWEST from its principally manual environment to a fully automated environment. Through its open integration frameworks, the Sigma Platform interfaces with a host of billing, order entry and network facing infrastructure, including C-COR's SAM which handles device provisioning for the EuroPacketCable VoIP Embedded MTAs, and also provisioning of the IPAT.
"We selected Sigma Systems after a long and comprehensive evaluation of the service provisioning and order management space," says Hubert Riedl, vice president, IP services, LIWEST. "In selecting them as a long-term triple-play service management partner, Sigma's ability to manage, create and then help us deliver advanced triple-play services will position us as one of Europe's leaders.
"As a result of Sigma's demonstrated expertise and understanding of the space, coupled with their open integration frameworks with other network management systems, our subscribers now enjoy state-of-the-art services in the easiest and most effective manner for us to deliver them," Riedl continues.
Service management systems are critical for cable operators to engineer and deliver VoIP cost- effectively. These systems make it possible to deploy new services that integrate seamlessly with existing service infrastructure, business support systems, network and element management systems, third-party service providers, as well as customer care and billing infrastructures. The ever-growing roster of cable services require today's service management systems to evolve into Integrated Service Management Systems: enterprise-level solutions that provide end-to-end VoIP automation today, and keep pace with the multi-media demands of tomorrow's cable networks.
"LIWEST needed an integrated turn-key solution, complete with an industry proven product, systems integration, training, and ongoing system support," says Brian Cappellani, CTO of Sigma Systems. "Our significant investments in our product, combined with our triple play experience has delivered tremendous benefits to LIWEST. LIWEST's environment, a hybrid between TDM and VoIP, is a particularly interesting one for us as it encompasses a broad range of services, including digital video, circuit switched telephony, IP telephony, as well as high-speed Internet."
Sigma Systems is a provider of service management OSS solutions for delivering next- generation services on cable, wireless and IP broadband networks. Sigma Systems is based in Toronto, Canada. For more information visit www.sigma-systems.com.
