A Revolution in Support

Using the Support Proximity Unit (SPU) as an add-on to the OneNetwork Management System, service providers can experience a revolution in customer support. The SPU offers an unprecedented visibility into Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) provisioning and status.

The SPU is designed as a customer support center tool, which can provide the support staff with access to diagnostics and history information of every CPE controlled by the OneNetwork Management. Using a normal webbrowser, each support team member can obtain detailed configuration and status information from the CPEs.

Using a secure link into a centrally located OneMS, multiple SPU's can be installed directly in support centers to provide the support team with an easy-to-use Graphic User Interface for troubleshooting and support.

Diagnostic Tools

The SPU allows both passive (monitoring) and active diagnostics to be carried out by the support team members. Passive diagnostics includes the ability to request information from the CPE or management system, such as

• Line Rate and Traffic
• Physical Line conditions
• Status
• Network Configuration (LAN/WAN)
• Wireless LAN (if applicable)
• Voice-over-IP (if applicable)
• Provisioning Status and History

The information available is presented in a unified form, regardless of CPE type, model and make. This allows the support team to be able to troubleshoot CPE without detailed knowledge and training for each CPE model.

Information is available semi-realtime, ie. the team member can request information to be collected immediately or scheduled.

In addition to passive diagnostics, the support team member is able to perform a number of active diagnostic or corrective actions, such as

• Reboot CPE
• Factory Default (restart provisioning to known condition)
• Network connectivity tests (ATM loopback or ping)
• Configuration backup/restore
• Firmware Upgrades

Support Boundary

Using the TR-069 protocol to communicate directly with the CPE, the support boundary can clearly be defined. The SPU does not rely on any agent or other software to be installed on the customers PC's or other equipment.

The support team member will be able to perform health check and check for misconfiguration of the CPE regardless of whether the customer have internet access from his/her PC, thereby not having to consider any problems originating from misconfiguration of the PC.

In case of a breakdown in connection from the CPE to the management system, the user can be instructed to factory default his CPE, in order to roll-back the CPE into a know working condition, with full verification of status from the SPU.

By making the support boundary clear, the active diagnostics can greatly reduce the time spent on supporting each customer, thus reducing cost of support.