Polkomtel chooses Micromuse’s Netcool solution to improve the network performance and enable quick adaptation to dynamic market changes

14.02.05

In order to keep pace with growing demands of the mobile telephony services market and quickly react to changes that take place on this market Polkomtel SA has implemented the Micromouse integrated and consolidated Netcool operating system, which enables strategic management of wireless services, including voice services and services related to data transmission.

The Netcool solution has provided Polkomtel with a platform for strategic management, which supports integrated network and service status monitoring. The possibility to quickly implement new platforms means that Polkomtel may quickly respond to its Customers' needs, as well as offer them new products and services, which shall allow the mobile operator to retain its competitive advantage on the market.


The introduction of new products and services and maintaining a subscriber base in the event of its possible sudden expansion requires a reliable platform for strategic management.

Polkomtel, which is using various heterogenic management systems, as well as equipment from various suppliers, decided to develop a comprehensive project, which shall additionally become the foundation for business services to be launched in the future. Having analyzed many offers, Polkomtel decided to choose the Micromuse’s Netcool solution.
The integrated and consolidated system offered by Micromuse is targeted to ensure the effective management of the Plus GSM network in an environment where the volume of information required to effectively manage services constantly increases as well as targeted to allow for minimizing operating costs related to network maintenance.

Fast and easy integration

The project’s main objective is to improve quality of service and the network’s technical efficiency, simultaneously remaining in compliance with all SLA (Service Level Agreements) requirements set by Polkomtel’s customers.

Micromuse’s Netcool solution has provided an integrated platform for managing faults as well as event correlation and made the proactive management and maintenance of the existing network possible. Due to the dynamic growth of the wireless technology market the introduction of new products and services often takes place in very short periods of time. The application of Netcool technology enables Polkomtel to quickly and easily integrate and manage new platforms thereby adjusting to any market demands.

„We had several key requirements with regard to the central fault/service management system”, says Adam Grabarski, Operational Support and Data Analysis Systems Unit Manager at Polkomtel S.A. „The system had to ensure a maximum reduction of operational costs related to network maintenance, at a reasonable level of investment expenditure, it had to make the network monitoring process independent from equipment type and Plus GSM network infrastructure suppliers (the implementation of one central network monitoring system, the same GUI for engineers monitoring the network), it had to support all technologies used and offered by Polkomtel, including future technologies, as well as provide improved support for the service management process (service quality monitoring, SLA management). Quick implementation and the possibility to quickly introduce modifications in order to support new services or equipment were additional advantages” – adds Adam Grabarski.

Solution adapted to the customer’s needs

The Netcool solution enabled Polkomtel to quickly integrate 18 various management system elements. This integration furnished the operator’s operational teams with a comprehensive insight into the network’s infrastructure, which is monitored from a single console. Micromuse’s Netcool solution, developed for the wireless market, fulfils all requirements set by the mobile operators – and Polkomtel is now reaping profits from the implementation of dedicated network monitoring applications, which ensure constant availability and reliability of the wireless services the company offers.

Micromuse’s Netcool solutions have also been the core of the Polkomtel’s Network Operations Center (NOC) and consolidated the information on the status of the equipment and applications from vendors such as Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Nokia and Lucent.

Micromuse’s partner – Ericsson – the project integrator – has been responsible for preparing the project plans and for its implementation. The close cooperation between Micromuse and Ericsson yielded a platform for management which enables Polkomtel to ensure lower network maintenance costs and faster return on investment. An additional benefit for the operator was the possibility to quickly implement the Netcool solution and provide a system which may be quickly and easily modified when introducing new services and equipment.

Fast problem solving

The implementation of the central management system at Polkomtel has enabled shortening new service and platform implementation times as well as minimizing alarm response times and failure fixing time. It has additionally caused a drop in the number of flagged alarms (what in turn bears on supervision process effectiveness) as well as enabled decreasing the number of personnel required to monitor the network. The implemented Netcool solution enables the comprehensive monitoring of Polkomtel’s GSM infrastructure, and ensures the constant availability and reliability of its wireless services.

„Already now I can say that the Micromuse system enabled Polkomtel to monitor new platforms and services without the need to add additional Networks Operation Center terminals which require 24 hour monitoring” – says Adam Grabarski. „Thanks to the Micromuse system Polkomtel achieved a significantly higher flexibility in the area of integrating new platforms into the management system, also the time required for such integrations is now much shorter (it shrunk from months, to several days), and this allows us to get far ahead of the competition” – Adam Grabarski adds.

Next steps

The first two stages of implementation have just finished, including the integration of all Plus GSM infrastructure elements’ Fault Management into the Micromuse Netcool system. The next stage includes further system customization – adapting it to users’ needs; minimizing the number of alarms, integrating the auxiliary Remedy systems.

„I have a very positive opinion of the Micromuse Netcool system's functionality”, says Paweł Myziak, Polkomtel S.A. UMS Implementation Project Manager. „I am delighted with the system’s open architecture, the availability of ”out-of-the-box” interfaces to many management systems, devices, network elements, since this makes it possible to maintain the flexibility of supervision systems upon implementation of new technologies, devices or services. The system’s possibilities in the area of event filtering and event correlation, including the correlation between various network solutions and technologies, are vast and limited only by the availability of data and the know-how of the technical specialists responsible for integrating a solution.

One should also note that there is a possibility to supplement flagged alarms with data sourced from external databases. This functionality allows for introducing a new quality to the process of network and service monitoring.
The Netcool system architecture is scalable, and each of its components can be part of a redundant configuration” – adds Paweł Myziak.

”I would like to stress that the key to the successful implementation of such big projects is, as a matter of course, choosing a systems integrator with appropriate experience in the area of telecommunications, but also the customer’s familiarity with the integrated solutions as well as the close cooperation between integrator and operator and also the ability to strike an optimum balance between user requirements and the cost and time required to fulfill such requirements. Polkomtel has fulfilled all these requirements and that’s why it has a central management system in place already today” - adds Paweł Myziak.


Polkomtel S.A., the Plus GSM network operator, is one of the three Polish mobile telephony operators and has over 7 million customers. Ever since it commenced operations, Plus GSM has pioneered the introduction of cutting edge technological and data transmission solutions to the Polish market. In September 2004 Plus GSM, was the first network in the country to furnish its individual and business customers with a full range of commercially available services based on advanced mobile technologies, including UMTS, the scope of which included voice services, fast data transmission and video transmission, including video-calls. Plus GSM leads the field in mobile telephony for business. The operator's customers include big companies and institutions that play a key role in the Polish economy. 39.22% of Polkomtel’s shares are owned by Vodafone and TeleDenmark, and the remaining 60.78% - by a group of 6 Polish enterprises, the company has received many prestigious economic awards and industry prizes.