InfoVista

Tying in geographic information to

make networks smarter
In collaboration A conversation with Kyle Ownbey,
with Product Manager at TEMS GeoBase, InfoVista

By Monica Paolini, Senza Fili


Profile
InfoVista
InfoVista provides solutions for mobile
operators, service providers and enterprises,
directed at delivering better network
performance. They aim to improve QoE (higher
QoS, differentiated services, faster applications,
expanded coverage) and reduce per-bit
network costs (greater operational efficiency
and network utilization, and lower capex). The
companys solutions enable a customer-aware
orchestration to optimize network performance
in a way that spans the end-to-end network and
acts in real time, focused on:
Drive and walk testing for network rollout TEMS Pocket, for portable and indoor use
and optimization TEMS Automatic, for autonomous service
HetNet design quality monitoring
Pre- and post-launch active testing to
identify performance issues
TEMS Discovery, for custom and real-time
post-processing
Regression testing to address TEMS iBuildNet, for planning and
interoperability issues optimization of HetNet networks
Active monitoring to minimize MTTR and TEMS FleetManager, for remotely managing
revenue losses drive tests
Cloud-based QoE benchmarking and TEMS Monitor Master, for end-to-end
monitoring active testing and monitoring of services,
Analytics pre- and post-launch
TEMS Capacity Manager, to plan capacity
TEMS tools include: for user experience
TEMS GeoBase, for comprehensive
TEMS Investigation, for comprehensive geolocated analytics
testing and benchmarking

Network awareness: network

planning, network intelligence,
network performance
Customer awareness: network
optimization, customer/application
intelligence, customer experience

Two solutions are available to mobile

operators:

VistaInsight, for service assurance

Planet, for network planning and
optimization

With the recent acquisition of Ascoms

TEMS, InfoVista has expanded its
solution portfolio to include:

2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com InfoVista: Tying in geographic information to make networks smarter |2|

InfoVista
Tying in geographic
information to make
networks smarter
A conversation with Kyle Ownbey,
Product Manager at TEMS GeoBase,
InfoVista
Analytics is very hot topic right now, as
operators get more and more comfortable with
using the information they collect from their
network through analytics, machine learning
and AI. These tools give them valuable access to
data they traditionally had no choice but to
ignore because the volumes are so huge.
I talked to Kyle Ownbey, Product Manager of
TEMS GeoBase at InfoVista, about how analytics
allows mobile operators to pull together all the
data they get from various sources and use it to
make smarter decisions faster.
Monica Paolini: Kyle, what is InfoVista doing in
the analytics area?
Kyle Ownbey: InfoVista is an exciting company.
It has a wide range of products and solutions,
from big data analytics in the geographic space
to optimization with Planet for prediction, call
trace analysis, optimization, and service
assurance products. It has a complete portfolio
that covers the end-to-end network.
2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com
Monica: What is it you do at InfoVista?
Kyle: Im the product manager of TEMS
GeoBase, which is a big-data analytics tool that
combines multiple unlimited geographic data
sources and makes it possible to make smarter
decisions faster.
Monica: What kind of location-based
information are you using? How is that useful to
operators?
Kyle: When you start talking about correlation
of data, geography is one thats typically not
included, just because it is harder to do spatial
queries.
We leverage our expertise on big data analytics
to take in every kind of data source you can
ever imagine for example, predictions from a
planning tool, drive test, call trace information,
DPI probes, billing records. Anything that you
can imagine, we tie it all in to a geographic area.
This means that for every geographic spot in a
given market or network, I know everything
about it. I can tell how many Starbucks are
there, how many customers, whats the market
penetration. Is the network operating correctly?
I can compare predictions versus drive-test
data. If they dont match, then I know there
must be a problem.
Monica: Is the geographic analysis done at the
edge or centrally?
Kyle: Its on the premises, installed in the data
center. We collect data from every kind of
source, whether thats a file server, DPIs,
database links, APIs. You name it, we can get
InfoVista: Tying in geographic information to make networks smarter
data from it. Then we join it together, and then
push it out to a visualization page.
Monica: What do operators do with geographic
information?
Kyle: Probably the most common use case is
ranking cell sites. Companies spend billions on
rolling out their network. A lot of times they
treat all sites the same. Typically, you see the
east region gets a third of the money, west
region get a third of the money, and central
gets a third of the money. That may not be the
case.
With GeoBase, theyre able to understand what
the best way is to make every capital
expenditure. Typically they save about 20% of
their overall build plan. Because you start
building sites in the correct order, you build the
right sites. It has amazing properties.
Monica: Basically you know whats going on in a
network today, you know what your weak
points are, where you have congestion, or
anything like that. Its just part of planning, as a
planning tool. Is that particularly useful, I would
imagine, for small cells?
Kyle: Typically, in the planning part, operators
havent had access to live data, customer data,
or data about any point of interest. When you
tie all these in, you get some really great insight
into whats going on in your network. And thats
just the starting point.
What gets really exciting about this product is
that you can tie this product in to the data lake.
It allows you to solve all sorts of issues and use
data.
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One of the problems operators have is that
they spend a lot of money collecting data,
and then its so unmanageable or they
dont really know what to do with it, and it
just sits unused. We let them get value out
of their data, because we tie it together.

The same data set can be used for

decisions that range from ranking a cell
site, to where to optimize the network, to
where to put a store, to how to understand
the utility cost of a cell site anything.

Monica: Location data from mobile

operators is a very important source of
information for demographics, because
today we go everywhere with our mobile
phones. And as you mentioned, they can
leverage that not just for cell sites, but for
other purposes as well.

Kyle: Absolutely. The great thing about

what we do is that analytics is additive.
Once you start using analytics, you truly start
making your decisions on solid grounds. Right
now its shocking how many processes are done
manually or visually. As operators stare at a
map, they say, We should put a cell site here.
Its not really analytics.
When you start using analytics, the two things
you recognize quickly are, one, how smart the
decisions are, and two, how fast they come. It
doesnt take months to get a decision. It takes
seconds.
Even if you have a billion people working for
you, its not scalable to do it manually. Analytics
and products like TEMS GeoBase can provide an
answer before you can even send an email out
to all the people who work for you.
Monica: Does it mean that a lot of people will
lose their jobs, then?
because analytics is so valuable.
Kyle: No. When you start looking at peoples
daily roles, what you typically see is that they
very quickly get tied down in the lower-level
minutiae, and just turning the crank, gathering
data.
The first step of all data analytics is data
cleaning. Usually you spend about 99% of your
time preparing the data, and about 1% of your
time analyzing it. Just imagine all those things
that you would love to do if you had time to do
them. We free up that time to do them.
Cleaning data manually, you just build a time
sink. Instead of that really smart individual who
comes up with those great reports or this great
analysis, that person is tied down with data
cleaning and cant ever do anything new,
Let us automate that, and then youll find even
greater analytics you can do. It just feeds itself.
Its really the way to go. Its the way to be agile
and competitive in a very dense market.
Monica: As you say, you want to clean the data.
Its a very good way to look at it, because
operators have access to any amount of
information, any depth of information. The
challenge is to find what matters to them,
whats relevant. How do you do that?

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Kyle: My background is 20 years of RF
engineering. Ive done everything from drive
tests, to capacity planning, to running networks,
to designing them. I have a lot of practical
knowledge. Then InfoVista in itself is a market
leader when it comes to this. We have a really
deep bench of people to rely on.

The way we started was that we had a problem

to solve, and we were doing it using the manual
method. Then we turned to big data to solve
that problem for us. I think most products really
start from the big data side, and IT
organizations dont really know what to do with
the data at the end. I think thats our
difference: practical applications with analytics
is our trademark.

Monica: In order to do that, you have to bring

information from different sources that are
traditionally separate. Which I guess is part of
the problem for mobile operators. How do you
pull all this information together? And how is
that information used by operators?
Kyle: Our largest deployment has 42 different
data sources that will require almost 30
different logins. One person would never have
access to this kind of information.
For instance, knowing fault information, or if
they have a pico cell in the area, or whats the
average ARPU, or whether a user is a VIP
customer. All these kinds of things tie in and
allow you to make decisions that were never
possible before. It really just speeds it up.
What we find is that the more data we put into
this system, the smarter it gets. Thats usually
our first step: we meet with the customer to
understand their use cases and what drives
them. Then we just start loading data into it.
One of the key differences between TEMS
GeoBase and other products is that we can get
the first data set up within about 30 days after
you spin the hardware up. An integration time
of 30 days is just unheard of.
A second difference is in our databases. We use
Hadoop and a SQL database to run the
visualization, and it is completely open. This
means that we want you to use the data,
because its your data. If you want to use it to
drive other BI platforms, or you want to use
ours, its not a proprietary file system that
nobody is allowed to see. It just becomes part
of this great solution inside your organization.
We see operators using it for things that we
never thought they were going to start out
with. They start out ranking cell sites and telling
you where to do capital expenditures, and its
progressed to where now operators are using it
to identify sites that have electric costs that are
too high.
Where to put a store, where to put a billboard,
how to understand marketing campaigns all of
these things start out as a design, but then you
see that all the data can be used by every part
of the organization. Its just a different view.

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Instead of you pivoting on a network element,
you pivot on where the subscriber is. But its
the same data set, and it can be used for
multiple organizations.
Monica: Thats interesting, that you can use
GeoBase to decide where to build a new store
or a billboard for advertising. How does that
work? How do operators sell or market that
data?
Kyle: If you think about it, what is a good cell
site? I need a lot of population and poor
coverage. I dont want to put a site where
theres existing good coverage, and I want to
cover a lot of people so I get a return on my
investment.
Where would I put a store? I want good
coverage, because if customers go there and
cant use the phone theyre going to buy, then
they wouldnt buy it. I need good coverage, I
need a lot of people, maybe I need high vehicle
counts driving on the roads. These make good
store locations.
You can see how we use the exact same data
set for multiple different use cases.
Monica: If you look at geographic locations
say there is a cell out there and theres a
problem the problem might not be in the cell
itself; it might be coming from the core or from
a handset. So you need an end-to-end view of
the network, even to understand whats going
on in a specific location. Can you do that, and if
so, how does that work?
Kyle: Absolutely. InfoVista has a couple
products for that. Outside of TEMS GeoBase, we
2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com
have an end-to-end solution on service
assurance thats just for those things, that just
does hundreds of different test cases from end
to end to understand everything from VoLTE to
just the regular 2G voice call.
With TEMS GeoBase, when you start adding
things geographically, when you start looking at
how to troubleshoot, you see the scope of the
problem. If its one sector, then you know it
cant be the backhaul, because you have three
sectors on that backhaul and the other two are
doing fine.
Once I know the scope of the problem, I can
absolutely tell you the troubleshooting steps. If
its 10 sites, then you want to know whats
common to these 10 sites. When you start tying
things in geographically, you can take a really
quick deep dive, which youre not able to do
when you do dont use the data geographically.
Monica: One thing you alluded to is that you
can use this information to plan. That
introduces the whole issue of the predictive
power of analytics, because its good to find out
what the problem is today, but you also want to
prevent issues in the future, and you want to
have your network ready.
What do you need to have predictive analytics
in place?
Kyle: When we start getting into predictive,
what you need is the trifecta of data sources.
This gets into root-cause analysis.
When you look at the history of analytics, it
really started out first with the need to
automate a process.
InfoVista: Tying in geographic information to make networks smarter
Once thats automated, what do I want to do
with it? I want to start to do root-cause analysis.
When I start to do root-cause analysis, I need
performance, configuration, and fault
management, because with those three I can
solve any problem. Was it changed, was it
broken, or was there a traffic pattern shift?
With those three data sources, I can find the
answer. When I tie all those together, I can start
doing root-cause analysis.
Then the final, most exciting stage is with
machine learning and predictive analytics.
Because I have all the information I need, I can
turn it loose, and I can do trillions of
calculations that would never be possible
manually.
For instance, I can put a cell site every 100
meters to cover the entire United States.
Essentially, let me design out two billion cell
sites, understand which one is the best, remove
that, then run another iteration to find the
second best. This kind of analytics was never
possible before.
Getting into predictive analytics allows us to
understand whats the current demand of an
area. We know that once the coverage or the
quality gets better, the usage goes up. Whats
that complete relationship between coverage
and quality and usage?
Especially as we start getting into small cells and
the internet of things, understanding that
relationship among five or six different
spectrum bands, along with multiple different
cell site types pico, femto, small cells, macro,
micro all these things, it becomes just too
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complex and impossible for a person to do
manually.
Monica: With IoT, you have new services, new
devices, new interfaces. So, our networks are
becoming more complex. But that means there
is also a larger opportunity to use analytics and
more flexibility in optimizing the network.
Because if everything in the network is
homogeneous for instance, if all you have is
voice you cannot optimize much. But now you
can optimize more, because you have more
dimensions, more heterogeneity in your traffic.
How will the introduction of IoT change the way
we do analytics?
Kyle: Really a couple of things. The first is just
the number of objects. Everybody who can have
a phone, has a phone, maybe even multiple
phones. So, what is the next subscriber? Its a
thing: its your refrigerator, its a collar for your
dog, its your car, and its everything that ties
them together.
Again, this starts tying into geographic
relationships between where the subscriber is
and where that item is. If you want to IoT your
dog collar, you need to know the relationship
and the location between it and yourself,
because what you really care about is to
understand the complexity of all these different
data sets and this is just impossible without
analytics.
Monica: And you need automation as well.
Kyle: Even with the tools that were available,
one of the things we ran into was that, typically,
when we created analytics, we could use
2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com
different tool sets to analyze the results, just to
make sure theyre correct. I did something with
this one tool. Then maybe I opened an Excel
spreadsheet and calculated it in a different way
to see if Im on track.
The data these days is so big that we actually
had to use GeoBase to analyze GeoBase, just
because theres no other suitable tool out
there. When you start talking about billions and
petabytes of information, what tool out there
can you use? We actually had to run multiple
instances just to understand exactly whats
going on, and we were right. It gets very, very
exciting.
Monica: With 5G were going to go even further
in terms of complexity and different interfaces.
Will analytics change as we move to 5G?
Kyle: It will. One thing weve seen is that with
2G, 3G, and 4G, we dont get any more people.
We add layers of network elements on top of
the mobile operators, and they dont increase
the number of engineers. The Gs are getting
bigger and the people are staying the same.
They need some sort of analytic product to help
them solve those problems.
With 5G especially, when you start talking
about millimeter wave, small cells, and so on,
you have to truly understand the bandwidth
needed per person, because really what you
have to do to make 5G work is to give
customers exactly what they need. Not too
much, not too little, exactly what they need.
Understanding that will only come through
analytics.
InfoVista: Tying in geographic information to make networks smarter
Monica: What are the pain points you hear
from operators that you can help them with?
Kyle: Definitely just the size of the data and the
complexity of the networks are increasing as
the days go on. Especially with engineering, its
moved from being RF focused, to having more
of an IT or an IP background.
Understanding how the protocols work through
the internet is completely different from how
they work through the air interface. Merging
those two together, especially on multiple
frequencies in RF, with their different
characteristics, has become just very, very scary
for mobile operators.
To use this data with tighter and tighter
budgets, because there is such a competitive
landscape, operators need something to be
agile, to be competitive. Analytics is the way to
do it.
The first big data platforms were tier-one-only
products. Honestly, the tier threes need it more
than the big guys do, because the big guys have
money they can throw at problems, and if they
lose it, its not that big of a deal.
When youre a tier three and you want to be
competitive, every dollar counts. You cant
afford to waste weeks or dollars when it comes
to running your network.
Monica: What directions is InfoVista moving in
for the future?
Kyle: Definitely were very heavy into analytics
and machine learning. As we move forward, we
continue to tie our products in. One of the great
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things about InfoVistas acquisition of Ascom is Thats what youll see: more analytics, more ARPU Average revenue per unit
that there was very little overlap in the synchronization between all the different BI Business intelligence
products. Both companies brought these great products. Its really going to help to offer a DPI Deep packet inspection
skill sets that we were able to merge together. complete solution for mobile operators. IoT Internet of things
IP Internet Protocol
I know, myself, coming from the Ascom side, as Glossary IT Information technology
soon as we were acquired, we immediately LTE Long Term Evolution
reached out to the call trace. InfoVista has a 5G Fifth generation RF Radio frequency
great call-trace tool, and Planet as a predictive AI Artificial intelligence SQL Structured Query Language
tool, which is a market leader there. Now I can API Application programming VoLTE Voice over LTE
lean on these tools and take that expertise and interface
make GeoBase even a stronger product.

2017 Senza Fili www.senzafiliconsulting.com InfoVista: Tying in geographic information to make networks smarter |8|
About InfoVista
InfoVista is the leading provider of cost-effective network performance orchestration solutions at the service of a better
connected and collaborative world. Our award-winning solutions empower mobile operators and communications service
providers to ensure a high-quality subscriber experience across the entire life-cycle, all technologies and all domains of both
the mobile and fixed networks. Using InfoVistas solutions, eighty percent of the worlds largest communications service
providers and mobile operators deliver high-performing and differentiated services, maximize network ROI, plan and optimize
networks to match application and service demands, and streamline network operations while keeping total cost of ownership
as low as possible.

About Kyle Ownbey

Kyle started his career with 10 years in the US Army, serving as a repairman of radar and satellite imagery system. After
honorably leaving military service, Kyle spent the next 15 years working in RF Engineering telecom roles that included drive
testing, optimization, design and then managing regional markets. While becoming proficient in all roles of RF Engineering,
Kyle became self-taught in software programing and analytics, which led to a transition into leading tool teams and finally into
designing a big data product that is being used by a US Tier 1 telecommunications carrier. Kyle is currently the Product
Manager for TEMS GeoBase.

This conversation is included in the Senza Fili report

Mastering analytics. How to benefit from big data and network complexity,
prepared in collaboration with RCR Wireless News.
Download the report from RCR Wireless News and Senza Fili
About RCR Wireless News
Since 1982, RCR Wireless News has been providing wireless and mobile industry news, insights, and
analysis to industry and enterprise professionals, decision makers, policy makers, analysts and investors.
Our mission is to connect, globally and locally, mobile technology professionals and companies online, in
person, in print and now on video. Our dedication to editorial excellence coupled with one of the
industrys most comprehensive industry databases and digital networks leads readers and advertisers to
consistently choose RCR Wireless News over other industry publications.

About Senza Fili

Senza Fili provides advisory support on wireless technologies and services. At Senza Fili we have in-depth
expertise in financial modeling, market forecasts and research, white paper and report preparation,
business plan support, strategic advice, and due diligence. Our client base is international and spans the
entire value chain: clients include vendors, system integrators, investors, regulators, and industry
associations. We provide a bridge between technologies and services, helping our clients assess
established and emerging technologies, leverage these technologies to support new or existing services,
and build solid, profitable business models. Independent advice, a strong quantitative orientation, and an
international perspective are the hallmarks of our work. For additional information, visit
www.senzafiliconsulting.com or contact us at info@senzafiliconsulting.com or +1 425 657 4991.

About the interviewer

Monica Paolini, PhD, is the founder and president of Senza Fili. She is an expert in wireless technologies
and has helped clients worldwide to understand new technologies and customer requirements, create and
assess financial TCO and ROI models, evaluate business plan opportunities, market their services and
products, and estimate the market size and revenue opportunity of new and established wireless
technologies. She frequently gives presentations at conferences, and writes reports, blog entries and
articles on wireless technologies and services, covering end-to-end mobile networks, the operator,
enterprise and IoT markets. She has a PhD in cognitive science from the University of California, San Diego
(US), an MBA from the University of Oxford (UK), and a BA/MA in philosophy from the University of
Bologna (Italy). You can reach her at monica.paolini@senzafiliconsulting.com.

2017 Senza Fili Consulting, LLC. All rights reserved. This paper was prepared on behalf of InfoVista. The transcription of the conversation has been edited for consistency and readability. The document can be
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permission from Senza Fili Consulting. While the document is based upon information that we consider accurate and reliable, Senza Fili Consulting makes no warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy of the
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owners. Cover photo by MIKHAIL GRACHIKOV/Shutterstock.