InfoVista Releases Live Mobile Network Planning with Mentum Planet 5.8

[DCA]

PARIS, France and HERNDON, Virginia — November 18, 2014 — InfoVista, the global leader of IP and RF network planning, service assurance and network optimization software solutions, today announced the release of Mentum Planet 5.8. The newest version of InfoVista’s award-winning software enables mobile operators to automatically leverage live mobile network data to make well-informed, cost-efficient network planning and optimization decisions.

Today’s mobile operators are tasked with managing increasing mobile data volumes and delivering a high quality of experience (QoE) to end users, while keeping CAPEX and OPEX in check. Mentum Planet 5.8 uses highly accurately geo-located call traces, temporal selections of network performance data, live network configuration and parameters to provide RF engineers with an accurate view of the current mobile network’s status, its evolving traffic demands and existing network issues. This facilitates timely network planning and optimization decisions for areas of poor performance or quickly growing traffic demand. It also enables easy hotspot identification for small cells roll-outs, more accurate network analyses, and the ability for mobile operators to embrace a combined planning and optimization practice. This results in higher ROI for network investments and optimized QoE for customers.

The introduction of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) in an LTE network raises the required mobile network quality level. Mentum Planet 5.8 adds VoLTE key performance indicators (KPIs) to the network performance module to effectively assist the roll-out of the voice service in LTE networks by providing direct feedback on network and service quality in Mentum Planet.

Supporting Quotes
•“Network planning and optimization are increasingly becoming the same function, as they are addressing the same fundamental objective of delivering a better network,” said Bernard Breton, SVP, Americas & APAC sales and CMO, InfoVista. “Mentum Planet has a long history of offering mobile operators the highly accurate insight needed to design next-generation wireless access networks, while preserving costs. With the latest version of the software, RF engineers don’t run the risk of wasting resources on network plans that are based on inaccurate data. Instead, live data within Mentum Planet gives mobile operators peace of mind that their network planning and optimization decisions will support improved quality of service for a consistent mobile user experience.”

Key Facts
•Mentum Planet 5.8 supports evolving mobile standards and network technologies, including WCDMA, HSPA, LTE, LTE-A and Wi-Fi. The solution continues to be the leading planning solution for LTE and LTE-Advanced with a complete set of features for efficient deployment of LTE and LTE-Advanced. This allows mobile operators to quickly and easily integrate new technologies, like small cells, into their mobile networks. In turn, RF engineers can better accommodate subscribers’ capacity demands in a way that reduces churn and optimizes costs.
•Mentum Planet 5.8 includes an advanced RF finger printing assisted geo-location algorithm that enables accurate mapping of mobile call traces to create traffic heat maps. The live mobile call traces from InfoVista’s network optimization software, Xeus Pro, can be combined with social media information, temporal network performance data, demographic information and detailed map data to create detailed traffic maps that encompasses the traffic development in the network. Mentum Planet 5.8 also leverages InfoVista’s configuration platform, Xeda, for live network configuration data.
•Mentum Planet 5.8 provides a dedicated automatic cell planning tool that streamlines and optimizes small cell site placement, selection and configuration based on total network capacity improvements. This tool leverages data about targeted building floors and ranks buildings’ needs for indoor systems.
•Mentum Planet 5.8 has added the capability to monitor the roll-out of a new service, VoLTE. This follows the introduction of VistaInsight for Planet and the network performance module in Mentum Planet 5.7.