Indirect Access — Using Intelligence to Make a Virtue Out of a Necessity

Abstract

Indirect access using intelligent CPE means that customer dialling habits do not change when they switch to a second operator. This is an essential technology for second operators, in order to reach highly profitable mass-market customers and this paper describes some of the important features they should consider when designing such a service. In particular it highlights the need to consider complete service design rather than just equipment price. Remotely managed intelligent smartboxes and routers can support a range of alternative telco operation modes, such as switchless resellers and aggregators, and the use of indirect access to complement targeted access build is mentioned. Collaborative work on vendor and design analysis is reviewed and the point is made that remote management is a key ingredient that should be developed as a valuable marketing tool. This technology could support mass-market packet or Internet-based voice services and some operating models can be readily shifted to such a network without the customer needing to know. There are great similarities between dial up Internet service propositions and indirect access so the two services can be converged. It is stressed that indirect access is not a 'fallback' for direct access, but a true value add service in itself.