Managing Service Level Quality: Across Wireless and Fixed Networks

QoS (Quality of Service) and Network Management are old topics. However, the fusion of IP style multimedia and wireless networks (3G) means that network managers who might previously have dealt with one or the other, must now manage and provide service guarantees for the both. This is where Managing Service Level Quality across Wireless and Fixed Networks steps in.

It begins by examining the mechanisms that already existed in fixed IP data networks prior to the introduction of probe and agent technology. A look at these later developments is then supplemented with a real-world scenario of how real time application performance monitoring can not only provide service level management but can also aid in root cause analysis.

This same model is then applied to a wireless environment examining which elements are required to be able to deliver multimedia services across 2nd and 3rd generation mobile networks, detailing the components of data networking that will assist in guaranteeing service level performance and the constraints placed on those guarantees when passing services over an air interface to a wireless-enabled device.

It asks a simple question: will multimedia applications and the guaranteed levels of service required by them work when traversing from fixed to wireless networks?
It tracks QoS components and mechanisms of both environments and looks at what will provide the glue in this brave new converged world and also provides empirical data to back up the conclusions drawn.

• First book available which applies QoS techniques and technologies to wireless/mobile networks 3G/UMTS
• Deals with the search for the real time information that constitutes the "customer experience" in terms of application performance so that service levels can be verified against measurable and relevant data in a true end-to-end manner across both fixed and wireless networks
• Presents probe and agent technology
• Features a real-world scenario of how real time application performance monitoring can not only provide service level management but can also aid in root cause analysis - this will be of particular interest to practitioner
• Analyses which elements are required in order to deliver multimedia services across 2nd and 3rd generation mobile networks
• Details the components of data networking that will assist in guaranteeing service level performance

Essential reading for Wireless and IP data network professionals/practitioners, network managers and architects, technical consultants, quality assessment engineers, infrastructure vendors, application developers, portal designers, wireline operators, lecturers, postgraduates, senior undergraduate students and industry trainees.

Peter Massam has more than 18 years IT experience spanning mobile, carrier, enterprise, retail, government and education markets, mostly in the area of end-to-end management of voice and data networks, including 3G wireless multi-service networks
.He has put many of the features of the book into practice in the wireless space with mFormation Technologies (a leader in wireless 'cradle to grave' device management) where as Service Quality Management director he is responsible for the strategy, roadmap and product management for the Customer Experience product, which has been successfully integrated into an industry-leading OSS system.
At 3 (Hutchison 3G Ltd), Peter headed up the Service Assurance function, creating a strong foundation of service quality standards across 110 suppliers, introducing customer and network quality improvement programmes, producing a complete ROI business case for a Business Markets product based around customer experience monitoring and delivering comprehensive board-level business metrics
.Prior to that, he was responsible for the strategy, design and implementation of a unique global Service Level Management solution at Nortel Networks, which led to the development of a new managed service. Having previously technologies ranging from Helpdesk through to back-end servers, he has developed extensive expertise in business, customer and operational service management requirements.
Peter has also authored a book entitled Managing Service Level Quality across Wireless and Fixed Networks, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2003 ISBN 0-470-84848-0 that discussed the elements that enable management of service quality in both IP and Wireless networks, with a real world implementation example. He has also published a paper entitled 'A Decent Service Level', IEE Communications Engineer, June 2003 that illustrated an innovative method of maintaining service quality across multiple operator domains using today’s technologies.
Peter is an Arts graduate from Durham University and received a distinction in his MSc in Professional Computing from Staffordshire University in July 2003.