Ericsson said it completed the first commercial deployment of its new unified network management system for next generation networks, with a rollout covering Swisscom's LTE (4G) infrastructure.
Ericsson's Network Manager (ENM) offers operators a common view of network resources and services, the company explained in a statement announcing the rollout. The vendor said the first commercial deployment of ENM clears the way for it to offer the same functionality to all of its LTE customers in 2016.
Benefits of the system include the ability to upgrade network nodes without the need to also make changes to the ENM. The cloud-based network management system also provides a common view of network resources and services across multiple network technologies, and a virtual network function manager. The system also offers advanced analytics, optimisation and automation applications.
Patrick Weibel, senior architect wireless at Swisscom, said the operator will act as a test-bed for Ericsson's system. "We have chosen to adopt Ericsson Network Manager early to provide feedback on its functional development and also leverage the Ericsson Network Manager's capabilities that are critical to our network and operational transformation," he explained.
For Ericsson, deploying the ENM in a commercial LTE network is a "milestone" Jan Häglund, head of product area Network Analytics and Control at Ericsson, said.
"Ericsson Network Manager is a great example of how Ericsson's technology leadership can help operators transform and thrive, both in this advanced market and globally," Häglund added.
Such advanced network control will be essential to meet growing data traffic in Europe and beyond. Häglund pointed to Ericsson Mobility Report predictions that mobile data traffic in Western Europe alone "will grow nine times between 2015 and 2021".
While Swisscom will be the first operator to provide feedback on the Ericsson network management system, the company said its other customers are also keen to deploy the set-up early so they can influence the functional development of the system, and enhance their network domain operations and workflows.
For more:
- see this Ericsson announcement
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