TRE-FOR, a privately owned Danish multi-utility company, decided to launch a broadband subsidiary capable of delivering a comprehensive range of services to its 300,000 home and business customers.
Done.
Using the Unisys Service Enablement Framework, based on the 3D Blueprinting approach, TRE-FOR was able to get its service into the marketplace in just six months, from a standing start.
Business Opportunity: A New Line of Business from Scratch
TRE-FOR is a highly successful utility business that operates in the Danish Triangle region: a prosperous and economically fast-growing area around the towns of Kolding, Fredericia, Middelfart, Vejle and Vejen just to the west of Copenhagen, the Danish capital.
TRE-FOR is a privately owned utility company and had a vision of bringing the region into a new era of services by offering a new kind of converged media solution that only broadband fibre to the home (FTTH) could deliver. This was to be, not triple play or even quad play, but potentially a FuturePlay approach, offering fixed line telephony, voice over IP, mobile telephony, video on demand, radio services, Internet access and interactive gaming: all delivered across a new network to be built and operated by TRE-FOR.
Having made their decision for this bold and visionary approach, they wanted it fast, as well. The Chairman of the Board of TRE-FOR is the mayor of Middelfart, and he publicly challenged TRE-FOR to have its service built and into the market within a six month period. The company accepted the challenge and turned to Unisys as its strategic partner in delivering on the promise.
As Gert Helenius, head of sales and marketing comments: “when we started out, our vision was to bring this great communication net to every person in our community, to every citizen and company. And, therefore, we should aim to be the leading wired community, not just in Denmark but in the world. We were also committed to being in the market very fast, as the news was already in the press. We got out to the first customers within three or four months; within six months we were really running and have been running on the market since then.”
The goal was seen by everyone as being ambitious, but TRE-FOR management was confident of being able to achieve its targets, and one of the main reasons for that was the support they received from Unisys.
Solution: A Service Enablement Framework Based On Unisys Blueprints
TRE-FOR realized that they needed expert help in adapting their existing utility sales, customer service operations and billing processes for use in the telecommunications and media environment. To help them carry out this process of rapid change successfully, they looked for a trusted partner for support in the planning, design, build and operation of their new service, and they selected Unisys. A key factor in this choice was the Unisys 3D Blueprint approach, with its ability to model potential scenarios, based on accurate Blueprints of existing business structures. This approach not only helps to improve decision-making, it also makes it easier to develop an accurate road map to the future.
According to Keld Damsbo, the TRE-FOR Broadband Technical Manager… “there were actually two key factors. One was to choose a good platform and the other was to find a partner who understood our business as we knew we couldn’t do it on our own. The Unisys blueprinting approach really helped us in making sure that we focused on the right things and just the right things. I think we saved about a year in that process and it also helped us to make sure that when we connected the first customer, they received a complete TV, telephony and internet service: and they were satisfied from the start.”
Unisys worked rapidly with TRE-FOR to capture their goals, opportunities and IT imperatives in 3D Blueprints. Having built this clear picture of the strategy, Unisys connected the agreed business vision to the unique Service Enablement Framework, which links the key services and solutions to delivery mechanisms powered by a scaleable, next generation Services Oriented Architecture (SOA). In other words, it sets out the actions and resources needed to make the services become reality. The outcome was a unique service creation blueprint for TRE-FOR Bredbånd A/S. The blueprint provided a roadmap to achieve their “to be” vision in record time.
TRE-FOR Bredbånd A/S supplies service to its customers on a subscription model. Access to the network is provided with no connection fee but individual customers select the mix of services that suits their own preferences. In order to make the new business commercially viable, therefore, TREFOR Bredbånd A/S needs a commercial approach that enables them to design, build, launch and operate each service separately or in the form of packages, tailored to each customer’s needs. The Unisys Blueprint specifies the exact supply chain needed to carry out these tasks. This enables fast service creation, not just for today but also into the future, enabling TRE-FOR Bredbånd A/S to remain competitive no matter how the market may evolve.
Service Delivery: Solution Components
The new network means that residential customers in the region can expand their access from only two or three TV packages to hundreds of Internet TV channels, including foreign programming, which is of specific value to the large ethnic and expatriate communities in the Triangle Region. In addition to TV options, customers can choose from a range of internet connection speeds offering additional capability and flexibility to both residential and business consumers.
Critical to delivering these new services is an end-to-end service delivery platform that provides:
- Security for its customers and systems
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) management to support complex integration and
- Converged Services Analytics to enable a profitable and innovative future.
The Unisys Service Enablement Framework rationalizes essential front and back office services; operations functions such as service provisioning and activation, network management, service maintenance and support; third party management and a multitude of supply chain dependencies. This is a complex and demanding environment.
The solution relies upon middleware messaging between different applications. The Business Support Services (BSS) solution, for example, integrates e-mail, fax, and SMS capabilities with service provisioning, network engineering, billing, accounting, and order fulfillment through an information broker which passes information via a web portal to and from customers, businesses and service providers. In other words, this approach provides equal access to operators, content providers and customers. The Equal Access Network (EAN) was chosen because of its safety, capacity and intelligence. For example, via a selected service model, clients are allowed to add or change service suppliers.
Unisys recommended that TRE-FOR Bredbånd A/S implement a carrier grade infrastructure and, accordingly, the converged user services infrastructure was engineered and installed by Cisco. The infrastructure is supported by fiber optic cabling put in place by an international construction company. As in the case of user service provisioning, Unisys Blueprints provided direction on designing, building and operating the infrastructure.
Meeting expectations is critical to achieving customer satisfaction, especially as TRE-FOR customers demand 24/7 enhanced TV-uptime. The Unisys Service Enablement Framework includes the blueprint for planning, developing, implementing, and maintaining these TV services. Meeting this critical success factor is a function of multi-vendor co-operation to ensure service to the customer. Unisys Blueprints “connect the dots” between customers, suppliers, infrastructure, and operations, including ongoing management of the state-of-the art video equipment maintained on TRE-FOR’s premises, and extending to the set top boxes in the homes of TREFOR customers.
As Gert Helenius says: “the architecture of our systems and processes, enabled by Unisys, means that we can give each customer precisely what that customer wants very fast and at low cost. In fact, the customers can define and order their own services through the Internet. So they get exactly what they want and we deliver very efficiently”.
Results: Successful Implementation and No Disruption
TRE-FOR Bredbånd A/S is already realizing the benefits of the Unisys Service Enablement Framework. The initial success of the effort and ensuing market confidence allowed TRE-FOR to expand its business by using an “aggregator” business model. They launched Profiber, a new brand, which they sold to two neighboring utility companies (Energi Horsens and Østjysk Energi) – increasing their potential customer base by over 250,000 customers. TRE-FOR Bredbånd A/S continues to offer this outsourcing model to utilities in surrounding areas. In less than two years since the inception of the business vision, TRE-FOR Bredbånd A/S has become recognized as an innovative content and infrastructure provider.
Unisys Service Enablement Framework protects TRE-FOR’s current and future investments through converged business solutions, next generation service oriented architecture, and end-to-end delivery capability. We have married the best industry practices with our unique client experiences in our 3D Blueprint approach. All of these are working at TRE-FOR today as they take their place among a growing list of emerging Scandinavian providers.
The TRE-FOR journey is just beginning. Building on the initial success with two neighboring utilities, they are continuing to develop the “aggregator” model by looking to serve the customers of other utilities. By 2008, TRE-FOR Bredbånd A/S expects to move beyond the municipality of Fredericia and provide coverage in all major cities in their service area. By 2012, they have targeted complete coverage. It is certain that new ideas will come along in the next 5 years requiring the company to adjust its strategy and quickly respond to the market but, whatever these future changes may be, the Unisys Service Enablement Framework will make them possible.
How to summarize the experience as a whole? In the words of Mia Jappe, Business Manager at TRE-FOR, “the project has been a success. We have achieved what we wanted and we are admired by many of our fellow competitors, and that is the best recognition you can get.”
