Saviant's Xamarin Success Story
0 likes93 views
A telecommunications company wanted to streamline their fiber optic network testing process using mobile devices. A Xamarin-based cross-platform native mobile application was developed to allow 2,000 technicians to conduct over 100,000 fiber optic tests in real-time. The application integrated with cloud services and Bluetooth hardware to transfer test results seamlessly from the field to remote engineers for analysis and troubleshooting. This helped the client significantly reduce the time required to detect and resolve network issues.
Saviant's Xamarin Success Story
- 1. Xamarin case study | Telecommunications Industry Overview Need A Global Network Provider wanted to re-invent their Fiber Optic field testing process using a Cloud-driven Enterprise Mobility Solution to establish real-time communication between mobile work forces, engineers, and their existing system. Solution & Results Xamarin based Enterprise Mobility Solution helped the client in simplifying the field-testing process of Fiber-Optic networks. The mBaaS enabled Smart Test Service Application helped the client achieve a significant decrease in time required for the detection of errors & resolution of networks. Smart Fiber-Optic Test Service Application for Field-Force 2000 field-technicians can now conduct 100,000 Fiber-optic tests seamlessly with Xamarin based Cross-platform Native Mobile Application Our Client is a pioneer in manufacturing, supplying and installing Fiber-optic products and testing equipment for the communication providers globally. Their vast experience in engineering services spans across several markets, including Telco, Broadband and wireless, electricity utilities, OEM, Enterprise and Private networks. Their product lines include loss test kits, optical time domain reflectometers (OTDRs), fiber identifiers, inspection and cleaning, fault locators and more. Business Need The client had a test and inspection system in place where the technician conducts fiber-optic network tests, returns with the USB stick, and manually transfers the results to the system for analyzing issues. It was becoming increasingly difficult for them to handle multiple devices and manage different test results conducted by over 10,000 technicians. They needed a solution which would allow them to simplify this process of carrying-out tests and fixing issues in real-time. However, to achieve this, they wanted a Cloud-based Mobility Solution that would help simplify the process and enhance operational efficiency. The Project Initiates To start with, they developed an open and flexible modular test platform, which bifurcated software and hardware. Here, software refers to smart apps that control the hardware used for conducting tests. The technicians can snap- in the specific hardware to the carrier and perform the respective optic test. Now, they needed smart apps that would communicate with hardware. As each cable test requires a unique hardware module, the client needed a corresponding mobile app for it. The main challenge here was to develop multiple mobile apps for various hardware modules in a limited amount of time. In addition to this, each app was required to communicate with the hardware via Bluetooth and with the Cloud for data synchronization. However, they addressed all these challenges with the help of Saviant Consulting as their Xamarin Partner. The smart fiber-optic test services solution would allow technicians to perform any on-site test via smart device and mobile app. Xamarin apps would seamlessly integrate with Cloud to push data that would help in analyzing the test results from a remote location. This would enable the engineers to solve the network problems in real-time. 10,000+ On-field Smart Devices 100,000 Fiber-optic Tests 2,000+ Connected Field Operatorsudy Xamarin case study | Telecommunications Industry
- 2. Xamarin case study | Telecommunications Industry Technology Solution Xamarin Platform MVVM Light Toolkit, Google MBaaS, Web API, SQLite DB, Cloud Storage and OBEX Protocol The Solution Saviant has developed a Cloud-driven Enterprise Mobility Solution which helped the client in making field-testing easier and faster. We devised the solution using Xamarin to develop cross-platform mobile apps for Android and iOS. MVVM pattern was used for separating the code development concerns into the Model, View, and ViewModel to create easy and organized mobile apps. As Xamarin.Forms in conjunction with MVVM framework provides up to 90% of shared code across various platforms, our Xamarin developers leveraged this framework to create a single re-usable code base. This shared unit was used for developing multiple mobile apps, which are used for conducting various tests through respective hardware modules. The field-technicians carry out a diverse set of tests, hence our industry- focused mobility solution had to enable a range of functions on multiple platforms simultaneously. These functions included receiving the test orders, testing the network in real time, and sending acknowledgment or test data to the recipient - all while using local data encryption and secure communications. To support these functions, the cross-platform app needed to support a wide variety of capabilities, including local storage, offline work, and push data sync. Also, to provide instant access to test results from a remote location, it was necessary that the mobile app seamlessly integrates with Cloud to transfer data. Overview of Xamarin Framework for Cross-Platform Mobile Application Xamarin case study | Telecommunications Industry
- 3. Xamarin case study | Telecommunications Industry End-user Interface developed using Xamarin Platform About the Client Our Client is a pioneer in Engineering, Manufacturing, and Installation of Fiber Optic products and testing equipment for the communication Enterprises globally. They deliver thousands of products and services that help in providing high-speed video, voice and data service. Based in South Carolina, U.S, the client has customers spanning across 120 countries and reported revenues of more than US$1billion in 2015. About Saviant Saviant is the preferred Data Analytics & Intelligent Solutions partner for leading Asset-intensive and Field- force driven Enterprises across industries like Energy, Utilities, Logistics & Construction. We are the trusted Technology Advisors and Implementation Partners for their strategic initiatives around Data Analytics, IoT, Cloud & Mobility. Our teams enable intelligent actions & accelerated business outcomes for our customers across the globe, by defining their Technology Roadmap & Implementation Strategies. Saviant is a Microsoft Gold Partner for Cloud Platform, Data Analytics, Application Development & Xamarin Premier Consulting Partner. To learn more about Saviant Consulting, visit: www.saviantconsulting.com All these capabilities have been encapsulated in a mobile Backend as a Service (mBaaS) component of a Cloud platform. We leveraged mBaaS capabilities to establish the communication between the mobile application and Google cloud-based backend services via a unified SDK and API. The backend services included file sharing & storage, push notifications, location services, running business logic, user management, and usage analysis tools. MBaaS enables the mobile app to store the test results in the local SQLite database when offline and push the data to cloud storage upon the availability of internet connection. One of the critical challenges, establishing Bluetooth communication between smart app and the hardware module, was addressed by using a Bluetooth interface that uses Object Exchange Protocol (OBEX) to enable data transfer. We worked with the client throughout their mobility journey enabling them to build their test workflow data management solution. With the Smart fiber-optic Test Services solution, the client could achieve an efficient workflow management solution that can handle more than 100,000 Fiber-optic tests to be conducted by over 2000 field-technicians. As Xamarin.Forms provides easy support to add-on new features across iOS, Android or Windows simultaneously, the client can further extend this application to execute new tests as required. Xamarin case study | Telecommuncations Industry