Security and element management solutions provider Nakina Systems released a new version of its Network OS platform this week that features two primary enhancements: device configuration and performance measurement. One lets service providers set up and commission network elements; the other gathers data about their performance.

The Nakina Network OS 5 is a carrier-grade network operating system that serves as a mediation layer and single point of integration between the network and higher-level network management and operations support systems.

“Part of our differentiator is we really understand networks,” said Mary O’Neill, vice president of market development at Nakina. “Most of us came from equipment vendors, and every one of our designers has both software and equipment knowledge, so that goes a long way.”

The new release extends the platform to higher-level Nakina network applications and third-party OSS applications like inventory management, service activation, fault management, and performance management. It features a centralized collection of performance measurement statistics and device configuration services that leverage configuration templates that can be propagated across network devices.

Nakina also has integrated its discovery technology into the Nakina Network OS.

Because Nakina acts as its own layer in the network and communicates directly with multi-vendor network elements, with the new device configuration capabilities, which O’Neill called provisional parameters, the system is 60% faster at setting up and commissioning devices in the network.

“If a service provider wants to roll out new Ethernet or Optical Ethernet devices, we allow them to set them up and commission them [beforehand] so that when they are rolled out to the actual customer premises they can be turned up quickly, “O’Neill said.

Also because it is a layer in the network, the Nakina Network OS can replace the many network element management systems currently used by service providers to configure network elements and measure their performance.

“When we get performance data, we feed it up into higher level systems for support and processing. It’s a big benefit for those systems because they only have to interface once,” O’Neill said.

In addition to configuration management and performance monitoring, Nakina has a series of network applications that work on its OS. They range from the most common features and functions of element management systems such as automated backup and restore capabilities and remote software upgrades to its flagship discovery engine and security applications.

Dittberner Associates recently identified Nakina as one of the most innovative software developers in the OSS Business, saying the company addresses OSS problems that have festered for years.

It appears that service providers are seeing the same thing. O’Neill said Nakina signed a Tier 1 at the end of the year for its security product and is actively closing two more Tier 1 operators over the next couple of months. One is a U.S. Tier 1 and the other is a large Tier 1 in Europe.

“It’s been a very busy year. As of this week we’re working on five or six requests for proposals from all around the world,” O’Neill said.