CPDI Celebrates 15 Year Anniversary
This year, CPDI completes 15 years of serving the global telecommunications industry, providing some of the most robust and flexible products in the marketplace today. CPDI began in April of 1992 in Oregon, USA. It started with a simple but potent idea: provide telecommunications software and systems that offer outstanding service and value, while addressing the challenge of fraud that was costing the industry a billion dollars per year. The first product was Call Control. The prototype was operational in the autumn of 1992. In those early years, the initial challenge was not so much to demonstrate the effective use of prepaid products, but to explain just what prepaid is and how it could help potential clients deal with fraud. The first CPDI clients were close to home in the US and in Canada. Today, we have branch offices in the South Pacific and UK, while also serving clients in South America, Africa, and the Middle East. Call Control, our first product, has continued to develop and meet the needs of our clients. Today, CPDI is proud to offer a suite of leading-edge products. That suite, ComControl, seamlessly integrates Call Control with technologies like Internet data and VoIP on a single platform. Such integration allows our worldwide clientele to provide a range of services to their customers. Although the business is now well into its second decade, we at CPDI remain committed to developing and improving our products and providing reliable service and support. All of us at CPDI want to thank you, our clients worldwide, for making CPDI a continuing success. Back to top  CPDI Joins Hands with Informatics to Offer Superior Convergence
Informatics joining forces with CPDI symbolizes a partnership of mutual interest to offer an unparalleled service to all our prepaid and postpaid customers. This partnership comes at a time when the industry has become both demanding and cost conscious, seeking value for money and "convergence way beyond just billing." The AvaBill Team is part of a 600-strong team of professionals from Informatics, a leading IS provider in the Asia Pacific Region. IT Solutions for Telecom, Insurance, Banking, and Government sectors are some of the fields specialized by Informatics. Servicing customers and projects in over 20 Countries, with over 100 global deployments, Informatics global clientele is on a rapid increase. The AvaBill Software Suite is a modular, scalable, and end-to-end solution for telcos, giving you the flexibility and the functionality to perform front office operations & back office functions with minimal effort, enabling a speedy service to customers. The AvaBill Team's success stems from its "dedication to provide the best end-to-end solutions that are both functionally rich and high on ROI." Furthermore, AvaBill procedures and practices are SEI CMM Level 4 and ISO 9001:2000 accredited, ensuring strict Quality Control. The AvaBill and CPDI partnership will help you provide a converged service to your valued customers. Mentioned below are some of the key benefits of the CPDI /AvaBill Prepaid and Postpaid Convergence System. 1.Centralized & Converged Balance & Status Inquiry- One-stop-shopping for Customer Care for both Prepaid and Postpaid Accounts. 2.Prepaid Listener- Automatically bars the incoming facility when the prepaid account run out of credit. 3.Prepaid Top-Up Using Cashiering- Eliminates the requirement for prepaid top-up cards at the front office and allows telcos to use one system to accept payments for both prepaid and postpaid accounts. 4.Fund Transfer Between Prepaid And Postpaid Accounts- Facilitates customer transfer of funds between different accounts and provides the option for a prepaid account to be topped-up even through a postpaid account or vise versa. 5.Converged Service Activation- Automated, on-line activation of both prepaid and postpaid accounts. For more information on AvaBill's suite of software, please log on to www.avabill.com or e-mail the AvaBill team at info@avabill.com Back to top NetControl for WiFi and WiMax Applications
You probably know that WiFi is an abbreviation for Wireless Fidelity and that WiMax stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. Do you know that both technologies are accessible through CPDI NetControl, part of the ComControl suite of applications that includes CallControl? NetControl lets you offer prepaid Internet access that supports WiFi and WiMAX, as well dial-up, broadband, and Internet kiosks and cafes. It provides a secure source of revenue, since it expands usage of your existing network. According to the IT support Web site ITFacts, the number of WLAN hotspots will likely "grow to more than 200,000 globally by 2008." ITFacts also stated, "While 74% are still found in North America and Europe, the Asia Pacific region is growing very rapidly. Europe is still the market leader with over 57 mln (million) hotspots. One major driver of Wi-Fi hot spots is retail establishments." TechNewsWorld cites an ABIresearch forecast, stating that shipments of WiFi-enabled consumer electronic devices are expected to grow from 40 million in 2006 to 249 million in 2011. NetControl can stand alone or, as part of the ComControl suite, it can interface with CallControl. NetControl and CallControl can share these features:  Universal prepaid cardholder accounts (numeric account numbers only) Centralized database supports multi-site configurations Complete time-based accounting of customer usage Flexible and easy-to-use rating structure Built-in fraud prevention featuresThe system administration interface, like that of CallControl, includes a customer service portal and Web Access for cardholder access to account information. NetControl uses RADIUS server software, which can interface with any standard RADIUS-compliant ISP access server. When the ISP access server receives a customer connection request, it obtains user ID information and issues an authentication request to NetControl. Through the RADIUS server, NetControl authenticates the user and available funds, authorizes the connection, and then accounts for usage in real-time and updates the account. Along with home Internet access, NetControl supports public wireless Internet access. Typical locations for Internet hotspots include: Hotels and restaurants Airports Bus and train stations Taxi queues Urban neighborhoods Libraries Government buildings Community centers University campusesContact your CPDI representative for more information about NetControl. Back to top  CPDI 5115 NE 94th Avenue Suite A Vancouver, WA 98662 USA Telephone +1.360.694.2977 Facsimile +1.360.694.2553
| CPDI Connections Edition
07.02 June 2007 |
CPDI at Southeastern Europe Broadband Conference and Expo
The Southeastern Europe Broadband Conference and Expo, held in April in Belgrade, Serbia, gathered world leading vendors, regional operators, service providers, regulatory agencies, channel partners, and corporate customers. This year's event highlighted coverage of technology, infrastructure deployment, and regulatory developments specific to the Next Generation Broadband Communication industry, as well as investment trends, opportunities, and best practices. CPDI was at the core of this event, introducing ComControl to help regional operators tap into converging digital markets with flexible billing and rating solutions. CPDI presented a lecture series entitled "Don't Let Your Next Generation Network Equal Next Generation Revenue" as part of the workshop category "Next Generation Services Revenue Models." The highly-attended workshops focused on service revenue models and the inclusion of broadband technology advances into existing telephony infrastructure, as well as deployment strategies in Southeastern European countries, focusing primarily on Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldavia, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Slovenia. CPDI recognizes this region as an important area of focus and, as a result, has established itself as a leading authority in both prepaid and postpaid revenue assurance models for this fast growing market, addressing concerns and offering entry strategies to an increasing number of 2nd and 3rd tier providers focusing on the emerging markets of Eurasia regions. Because of this year's success in addressing the "back office" applications so often ignored in exhibitions that focus on next generation technologies, CPDI has been invited back next year to lead a workshop series with particular focus on "Revenue Capture and Revenue Service Models." White papers and a PowerPoint presentation written for this conference can be obtained by request at info@cpdi.com Back to top CPDI Pacific Region User Group Meeting
The third annual meeting of the CPDI Pacific Region User Group was held in Tahiti in April, prior to the annual general meeting of the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association (PITA). It was organized by the CPDI Regional Director for the Pacific and Asia, Linda Wattie. The annual meeting is an important event for CPDI and for the 15 CPDI clients in the Pacific. It is an opportunity for CPDI to acknowledge to clients their importance to CPDI, as well as to impart valuable information on new products and services that assist in revenue generation. The 2007 meeting included delegates from Solomon Islands Telekom, TCC Tonga, Telecom Services Kiribati, Telikom PNG, Telstra Australia, Transtel Fiji, and Tuvalu Telecom Corporation. They were joined by representatives from Informatics, Pacific Phones, and TrendTek, the newly appointed Agent for CPDI in Asia. Larry Maaske, VP of Engineering, and Linda Wattie represented CPDI. They presented the subjects Market Trends and Revenue Opportunities and shared new innovative prepaid offerings through the CPDI Road Map and ComControl. They confirmed the CPDI partnership with SS8 and the new product Lawful Intercept, now available through that partnership. CPDI was also pleased to announce their new partnership with Informatics. This arrangement allows both companies to provide a true postpaid/prepaid solution to their clients. Two sites in the Pacific have already implemented a CPDI-Informatics postpaid/prepaid solution. Three additional presenters were invited to address the meeting. Rupert Harman of TransTel provided insight into their innovative offerings, including prepaid kiosks at the airport and payment of utilities through prepaid applications. Sione Veikoso of TCC Tonga discussed their expansion of prepaid to the outer Islands and spoke on the subject of bad debt recovery. Austen Mascranghe, General Manager of Informatics, spoke about the potential of the partnership between his company and CPDI. As in the past, the User Group meeting provided an occasion for client-to-client discussions and interaction regarding the CPDI prepaid platform and the possibilities for future prepaid revenue generation. CPDI sincerely thanks all delegates and speakers for a successful Pacific Region User Group Meeting. We look forward to next year. Back to top | |
Back Up, Back Up, Back Up Your Data!
Did we mention backing up your data? There is no way to avoid it: eventually an important file is corrupted, data is accidentally deleted, a hard drive fails, a motherboard develops a short. Backups are generally the last line of defense against such causes of data loss. Technical knowledge and good maintenance practices can minimize the frequency of problems, but eventually you will need that backup. Backups are important in two ways. They allow you to: Restore a computer to operational status after a disaster (disaster recovery)
Restore corrupt or unintentionally-deleted files
Remember: Archives are not backups. Archives are primary copies of stored, typically historical, data. Backups are secondary copies of data that are maintained to restore the data if it is lost. Back to top | |
You probably know at least one of the four knowledgeable CPDI Technical Support Engineers. Do you know how proficient they are? See if you can guess the combined total of their years of experience. a. 29 years b. 35 years c. 47 years d. 70 years Click here for answer Back to top |