Managing end user experience in the era of COVID-19: active monitoring of DSL networks for faster troubleshooting and lower operations costs

Get the most out of your legacy network with active performance monitoring and increase customer satisfaction

Active, or synthetic, network monitoring has evolved considerably in just a few years. As a result, performance visibility of older networks is becoming more difficult to obtain. Network complexity has increased due to large-scale networks, multi-vendor networks, and incoherent monitoring capabilities, to name a few. Standard performance monitoring on older network equipment doesn’t provide the required visibility for such large-scale networks.

Adding more advanced active monitoring reduces the time required for trouble ticket investigation and reduces the number of truck rolls required to investigate issues in the field. However, adding active monitoring capabilities to mature networks need to deliver faster reporting, more granular PM, and better network visibility, all at a cost that makes sense.

Using the Skylight sensor SFP compute, you can add active monitoring instrumentation to legacy networks and benefit from:

• Enhanced active monitoring measurements down to the millisecond level
• Faster reporting intervals (one second intervals)
• Enhanced delay measurement accuracy at the microsecond level
• Consistent monitoring across multi-vendor networks
• No change in network service provisioning
• No major hardware changes
• No impact on legacy network element performance

Active monitoring: efficient troubleshooting and a better DSL broadband experience

Let’s look at a typical DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) network that can improve performance and customer experience with advanced active performance monitoring.

How does it work? Skylight sensor SFP compute can be inserted in any Ethernet segment in the network. The SFP can be inserted either inline (replacing existing standard SFP) or out of line. Both cases have pros and cons.

The major advantage of inline is the ability to actively measure customer traffic bandwidth and more accurately understand the customer experience.

The out-of-line scenario provides an alternative when the segment isn’t a pure Ethernet link. An out-of-line SFP compute can inject active performance measurements and segment the network. For example, the SFP compute sensor could be inserted in the DSLAM network element, or the Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS, the Internet router). SFP compute can also be inserted into multi-vendor equipment which delivers consistent active monitoring and performance results across the network.

Accedian Skylight active monitoring supports daily operations challenges

For faster resolution of customer trouble tickets, Accedian Skylight validates network issues from the DSLAM Ethernet port up to the Internet router. Before dispatching a technician in the field, some investigation can be performed to identify the root cause and save on the costs of an unnecessary truck roll.

With Accedian Skylight, it’s possible to enhance active monitoring with metadata, e.g., a physical location, for troubleshooting and detecting anomalies. In the DSLAM network example, users can add the physical location manually or automatically by adding LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol) neighbor inventory into the metadata. This brings immediate visibility on failure location and its impact on multiple service calls.

Accedian Skylight provides an efficient cost-effective solution to instrument legacy networks with enhanced active monitoring to increase performance and customer satisfaction. The solution self-finances by reducing costs related to troubleshooting time, preventing unnecessary truck rolls, and reducing customer churn.

Are customers unhappy about dropped calls or poor quality voice and video conferencing? Skylight active monitoring detects those hidden microbursts with granular millisecond sampling and proven ROI.