FRESH PRODUCE

Dan O'Shea

Better seen than sorry

Mapping solutions are so significant to intelligent network planning and management that it's hard to believe network operators were ever able to do business without them. Throughout the last few years, they have been especially helpful in siting antennas for expanding wireless networks and central offices for new CLEC networks. In more recent product developments, CDS Business Mapping points to the next evolution in mapping.

CDS Business Mapping--TeleAccess

Boston firm CDS Business Mapping recently found out firsthand how difficult it can be to get DSL service: The company called service providers but was unable to get immediate answers about service availability. In a way, it was good news for CDS Business Mapping, which was already developing a product to help carriers keep their marketing teams and customers better apprised of service availability.

That product, TeleAccess, is now ready for action. The application, currently hosted and maintained on CDS Business Mapping's server, creates a literal picture of service availability based on input of area codes, prefixes and physical address information. With the solution available over the Internet, both users and carrier sales people can enter the info and are immediately shown a map of the nearest switch that can service the user location. TeleAccess also shows what services and speeds are available from that switch and exactly how far the user is from it.

"CLECs aren't in every CO, and DSL is not extended everywhere," says Dan Munson, VP of sales and marketing for CDS Business Mapping. "But how do you disseminate the information about where services are available in an easy way?"

Spreadsheets and update memos may work for carrier sales people, but they can be easily misplaced and lose their timeliness. The Web gives carriers a way to answer availability requests and update the info in real time.

CDS Business Mapping is acting as an ASP for TeleAccess, maintaining and updating a carrier's service site on its server for between $2000 and $3000 a month. However, carriers can brand and configure the site as they wish to make it transparent to users.

Munson says TeleAccess is a small step forward for carriers that want to offer self-service. Eventually, users will be able to qualify themselves for service and sign up without having to interface with carrier personnel until installation plans need to be made.