The ReliaTel 2.5.0 Release provides Management, Operations, and Network staff with increased visibility and awareness into dynamically changing operational conditions that can directly impact end user service levels. Through ReliaTel, performance degradation is pre-empted and problem resolution is expedited enabling both Voice and IT staff to more effectively control mission critical voice and network operations.

Streamlined administration capabilities further empower administrators to easily manage and maintain the entire ReliaTel management environment, thereby ensuring top Voice and IT network service levels are maintained throughout the converged Voice & IT infrastructure.

Highlights of Release 2.5.0 Enhancements include:

Map Image Layers Aid Operational Visualization and Disaster Planning

ReliaTel 2.5.0 provides the ability to specify a layer of custom imagery on the primary map or any saved map location. Users have the option to utilize dynamically loaded and refreshed images from specified sources, or static images of facilities, devices, schematics, drawings, components, etc. Support for customized imagery directly on the ReliaTel Management map enables both Voice and IT staff to more rapidly pinpoint the exact source and location of operational and performance problems that can directly impact user service levels.

Doppler Radar Map Overlay Image

Many regional centers are susceptible to a variety of weather conditions or natural disasters that can seriously impact or completely cripple the organization’s ability to conduct business. The ReliaTel 2.5.0 map image layer facility can utilize dynamic Doppler radar image feeds from sources such as the National Weather Service to overlay approaching weather systems on the specified map location, presenting an aggregated view of the impending conditions.

As a result, organizations can visualize the potential threat and impact current weather systems may have on specific regional operating centers.

User Definable Map Views Instantly Present Specific Map Locations

Organizations with operational centers throughout the world can now easily define specific geographic views by saving segments of the global map which contain a specific location at the desired zoom level. Once saved, each map “location” is recalled on demand using the specified name, and instantly displays the specific geographic region, country, city, or location with all defined elements, related connectivity, underlying circuits and topology.

Map Profiles and Filters Present Logical Map Views

ReliaTel 2.5.0 now supports customizable map profiles and filters to create logical map views that categorize and limit the display of mapped elements to only those elements meeting specific center, entity, or device type criteria.

For example, users can display only Sun servers in Los Angeles and New York centers that support manufacturing business units. Users can save all filter criteria (including specific image overlays) to a specific profile name, and then recall the profile on demand to instantly present just the elements meeting the specified filter criteria.

Additional Full Screen Windows Provide Multiple Map Portals

The 2.5.0 Map Facility now provides users with multiple full screen viewing windows to concurrently view several active maps within their primary ReliaTel session. Map windows operate independently and provide full interactive functionality and zoom capabilities, enabling users to size each active window on the desktop as desired, and perform concurrent “stare and compare” activities across multiple active windows.

New Map Background Viewing Options

New map viewing options enable users to select map background features to be displayed or hidden as desired including elevation data, political boundaries, U.S. streets, and U.S. highways.

Additional viewing options include hiding links between entities and turning off entity and center icon labels, enabling users to focus their view on only the specific map elements desired.

Easy Access to Center and Entity Attribute Displays

The ReliaTel 2.5.0 maps now provide easy, right click access to detailed entity attributes, logs, playback, and access pop-up panels, enabling users to immediately view important device and link details without leaving their map session. Through the new map attribute displays, users can expedite diagnostics of operational issues and speed problem resolution.

Enhanced Graphical User Interface Flexibility and Navigation

The 2.5.0 Graphical User Interface enables users to work smarter and faster through streamlined navigation and enhanced interface flexibility, including:

• New split pane design providing both overview and detail information within the same display to expedite alarm processing, diagnostics, and administration.
• Additional full screen windows within the ReliaTel session to concurrently view multiple Map, Alarm, and Dashboard displays independently.
• Customizable Alarm Screen to present only specific alarm information, in the desired position within the display.
• Process multiple alarms in a single operation by simply using CTRL + Click to select the desired alarms, and then clicking Acknowledge or Clear once.
• Size Alarm columns and sort column contents in descending or ascending order by clicking column headings.
• Filter Alarm list information by any keyword or phrase to rapidly locate and display only relevant alarms.
• Collapse and expand the tree pane in the Map and Alarm displays with a double click of the right tree border.
• Size the Tree, Profiles, Active, and Details panes of the Map and Alarm displays by simply dragging borders to the desired position.

Customizable Alarm Types and Attributes

Customizable Alarm Types with optional extended attributes provides users with significantly more alarm-related information, enabling users to easily identify and better relate alarm source, cause, and impact to key business systems and services. Further, Alarm Types provides more meaningful, actionable data about related alarm trends within ReliaTel Alarm Trending reports.

Custom Alarm Attributes enable users to immediately access background details within the ReliaTel Alarm Display, without the necessity to seek external background information. Any customized information can be specified including:
Device or manufacturer specific information, codes, or translations

• Alarm meaning or definition
• Impact to device, application, line of business, or end customer
• Hardware components impacted
• Actions necessary to resolve

As a result, alarm analysis and diagnostics are expedited, intervention activities are initiated more rapidly, problem resolution time is reduced, and staff productivity is increased.

New Composite Alarm and Performance Report

The new ReliaTel Alarm and Performance Composite Report now analyzes and reports expanded variations and comparisons of alarm statistics, enabling users to better identify both operational and procedural issues that impact user efficiency, ongoing maintenance, and overall service delivery. Additional alarm statistics now available include:

• Number of alarms segmented by time and by type
• Number of alarms by entity, center, and severity segmented by time
• Process up-time and downtime data
• Comparative performance statistics by performance zone: Optimum (Green), Cautionary (Yellow), and Critical (Red)

Report format options now include HTML, in addition to Excel, Adobe PDF, and CSV (Comma Separated Value).

Enhanced Graphical Notification Facility

The graphical Notification and Administration Facility enables ReliaTel users to more rapidly deploy, modify, and maintain their entire ReliaTel managed environment directly through the GUI.

Users can quickly establish and maintain automated notification schedules, coverage rules, email templates, pager templates, and escalation conditions for multiple medias including:

• E-mail Service for e-mail and SMS notification utilizing common electronic mail packages or built-in SMTP support.
• Pager notification messages sent to recipients' alpha pagers based on defined notification criteria. Two-way paging support enables recipients to respond to events and trigger automated actions.
• Outbound telephone calls to designated telephone numbers delivering custom voice messages to recipients using text-to-speech technology. Text to speech allows the system to “read” text messages without the need to pre-record each message or phrase.

ReliaTel supports the ability to receive messages back from the recipient via a two way pager e-mail reply, as well as through the telephone key pad. These responses trigger actions in the ReliaTel notification scripts to remotely perform a variety of activities including acknowledging or clearing alarms, or initiating automated recovery procedures.

Enhanced Graphical Administration Facility

ReliaTel 2.5.0 system administrators are provided a full graphical interface to quickly and easily perform ReliaTel center, entity, link, and user administration, including:

• Establish and maintain user contact, notification, permission, and password information
• Create new centers, entities, and links
• Define all center and entity attributes
• Configure center and entity monitoring and alarming criteria
• Assign center and entity logging, polling, and patterns
• Establish performance metrics and thresholds
• Define automated actions and processes

The new Notification and Administration facility is fully integrated within the primary ReliaTel web-based interface, putting complete control of all ReliaTel management functions directly at authorized administrators’ fingertips through any standard web browser.

Solaris 9, Linux Red Hat AS 3.0 and 4.0 Support

ReliaTel 2.5.0 host platform options include Solaris 9 for SPARC and Linux Red Hat AS 3.0 and 4.0 on Intel based platforms. Database options include Oracle 9i and 10g, or PostgreSQL 8.24.

Release Migration Facility

A complete migration facility is included to streamline release upgrades from prior ReliaTel releases to Release 2.5.0.