Visionael Automates DSL Service Order Fulfillment To Increase Margins for Service Providers: New Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Service Creation Blade is Core to Flow-Through Broadband Provisioning

Visionael, a leading provider of service creation and inventory-based network resource management (NRM) software solutions, today announced its new DSL Service Creation Blade. A component of the company's ServiceBase platform, the DSL Service Creation Blade will help service providers dramatically improve margins on DSL services by automating the provisioning process, thereby decreasing operating costs for DSL service order fulfillment.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- April 16, 2002 -- Visionael, a leading provider of service creation and inventory-based network resource management (NRM) software solutions, today announced its new DSL Service Creation Blade. A component of the company's ServiceBase platform, the DSL Service Creation Blade will help service providers dramatically improve margins on DSL services by automating the provisioning process, thereby decreasing operating costs for DSL service order fulfillment. The launch of this product marks the company's first move into the automated creation of Layer 2 broadband services.

Visionael ServiceBase delivers the market's first open, automated multi-service creation engine, empowering service providers and large enterprises to rapidly and cost-effectively deliver high-demand services to their subscribers and users. An engine for end-to-end flow-through provisioning, ServiceBase leverages Visionael's cutting-edge inventory-based NRM capabilities to arm service providers with the power to create and deploy services over existing network infrastructure using specific provisioning templates (blades) that work off a common inventory platform -- thus optimizing productivity, revenues, margins, customer retention and time-to-profit. The DSL Service Creation Blade allows service providers to respond to high volumes of DSL service requests quickly and accurately, working through ServiceBase to create DSL services over multi-vendor equipment.

"DSL and other broadband service providers are beginning to feel the economic pressures that their telco counterparts have been facing for some time. As such, these companies are now turning to operations support system (OSS) solutions to increase revenue while leveraging existing network infrastructure," said Kathie Hackler, Vice President, Gartner Dataquest. "It has become increasingly important for these broadband service providers to accurately and rapidly provision services across complex multi-vendor, multi-technology networks, speeding time to market and maintaining a competitive edge."

The DSL Service Creation Blade supports the creation of DSL services through automated workflow to allow rapid flow-through fulfillment of customer orders. Visionael ServiceBase is readily integrated with most service order management systems and is pre-integrated with Siebel eCommunications 2000 to capture DSL service orders. Orders can also be entered directly into ServiceBase's Service Order Exchange and then verified against available network capacity in the Visionael 6 repository. Once this is complete, information such as customer I.D., site information, circuit I.D. and available devices are correlated to Visionael's equipment and circuit database. ServiceBase then pushes all appropriate configuration parameters in an extensible markup language (XML) format to a third-party configuration management or service activation application, a network equipment vendor's element management system (EMS), or a Perl script engine for the final activation step. Once provisioned and activated, the service is managed in the network operations center (NOC) where real-time events are correlated to the service as documented in ServiceBase.

"Visionael ServiceBase plays an integral role in any service provider's quest for flow-through provisioning. By automating the service creation process, ServiceBase allows users to increase margins on value-added services by enabling rapid deployment and efficient management while shortening traditionally lengthy ROI cycles," said Jeff Cotrupe, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Visionael. "We are excited to make a strong move into the broadband services arena with an offering that is positioned to deliver the same market-leading value existing Visionael customers are already experiencing."

Visionael's DSL Service Creation Blade is available immediately. Visionael also offers pre-configured Service Creation Blades for the provisioning of Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) virtual private networks (VPNs), managed routers and virtual local area networks (VLANs), as well as a Blade Development Kit that enables users to modify the pre-configured blades or build their own. Please contact info@visionael.com for additional information.

About Visionael
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Visionael transforms the economics of creating, delivering and managing network services. Visionael is a leading provider of service creation and inventory-based network resource management (NRM) software solutions, comprising a key component of any operations support system (OSS). Visionael 6 is recognized as a leading inventory/NRM solution that combines autodiscovery, data collection, reconciliation, change management, circuit management, and engineering design tools to deliver an accurate, real-time view of network resources. Visionael ServiceBase works seamlessly with Visionael 6 to deliver the markets first open, automated multi-service creation engine, empowering service providers and large enterprises to rapidly and cost-effectively deliver high-demand services to their subscribers and users. Visionael has more than 50 service provider, outsourcer, enterprise, and government customers including AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Fidelity, IBM Global Services, Ionex, LDCom (Kaptech), Omnitel, OptiGlobe and Verizon. For more about Visionael, please visit www.visionael.com or call 650.470.8920. In Europe, please contact Visionael SARL in Paris at +33 140.71.28.28 or emea@visionael.com.
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