Brix Networks Announces New Customer Care Solution for Residential VoIP Service Providers.

CHELMSFORD, Mass. -- BrixCare Self-Service Application Helps Broadband Voice Providers Reduce Subscriber Acquisition And Support Costs While Increasing Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty

Brix Networks (www.brixnet.com), the trusted provider of the most widely deployed assurance solutions for interactive services, today announced BrixCare(TM) Self-Service, a new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) quality measurement and reporting application that helps service providers reduce subscriber acquisition and support costs.

The BrixCare Self-Service application measures VoIP quality from the customer premise, and enables providers to profitably launch, operate, and assure their residential and business broadband voice services while increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

BrixCare Self-Service consists of three primary components:

--On-demand VoIP Agent - A digitally signed, lightweight Java applet that is downloaded to a subscriber's PC, either in self-service mode or at the direction of a customer service representative.

--Central Management Software - A platform that collects information and presents it in audience-appropriate formats that is actionable and relevant to customer service reps, NOC engineers, and management.

--Brix Verifiers - Hardware appliances that reside in the providers network for terminating test calls and measuring VoIP call quality.

"Most VoIP providers have minimal visibility into their customers' environments or access networks where quality issues often arise," said Laura Holly, product line manager at Brix Networks. "BrixCare Self-Service allows both users and providers to quickly determine whether a problem originates in the user's environment, the ISP's network, or the VoIP provider's service delivery infrastructure. Our customers have told us that by using BrixCare Self-Service they have realized significant reductions in the average handle times of calls to their support reps in the vicinity of 30-to-40 percent."

BrixCare Self-Service can be used as both a pre- and post-sign-up application.

By incorporating BrixCare Self-Service into their subscriber pre-sign-up process, providers can demonstrate their service quality to prospective customers and proactively identify those users bringing poor broadband quality with them. Proactive identification allows providers to acquire and maintain subscribers they can satisfy.

Post-sign-up, providers avoid expensive customer service calls by enabling users to cost-effectively diagnose and resolve problems by accessing the BrixCare Self-Service application from a self-help portal. When customer service assistance is required, BrixCare Self-Service also helps reduce call length and increases resolutions of problems by enabling representatives to more quickly confirm and resolve or appropriately escalate user-reported problems.

"BrixCare Self-Service helps cut customer support costs, allows providers to have successful services with a pre-qualified pool of customers, and lets them differentiate their offerings based on quality, and not just price," said George Hamilton, senior research analyst at Yankee Group.

Measures Numerous Quality Metrics

BrixCare Self-Service measures several signaling quality metrics, including the time for each call setup phase and complete call setup time, and also provides a host of delivery quality diagnostic metrics, such as latency, packet loss, and jitter.

Additionally, BrixCare Self-Service evaluates overall call quality using the industry-recognized E-Model (ITU-T G.107) standard. The application reports a bi-directional Mean Opinion Score (MOS) and analyzes the impact of each quality factor on MOS degradation, presenting each in easy-to-understand displays.

BrixCare Self-Service is designed for seamless integration into VoIP service provisioning infrastructure and customer support workflows. The Web-based, Self-Service user interface incorporates easily into existing customer portals, allowing users to launch the Self-Service applet from a service subscription or self-help page.

Providers control the Self-Service experience for their customers by preconfiguring the number and duration of test calls, setting the call parameters, and specifying the format and detail-level of results they wish to share with customers.

Providers also specify flexible passing, warning, and failing service thresholds, and prescribe the workflow for each. For example, users receiving a passing grade might proceed straight to a payment page. Those with warning scores might be redirected to an online knowledge base, while failing users might be issued a trouble-ticket ID number. In all cases, detailed results for each user are immediately available to provider personnel for review, assignment, or resolution.

In addition to performance issues, BrixCare Self-Service identifies firewall configurations that may prevent successful call signaling and UDP-based RTP media packet transmissions. Providers specify the ports or port ranges required for proper service operation.

BrixCare Self-Service is a component of Brix Networks' comprehensive family of VoIP performance management solutions. The company also offers a complete range of performance management tools for service turn-up, operational monitoring, troubleshooting, and service level agreement (SLA) assurance. Brix products support voice and video over IP networks and services across the entire service lifecycle from pre-deployment through commercial operation.

Pricing and Availability

A BrixCare Self-Service Starter Kit - consisting of a Brix 1000(TM) Verifier, Advanced VoIP Test Suite (SIP), Self-Service Application, and related licenses - has a U.S. list price of $65,000 and is available now.

About Brix Networks

Brix Networks is the trusted provider of the most widely deployed service assurance solutions that enable network operators to proactively manage the performance and reliability of interactive, rich-media applications, such as voice and video over IP. Service providers and enterprises use the company's comprehensive, award-winning solutions to control the quality of their wireline, cable, campus, and wireless offerings in order to maximize profitability and ensure user satisfaction. Headquartered in Chelmsford, Mass., Brix Networks has offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit www.brixnet.com, or call 978-367-5600/1-888-BRIXNET.

Brix Networks, Brix, Brixnet, the Brix Networks logo, BrixCare, and Brix 1000 are trademarks of Brix Networks, Inc.

All other company or product names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective holders.