As part of its effort to upgrade its triple play services, Germany-based cable operator Kabel Deutschland (KDG) has deployed Camiant's Multimedia Policy Engine (MPE), a real time network policy and management tool.

 

KDG, which operates cable networks in 13 German states serving about 9 million households, selected the tool to enable smooth migration for customers upgrading from legacy services to its new "HomeBox" SIP-based voice, wireless surfing and digital file storage offerings. “HomeBox” is an IP voice and data home gateway.

 

Camiant's (News - Alert) Policy Control Server is compliant with 3GPP's Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) specifications, including those elements adopted as part of CableLabs (News - Alert) PacketCable 2.0 standards. It provides real-time intelligence and management of network resources.

KDG will use this tool to assure the proper bandwidth and latency treatment for new services, including VoIP phone service. Featuring a built-in SIP client, the HomeBox provides up to 10 analog and ISDN voice lines as well as wireless LAN services and USB-based external storage.

Rolling out new IP-based services is a challenge for any cable operator: Very often there is no way to tell for sure how many customers will use the new services – and to what degree. For example, you might roll out VoIP phone service and find that it’s a huge hit. But if you can’t properly manage network bandwidth during this critical transition, service quality could erode, leading to customer complaints and ultimately, churn.

 

KDG used systems integrator Dimension Data for implementation. Dimension Data managed the handover from engineering to operations and continues to provide ongoing support for the solution out of its global service center.

"We selected Camiant's MPE and Dimension Data as it was the most advanced technology and service solution for the immediate and future needs of our next generation network environment," said Nicolai Boke, head of engineering operation support systems and value added service for Kabel Deutschland, in a release. "As we continue to rollout exciting new applications, it is imperative that we manage our network with real-time intelligence so that we can continue to deliver the excellence of service our customers expect."

 

Camiant made news on TMCnet a few days ago when it announced support for Long Term Evolution (LTE (News - Alert))-based mobile networks with the latest release of its MPE software. The company’s policy platform is the first to support the new requirements defined in Release 8 of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project standards. The new, LTE-capable PCRF will be used in commercial deployments starting next year.