OVERLAND PARK, Kan. and LONDON, Nov. 20, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TMNG Global (Nasdaq:TMNG), a leading provider of management consulting services to the communications, media and entertainment industries, Cartesian, a TMNG Global company, and Virgin Media today announced the successful implementation of Ascertain(tm) Inter Operator Provisioning (IOP) Platform, specifically the IOP for 'On-net and 'Off-net' products.
Virgin Media, a leading entertainment and communications company, was formed by the merger of the UK's two largest cable companies, NTL and Telewest, and the subsequent acquisition of Virgin Mobile. When the company rebranded as Virgin Media in February 2007, it inherited multiple provisioning technologies and processes for its telephony and broadband products. Deploying Ascertain IOP has enabled the company to increase automation of telephony provisioning processes and standardize its operations across the company.
Ascertain IOP provides Virgin Media with the administration and end-to-end fulfillment of Number Portability orders, Directory Inquiries and Emergency Services registrations, and subsequent switch and voicemail activation activity. IOP's 'Off-net' capabilities extend this to include provisioning of ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and SMPF (Shared Metallic Path Facility) broadband services, and voice services through WLR (Wholesale Line Rental) and CPS (Carrier Pre-Select).
In addition to its core provisioning functionality, Ascertain IOP offers Virgin Media comprehensive monitoring and auditing tools via enhanced, real-time reporting capabilities.
With Ascertain IOP, Virgin Media has streamlined provisioning, request management and reporting functions within a single system. Thanks to its automated order processing and rationalization of the provisioning process, Ascertain IOP has already resulted in benefits throughout the company, from a reduced request-to-activation lifecycle duration, to fewer downstream provisioning errors and a consequent downturn in the number of inbound calls to their customer services department.
Furthermore, the application's order management and synchronization facilities allows Virgin Media the comfort of knowing that they meet U.K. Office of Communications (Ofcom) requirements for providers to register with Emergency Services before the customer is provisioned, and their obligations as a communications provider to meet the Geographic Number Portability End-To-End Process.
Commenting on the positive impact of the Ascertain IOP delivery to the business, Stephen Tidswell, Virgin Media's Head of Application Support said, "The challenges of integrating a provisioning solution are considerable, yet in Ascertain IOP, Cartesian has allowed us to meet these with confidence. The orchestration of orders and transparent real-time reporting not only help us to deliver a more satisfying customer experience, but also to achieve significant operational benefits."
Serving almost 10 million customers, Virgin Media is the UK's largest residential broadband provider, the largest mobile virtual network operator and the second largest home phone and pay TV provider in the UK.
About Cartesian
Cartesian, a TMNG Global Company, is an independent technical consulting and software development company, delivering products and services to the telecoms industry. Cartesian's expertise covers networks, engineering, and technology, through to revenue assurance and billing. Ascertain is Cartesian's widely-deployed suite of software tools which address the revenue assurance, data integrity and provisioning needs of telecoms operators.
About TMNG Global
TMNG Global (Nasdaq:TMNG) is a leading provider of professional services to the converging communications industry. Its companies, TMNG, CSMG, and Cartesian and its base of over 600 consultants, have provided strategy, management, and technical consulting, as well as products and services, to more than 1200 communications service providers, entertainment, media, and technology companies and financial services firms worldwide. The company is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, with offices in Boston, Chicago, London, New Jersey, New York, Shanghai and Washington, D.C.