About the Customer
Our client, Brightspeed, is a telecommunications and Internet service provider in the United States. It is owned by Apollo Global Management. The company was formed in 2022 to acquire operations in 20 states which were previously owned by Lumen Technologies.
Lumen Technologies announced a plan to divest itself of local phone operations in twenty states in the Midwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. This was to concentrate on their large enterprise data business inherited from their acquisition of Level 3 Communications and to build out optical fiber in 16 western states where they continue to operate local phone operations under the CenturyLink brand and exchanges inherited from Qwest, a Baby Bell, and operations in Nevada and Florida. Apollo Global Management, an asset management firm, acquired the divested operations for $7.5 billion plus the assumption of $1.4 billion in debt through the newly formed subsidiary Connect Holding, which later announced the trade name Brightspeed. The purchase closed on October 3, 2022.
Most of the telephone exchanges acquired by Brightspeed are in less dense rural areas away from major cities in these states, which are predominantly served by either AT&T or Verizon.
Customer Business Challenge
Brightspeed’s NOC is currently managed by two separate suites of applications. The legacy networks are currently managed by Lumen owned applications while the new Brightspeed Fiber network is managed by another separate system. Brightspeed intends to replace the current solution with a new strategic solution for Service Assurance that can provide single pane of glass for the NOC across their Legacy and NextGen Broadband, Ethernet, Power, Voice, Management, and Transport networks. These Brightspeed networks are managed by network management systems from multiple vendors.
Sincera Solution
Brightspeed has requested Sincera to develop a cloud-based solution architecture and provide services to build and deliver the new solution for Service Assurance that will consolidate all networks onto a single Brightspeed managed platform.
Sincera will provide a solution architecture based on the selected Oracle Unified Assurance, ServiceNow, and Sincera’s own 1Data integration platforms as the key building blocks. A phased approach for implementation of the Brightspeed NOC is outlined below:
- Phase 1 – Brightspeed Fiber Network
- Phase 2 – Legacy Broadband Network
- Phase 3 – Transport, Ethernet, Voice, Real Estate, Management Networks
Customer Solution Vision
Interdomain Correlation
- Network interdomain alarm correlation to quickly pinpoint the root cause of outages/disruptions to minimize time to resolve and ensure compliance with committed customer service level agreements(SLA).
OpEx Reduction
- Consolidating all network assurance to single platform to reduce maintenance and training costs.
- Migrating from legacy systems operating on older mainframe technologies.
Cloud-Based
- Cloud-based architecture for improved security, scalability, reliability, and performance.
Utilize Analytics
- Utilize analytics tasks, including descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, and machine learning to process warehoused performance and alarm event data to target process, service level, and reliability improvements.
Power Outage inquiry
- Add checks for location power outages for non-reporting devices to minimize unnecessary dispatches.
Solution Architecture Diagram
Execution and Project Management
During the project’s implementation phase, a staged approach is followed to minimize disruption to existing customer processes while ensuring business continuity. To maintain business continuity, we implemented the system in phases using an agile framework, carefully considering the impact on current customer processes. We adopted a phased implementation strategy for the project, prioritizing business continuity, providing business value, business-validation and avoiding disruptions to customer operations.
Our team created a collaborative workspace that encouraged effective communication and teamwork. We established clear communication channels, such as regular meetings and shared tools, to ensure everyone was aligned with project goals and expectations. By promoting transparency and accountability, we fostered open discussion and knowledge sharing among team members. This collaborative approach allowed us to harness the expertise of individuals from various departments, leading to innovative solutions and efficient project execution.
Results
After deploying Oracle Unified Assurance and 1Data with ServiceNow, in Phase 1, the foundational architecture has been established for network monitoring, alarm correlation, and trouble ticket integration to support the Brightspeed Fiber Network. The Phase 2 deployment expanded upon Phase 1 and added support for the Legacy Mass Market Network (DSLAM, OLT, Agg Routers). Phase 3 development is underway to expand support for the Legacy and NextGen network alarm events received from multiple new sources and managed by Brightspeed’s Broadband, Voice, Transport, Ethernet IP, Real Estate, and Management Network NOCs.
By Phase 3, the alarm event volume is expected to increase by more than 10X the volume of Phase 1. Using the interdomain alarm correlation and ML capabilities of the platform to sift through the millions of alarms, it will be possible to quickly pinpoint the root cause of outages/disruptions to minimize the generation and management of secondary tickets and unnecessary service dispatches. This is expected to reduce the time to resolve and ensure compliance with the committed customer service level agreements