Outdated OSSs hinder operator prospects - Global News Analysis: Europe

OSSs (operations support systems) - critical to the success of network operators - are in danger of not keeping in sync with the development of next-generation networks and services. That's the view of Brendan McDonagh, CEO of Aran Technologies - a vendor of intelligent service assurance products - who observes that OSSs, until recently, have only focused on coping with subscriber and traffic growth. The priority of OSSs needs to shift to maintain quality of service and ensure subscribers enjoy the best user experience possible. "Operator success depends on OSSs facilitating the implementation of next-generation high quality data services effectively," says McDonagh, "and that means operators must be proactive rather than reactive to problems in the network."

He explains how the service assurance sector is split into three blocks - configuration management, performance management and fault management. "At the moment, fault management is the predominant working part but is only reactive to a fault that has already happened in the network. The configuration management functionality, which customises the network and tracks parameters to link to performance management, is hardly used at all," he says

OSSs encompass a range of solutions which are designed to automate as much as possible the delivery of multiple applications across various platforms (fixed-line, cable, mobile and packet networks). And because the amount of data traffic passing across networks has increased substantially in recent years - as has the number of different services - network management and software issues are being given far greater attention than ever before.

Telcordia Technologies, which provides telecoms consultancy and solutions, is addressing another issue in the OSS market -interoperability between systems. It is launching its common language product suite in Europe to help interconnect and provision services across networks.

The suite, developed by Bell Laboratories to meet AT&T's need to keep track of its network elements, provides descriptions for network, equipment and service identification. It includes asset management that could help operators cut costs by finding OSS components that are not being utilised effectively.

However, most European operators have adopted the standard naming convention in countries in which they operate. The difficulty of migration to a 'common language' is a hurdle, particularly for incumbents.

The main challenge for all operators is how to upgrade their OSSs to cope with next-generation parameters in a cost effective way.

One solution - demonstrated by Dutch DSL provider, bbned - is to install 'zero touch' OSS to reduce operational costs. In cooperation with Cisco and KPMG, bbned developed and installed a zero touch integrated business and operational support environment over a 15-month period.

"When bbned entered the DSL arena in the Netherlands, speed to market was imperative and therefore a 'zero touch' approach that would allow us to focus on developing our customer base was critical to survive," explains Jeroen Bet, COO of bbned.

"The benefits included reducing our manpower and therefore cost by adding intelligence alarms in our network monitoring and trouble shooting, for example."

Bet believes OSSs must be seamlessly integrated to avoid continual adjustments to manage new applications and that it is preferential to get network management and software from the same vendor.

However, he admits, "zero touch worked for us because we are a single product company. It is a much harder proposition for operators with a broader product offering".

He also points to 'off the shelf' solutions as an important trend for the OSS market. Bet believes such solutions will make software cheaper for new players in particular, who don't have the financial muscle to build up next-generation OSS.

The Telemanagement Forum (TMF) is promoting this concept in its NGOSS (nextgen OSS) initiative to develop less proprietary and more modular-based OSS components.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Horizon House Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group