BRIGHTON, ENGLAND—May 14, 2013—Expanding on its network solutions to help telecommunications providers build out their infrastructure and satisfy their customer’s growing demand for telecommunications services, GE (NYSE: GE) has announced its Smallworld™ Network Inventory 4.3 software solution. The software update enables telecom providers with an array of advanced network management solutions, including increased support for designing, building and managing fiber networks. This announcement was made at the 2013 International Software Summit hosted by GE’s Digital Energy business, which runs from May 13-16.

The Smallworld Network Inventory 4.3 equips utility and telecom operators with industry-leading, end-to-end network infrastructure solutions to plan, design and document their telecommunications networks. The software included in this update helps to improve the management of the communication networks that support ever-increasing deployments of intelligent communication grids.

“Network inventory management is the foundation of a service provider’s operation,” said Bryan Friehauf, product line leader—software solutions for GE’s Digital Energy business. ”GE’s Smallworld Network Inventory portfolio provides telecommunications service providers and utility companies with an integrated inventory system to control the deployment of their network infrastructure and ensure accurate up-to-date network information.”

GE’s portfolio provides operators with a comprehensive view of their entire telecommunications network by combining an integrated inside and outside plant model of the physical network with the services of the logical network. Products encompassed in the Smallworld Network Inventory portfolio include GE’s Smallworld Physical Network Inventory, Smallworld Logical Network Inventory, Smallworld Network Inventory Gateway, Smallworld Fiber-to-the-Home and Smallworld Physical Resource Assignment. This full range of products provides telecommunications service providers and utilities with the solutions they need to manage their networks effectively as they continue to grow and evolve.

GE’s Smallworld Network Inventory 4.3 portfolio provides a number of benefits across the life cycle of a network—from the planning, designing and building processes to its operation and maintenance. One of the many new features introduced within the 4.3 release is the ability for operators to check the physical diversity of their network. This ensures that operators can meet their service level agreements with their end customers and avoid expensive penalties as a result of network outages. Other capabilities introduced in the 4.3 update help operators to realize a number of benefits, such as improved network utilization through greater knowledge and use of existing network assets, reduction in network capital expenditure through cost-effective targeted network upgrades and reduction in operational expenditure through efficient network planning and engineering.

The solutions available in the 4.3 portfolio provide telecom operators and utilities with a scalable system capable of meeting the needs of the smallest operator, all the way up to large national telecommunications operators with vast networks. Currently, more than 130 customers in over 50 countries have implemented the solutions in GE’s portfolio. For additional information on GE’s Smallworld products, please click here.

GE’s Digital Energy business is a global leader in protection and control, communications, power sensing and power quality solutions. Its products and services increase the reliability of electrical power networks and critical equipment for utility, industrial and large commercial customers. From protecting and optimizing assets such as generators, transmission lines and motors, to ensuring secure wireless data transmission and providing uninterruptible power, GE’s Digital Energy business delivers industry-leading technologies to solve the unique challenges of each customer.