CT-APS (Auto-configuration Provisioning System) is a component in the broadband network responsible for auto-configuration of the CPE. A CT-APS can provision a collection of CPEs simultaneously. The provisioning mechanism allows CPE provisioning at the time of initial connection to the broadband access network, and the ability to re-provision at any subsequent time.

The CT-APS can also manage the downloading of CPE software/firmware image files. The distributed CPEs can upgrade firmware by downloading the latest firmware from the CT-APS. Whenever a CPE establishes a connection to the CT-APS, the CT-APS will keep a record. The CT-APS provides statistics to monitor the status of the CPEs auto-configuration. All created CPE data in the CT-APS can be backed-up automatically or manually.

• The Comtrend CT-APS application provides a web user interface that allows administrators to perform management functions easily and conveniently. CT-APS is intended to support a variety of functionalities to manage a collection of CPE, including the following primary capabilities:
• Secure auto-configuration provisioning of CPEs
• A CT-APS can cater for a lot of CPEs at the same time. In order to achieve the auto-configuration of a CPE, the CPE can download a configuration file from the CT-APS by using HTTP/HTTPS. When the CPE establishes a connection to the CT-APS, the CPE will use its unique MAC address as the user ID. CT-APS will authenticate the CPE by checking the CPE's MAC address. Only the CPEs that pass the authentication will be allowed to establish a connection to the CT-APS.
• CPE configuration data management
• CPE Configuration data can be added, edited, and deleted by using the web user interface. Using a batch file, a lot of CPE configuration data can be added, edited, or deleted at the same time. If the same Internet telephony service provider distributes the CPEs, these CPEs will have some parameters that use the same values. Those parameters are grouped as a CPE Group to decrease the workload of repeating to set the same parameter values on each CPE
• Firmware management
• An administrator can upload a new firmware to the CT-APS by using the web user interface. A CPE can upgrade its firmware by downloading the latest firmware from the CT-APS
• Efficient management and support for user groups
• User accounts that are used to login to the CT-ACS can be assigned to different user group. A user who belongs to a user group will have the authority assigned to that user group to access different management functions
• Status and performance monitoring
• The CT-APS keeps a record of the CPE's auto-configuration. By default, the CT-APS records the last ten times when the CPE connected to the CT-APS. The CT-APS will also provide statistics of the CPEs