Private providers just aren’t building fiber at a fast-enough pace today in the USA. Local leaders in an increasing number of communities are looking into options for how to save their residents from being left in the dark when our way of life and economy is moving online. This is especially true in rural areas where the private providers show no interest in investing since the return on investment isn’t good enough with low subscriber density and numbers. In other parts of the world publicly built fiber infrastructure is often operated with an Open Access Model and it is winning ground in the USA as well. But there is quite a lot of confusion about what the term means, so here is a walkthrough of the most common models with pros and cons of each. A hint to you who is reading this – read to the end, we save the best to last.
Introduction to Open Access
In short the Open Access model builds on the concept of layers.
- The first layer is the Infrastructure layer, which is the conduit and physical cables that make up the network. It is also called the Passive
- The second layer is the Operations layer, which is lighting up the physical network with electronics and making it all work. It is also called the Active
- The third layer is the Services layer, which simply consists of all the services delivered over the network. People tend to think of the traditional Internet, Phone (VOIP) and TV (IPTV) services, but we see an increase in other services like telehealth, home security, IoT and other Smart services.
The idea is to separate these layers, so that one entity can own and maintain the Infrastructure layer and then lease it out for others to deliver services. Much like an airport works. One entity builds the airport and all the airlines pay when they use it. Imagine how ridiculous and expensive flying would be if every airline had to build their own airports! That is how telecommunications generally work today.
What people have questions about is generally the operations layer. What does it really mean? Well, let’s compare all the data flowing into and out of the network to water. If it was important to get the right stream of water to a specific house all the way from the water tower, the only practical way would be to build a separate pipe all the way to that house. That is basically what happens in the operations layer. Using controller software, you create a tunnel through the network to every single end user, in which the service is delivered. This is what every service provider does when they start up a new service, but in the scenario with a single provider they typically make no significant difference between the operations and the services layer. That separation is important when multiple service providers can have their own tunnels and you need to keep track of who has which tunnel set up.
With that introduction given it is time to start listing some of the most common Open Access models used today. Please note that there is no standardized vocabulary, which is the reason why this blog post is written in the first place! You might find other names for these models. Also, this has the outlook of a municipality building a publicly owned fiber infrastructure. The assumption is also that it’s a positive thing to give consumers multiple choices for services and providers. Private service providers are in this business to make money, which can obviously make them have a different opinion on some of this.
Dark fiber Open Access
In networks you talk about backbone, middle mile and last mile. If comparing to a road system the backbone would be the highways, connecting cities to each other. The middle mile would be all the small streets within the city, and the last mile, or the “drop”, are the driveways at peoples’ houses. Without a backbone your city would have no means of effectively reaching the rest of the world’s network and without the middle mile the houses would have nothing to connect to. In the Dark fiber model, the community is only providing the passive infrastructure layer and they allow private providers to lease access to it and use it as they wish.
Dark fiber backbone Open Access
In this model the community would pay for the highway into the city, ensuring there is capacity enough for private service providers to sell high quality services.
Pros
- The minimum investment needed to likely improve broadband quality
- No need for knowledge in network operations
- No need to invest in electronics
- Might reduce the cost enough for private providers to start investing in the community
Cons
- There is no guarantee a provider will build out
- If a provider builds, they will likely only build where the business case is the best and leave some residents without
- Since the final connection to the end customers will be built by private providers, the community will have to reach agreements for using their infrastructure in order to deliver community services (smart services), which will also not reach all residents (see above).
- Customers will in reality have no choice. The investment done by the first provider in middle mile and last mile is too much of a barrier for a new provider to come in. Overbuilding is very uncommon in fiber. The common monopolistic problems of high price and sometimes low quality are likely.
Dark fiber middle mile Open Access
The community would also build the fiber in the streets and then allow private providers to bring the electronics to light up services and build the drops to the houses.
Pros
- With almost all of the investment done , it’s very likely private providers will start investing in the community
- If all streets have fiber, even the weaker areas of town could be connected
- No need for knowledge in network operations
- No need to invest in electronics
Cons
- The provider will likely only build to residents with stronger economy since they have profit targets to reach and don’t want customers who might be bad payers.
- Since the final connection to the end customers will be built by private providers, the community will have to reach agreements for using their infrastructure in order to deliver community services (smart services), which will also not reach all residents (see above).
- Customers will in reality have no choice. The investment done by the first provider in last mile is too much of a barrier for a new provider to come in. Overbuilding is very uncommon in fiber. The common monopolistic problems of high price and sometimes low quality are likely.
Dark fiber last mile Open Access
In this model the community builds all of the fiber, but they lease it to a private provider/s who would install the electronics, operate the network and sell services.
Pros
- With all of the investment in fiber done , private providers will definitely start lighting up customers
- If all properties have a fiber connection, even the weaker areas of town could be connected
- No need for knowledge in network operations
- No need to invest in electronics
Cons
- The provider will likely only invest in and install equipment to residents with stronger economy since they have profit targets to reach and don’t want customers who might be bad payers.
- Even though the final connection to the end customers is owned by the city, the community will still have to reach agreements for using that infrastructure in order to deliver community services (smart services), as private providers own the electronics and thereby control the network.
- Customers will in reality have reduced choice. The investment done by the first provider in electronics to serve a specific area and investment in electronics at the customers home, will be prohibitive for a new provider to come in. The common monopolistic problems of high price and sometimes low quality are likely to still exist.
- In order to enable multiple providers to coexist, you need multiple fibers and also enough space in huts, handholes, and such to house multiple providers electronics.
- The total cost will be higher since electronics will not be utilized to a maximum (two providers in the same area might have their own switches, which are both not used to a maximum.
Lit Open Access – Single provider
In this model the community would build the entire fiber network and also invest in the electronics all the way to the ONT in the customers’ homes and also build up operations capacity (an alternative is to lease the network or hire a neutral operations company to light and operate the network). Service providers are invited to resell services that are offered to them by the operator on wholesale terms which are equal to all providers. The service providers would still own and bill their customers. In this model the customer can freely choose between providers, but only have one provider at a time.
Pros
- With all of the investment in fiber and electronics done, there is a very small hurdle for providers to start selling services on the network. Selling services goes from CAPEX intensive to an OPEX game.
- If the ONT is installed by the community network, the investment for providers is almost none and even the weaker areas of town could be serviced by private providers.
- The common monopolistic problems of high prices and low quality of service will be reduced since customers can change providers if unhappy.
- The assortment of services with multiple providers will probably be larger.
- Lower prices, higher quality and bigger assortment will improve take-rates and both revenue and other benefits of a higher utilization will increase
- The city now owns the entire network and can freely roll-out smart city services and decide which providers of other IoT and smart city services are welcome to deliver services on the network.
- Investments in electronics is kept to a minimum, since new hardware will only be installed when needed. (never two half full switches from two different providers in the same rack.)
Cons
- This is the largest investment a community could do (an option would be to invite a neutral operations partner who could bring the electronics and/or operate the network).
- If doing their own operations, the city would have to build an operations organization.
- Customers will have choice of providers, but not full freedom to choose what they like from multiple providers at the same time, which reduces the value of the network greatly since not all providers will be fit to deliver the services of the future.
True Open Access (Lit Open Access – Multiple providers)
The difference between the previous model and the True Open Access model is that the customer can freely choose between not only providers, but even on a service by service level. They have the freedom to build exactly the bundle of services from any number of providers that suits them best. This means maximum power to the consumer, an open and level playfield for any kind of provider and no restrictions for introduction of future services.
Pros
- With all of the investment in fiber and electronics done, there is a very small hurdle for providers to start selling services on the network.
- With the ONT being installed by the community network, the investment for providers is almost none and even the weaker areas of town could be services by private providers.
- The common monopolistic problems of high prices and low quality of service will be reduced since customers have full choice of providers and services.
- The assortment of services with multiple providers will be larger and providers who aren’t selling the traditional internet service can also come on the network since customers can buy services from multiple providers at the same time.
- Lower prices, higher quality and bigger assortment will improve take-rates, and both revenue and other benefits of a higher utilization will increase
- The city now owns the entire network and can freely roll-out smart city services and decide which providers of other IoT and smart city services are welcome to deliver services on the network.
- Investments in electronics is kept to a minimum, since new hardware will only be installed when needed. (never two half full switches from two different providers in the same rack.)
Cons
- This is the largest investment a community could do (an option would be to invite a neutral operations partner who could bring the electronics and/or operate the network).
- If doing their own operations, the city would have to build an operations organization.
The True Open Access model is obviously the most complex to operate, but also the one that has no built-in restrictions. With this model you as a community are in full control of your digital future. What you need is a software platform that was built ground-up to support this business model.
COS Business Engine is the platform we launched in 2008 to automate the operations of True Open Access Networks. It is today used to Operate around 150 True Open Access Networks Worldwide, big and small.
For additional information contact:
Isak Finér
CMO & VP North America
COS Systems
+1 (540) 988-3224
isak.finer@cossystems.com
www.cossystems.com
COS Systems a Top 100 FTTH Company in the USA for the 8th consecutive year
Every year the leading fiber broadband publication Broadband Communities Magazine lists the Top 100 companies in the Fiber To The Home Industry in the United States. For the 8th year straight COS Systems earns a place on the list for its innovative software solutions allowing fiber builders to capture demand for fiber and operate True Open Access Networks with world-leading efficiency.
As the FTTH market continues to grow in the USA, COS System’s solutions are becoming increasingly important. Today, compared to eight years ago when COS first earned a position on the prestigious list, more types of entities are entering the fiber industry. While eight years ago mostly the incumbent carriers and some private ISPs were making efforts to deploy fiber networks, today many of the buildouts are driven by communities, utilities and coops.
The COS Service Zones platform, playing a vital role in any fiber deployment is used to survey communities about their need for better broadband as well as allowing the fiber builder to pre-sign up customers. By dividing the planned build-out area into smaller “fiberhoods” and letting them compete to reach signup take-rate targets, the fiber builder will know where demand is sufficient for initiating the build-out. While this helps any kind of entity reduce the risk of a build-out by signing customers up beforehand, COS Systems other solutions are very well suited to meet demands of the new entrants to the market.
As community focused entities are planning to build out fiber networks they tend to have an infrastructure view, in contrast to traditional service providers who focus largely on the services. For a municipality the biggest interest is rather what community benefits a fiber infrastructure would bring in the form of quality of life for residents and competitiveness of their businesses. With COS Business Engine, the BSS/OSS platform developed specifically for streamlining operations of True Open Access networks, COS Systems shares this infrastructure view of fiber. While the community can focus on finding ways to get the fiber infrastructure deployed, choosing an Open Access model allows them to partner with private service providers for bringing services to the
About COS Systems
COS SYSTEMS is a leading provider of software to plan, deploy and operate modern broadband networks that support services from one or more providers, using a powerful yet simple self-service interface. Specializing in True Open Access Networks, COS Systems takes customer needs and delivers innovative software solutions that streamline operations, accelerate revenue, and deliver more satisfied subscribers. Learn more about COS Systems at www.cossystems.com
For additional information contact:
Isak Finer
CMO & VP North America
COS Systems
+1 (540) 988 3224
isak.finer@cossystems.com
www.cossystems.com
COS Systems Ready to Automate Open Access Networks as a Nokia Connected Partner
COS Systems is specializing in software to operate broadband networks open for multiple providers delivering services on a shared infrastructure. Nokia is a global leader in fixed and wireless networks and networking technologies for open network architectures, software defined networking and network slicing. After recent integration work the cooperation between the companies is now formalized as COS Systems becomes a Nokia Fixed Networks OSS Connected Partner.
With new types of services emerging, such as telehealth, internet of things and smart services, it is becoming increasingly important to have a network open for multiple providers. Instead of building a proprietary network and trying to produce all the services current and future customers will need, it is attractive to provide a robust infrastructure and then open it up to multiple specialized providers on a wholesale basis.
With COS Systems heritage from Sweden, where their BSS/OSS platform COS Business Engine is used to operate more than a hundred municipal and utility fiber networks, this is not something new. For over a decade COS has enabled True Open Access Networks, where subscribers can access an online marketplace and choose freely between any type of services provided by many competing service providers. The competitive nature of the marketplace brings service innovation, increased quality, and lower prices. This is also where the partnership with Nokia comes into play. For a network deployed using Nokia Fixed Access equipment COS will be able to fully automate the subscribers’ interaction with the marketplace. As subscribers are managing their services on the marketplace, COS Business Engine will instruct Nokia’s management and control platform to instantly perform desired changes in the network.
About COS Systems
COS SYSTEMS is a leading provider of software to plan, deploy and manage True Open Access fiber networks, using a powerful yet simple self-service interface. COS Systems takes customer needs and delivers innovative software solutions that streamline operations, accelerate revenue and deliver more satisfied subscribers. Learn more about COS Systems on www.cossystems.com.
For additional information contact:
Isak Finer
CMO & VP North America
COS Systems
+1 (540) 988 3224
isak.finer@cossystems.com
www.cossystems.com
Don’t Miss Broadband Breakfast On June 3rd with COS CMO Isak Finér
Broadband Breakfast will host a live online event at 12 noon this coming Wednesday, June 3rd, with the title “Last-Mile Digital Infrastructure”. Experts, including COS Systems CMO & VP North America Isak Finer and UTOPIA CEO Roger Timmerman, will discuss the Open Access model as an ownership and operations model.
Visit Broadband breakfast’s website to learn more and find instructions on how to join the online event. You will also find a link to the recent article where COS was featured as leaders in bringing True Open Access networks to USA. COS Systems Brings Swedish Knack for Tech to Open Access Networks, Hopes for Spacious Skies on American Plains.
The June 3rd online event serves as a preview to the pre-conference hosted by Broadband Breakfast at the Broadband Communities Summit in Houston, Texas, on August 10-13.
New Speed Test Module in the Latest COS Service Zones Release
In the latest version of COS Service Zones, that was released just days ago, our most exciting new feature is the integrated speed test. Perhaps you need to prove to investors or decision makers that the need for better broadband is there or strengthen your grant application with actual speed test results showing that people are not getting sufficient speeds?
All of us working hard to bring fiber broadband to more people can probably agree that the FCC definition of Broadband being at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds, was outdated even when it was launched in 2015. In these days of Covid-19, when so many people around the globe are working and studying from home, there are probably few who would agree that a 25/3 Mbps connection is sufficient for video conferencing, online studies, streaming, etc. All in all – speed matters, which is at the core of our latest release of COS Service Zones. Read more about COS Service Zones 4.1 here!
With this recent release we now offer our COS Service Zones customers to have a dedicated cloud hosted speed test. By testing towards a neutral cloud server, it will resemble what speeds the subscriber will actually see while using their internet connection on a daily basis. Some speed tests will test against your provider’s server which will show an idealized result, which is not the case with this test.
Obviously, the test is allowing the subscribers to see what kind of speeds they are currently getting and commenting their result, but we have of course packaged this data nicely with all the other data we gather with COS Service Zones. By having the speed test results tied to the address, coordinates and the subscriber’s survey response, many interesting questions can be answered. What is the correlation between what they are paying for and what speeds they are actually getting? Are people on different competitive providers showing different speed test results? Are there any high download or upload speeds available out there today? And of course, when running an actual test, how many are reaching speeds of 25/3 Mbps? Reliable speed test data can be crucial when applying for grants or explaining to key stakeholders why it is important to take the decision to invest in better broadband.
We hope and believe that by adding speed test results to the proven demand aggregated neighborhood by neighborhood, our customers can easier secure funding and prove the need for better broadband to decision makers – making more fiber projects move forward faster
Don’t hesitate to contact us to schedule a demo of COS Service Zones at sales@cossystems.com
COS Service Zones 4.1
The latest version of COS Service Zones offers a long list of big and small improvements based on all the great feedback we have received from our customers. New user roles, a new super-fast process to convert a survey response to a signup, Google tracking and more.
COS Service Zones is a Demand Aggregation platform used to survey your potential customers to find out if there is enough interest for your services to justify a network investment. It also allows you to sign them up prior to construction using a “Fiberhood” approach. When enough people have signed up in a neighborhood you know that you can start construction with confidence as people are committed to buying services. A big part of this approach is to efficiently market it, preferably with different marketing channels, but for sure using online advertising and social media. We have added support for Google’s Global site tag tracking to support you in measuring the success of your marketing efforts.
We have also added two new user roles; One that only has read-only access to a limited number of areas within the product. This role is perfect for those who are logging in to track project progress, but not to edit any information. The other new user role is a support role, with mainly read-only access, but edit rights on customers and orders. With more available roles we expect more users to get access and have added two-factor authentication at login for extra security.
Years ago, we implemented a google maps integration for the address search functionality after evaluating a few different options. Now we have also transitioned over to their maps in the admin interface, which is a great improvement. Google maps both works and looks good.
What other news are in this release? Well, we’ve done a ton of small improvements based on our customers’ feedback, such as a super-fast way to convert a survey response into a signup, allowing an address search on a separate website to be sent to the COS Service Zones site, and much more.
To see it all, contact us to schedule a demo of COS Service Zones at sales@cossystems.com
Join us in welcoming Jessica to the COS team!
We are happy to Welcome Jessica Thorfve to COS Systems. Jessica will be working as a Key Account Manager supporting our growing customer base. We’re all extremely excited to have Jessica joining us – you can’t find many people with the experience and expertise within Open Access that she brings.
Jessica last comes from one of Sweden’s largest Service Providers, A3, which is the brand under which the merged Service Providers Alltele and T3 now operates. When Jessica started at T3 in 2011, it was still a relatively small player, with under 20 000 broadband customers. During the coming five years until the acquisition by Alltele, the company had an incredible growth. During this time Jessica, who started her “while figuring out what to do next” job as a customer support rep, quickly advanced to team manager for customer support, to marketing, managing the content on the company’s web, and other related tasks.
In 2016 she became manager for the residential side of the business and in charge of the commercial relationships with the operators of the 100+ open access community networks T3 was delivering services on. After the merger of T3 and Alltele she got an even larger responsibility as manager for the entire community network broadband business unit, now adding up to almost 200 000 subscribers on close to 160 networks.
While our COS Business Engine customers are the owners and operators of the open access networks, some of the most frequent users are often the service providers. They are themselves publishing their services on the Marketplaces, creating and launching promotional campaigns, etc. The expertise Jessica is bringing about the Service Providers’ role in the Open Access business model will be extremely valuable. We are also sure, not only us, but especially our customers who Jessica will be working with on a daily basis will very much appreciate her positive attitude and consistent drive to make things work even better.
COS Systems Covid-19 response
Our world is at this moment struggling with the health issues and the rapid economic downturn following the Covid-19 pandemic. While measures taken by governments differ somewhat between countries, one thing is clear. As people are trying to care for themselves and others by social distancing this means more time is spent at home. Especially in countries where authorities have ordered their residents to stay at home, there is no choice but to work and study using online tools. Never in history has the need for reliable internet connections been more evident.
Overnight, what we at COS together with our partners in the industry have been trying to explain has become gravely obvious; High capacity Internet is not a luxury to be used by the privileged for pleasure – it’s critical infrastructure as important as road, electricity and water systems. Never has the divide between the haves and have nots been larger.
As a provider of software to the broadband industry, with systems used to manage the daily operations of the networks we are relying so heavily on now, we find ourselves being part of the solution people turn to. We want to ensure our customers that we are committed to continue our work as usual during this crisis. We follow the guidelines set forth by the authorities and while working from home we will still deliver the same high level of customer support as always. While we aren’t doing physical meetings and minimize travels at this time, all functions of the company are fully operational. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, concerns or interest in our products.
What is the difference between Open Access, Open Access and Open Access?
Private providers just aren’t building fiber at a fast-enough pace today in the USA. Local leaders in an increasing number of communities are looking into options for how to save their residents from being left in the dark when our way of life and economy is moving online. This is especially true in rural areas where the private providers show no interest in investing since the return on investment isn’t good enough with low subscriber density and numbers. In other parts of the world publicly built fiber infrastructure is often operated with an Open Access Model and it is winning ground in the USA as well. But there is quite a lot of confusion about what the term means, so here is a walkthrough of the most common models with pros and cons of each. A hint to you who is reading this – read to the end, we save the best to last.
Introduction to Open Access
In short the Open Access model builds on the concept of layers.
The idea is to separate these layers, so that one entity can own and maintain the Infrastructure layer and then lease it out for others to deliver services. Much like an airport works. One entity builds the airport and all the airlines pay when they use it. Imagine how ridiculous and expensive flying would be if every airline had to build their own airports! That is how telecommunications generally work today.
What people have questions about is generally the operations layer. What does it really mean? Well, let’s compare all the data flowing into and out of the network to water. If it was important to get the right stream of water to a specific house all the way from the water tower, the only practical way would be to build a separate pipe all the way to that house. That is basically what happens in the operations layer. Using controller software, you create a tunnel through the network to every single end user, in which the service is delivered. This is what every service provider does when they start up a new service, but in the scenario with a single provider they typically make no significant difference between the operations and the services layer. That separation is important when multiple service providers can have their own tunnels and you need to keep track of who has which tunnel set up.
With that introduction given it is time to start listing some of the most common Open Access models used today. Please note that there is no standardized vocabulary, which is the reason why this blog post is written in the first place! You might find other names for these models. Also, this has the outlook of a municipality building a publicly owned fiber infrastructure. The assumption is also that it’s a positive thing to give consumers multiple choices for services and providers. Private service providers are in this business to make money, which can obviously make them have a different opinion on some of this.
Dark fiber Open Access
In networks you talk about backbone, middle mile and last mile. If comparing to a road system the backbone would be the highways, connecting cities to each other. The middle mile would be all the small streets within the city, and the last mile, or the “drop”, are the driveways at peoples’ houses. Without a backbone your city would have no means of effectively reaching the rest of the world’s network and without the middle mile the houses would have nothing to connect to. In the Dark fiber model, the community is only providing the passive infrastructure layer and they allow private providers to lease access to it and use it as they wish.
Dark fiber backbone Open Access
In this model the community would pay for the highway into the city, ensuring there is capacity enough for private service providers to sell high quality services.
Pros
Cons
Dark fiber middle mile Open Access
The community would also build the fiber in the streets and then allow private providers to bring the electronics to light up services and build the drops to the houses.
Pros
Cons
Dark fiber last mile Open Access
In this model the community builds all of the fiber, but they lease it to a private provider/s who would install the electronics, operate the network and sell services.
Pros
Cons
Lit Open Access – Single provider
In this model the community would build the entire fiber network and also invest in the electronics all the way to the ONT in the customers’ homes and also build up operations capacity (an alternative is to lease the network or hire a neutral operations company to light and operate the network). Service providers are invited to resell services that are offered to them by the operator on wholesale terms which are equal to all providers. The service providers would still own and bill their customers. In this model the customer can freely choose between providers, but only have one provider at a time.
Pros
Cons
True Open Access (Lit Open Access – Multiple providers)
The difference between the previous model and the True Open Access model is that the customer can freely choose between not only providers, but even on a service by service level. They have the freedom to build exactly the bundle of services from any number of providers that suits them best. This means maximum power to the consumer, an open and level playfield for any kind of provider and no restrictions for introduction of future services.
Pros
Cons
The True Open Access model is obviously the most complex to operate, but also the one that has no built-in restrictions. With this model you as a community are in full control of your digital future. What you need is a software platform that was built ground-up to support this business model.
COS Business Engine is the platform we launched in 2008 to automate the operations of True Open Access Networks. It is today used to Operate around 150 True Open Access Networks Worldwide, big and small.
For additional information contact:
Isak Finér
CMO & VP North America
COS Systems
+1 (540) 988-3224
isak.finer@cossystems.com
www.cossystems.com
Umeå Energi Umenet förnyar avtal med COS Systems
Umeå Energi har med en hög utbyggnadstakt kraftigt expanderat sitt stadsnät i Umeåregionen. Med ett allt större fibernät, fler aktiva kunder och ny teknik som introduceras så har Umeå Energi valt att förnya avtalet med COS Systems för deras fortsatta användande av COS Business Engine som operatörsplattform för driften av nätet.
Det kommunalägda energibolaget Umeå Energi var väldigt tidigt ute med fiber och utbyggnaden av stadsnätet Umenet påbörjades redan under 90-talet. På senare år har utbyggnadstakten varit fortsatt hög och även antalet kunder i sedan tidigare utbyggda områden som nu valt att ansluta sig har vuxit kraftigt i takt med att behovet av bredbandsuppkoppling av hög kvalitet blir en allt mer central del av svenskarnas vardag. Äldre tekniker för att leverera Internet blir allt mer utdaterade.
Umenet har sedan 2012 använt mjukvaran COS Business Engine. Systemet omfattar allt från kundportalen där kunderna kan välja tjänster från 15 olika leverantörer, till de administrativa och tekniska funktionerna som automatiserar allt från aktivering av bredbandstjänster och fakturering av leverantörerna.
Bland mycket annat så arbetar Umeå Energi med ett mycket intressant projekt där Sveriges första 5G-nät utvecklas i samarbete med Ericsson, Telia, Umeå Universitet, Umeå Kommun, Umeå Science Park samt andra lokala aktörer. Ett ytterligare innovativt initiativ är Smart Start, vilken är en pilot på Smarta-hem- och IoT-tjänster (Internet of Things), som kan levereras över deras öppna stadsnät.
Om Umeå Energi
Umeå Energi är ett energibolag och en samhällsaktör som i nära samarbete med omvärlden utvecklar och levererar hållbara energi- och kommunikationslösningar. Vår vision är en enklare vardag för våra kunder och en hållbar framtid för regionen. Vi omsätter ca 1,4 miljarder kronor, har drygt 400 medarbetare och är både miljö- och arbetsmiljöcertifierade.
Om COS Systems
COS Systems är en globalt verksam leverantör av mjukvara för att planera, bygga ut och sköta driften av moderna bredbandsnät. COS Systems utgår från kundbehov och utvecklar innovativa mjukvarulösningar som effektiviserar den dagliga driften, bidrar till ökad försäljning och nöjdare kunder. COS Systems expanderar ständigt och har hittills sina kunder i Europa, Nord- och Sydamerika, Afrika och Asien. Läs mer om COS Systems på www.cossystems.com
För ytterligare information, kontakta:
Mats Berggren
VD, Umea Energi Umenet AB
070 – 518 71 28
Mats.berggren@umeaenergi.se
www.umeaenergi.se
Peter Lidström
VD, COS Systems AB
070 – 656 58 72
Peter.lidstrom@cossystems.com
www.cossystems.com
Umea Energi Renews Agreement with COS Systems for Open Access BSS/OSS
The Electric Utility Umea Energi has expanded their fiber network significantly during the last years. With a larger footprint and new technologies emerging they have chosen to renew their contract with COS Systems for their continuous use of COS Business Engine for efficient operations and automated service activations of their Open Access fiber network.
[Umea, Sweden] Umea Energi is a municipally owned electric utility in the University town of Umea, Sweden. It first started building out the fiber optic network in the 90’s, but has increased the pace in their build-out in the last five years, while the take-rates have also improved greatly as consumers need for reliable high-speed data increases. Older technologies to connect to the internet are becoming obsolete.The Utility has been using COS Business Engine as their BSS/OSS (Business and Operations Support System) since 2012. The system consists of everything from the online Marketplace where subscribers can choose services from 15 different service providers to the administrative backend system that automates everything from service activation to wholesale billing.
Umeå Energi is currently working on Sweden’s first 5G deployment in cooperation with Ericsson, Telia, Umea University and other municipal entities. They are also doing a pilot project called Smart Start, which is a platform for delivery of smart home services to residents.
About Umeå Energi
Umeå Energi is an energy company that in close cooperation with the world around us develops and provides sustainable solutions for energy and communication services. We strive to challenge through new thinking and to drive the sustainable development in the Umeå region. Our vision is to make everyday life simpler for our customers and to secure a sustainable future for the region. Our turnover is approximately SEK 1.4 billion, we have just over 400 employees and hold environmental as well as work environment certifications. umeaenergi.se
About COS Systems
COS SYSTEMS is a leading provider of software to plan, deploy and manage Open Access networks, using a powerful yet simple self-service interface. COS Systems takes customer needs and delivers innovative software solutions that streamline operations, accelerate revenue and deliver more satisfied subscribers. Learn more about COS Systems on www.cossystems.com.
For additional information contact:
Mats Berggren
CEO
Umea Energi Umenet AB
Mats.berggren@umeaenergi.se
www.umeaenergi.se
Isak Finer
CMO & VP North America
COS Systems
isak.finer@cossystems.com
www.cossystems.com