Swisscom Mobile Completes Deployment of Inet's GSM Monitoring Solution

Inet Technologies, Inc. today announced the successful deployment of GeoProbe in Swisscom Mobile's GSM network. Inet's GeoProbe monitoring system that provides total signaling network visibility now spans Swisscom's national network as well as those signaling links that connect to international carriers. GeoProbe's scalability will also allow the solution to grow with Swisscom's rapidly developing network.

"With more than 230 international roaming agreements with 110 countries, and a network that continues to increase in size and reach, Swisscom Mobile faces some distinct surveillance challenges in ensuring that our network, as well as connections to international partners' networks, are running at peak performance," said Stephane Montandon, Head of Roaming & Signaling Operations, Swisscom Mobile's Engineering & Operations Department. "Swisscom purchased GeoProbe primarily to optimize customer satisfaction by giving us the resources to quickly investigate and resolve subscriber-reported problems. We have successfully utilized the GeoProbe system for this purpose and have greatly reduced the time required to resolve customer issues."

Since employing the system, Swisscom has found that GeoProbe is also valuable in other vital areas of their business, such as network provisioning and validation of roaming agreements. GeoProbe's powerful network planning tools have allowed Swisscom network engineers to determine the portions of the network that require greater capacity.

"The GeoProbe has proven to be an excellent tool for the purpose of efficiently growing our network," said Montandon. "The instant library of knowledge that comes from GeoProbe's total network visibility has helped us to make more informed, confident business decisions. Without a system like GeoProbe, we would have to collect information from many different types of equipment, each made by different vendors, in order to see the entire picture of the network. The GeoProbe offers us the convenience of collecting all of this information in real time using a single platform."

As Swisscom enters into new roaming agreements, GeoProbe is instrumental in establishing and validating the signaling between Swisscom's network and these new carriers. "As new carrier agreements are made, it is of utmost importance that the service to the customer is known and proven," said Montandon. "GeoProbe's continuous monitoring of every network link and analysis of every message provides us with such proof."

The physical aspect of a GSM network poses significant challenges to monitoring the entire network end-to-end. With a diversified connectivity structure unlike any other network system, there are intricacies and components of GSM that must be addressed in order to get the "full picture." Because the GeoProbe system continuously monitors each individual signaling link, analyzing every message and reconstructing every transaction within the network, it is a surveillance solution that truly provides an all-inclusive, comprehensive examination of a carrier's entire GSM network.

Fifty-one percent of the wireless subscriber base in 1999 used GSM networks, as stated in a Yankee Group study. "Our proven GSM monitoring solution strengthens our market leadership position as we move forward in penetrating this vast and growing global GSM marketplace," said Elie Akilian, Inet's president and chief executive officer. "Carriers benefit through more comprehensive and widespread coverage and increased visibility into their customers' experiences."