(Accedian Networks') EtherNEWS Blog

Integrated service monitoring and performance management lets SureWest meet the needs of wireless operators with high quality backhaul services.

June 23, 2010, Light Reading Mobile Strategy Conference New York – Accedian Networks, the market-leading developer of Carrier Ethernet Performance Assurance Network Interface Devices (NIDs) and service management solutions, today announced that SureWest Communications (NASDAQ: SURW) is deploying Accedian Network’s Performance Assurance Platform to ensure high quality service delivery for its Wireless Carrier Backhaul Ethernet-based mobile backhaul service.

SureWest conducted an extensive evaluation of performance monitoring solutions before selecting the Accedian MetroNID® for integration into the network. “The Accedian solution provided us the best performance assurance system to meet our customers’ needs,” said Ken Johnson, SureWest’s Vice President and General Manager of Operations. “We chose a solution that enables us to deliver the highest quality mobile backhaul services to our wireless operator customers. But we also selected one that we can seamlessly integrate across our entire Carrier Ethernet service portfolio, and the Accedian Performance Assurance Platform gives us that flexibility.”

The explosive growth of smart phones and mobile broadband devices, coupled with the deployment of next generation mobile broadband applications, is creating a demand for bandwidth that simply cannot be met using the legacy mobile backhaul networks. Existing wireless backhaul networks originally designed for voice have a typical capacity of 1-3 Megabits per cell site and do not accommodate the onslaught of broadband data traffic, where mobile operators are seeing demand for 10-50 Megabits per cell site. SureWest’s fiber- and Ethernet-based networks in both the greater Sacramento and Kansas City regions are more than sufficient to meet this demand.

SureWest’s Wireless Carrier Backhaul is an Ethernet-based service that provides the capacity and performance needed for wireless operators to effectively deliver mobile broadband services. Delivering Ethernet mobile backhaul services can be challenging as the mobile network demands precise service quality. Monitoring latency, packet delay variation, packet loss and availability of mobile backhaul services is critical to successfully meeting the wireless operators’ needs and requires robust performance assurance to ensure that the mobile backhaul network meets these needs around the clock.

Before deploying the MetroNID®s in its network, SureWest compared them against a number of alternatives. The decision criteria included not only performance assurance monitoring and reporting features, but SureWest also compared performance, interface density and power consumption. All aspects for deploying the most efficient service performance infrastructure were evaluated. “Accedian is proud to be working with such a recognized innovator,” said Craig Easley, Accedian’s VP of Marketing. “We were confident that our MetroNID® solution would meet the demanding set of requirements that SureWest’s wireless operator customers demanded and welcome the opportunity to continue adding value to SureWest’s Wireless Carrier Backhaul service.”

Accedian will be speaking at the Light Reading Mobile Backhaul Live event in New York City this June 23rd. Event information: Accedian.com/events. A white paper version of this case study is available by visiting www.Accedian.com.