NTP time synchronization is not the most obvious way to eliminate leakages. However, Symmetricom makes some convincing arguments about how enforcing consistent network time can improve the bottom line. Whilst it is not the job of the revenue assurance manager to take the lead in purchasing solutions of this type, there is no harm in them understanding the benefits, so downloading and reading the relevant content from Symmetricom’s website is a worthwhile thing to do. But Symmetricom let themselves down, by failing their own promise of accuracy. This is from their “case study”:
TYPICAL MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDER REVENUES $50b per annum
POTENTIAL REVENUE LEAKAGE DUE TO IP/CDR MISMATCH @ 0.005% = $25,000,000 per annum
The Return on Investment in Symmetricom Carrier Class NTP can be measured in days.
The same example can also be found in their “white paper”:
Total Revenue per year (medium carrier): $50 B
CDR Leakage (%) due to misaligned billing and logging services: 0.005
Revenue Loss per year: $25 M
$50 B is the same as $50,000 M. $50,000M*0.005% = $50,000M*0.00005 = $2.5M. In other words, Symmetricom got their sums wrong by a factor of 10, grossly exaggerating the revenue benefits as a result. Not very impressive for a business wanting to sell enhanced assurance on the basis of increased precision.
