MetaSolv Software, Inc., a global leader in comprehensive operations support system solutions for next-generation communications service providers, today announced the introduction of MetaSolv Configuration Management, a new product offering designed to enable the consolidation of network control operations for next-generation multi-vendor networks.

The ongoing transformation to next-generation networks is pushing service intelligence to the edge, resulting in rapidly growing networks in terms of both size and diversity. This imposes increased proactive configuration management requirements on service providers and large enterprises as they seek to efficiently manage both high volumes and increased frequency and complexity of network configurations. Configuration control is at the heart of service provider operational concerns as they look to implement carrier-grade methodologies with centralized management, to obtain increased network-wide configuration quality and accuracy.

“Legacy OSS software was designed in the days when networks were confined to vertical stacks – a DSL network over here and an ATM network over there. But today’s networks are so muddled with multi-vendor flavors of overlapping technologies, such as 2G and 3G, that carriers are crying out for more integrated OSSs,” says Dan Baker, Research Director, OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase of Dittberner Associates. “It’s good to see a capable supplier like MetaSolv attacking this complex configuration problem head on.”

MetaSolv Configuration Management supports the ability to optimize and centralize the network control operations for multi-vendor networks, and implement automated, proactive and consistent configuration management practices. Key product capabilities include:
– Network Discovery – capture network element information, manage, and organize network elements into networks and sub-networks with customer or geographical organization.
– Configuration Archiving and Versioning – maintain records of historical configuration versions for change tracking, configuration troubleshooting and emergency re-build of the network elements. Perform intelligent network element software restoration with any selected network archive version using the product or using standard Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) to obtain the latest archived configuration.
– Configuration Auditing and Compliance Management – quickly identify configuration changes between archived versions and/or with the running configuration using a highly intuitive visual audit diagnostic environment. Operators can then invoke automated configuration compliance auditing across the network to validate configuration consistency and accuracy, and identify any abnormality on a recurring basis.
– Configuration Activation – provide efficient and flexible configuration templating to network operations, enabling highly consistent configuration implementations based on pre-defined network engineering guidelines, including easy and rapid configuration modeling and effective configuration template versioning management.

MetaSolv Configuration Management can be deployed either in a stand-alone environment or in conjunction with MetaSolv’s industry-leading Activation platform, further enabling operators to manage the configuration and activation lifecycle of their entire next-generation network. This combination enables highly automated and sophisticated activation of services and provides extensive network-wide control over the entire network element configuration.

Generally available in the third quarter and already selected by a large Tier-1 service provider to manage the configuration of its growing international multi-vendor IP network, MetaSolv Configuration Management delivers exceptional value. This product complements MetaSolv’s extensive service fulfillment portfolio by providing the ability to manage and control the entire configuration of network devices. Key product differentiators include:
Real-Time – MetaSolv Configuration Management is aware of what the network configuration should be, and allows intelligent network element restoration without any service order loss. Traditional configuration management systems typically restore to the last backed-up version which is normally obsolete. MetaSolv’s real-time capability provides the accurate view of what the network configuration should be at any given time, enabling the operator to provide optimal service quality and eliminating any potential lost service requests.
– Service-Aware – MetaSolv Configuration Management allows very sophisticated management of dynamic service configurations, in addition to the static base element configuration. MetaSolv provides a dynamic service view as opposed to “flat management” of the configuration.
– Intelligent Compliance – MetaSolv Configuration Management provides highly flexible network-wide auditing and reporting of detailed network configuration data, as opposed to tools that only validate data structures, which are generally not sufficiently representative of the configuration accuracy.

“MetaSolv’s new Configuration Management offering addresses an important gap in service providers’ operational environments,” said David Sharpley, executive vice president, marketing and product management, MetaSolv. “MetaSolv’s Configuration Management enables service providers to increase operational efficiency, decrease operational costs and enhance overall service quality. This new product provides differentiated configuration management functionality with the carrier-grade performance and scalability required by operators.”

About MetaSolv
MetaSolv, Inc. (Nasdaq:MSLV) is a global leader in comprehensive operations support system solutions for next-generation communications service providers. MetaSolv automates the order-to-activate provisioning process for traditional and next-generation IP-based wireline and mobile service providers. MetaSolv’s multi-service, multi-technology capabilities include order management, inventory management, service activation and network mediation. More than 170 global service providers – including Brasil Telecom, BT, Cable & Wireless, O2, Singtel, Sprint, Telstra, T-Mobile, UPC, Verizon Dominicana, and Vodafone – use MetaSolv’s solutions to achieve increased revenues, reduced costs, and enhanced customer service. MetaSolv is a global company, headquartered in Plano, Texas. Visit www.metasolv.com for more information.