Enet has partnered with Iricent and Merkator to create a Network Inventory Digital Twin that documents their physical and logical network components. The solution, called MarlinDT, is a discovery-led network resource inventory tool designed for the connectivity portfolio of service providers. It provides Enet with a unified view of their network, streamlines processes, and reduces time to restore services.
MarlinDT includes incident simulation and root-cause analysis modules that help Enet identify network resources, design new customer orders, and plan new network builds. The solution also incorporates automation scripts for provisioning network elements to speed up service delivery. The incident simulation engine is the basis of the MarlinDT root-cause analysis module, which allows users to correlate the impacts of network failures.
Enet users interact with the MarlinDT network digital twin via a web GUI that is organized into separate functional modules: Inventory & Visualization, Incident Simulation & Root Cause Analysis, Planning & Routing.
The solution includes the following functionality:
- Plan to Build: Enet personnel can rapidly identify network resources to design, quote, and fulfil new customer orders and plan new network builds and customer networks.
- Order to Service: Customer orders can be transformed into services by selecting the required network resources to create a service design.
- Automated Service Delivery: The solution incorporates automation scripts for provisioning network elements to speed up service delivery.
- Trouble to Resolve: MarlinDT users can search on a wide variety of criteria to identify an impacted service, drill down to the resources used by the service, and perform the necessary troubleshooting to resolve issues.
- Incident Simulation: The Incident Simulation module simulates incidents that could occur due to network changes.
- Change management and Service Impact Analysis: Changes to the network can be planned/documented in the tool along with what-if analysis and simulation of service impact, e.g., the customers impacted.
- Integration with mapping service: The solution has been integrated with Enet’s mapping service to display background maps and geolocalize network elements.
“MarlinDT has revolutionized our network inventory management system, providing us with a unified view of our network components and empowering us to deliver faster, more reliable services to our valued customers. With MarlinDT, we can proactively identify and resolve network issues, streamline processes, and minimize service disruptions. It’s a game-changer that ensures our customers experience uninterrupted connectivity and receive the high-quality service they deserve.”
John Gilvarry, Chief Technology Officer at Enet
Overall, the implementation enables Enet to streamline its network operations and offer higher quality, more reliable services to its customers. Customers benefit from faster service delivery, fewer disruptions, and faster service restorations, all while Enet proactively manages potential issues and provides a high level of service.