Networks grow more complex with each new generation of mobile communications. The same goes for the 5G network standard. Mobile communications providers require appropriate solutions to optimally perform network planning and configuration. These solutions must be suitably designed for equipment from various network suppliers like Ericsson or Huawei. The Common Planning & Configuration Manager (formerly CPCM) from MicroNova has been a successfully established system for configuration management in mobile networks for many years. The solution is now being given a new name: COM5.Mobile.
One of the reasons for creating the new brand is differentiated positioning on the market, as, shortly before the name change, MicroNova added a new product to the tried-and-tested COM5 portfolio. COM5.Rail is a product developed specifically for the railway market and premiered at this year’s InnoTrans, the leading international trade show for railway technology, in September.
While COM5.Mobile focuses on the configuration of mobile communication networks, COM5.Rail specifically targets technical-functional monitoring in railway mobile communication networks (GSM-R), where high availability plays a pivotal role in the implementation of ETCS (European Train Control System). Here, MicroNova works closely with Triorail GmbH & Co. KG, a company based in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm with many years of experience in the rail sector.
5G and FCAPS
In light of the clearer differentiation, it was also important to the MicroNova Telco Solutions team for the topic of “communication” to be embedded in the name of the solution. The “5” in COM5 symbolizes both the upcoming 5G mobile communications standard and the five cornerstones of network management: fault management, configuration management, accounting management, performance management, and security management – FCAPS for short.
“With COM5.Mobile, MicroNova is able to offer a versatile, flexible, best-practice solution that is independent of the network equipment provider. The software standardizes the view of the often heterogeneous regional network and management structures and allows a central database to be built up for corresponding overarching comparisons,” explains Georg Kieferl, Head of Telco Solutions at MicroNova. “The result is an optimally configured and therefore efficient network that satisfies customers of mobile network providers.”
Everything stays the same as usual for existing users – from the architecture to interaction with the solution and all the features. In future, COM5.Mobile will also offer all the functions required for optimal network planning and configuration. The three expansion stages of “Network Audit”, “Network Audit Plus”, and “Full Scope” continue to exist. Two of the three mobile providers in Germany, Vodafone and Telefónica, have long relied on COM5.Mobile for their networks comprising a total of almost 90 million users.
