Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE: TER) Broadband Test Division today announced that TELUS Corporation (TSE: T and T.A / NYSE: TU) has placed an order for NetFlare, Teradyne's new Internet test system designed to reduce network operations call center costs by identifying the owner of broadband service connectivity and performance problems. NetFlare uses patent pending techniques to provide fast, accurate identification of the owner of a broadband Internet service problem. Guided by easy to understand web interfaces, a consumer experiencing a service performance problem works interactively with network operations center operators to resolve a problem, often in two minutes or less. NetFlare reduces average call handling time by 40% to 60% on performance and connectivity related calls versus current methods and improves overall consumer satisfaction with broadband service. NetFlare is comprised of test probes installed in strategic points of the network and requires no client software installed on the consumer's PC.
"NetFlare will not only allow us to reduce call handling time and network operations center costs, but we can also improve the quality of service by providing the customer with reliable information quickly," says Winnie Lai-Fong, Manager of Service Architecture, TELUS. "NetFlare clearly shows the location and provides the relevant customer information for Internet performance problems, saving time for TELUS and our customers."
TELUS invested in NetFlare only after putting it through extensive technology and operational trials to prove its accuracy and simple integration into a multiple network operations center environment to demonstrate operational capability and confirm value. The system was tested against a range of thirteen different call types including "I can't connect to my always on service", "My service is slow", and "I can't send/receive e-mail." In each case network operations center operators dramatically reduced the amount of time spent on the call while increasing the consumer's satisfaction and confidence in the resulting action. Deployment will start immediately and is expected to be network-wide by fall. "In the evaluation, we used NetFlare in our Tier 1 and Tier 2 Network Operations Centers on a daily basis," says Glenn Rivett, Advanced Internet Operations Support Manager. "NetFlare changes the way we troubleshoot high-speed calls and provided a dramatic improvement in speed and accuracy of information available while the customer is on the line. NetFlare met all of our business case performance targets."
Joe Notaro, NetFlare Account Manager, noted that, "one of the major benefits seen by the network call center operators was the ability of NetFlare to simultaneously display the test results to the consumer and operator. This greatly reduced the amount of work required to isolate the network trouble by making the explanation and discussions of next steps much more efficient."
TELUS will immediately begin to use NetFlare to support over 100,000 broadband Internet subscribers. NetFlare information helps TELUS increase the productivity and quality standards of the network operations center by:
--Reducing Performance Call Handling Time at Tier 1 and Tier 2: Within two minutes, the network operations center operator is presented with the jurisdiction of the reported problem and a recommended action statement to either close the call, escalate, or route to repair. By rapidly identifying performance problems in the network, network operations center technicians do not have to lead the subscriber in performing complicated technical tests to isolate problems. Trial results at TELUS indicated that NetFlare reduced average call handling time in Tier 1 and Tier 2 by 65% on performance and connectivity related calls.
--Increasing `one-touches' by reducing trouble escalations to the back-office: Tier 1 or front-office network operations center representatives are given access and visibility of information allowing them to close calls at point of reception. This reduces the overall technical skill-level required to support broadband services. Handoffs and escalations to Tier 2 are reduced by 30%.
According to Wayne Lasson, general manager of Teradyne's Broadband Test Division, "Through our work with TELUS on the NetFlare system we have shown a detailed and verifiable positive impact on the Network Operations Center work process and key performance measures. NetFlare allows service providers to quickly determine whether the problem is in the access network, ISP network, Internet backbone, or destination website. With this, NetFlare technology enables providers to provide better service to their subscribers in the broadband market. With NetFlare, service providers can differentiate on Quality of Service."
"NetFlare was able to be installed and available to a large body of users very quickly." says Beau Jon Sackett, Service Architect . NetFlare is a server based analysis system, comprised of Internet Diagnostic Units (IDU) installed at strategically selected points in the network and a NetFlare Resource Broker (NRB) at a central location. This system architecture does not require any software at the subscriber's PC and therefore provides common access to the analysis system at installation. Furthermore, because of its unique centralized configuration, NetFlare does not require equipment or configuration work to be done at the DSLAM.
"The time from the decision to begin a trial to having convincing operational results on a network of millions of lines was about eight weeks," says Bruce Collins, NetFlare product manager. "This time includes performing a business case analysis of call distribution and impact analysis, as well as training the Network operations center users and installing the system - all without disrupting TELUS' current operations. It will now take approximately six weeks to train all of the network operations center users and deploy the system network wide."
About TELUS:
TELUS Corporation (TSE: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is one of Canada's leading telecommunications companies, providing a full range of telecommunications products and services that connect Canadians to the world. The company is the leading service provider in Western Canada and provides data, Internet Protocol, voice and wireless services to Central and Eastern Canada. For more information about TELUS, visit www.telus.com.
About Teradyne
Teradyne (NYSE:TER) is the world's largest supplier of automatic test equipment and is also a leading supplier of high performance interconnection systems. Teradyne's test products are used by manufacturers of semiconductors, circuit assemblies and voice and broadband telephone networks. Teradyne's backplane assemblies and high-density connectors are used by manufacturers of communications and computing systems central to building networking infrastructure. The company had sales of $3 billion in 2000 and currently employs about 9000 people worldwide. For more information visit www.teradyne.com.
About Teradyne Broadband Test Division:
Teradyne Broadband Test develops state-of-the-art-testing capabilities that support service provider's goals to sell and deploy more services sooner and improve the efficiency of qualification, provisioning, and customer care. Teradyne's eight years of internet protocol testing experience enhances its 28 years experience in providing test systems that support voice customer care for over 110 million voice lines worldwide. For more information on Teradyne's Broadband Test Products, visit Teradyne at: http://www.teradyne.com/prods/btd/
“NetFlare clearly shows the location and provides the relevant customer information for Internet performance problems, saving time for TELUS and our customers.”
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