Sending out an OSS - Industry Trend or Event

Telecommunications, March, 2001 by Martin Creaner

Multiple applications over packet networks require a different type of operational support system (OSS) than is commonly available today. To avoid the proliferation of bespoke solutions, the Telemanagement Forum proposes common characteristics for the next generation of OSSs.

The telecoms industry is undergoing an unprecedented period of volatile growth and dramatic technological innovation. The Yankee Group estimates that during early 2001, there'll be 21 long-distance networks across the US -- each capable of carrying the entire nation's bandwidth needs -- and 500 long distance service providers.

And in Europe, the frantic hunt for third generation cellular licences and the enormous associated licence fees have knocked many of the established mobile operators off their triple 'A' status. This potent mix of increasing competition and tightening capital markets is putting enormous pressure on service providers to accelerate their revenue potential by continually expanding their service offerings while containing the associated development and maintenance costs.

The current generation of operational support systems (OSS) is not keeping pace with the rate of change demanded by the marketplace. Many OSS applications are designed to meet a static set of business needs and are expensive to adapt to meet changing requirements. Integration of multiple applications that have been designed as standalone solutions is a time-consuming and costly activity. Furthermore, the present generation of OSS finds its roots, quite naturally, in the management of fixed-line telephony networks. But that is not where the investment is going. Wireless networks, particularly the growth of mobile internets; DSL services, to meet the voracious demand for IP bandwidth; internet application services and ever higher capacity optical backbone networks are likely to take the lion's share of investment. And these areas are where sophisticated management is the least mature and least well understood.

A radical re-think of how we plan and design our management processes and systems to cope with the emerging marketplace is essential in order for the OSS to become an enabler for this brave new telecoms world rather than an inhibitor. And this re-think needs to be supported and embraced by all of the stakeholders including the OSS vendors, the systems integrators, the network equipment vendors and the network operators. And if that's not challenge enough, let's add that time is running out!

Next generation OSS

Even in the fondest dreams of the developers and integrators of OSS there is no concept of a single multi-purpose OSS that covers multiple industry segments and multiple needs. The reality is that each OSS will always have its own unique characteristics. The challenge is to move from a position today where each 055 is a purely one-off, hand-crafted, bespoke work of art, to the situation where an OSS is a special configuration of a basic framework with a small number of additional differentiating elements. So rather than try to define the requirements of the next generation OSS, let us try to propose the common characteristics and capabilities of the successful next generation OSS.

Rapid new service roll-out

Over the past three years many articles have been written on the killer applications that will drive revenue growth in next generation telecoms systems. And many start-up companies have carried the banner forward to creating exciting services and content covering every human interest and endeavor from trading stock, information and used cars, to purchasing CDs, travel and pet food. But it is pretty safe to say that many of these brave new concepts will never make the transition to killer application, and more importantly the majority of the killer applications have not yet been envisaged -- at least not in their final successful form. For example, the GSM short messaging service (SMS) was always seen as an attractive additional feature to complement basic voice. But in Europe today, SMS combined with pre-paid billing, has emerged as the killer application for the youth market. This was discovered by the users and not planned by the operators.

The next generation OSS must give the service provider the ability to roll out new services in hours and days rather than in weeks and months or even years. And crucially, the ability to rapidly modify the level and type of support as these services mutate into their eventual successful form.

Lower OSS ownership costs

If we look at the pedigree of the present generation OSS, it has more in common with Frankenstein than with the thoroughbred racehorse. Typically they have been developed over several decades by the in-house engineering teams of large incumbent (and until recently state-owned) telecom operators. They have been designed to meet the slowly changing needs of the POTS customer. Rather than being perfectly proportioned they tend to be over-muscled in some areas and under-developed in others. Low cost of ownership was probably never foremost in the minds of their original creators. As the industry matured, many independent software companies (ISVs) appeared offering point solutions for various aspects of the OSSIBSS space such as provisioning, fault & performance management and billing. Whilst these ISVs improved the available functionality they introduced even greater integration challenges, driving the long-term cost of ownership from an already high point to stratospheric proportions.