Virgin Media Network Planning

Synchronisation Network Planning

The Challenge:

Virgin Media operates multiple national SDH transport networks. Their  network growth has been both planned and through acquisition. With  consolidation and integration of these networks Virgin Media experienced  challenges including sporadic pointer adjustment events and equipment  holdover alarms. These occurred especially during routine maintenance.  and during minor transmission failures. These events were recognised to  be synchronisation related and a cause for concern.

Solution:

Horsebridge were called in to audit the network synchronisation  configuration. Using Sync Architect we modeled the entire transport network using configuration information from the element management systems.

On simulation it became apparent  that there were discrepancies  between the actual network  traffic element synchronisation configurations and the  synchronisation network plan. 

In particular incorrect  configuration of Synchronisation Status Messaging (SSM)  functionality prevented automatic synchronisation ring recovery during routine maintenance and trail loss.

Results:

Horsebridge presented the audit identifying systematic errors in existing network configuration and necessary process for rectification.

  • Virgin Media purchased Sync  Architect and used it to identify and correct network equipment  configuration faults.
  • Virgin Medias’ network no longer  suffers from day-to-day  synchronisation anomalies.
  • Reductions in deployment of  synchronisation equipment have resulted in a reduction in both OPEX and CAPEX expenditure.
  • Sync Architect is now used in-house to maintain network equipment  configuration settings,  synchronisation port assignments and also to perform risk analysis on scheduled maintenance activities.