SASKATCHEWAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS (SASKTEL) Upgrades to EMC Watch4net at less than half the cost of alternatives

ESSENTIALS Industry

Telecommunications services

Challenges

• Fragmented views of network performance

• Older legacy management system was time-

consuming and costly to maintain

• Ensure continuity in reporting tools during

evolution from older to newer technologies

(circuit-switched to packet-switched)

Solution

• Watch4net was initially deployed in two

weeks and is now expanding into more

areas

• Radio access network (RAN) and core

network reporting each up in a week

• Frequency of reporting capability increased

from monthly to every five minutes

Business Benefits

• CAPEX for Watch4net was less than half the

cost of alternatives (including InfoVista)

• Much improved ability to monitor the

customer experience

• A solid platform for future growth

ABOUT SASKTEL SaskTel is the leading full-service communications provider in

Saskatchewan, Canada, with $1.15 billion in annual revenue and more

than 1.4 million customer connections. SaskTel offers a wide range of

communications products and services including voice, data, Internet,

entertainment, messaging, security, cellular, wireless data and directory

services.

SaskTel’s HSPA+ wireless network, built and powered by SaskTel, is

classified as 4G. SaskTel is continuing its march toward long-term

evolution (LTE) by evolving its wireless network to Dual Cell HSPA+ (DC-

HSPA).

BUSINESS CHALLENGES SaskTel’s infrastructure includes a core network and a radio access

network (RAN) with routers and switches from Cisco and Juniper as well as

other systems from Nokia and Huawei. SaskTel is also in the process of

rolling out new Alcatel/Lucent equipment to support fibre-to-the-home.

Until February 2012, SaskTel was operating an older, heavy OSS

management solution with a high administrative burden. Most importantly,

the system could not easily accommodate newer technologies. For

performance reporting, SaskTel was relying on the Huawei element

management system in the RAN and Nokia in the core network. Syslog

parsers provided performance metrics for CDMA systems. SNMP polling

was in place across all sites. However, there was no single window

providing end-to-end visibility, making it difficult and time-consuming to

stay on top of performance trends and quality of service (QoS) issues.

With continued deployment of 4G and other leading-edge technologies at

the heart of SaskTel’s strategic plan, the company did not want to face the

prospect of discontinuity in performance reporting each time they added

something new to the network. The company decided to seek out a

performance monitoring and reporting solution that could give then end-

to-end visibility now and also carry them into the future.

EVALUATION AND SELECTION SaskTel issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to replace the older,

cumbersome OSS management platform. Several vendors responded,

including EMC Watch4net® and InfoVista. After careful evaluation of the

CUSTOMER PROFILE

cost of software license fees, maintenance and administration, SaskTel concluded that

Watch4net was less than half the cost of competing alternatives – and it delivered a

much more flexible architecture than other solutions, ensuring that SaskTel would be

able to accommodate its future needs.

IMPLEMENTATION Watch4net was deployed in about two weeks. SaskTel started seeing reports on the

first day. Full reports in the RAN were obtained in a week; the timeframe was about

the same for reporting in the core network. Existing systems continued operating as

normal during the implementation, and no performance data was lost during the

transition.

“Our existing performance management solution had become too expensive to maintain, so we decided to evaluate more cost-effective alternatives.”

”We also needed a solution that could carry us into the future. Watch4net was the best choice without a doubt.”

Chad Sawatzky, Planner OSS and Business Processes, SaskTel

IT IMPROVEMENTS

SaskTel now has full visibility across the entire network from one console. The

administrative burden of Watch4net is far, far less than the previous legacy OSS

system; two Red Hat certified technicians share the responsibility for running

Watch4net.

Watch4net’s flexible and intuitive reporting features have drastically reduced the

learning curve for performance reporting when on-boarding new technologies.

Within days of deployment, Watch4net paid for itself by providing reports on network

traffic at more frequent intervals (up to every five minutes) whereas the previous

solution was only providing reports on a monthly basis. “Just on the basis of the

reporting alone, Watch4net has already paid for itself,” notes Chad Sawatzky.

As of March 2012, SaskTel is in the process of rolling out Watch4net to more groups

within the organization.

LOOKING AHEAD SaskTel views Watch4net as an important building block in moving toward LTE.

Focusing on the customer experience is key to remaining competitive as SaskTel

introduces new and enhanced services. Because capacity, latency and QoS will be a

challenge in 4G environments, monitoring will be critical to ensuring the best possible

service to customers.

“Deploying Watch4net affrims our commitment to providing our customers with the most advanced and reliable network service available.”

Ron Styles, CEO , SaskTel

CONTACT US To learn more about how EMC products, services, and solutions can help solve your business and IT challenges, contact your local

representative or authorized reseller—or visit us at www.EMC.com.

EMC2, EMC, the EMC logo, Watch4net are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. VMware are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc., in the United States and other jurisdictions. © Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA. 08/12 Customer Profile H10966.1 EMC believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.