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Release Notes

Radio network troubleshooting and optimization

November 2004


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CopyrightActix 2004 Page 2

Contents

1 ABOUT THIS RELEASE ........................................... 3

Drive Test Troubleshooting................................... 3About radio network troubleshooting and optimization .... 3Diagnostics and Troubleshooting .................................... 5Network Acceptance and Optimization............................ 5Quality and Benchmarking .............................................. 6Process Management ..................................................... 6

New License Requirement .................................... 6

2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ....................................... 7Hardware requirements................................................... 7

3 WHAT'S NEW? ...................................................... 8

New Analyzer entry screen ................................... 8

Using DT Troubleshooting .................................... 9Load the data.................................................................. 9Identify and prioritize the issues using the Dashboard... 10Diagnose the cause and confirm problem resolution..... 11

Changes to the User Interface .............................12Attribute Explorer .......................................................... 12

Replay control moved to main toolbar ........................... 12

4 KNOWN ISSUES .................................................. 13Maps............................................................................. 13Replay........................................................................... 13DT Troubleshooter Pages ............................................. 13Attribute Explorer .......................................................... 14


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1About this release

Drive Test Troubleshooting

The major new feature in this release is Drive TestTroubleshooting.

About radio network troubleshooting and optimization

Actix' line of products for radio network troubleshooting andoptimization help to accelerate the rollout of wireless networks,

lower network deployment costs and improve the quality of servicedelivered to wireless customers. Developed specifically for

wireless 2.5G and 3G networks, Actix' enhanced troubleshooting

and optimization products cut through the complexity of newwireless technologies, establishing best practice processes

throughout radio engineering teams.

Example UMTS Dashboard and related data


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Actix products automate, simplify and streamline radio

engineering. Built in diagnostics and troubleshooting processesembed Actix' global wireless experience to deliver accurate, instant

solutions to radio problems. Configurable analysis and KPI

reporting provides clear, vendor-independent visibility of true

network performance. Actix is also a process management solutionallowing teams to build in their own KPIs and processes

establishing consistent best practice engineering focused andevolving with the organizations priorities and challenges.

There is immense pressure during rollout to realize a return on newtechnology investment. Multiple teams with diverse skills need to

overcome new technology complexity and meet tight deadlines.

Actix cuts through the complexity providing clear visibility of realnetwork performance and driving best practice knowledge and

skills throughout an organization.

By working with 90% of 3G operators, Actix continues to capture

solutions to the most difficult rollout challenges, embedding the

solution in software. Also, Actix high configurability ensuresorganizations can build on this with their own processes and KPIs

focused on their own particular challenges and business goals. By

harnessing unprecedented levels of teamwork and focus, Actixusers can rollout with quality and confidence.


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Diagnostics and Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting is one of the most time-consuming radio

engineering tasks. Actix diagnostics identify and prioritize criticalissues and then recommend a fix, accelerating the resolution of

dropped calls, setup failures, missing neighbors, pilot pollution,

poor coverage, system interference, handover problems,intersystem handover and more. Diagnostics can be configured to

suit specific network environments, configurations and priorities.

Powerful visualization features let you drill into any problem and

verify a diagnosis.

By building in automated solutions to the most common radioengineering problems, your organization can standardize on best-

practice processes to the most important problems, leading to faster

rollout and higher service quality, with minimal training andmanagement costs.

Example showing CDMA Failed Calls diagnostic views

Network Acceptance and Optimization

An unbiased, vendor-independent solution with powerful,configurable analysis and reporting capabilities.

Extract your KPIs from the large data haystack.


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Used by leading 3G teams to verify network performance

during cluster acceptance.

Used for network expansion, helping teams perform newsite integration and network retunes as well as

configuration changes and upgrades.

Gives a clear, independent vision of true network

performance, allowing confident rollouts and expansion.

Quality and Benchmarking

Extract key performance indicators for voice as well as push-to-talk, MMS, http and more. Understanding true service performance

is critical during the deployment of new services and when

performing periodic or competitive benchmarking. It is also

important to monitor service performance during new siteintegration and network upgrades, and Actix helps you to focus on

the wireless users.

Process Management

Actix products are an alternative to both shrink-wrapped

replay tools and costly in-house systems, providing the bestof both worlds by offering a highly tailored solution with

no development costs.

Configure Actix' predefined processes with the settings and

thresholds used by your teams.

Define new KPIs and reports which represent yourorganization's priorities.

Define new analyses and processes which capture theknowledge of top new technology specialists so these skills

can be employed by every radio engineer. Optionally, use

Actix Professional Services to configure your system onyour behalf.

Cut down on training costs.

Cut down on complex process documents and crib sheets.

Manage engineering by deploying simple, effectiveprocesses.

New License Requirement

Users need to upgrade to a new license in order to use this release.


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2System requirements

The following section defines the recommended and minimumsystem requirements for successfully running Actix Solutions.

Hardware requirements

All Actix Solutions are 32-bit applications that run on the

following Microsoft operating systems (Windows XP or 2000 is

strongly recommended) and their latest service packs:

Recommended: MS Windows XP

Alternative: Microsoft Windows 2000

Because Actix Solutions use system memory in a much more

efficient way on later operating systems (especially Windows2000), we strongly recommend that you upgrade to one of these

systems.

Hardware Optimal performance Minimal performance

Processor: P4 2.6 GHz Pentium II 400 MHz

Memory (RAM): 1 GB 256 MB

Disk space: 60+ GB available 1 GB available

CD-ROM drive: To install the application

One Parallel Port or USBPort:

For single-user hardware key

Monitor: 1600 x 1200 pixels64K color resolution

1024 x 768 pixels256 color resolution

Other:

Mouse and keyboard

Actix Solutions perform best when the Windows Virtual Memory

Paging size is set to between 1000 and 1500 MB. The method for

setting this parameter varies by operating system. Please consultyour OS help for specific instructions regarding this parameter.

If you install the Solution on asystem that does not meet therecommended configurationrequirements, you may sufferfrom:

Inability to process largeamounts of data

Delays when trying toperform certain tasks

Failure of some mappingcapabilities

Low performance ofadvanced correlation andanalysis capabilities


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that process. If your license excludes engineering processes, you

will bypass this screen and go straight into Analyzer.

Checking the box at the bottom of the screen also lets you bypassthis screen and go straight to your selected engineering process. If,

in future, you want to display this screen, from the File menu

select Start New Engineering Process.

Using DT Troubleshooting

DT Troubleshooter is available for CDMA, GSM and UMTS.

With DT Troubleshooter, you can diagnose complex issues fasterthan ever, in these easy steps:

Load the data

Identify and prioritize the issues

Diagnose the problem and confirm the resolution

Load the data

Configure event recognition thresholds

Load multiple logfiles simultaneously

Select/deselect logfiles and individual handsets as required

Loading and selecting handset data


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Identify and prioritize the issues using the DashboardThe unique design of the DT Troubleshooter Dashboard displays

aggregated information from the loaded data. The Dashboardhighlights and summarizes:

Critical & important issues

Events and design quality

Cell data

Example UMTS Dashboard


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Diagnose the cause and confirm problem resolutionWith one click from the Dashboard, you can drill down into thedata set. Follow the issues through to an analysis page providing a

diagnosis table for each offending device.

Clicking on a particular device provides a more detailed diagnosis.Appropriate data views are also opened to let you review the

diagnosis.

Example showing GSM Dropped Calls diagnostic views


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Changes to the User Interface

Attribute Explorer

The Workspace Explorer window has been renamedAttributeExplorerand is now only available on startup through particular

engineering processes.

However, you can open the Attribute Explorer at any time byselecting Display Attribute Explorer from the View menu, or by

clicking the Attribute Explorer icon from the main toolbar:

Replay control moved to main toolbar

Click on the Step buttons to move forwards and backwards by onemessage at a time. Note that several clicks may be required before

any change is visible on the Map, depending on the binning

settings.

Click on the Play buttons to move at a selectable multiple of real-

time speed through the data. In this case, some messages may be

dropped as necessary to allow the data to be highlighted at the setspeed. The Select Options button allows you to override this and

force the Replay control to Play All Messages.


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4Known Issues

Maps

Cannot create cellrefs if directory nonexistent

A default CellRefs file is not created if the directory path specifiedin the Preferences dialog is wrong.

ReplayReplay loses selected stream when preferences are changed

Using Analyzer Classic view, use the Preferences dialog to changeany setting (for example, Load Time Filtering from On to Off).

Note that the Replay control on the main toolbar does notautomatically select a stream.

DT Troubleshooter Pages

No cell info available when displaying Map with UMTS cellrefs

on French Windows 2000

Voice Event Navigator causes an internal error. Currently, no cell

information is available when displaying Map with UMTS cellrefs

on French Windows 2000 OS.

Note: The Cellref file has been modified to take into account theOS preference for commas instead of decimal points in latitude &

longitude references.

CDMA Dashboard

The top ten table at the bottom of the Dashboard might not show

some dropped calls that would otherwise be reflected in the

Critical Issues section.


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Forward button can be used misleadingly

The 'forward' button at the top of the Troubleshooter page can be

used to display old pages that do not reflect current selections.

This button will probably be removed in a future version.

Attribute Explorer

Load time increases with multiple Attribute Explorers

Load time increases when opening a workspace with multiple

Attribute Explorers, so if you experience this, simply reduce thenumber of Attribute Explorer windows open if possible.

Only one set of search fields with multiple Attribute Explorers

If you have more than one Attribute Explorer window open,selecting Tools, Find Attribute only provides search fields for the

first Attribute Explorer window.

Redraw fails in some high resolutions

On high screen resolutions when first displaying, the Attribute

Explorer does not redraw correctly on some occasions. This can be

corrected by resizing the Attribute Explorer.

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