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The next generation network (NGN) service provider’s challenge will be operational systems.
Much of the attention surrounding NGN has television delivered via internet protocol (IPTV) or difficult for “followers” to beat. Over and above
been focused on the technical and marketing ubiquitous voice over intenet protocol (VoiP) – or this, to reduce customer churn, a strong brand
dimensions. For example, there has been hopefully both ? association will have to be nurtured in the mind
extensive coverage and discussion over WiMax, Ultimately, all service providers and operators of the user.
3G and WiFi as competing components in (hereafter referred to as telcos) will have access What can be done that will give telcos the ability
providing access to NGN core networks and to the technologies and network platforms that to drive prices downwards (through reduction
services. will enable them to deliver similar competing of operational costs); enable the transforming
services.
On the marketing and service development of great ideas into available services faster
front, there has been much speculation The basis for competitive differentiation will be than the competitors; and increase levels of
regarding what the killer NGN application will getting innovative service offerings to market as customer service that will reinforce the users
be. Will it be media services such as interactive speedily as possible. And at a price that will be brand association?
The TeleManagement Forum provides leadership, strategic guidance and practical solutions to The TeleManagement Forum (TM Forum)
improve the management and operation of information and communications services. advocates the NGOSS program as a solution
to the challenges confronted by telcos in their
Enhanced telecom operations map (eTOM) transformation to becoming a “lean operator”.
The eTOM serves as a reference framework for categorising all the business activities of a service The forum argues that the majority of operational
provider and analyses them into different levels of detail according to their significance and problems experienced by telcos stem from the
priority for the business. The eTOM structure establishes the business language and foundation underlying business processes, systems and
for the development and integration of business and operations support systems (BSS and OSS data - “ High operating costs, poor order-to-cash
respectively). cycles, high levels of customer dissatisfaction
driving high churn rates and long lead times
Shared information/data model (SID) for new products are not the hallmarks of a
successful operator in a brutally competitive
The Sid model provides the telecommunication industry with a common vocabulary and set
market” .
of information/data definitions and relationships used in the definition of NGOSS architectures.
Used in combination with the eTOM business process and activity descriptions it becomes NGOSS provides a “framework of frameworks”
possible to create a bridge between the business and information technology groups, thereby for the development of both flexible and
providing definitions that are understandable by the business, but are also rigorous enough to stable operational system designs for the new
be used for software development. In short, The SID provides the NGOSS information model that generation network telco.
is a representation of business concepts, their characteristics and relationships, described in an
Providing detail of these frameworks is beyond the
implementation independent manner.
scope of this article, and interested readers can
Telecom application map (TAM) refer to the side box for more detail concerning
the frameworks.
TAM is a formalised way of grouping together function and data into recognised components,
which would then be regarded as potentially procurable as either applications or services. It Benefits for telcos aligning with NGOSS
describes and names a set of applications, together with the data they act upon/use and the
The following high level benefits can be attributed
function/process they perform and an element of decomposition/grouping.
to implementing NGOSS:
Technology neutral architecture (TNA)
• A carefully formulated set of ideas that have
The TNA sets out the principles and approaches for defining a component based, distributed system been developed in a collaborative fashion by
architecture and an associated critical set of system services that this architecture requires. the telecommunication industry community.
The global membership of TM Forum includes
Source: http://www.tmforum.org
leading international telcos and OSS vendors;
References
Fig. 2: Alignment to NGOSS [1] NGOSS Distilled, The essential guide to next gen-
eration telecom management, pg. 4.
It can therefore be argued that legacy may not “approach for the analysis, specification, [2] http://www.tmforum.org/browse.aspx?catid=1686
always mean redundant. It may be worthwhile, design and implementation expressed in [3] The International Telecommunication Union
in these cases, for operators to explore retaining terms of NGOSS artifacts such as eTOM and (ITU) has a NGN-Global Standards Initiative that
certain legacy OSS investments within the NGOSS SID …” Applying the SANRR methodology (in focuses on developing the detailed (techni-
ecosystem. an iterative manner) to explore the distance cal) standards necessary for NGN deployment
of the divide between legacy OSS and a to give service providers the means to offer
What follows is a brief illustration of how NGOSS
NGOSS aligned implementation could take the the wide range of services expected in NGN
could be used as a tool to perform this
following form: (http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com13/
exploration, and determine whether aligning
ngn2004/index.html)
legacy with NGOSS is a reasonable path to Step 1 – Scope: Set the boundary for the
[4] NGOSS Distilled, The essential guide to next gen-
follow. exploration using eTOMas a reference.
eration telecom management, pg. 24
Identify the business process that the legacy
A practical approach: using the SANRR
system ought to realise (For example, service Contact Mark Acton,
methodology
configuration and activation processes); and Mobinomics,
Fig. 1 describes the TM Forums’ SANRR define the mission (In this example to explore Tel 021 422-5881,
methodology. The methodology defines an the business case for leveraging existing legacy mark@mobinomics.com ☐