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often routed over the PSTN for the final destination. Naturally, the VoIP provider has to pay the phone company for use of their lines, and this increases the bottom-line cost of VoIP for both the VoIP provider and the VoIP customer. Telcordia's VoIP Routing Registry takes the first step towards establishing a fully IP-based call system by creating an inter-carrier VoIP calling system. The technology is already being beta-tested by several carriers and cable operators. And if anybody is able to make this happen, it will be Telcordia, which was recently highlighted in an OSS Observer research report as having significant market share across several different areas. The company has an 18 percent share of the service fulfillment sector, making it the number one provider in that area. They also have 11 percent of the Service Assurance market, 26 percent of the Inventory market, and 22 percent of the Order Management sector.
Speed is something near and dear to our hearts, whether it's a brand new Mustang, or an OSS system that lets us configure and deliver services to customers in a more timely manner. A major trend in the OSS industry, according to OSS Observer's research, is the rapid introduction of new services. These new services call for real-time mediation. In fact, many telcos suffer from systems that limit their ability to rapidly roll out new services. OSS systems must be able to provide broader customer visibility, and a full and unified view of all services the customer has purchased--and how those services are being used. MetaSolv Software takes a solid top ten position because of their service agility, reflected in their new Time-to-Market OSS, a product that delivers telcos with the flexibility they need to accommodate shorter delivery cycles. The TTM system has a set of pre-packaged processes for next-generation services, and can also leverage existing systems to extract data in real time.
There's no denying that IMS technology has made an enormous impact, and OSS providers are wise not to ignore it. Several OSS providers are building IMS strategies, including NetCracker Technologies, which takes a holistic view of the OSS with their Service Level Transformation approach. NetCracker's OSS Orchestrator technology simplifies IMS and service delivery platform interconnection. NetCracker's Cross-Domain framework is what lets telcos roll out new services, without having to implement a whole new back office. Time-to-market is critical to telcos, and if the entire OSS has to be renovated before a new service can be rolled out, then the operator is going to miss out. NetCracker's innovation here is the legacy support that allows telcos to roll out those new services immediately. Using the solution, operators can manage both legacy and converged services, even though they may originate in separate domains and locations.
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NetCracker's position on our top ten list is given due to their innovative philosophy, which holds that the service layer must be a provider's key focus--and that the service layer can be transformed from a problem into a driver of innovation and revenue growth. The service layer and OSS systems is not just a back office function--it is critical to a telco's success. NetCracker's system, and their holistic approach, addresses three business goals: to increase revenue by introducing converged services, to reduce operational costs, and to build more profitable customer relationships by understanding the customer experience, and through increased levels of personalization.
Also deserving of a top ten spot is ILOG, whose business rule-based approach to OSS and BSS is used by several high-profile telcos, including AT&T, France Telecom, Swisscom, and Verizon. Also a member of the OSS/J initiative, ILOG has created the Java-based JRules offering, part of its Business Rule Management System (BRMS), a system used successfully by Verizon to automate order validation. A rules-based approach is particularly useful in areas such as fulfillment automation. Intelligent, rule-based automation helps to minimize abandonment--something that happens all too frequently because a provider's online system is too complicated, inflexible, or cannot be understood by the client.
Reducing customer churn is a concern for all telcos in this fickle business, in which the customer is loyal only until the next guy comes out with something a dollar cheaper. But as more carriers roll out triple play offerings, and prices for service all gravitate towards a bottom level, telco services will become more commoditized. With prices and services all being approximately the same, telcos will be forced to differentiate themselves through customer service and increased satisfaction levels. That's the logic behind Leap Billing, a product of Israel-based
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