Continuing the discussion of spatially enabled network data, there are some great reasons for taking the additional step of distributing this data to the telecom mobile field force. Send it right to their laptops and cell phones while they are resolving an outage or engaged in routine maintenance. There are at least two great reasons for doing this:
1. Efficiency. All field tasks will be done faster and more accurately, once workers can see the precise location of network equipment, anticipate job requirements, search for the nearest spares, and contact co-workers with detailed information. It really cuts down on the need to first inspect the site, then drive back to the shop for tools and equipment.
2. Buy-In. As the field force starts actively using spatial data and recognizing its value, they naturally become motivated to maintain that data with corrections from the field. Today’s applications have good tools for ‘redlining’ or updating data from a mobile device. Once the field force buys in to the process of updating network data as part of their work, the corporate data becomes more accurate, reflecting the ‘as built’ network.
Benefits return to the NOC manager and VP of network operations in the form of more timely and accurate reports on the network, to better support management decisions.
Network and spatial data have been converging for some time, but with increasing scope. As Sherlock Holmes would say, “the game is afoot” now with deals such the recent partnership of Nokia and Yahoo (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100524/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_yahoo_nokia).
At Superna, we are developing plug-ins that spatially reference EMC Ionix network data. Here is a one-minute video that demonstrates how our Network Discovery Engine can spatially enable the alarm notification system of EMC Ionix and report results to a mobile device.
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