August 9, 2010, Washington, DC – The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) today announced its Technology and Operations Council has completed a 12 month study of the issues associated with the industry’s fragmented approach towards Policy Management.
Knowing that data volumes will continue to grow, many service providers have concluded that it is unrealistic to focus exclusively on deploying additional capacity to address this problem. Further, to provide a consistent end-to-end user experience, different networks must manage policy with coordinated, synchronized solutions. As such, Policy Management tools have been identified as a means of achieving greater network efficiency, and maximizing installed network capacity.
The report makes Policy Management recommendations in three broad categories: Interworking, Convergence, and Functional Enhancements. Policy Interworking was identified as the top priority, and addresses mapping between other organizations’ ongoing policy activities; Convergence was identified as an important objective that required further, more granular, study. Additional Functional Enhancements were also identified and long-term, coordinated, standardization plans were subsequently developed.
The Policy Management Focus Group was Chaired by GENBAND’s Chief Technology Officer, Fred Kemmerer, and was comprised of the following companies: Alcatel Lucent, AT&T, Cisco, GENBAND, HP, Huawei, Juniper, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Qwest and Verizon.
“Policy Management is emerging as a key enabler to enhance the network with functionalities like DPI and QoS” said Fred Kemmerer. “Going forward, GENBAND believes that Policy Management functions will act as a key differentiator, and play an important role in the industry’s competitive environment.”
“Innovative solutions are necessary as networks – and users’ – expectations continue to evolve,” said Susan Miller, ATIS’ President and CEO. “This assessment and recommendation document addresses a marketplace reality and provides quickly implementable and creative solutions to manage data traffic’s continued growth.”
ATIS has also scheduled a Policy Management Webinar, titled “Policy Management – Toward a Common Architecture Framework,” for September 30th from 1:30-2:30pm ET. The Webinar, sponsored by GENBAND, will be Moderated by Fierce Telecom’s Senior Editor Sean Buckley, and feature panelists: Naseem Khan, Principal Member of the Technical Staff, Verizon, and Fred Kemmerer, CTO, GENBAND. More information is available at www.atis.org.
About the TOPS Council
Established in 2001, the ATIS Technology and Operations (TOPS) Council is a standing committee of the ATIS Board of Directors. The TOPS Council identifies the industry’s most pressing technical and operational priorities, and coordinates standardization efforts across the industry to produce interoperable, implementable, end-to-end solutions.
The TOPS Council provides a platform to explore and advance technical and operational initiatives tendered by ATIS Members. The TOPS Council provides guidance and leadership to the ATIS Membership on matters of strategic importance. Participation on the TOPS Council shall be open to all interested Directors.
About ATIS
ATIS is the leading technical planning and standards development organization committed to the rapid development of global, market-driven standards for the information, entertainment and communications industry. More than 250 companies actively formulate standards in ATIS’ 18 Committees, covering issues including: IPTV, Service Oriented Networks, Energy Efficiency, IP-Based and Wireless Technologies, Quality of Service, Billing and Operational Support. In addition, numerous Incubators, Focus and Exploratory Groups address emerging industry priorities including “Green”, IP Downloadable Security, Next Generation Carrier Interconnect, IPv6 and Convergence.
ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a member and major U.S. contributor to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio and Telecommunications’ Sectors, and a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). For more information, please visit www.atis.org.
