July 27, 2007 - Denver, Colorado v.1 Labs today announced a new product called TASI (Technician Assisted Self Installation). As most operators look seriously at a full retail model of subscriber self installation it is clear that the process, while highly desirable, is not available today. v.1 Labs has created a new platform that allows operators to work toward a full retail approach while driving new efficiencies into the current model of technician assisted installations. Essentially operators can be ready for retail with this product but can begin immediately reducing the cost and complexity of technician installed devices. TASI is a framework that resides on a USB flash drive that is carried by installation technicians to each new subscriber install. The TASI tool allows the technician to choose which device they are installing and immediately move to installing required drivers and having the tool perform diagnostics on the device and network. Once all of the diagnostics have been performed the technician is immediately shown the results and will know if the installation meets the operator standards. Should anything be outside of specifications the technician is guided through a resolution process to correct the out of bounds item. The end result is that the technician becomes much more efficient and is able to leave the subscribers home faster, knowing the installation was completed properly.
Upon conclusion of the installation, the TASI tool will generate a 'birth certificate' for the particular job and pass this information back to the operator for review. Operators now know what installations were performed during the day and which ones were not done properly, getting a clear definition of how many installs were performed, who did the install, and what was out of bounds. The tool currently supports modems, eMTA's, and will shortly support IP based set top boxes.
For manufacturers the TASI tool represents a new way to manage drivers, firmware, and processes as v.1 Labs will be the party responsible for keeping the processes in the field up to date. Manufactures will now no longer need to ship CD's in each box and will have a single point of contact to make changes to existing device drivers etc. The TASI USB drive has an update mechanism that allows v.1 Labs to keep all devices current by ensuring that the latest code is available to the technicians via the manufacturer. The process for the manufacturer now becomes much easier to manage in that they will no longer be concerned about out of date CD's in the field and will default to having one point to provide updates and fixes for device software.
"TASI represents a key development in the installation process for every operator. Having one tool that can install all devices drives efficiency in the process and allows operators a much more intuitive set of tools to complete new installations, ultimately reducing cost and enhancing subscriber experience. We are very pleased to bring TASI to the market and welcome all manufacturers to the process. The manufacturers can avoid the fixed cost of hardened media in each box and the operators receive new vital information from the installation process that they did not enjoy until now.' said Mike Earle, President and CEO of v.1 Labs.
TASI can also be extended to work with an ISP profile file that allows operators to drive the value further into the provisioning process. Operators can choose to gather provisioning data from the subscriber, once the technician has left the home, and pass that information back to legacy provisioning and billing systems. TASI can also be configured by the operator to perform specific functions such as creating first e-mail accounts in the e-mail client, installing any operator provided software including v.1 Labs Front Line customer care suite, and setting up home networking for the subscriber.
Operators or manufacturers interested in learning more about TASI and the full retail version of the product can contact v.1 Labs directly by e-mailing info@v1labs.com or Bruce MacNeil VP Business Development, 902-482-2196, bmacneil@v1labs.com