Westnet Case StudyAccelerated Service Provisioningwith TIBCO BusinessWorks

Adrian FongInformation Systems Manager

Agenda

• About Westnet• Project Objectives• Software Selection Process • Project Implementation• Challenges• Outcomes• Next Steps• Questions

• Regionally focused ISP, established in 1994• National service capability offering

– ADSL– Dial– Satellite Broadband– Mobile Broadband– Telephony– Business Products such as Hosting, Domains

and Mail

• Diversifying into VAS - Content– Xbox Live, EPL, 3FL, IPTV

• 220,000 customers, primarily residential• Revenue FY 08-09 forecast $145M,

FY 07-08 $136M• 100% owned by iiNet since May 08

About Westnet

• Award Winning Service Provider– Best ISP, PC Authority 07, 08– Australian Broadband Survey 03-08

• 550 staff primarily in Perth, 1000 strong Agent/Reseller Network

• 50 staff in Information Systems team• IS Dept discipline focused

– Architecture– Software Development– Testing– Database– Business Intelligence

• Historically a Microsoft shop – Windows, .NET & SQL Server

About Westnet

Project Objectives

• Business driver originated with the Billing System 2Q07 – Original purpose Dial/DSL– Limited functionality, unable to support Telephony & Mobile– Lack of Vendor Support– Swap out the Billing System

• Previous Architecture– Over 72 applications in software environment– Each application integrated differently– Consisted of tightly coupled web services– Multiple partner interfaces

Project Objectives

• Point-to-Point Integration quickly becomes complex and difficult to maintain

Application A Application B

Application C

Application A Application B

Application C

Application D

Application F

Application E

Project Objectives

Westnet Agent

Platypus[Staff PC’s]

Plat Billing Tables[Wallaby]

DTS UsageProcessing Job

[Wallaby]

Radius NT[Radius]

Netflow[Netflow boxes]

Customer Premises

Telstra LOLIG[External]

Telstra B2BWindows Service

[Blackswan]

Internal Sign-up[Rockrat]

ADSL 1 SQ[Goanna]

IP Services Gateway[Rockrat]

Jets[Rockrat]

Online Sign-up[Rockrat]

My Account[Goanna]

Internal Usage[Rockrat]

External Usage[Goanna]

Internal Customer[Rockrat]

SMS Win Service[Goanna]

Ghostbuster[Rockrat]

Network Equipment[Australia Wide]

Bouncer Win Service[Blackswan]

Calls/Usage Tables[Wallaby]

Ghostbuster Win Service[Goanna]

Cancellation Page[Rockrat]

Speed change page[Rockrat]

Jets/Telstra B2BTables

[Wallaby]

Modem Ordering[Rockrat]

Faults/EscalationSystem

[Rockrat]

ModemReplacement

[Rockrat]

Modem TrackingTables

[Wallaby]

Fault System Tables[Wallaby]

PDF Generator[Greyheader]

IP Man[Rockrat]

CSR

Radius Tables[Wallaby]

Calls Online[Rockrat]

Shaping System[Wallaby]

EmailCustomer

Agents ExternalWeb Site[Goanna]

Westnet Website[Cuscus]

Looking Glass[Pademelon]

CSR

CSR

Bouncer[Rockrat]

CSR

Customer

CSR

Customer

Customer

Internal Agents[Rockrat]

Data Warehouse[Warru]

Billcheck[Blackswan]

Telstra FTP[External]

Bill Folder[File-Server]

Internal Accounts[Rockrat]

Reporting ServicesPortal

[Mellomy]

SMS Tables[Wallaby]

Postal Win Service[Goanna]

Postal Tables[Wallaby]

Communication Key

Public Server

ExternalInternal Server

Server Key

OtherData Server

HTTP Port 80

SQL Access Port 1433

HTTPS Port 443

FTP Port 21

SNMP

Other

PLATYPUS(Biliing System)

INTEGRATION LAYER

Inte

rnet

Telstra

Other

Optus

Homogeneous Integration

PAYROLL HR MAILRADIUS HOSTING DOMAINS

PLATYPUS(Billing System)

Inte

rnet

MAILRADIUS HOSTINGHR

Telstra

Aus Registry

Optus

Heterogeneous Integration

DOMAINSPAYROLL

TelstraIntegration

Layer

OptusIntegration

LayerHRIntegration

Layer

RADIUSIntegration

Layer

HOSTINGIntegration

Layer

MAILIntegration

Layer

PAYROLLIntegration

Layer

DOMAINSIntegration

Layer

Project Objectives

• Technical Objective– To remove the dependency on vendor specific software– Move towards Homogeneous Unified Integration solution– Handling A2A, B2B & Bulk Data eg. CDRs

Software Selection Process

• Started with PoC with Microsoft BizTalk– Proved the principles of the Integration Strategy– But lacked maturity and was cumbersome in design

• TIBCO Strengths– Local presence– Company history – proven track record, ability to deliver– Product direction & maturity – completeness of vision, R&D– Cost– Maintenance & Support– Customer demographic – 8 out of top 10 global Telcos– Independent Research Reports Eg. Forrester, Gartner

• Current Offerings• Strategy

• Forward vision• Solution cost• Strategic Alliances

• Market Presence• Customer Base• Customer growth• Level of global sales and

support

An independent technology and market research company

The Forrester Wave: Integration Centric Business Process Management Suites

• Ability to Execute• Completeness of Vision

A leading information technology research and advisory company

Software Selection Process

• BusinessWorks Strengths– Connectivity - Web Services, JMS, Adapters, SFTP, etc– Interoperability - .NET, Java, C++– Central store for Project Configuration and Global Variables– Source Control – compatible with VSS, UDDI from Windows

Server– Development Environment

– Graphical representation of orchestrations/processes– Exception handling, rollback– Flow control/throttling

– Administration – Centralised, visible, co-deployment– Security – SSL Certs, Kerberos, LDAP/AD

Project Implementation

• Began with 2 Software Developers attending BusinessWorks training

• Commence development on 1st interface within a fortnight

B2B Gateway for Telephony Provisioning

• Resale of Telstra wholesale Telephony• Automation of manual business processes• Seemed ideal with operational efficiencies, but complex

TelstraLOLIG

InternalApplications

SOAP/HTTP

Internet

SOAP/HTTP

Local Network

TIBCOBusinessWorks

Project Implementation

• 21 Web Services, 51 Operations

ISDNRelocateRelocateISDN2RelocateISDN30

ISDNNewNewISDN2NewISDN30

ISDNCancelCancelISDN2CancelISDN30

ISDNValueAddProductAddProduct

ChangeProductRemoveProductGetCatalogue

ISDNConfigureChangeLesseeChangeNumber

ChangeNetworkAccessConvertService

ChangeDirectoryDetails

DSLNewNewDSLService

DSLConfigureSpeedChange

DSLCancelCancelDSL

DSLTransferChurnToWestnet

VoiceConfigureChangeLesseeChangeNumberCreditManage

ChangeNetworkAccessConvertService

ChangeDirectoryDetailsReturnCPE

VoiceValueAddProductAddProduct

ChangeProductRemoveProductGetCatalogue

VoiceNewNewVoice

NewVoiceDSLService

VoiceCancelCancelVoice

VoiceRelocateRelocateVoice

RelocateVoiceDSL

VoiceLineHuntGroupAddLineHunt

ChangeLineHuntRemoveLineHunt

ServiceQualifyQualify

EnhancedQualify

ServiceValidateValidate

ServiceNumberListAvailable

Reserve

ServiceInventoryEnquiry

AddressSearchByCSNSearchByFull

SearchByPartialGetLocalityPostcode

RequestItemEnquire

EnquireHistoryEnquireWholesale

ModifyCancel

Project Implementation

Service Architecture

Immediate Web Services

Delayed Web Services

Job Status Tracking

Logging and Exception Handling

Immediate Request Handler

Delayed Request Handler

Send to Telstra

Get Site Minder Session

Internet

Telstra LOLIG

Messaging Layer

Project Implementation

• Solution features– Abstraction – hides interface complexity from internal applications

– Eg. Complex security and session management– Eg. Client applications remain agnostic of vendor changes

– Flow control to throttle workload on Telstra– Each job runs on independent threads– Persistence

– Track long running jobs and caches progress– Ability to queue jobs internally for resubmission

• Timeline– Beginning to end – 6 weeks

Project Implementation

B2B Gateway for DSL2 Provisioning

• Long running jobs, publishing updates to Internal Applications• Integration development - 8 days

InternalApplications

XML/TCP

VPNLocal Network

TIBCOBusinessWorks

iiNetWholesaleGateway

Database

SOAP/H

TTP

XML/

RV

TIBCODatabaseAdapter

Project Implementation

• Other Integration Points– Credit Check

– Applying credit scoring policies against new customers

– Telstra IPND – National phone number registry

– Optus CDRs – Mobile broadband usage records

– ABR – ABN validation at signup

– Paradigm One – VoIP complex porting, exposed via ActiveMQ

Challenges

• Team Structures & Responsibilities– Full SDLC in a team of 2– Danger of creating a bottleneck in delivery– Administration

• SOA Design Paradigm– Messaging, Work Flow, XML Schemas, Service Granularity, etc

• Prioritisation and Stopping the Rot– Legacy & new interfaces– Patience!

Outcomes

• Drag ‘n’ Drop Codeless IDE– Accelerated development time– Less prone to error– Shorter testing/UAT phase

• OOTB Features– Intuitive with comprehensive documentation– Robust

• Software Architecture– Clear separation of Business Logic, consistent Security Policies– Seamless interconnect from Perl, .NET and Java– Re-use more common than expected – merger, re-purpose

Next Steps

• EMS– Increase interoperability

between applications built in different technologies

– Abstract service capabilities– Supports all message exchange

patterns– One way– Request/Response– Publish/Subscribe

– Inbuilt queuing, persistence– Event logging

• Hawk– Enhanced monitoring &

management

Questions