Delivering Rapid Restoration Capacity for the AT&T Network
The Problem
AT&T is a global telecommunications company providing a variety of services from long-distance-voice to data, video, wireless, satellite, and Internet services. AT&T faced a problem in preventing failures in the carrier's network and preparing a rapid response should failures occur. For AT&T to quickly reroute traffic in the event of a network failure, the network had to contain sufficient restoration capacity to carry the displaced demand. The problem was critical because failures of service directly affect the company's core service and erode customer loyalty. Solving it demanded analytics expertise because the problem was system-wide and analytics and operations research had the strong capability to consider the numerous parameters involved.
The Analytics Solution
An AT&T team of analytics experts, network planners, and managers developed a method for determining the appropriate amount and location of restoration capacity required to restore the demand during any single link failure. The approach centered on minimizing the cost of the restoration network and generating new restoration paths. In about 10 months, the team converted the methodology into a tool that optimizes the allocation of restoration capacity. This tool was then extended to plan for the recovery of a switching-center disaster and to re-optimize the entire restoration network.
The Value
The project has contributed to AT&T's achieving high-quality service while saving valuable resources, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings and increased revenues.
