Tektronix Communications Partners with Groundhog Technologies to Solve Radio Access Network Challenges

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Tektronix Communications, a leading worldwide leader in Network Intelligence and communications test solutions, today announced an innovative geolocation monitoring application as part of its OptiMon suite.  With this addition, Tektronix Communications provides operators with unprecedented deep-dive analysis that correlates all related radio and subscriber-level information into a single geo-located view in just a few mouse-clicks.  This unique combination of expertise and ease-of-use will drastically improve Operator's approach to fault isolation for RAN Optimization.

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With ongoing pressures to maintain Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), operators must avoid the guesswork involved in isolating issues in order to reduce their mean time to repair (MTTR).  As a result, a more accurate understanding of the radio network's performance allows operators to react more quickly and eliminate any lengthy trial and error troubleshooting procedures.  For example, having the accuracy to delineate between indoor or outdoor signal qualities can be the difference between proactively solving an issue BEFORE the subscriber is impacted vs. receiving a subscriber complaint that can lead to customer churn.

"There are many reasons for subscribers to experience poor service quality," said Richard Kenedi, Vice President, Test & Optimization, Tektronix Communications. "But with accurate data, issues can be quickly resolved.  This innovative geolocation solution accurately pinpoints poor user experience with high geographical resolution through the patented technology from Groundhog Technologies.   This not only gives operators quicker resolution time, but will contribute to improving subscriber satisfaction."

Developed by Groundhog Technologies, the geolocation application incorporates Google Earth 3D visualization, which enhances operators' analytical capability on the geographical map. Integrated with OptiMon analysis capability, this combined, innovative application provides operators with the detailed information of dropped calls as well as the location and cell site in which the call was dropped.

A solution built for Network Performance & Optimization teams, the OptiMon solution's rich set of parameters are essential in all critical service stages from network roll out to network upgrades.  This includes future-proofing LTE centralized optimization SON use cases.

Other application examples and features include:

• Drop Call Visualization: Provides visualization of drop call severity on map and filtering by selecting the required regions to be displayed for analysis.
• Cell Statistics: Allows engineers to determine quality of the network based on actual traffic and drop call rates.
• Cause of Drop Call: Helps engineers identify root cause of network issues for troubleshooting.
• Cell Level Drop Call Analysis: Facilitates classification of cell coverage quality by analyzing drop call types and prioritizing sites for optimization.

"Tektronix Communications and Groundhog Technologies have combined strength with revolutionary technology for solving radio access network challenges," said David Chiou, CEO, Groundhog Technologies. "With this collaboration, we developed a solution that provides over 90 percent  accuracy for indoor coverage analysis – the highest available – for immediate deployment, which will exceed operator's demands for network test and optimization and ultimately assure a reduction in subscriber churn."

The OptiMon Suite and CovMo, the new Coverage Optimization application, will be available for demonstrations at the Tektronix Communications booth (1D59) from February 14-17 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

About Tektronix Communications

Tektronix Communications provides service providers and equipment manufacturers around the world an unparalleled suite of network diagnostics and service assurance solutions for fixed, mobile, IP and converged multi-service networks. This comprehensive set of solutions support a range of architectures and applications such as LTE, fixed mobile convergence, IMS, broadband wireless access, WiMAX, VoIP and triple play. Tektronix Communications is headquartered in Plano, Texas. Learn more about the company's test, measurement and service assurance solutions by visiting www.tektronixcommunications.com

About Groundhog Technologies

Groundhog Technologies is a spin-off from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and offers advanced solutions for geolocation, capacity planning and network optimization. We invented a series of mathematical modeling technology that calculates subscribers' mobility and usage behavior as the basis for analyzing network bottlenecks and providing solutions in different stages of network growth. With the technology, Groundhog Technologies helps operators significantly reduce network risk and improve ROI, by knowing when, where, how, and what network elements to optimize and expand. www.ghtinc.com

Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

SOURCE Tektronix Communications