NG OSS a Philosophy at TTI Telecom (cont'd)

Both the TMF's eTOM and NGOSS are ongoing TM Forum initiative to deliver a business process model or framework for use by service providers and others within the telecommunications industry.

The TMF NGOSS concept is based on the principle that different functionalities should be interconnected across a single, consistent information model so that the telecom entities are modeled the same way across the different Operation Support Systems (OSS). This facilitates seamless integration of various Operation and Business Support systems including: fulfillment, assurance, and billing (as defined in the eTOM) inside and outside the enterprise, yielding reduced operation costs, shorter time to market and improved return on investment. The use of a common information model promotes the introduction of new revenue-generating services and simplifies business processes along the life cycle of the service. For example: the service is created and stored in the inventory complete with all SLA related parameters and this is in turn used to provide proper support for the performance and SLA management systems. For the past 11 years this has been the philosophy within the TTI Telecom's Netrac OSS system, one data model used by all of the functional modules.

TTI Telecom recognizes the potential value of NGOSS recommendations and is keeping a close eye on the relevant areas. Some areas of NGOSS are not completely defined yet, but as an active member of TMF, with representatives in the relevant working groups, TTI Telecom follows up closely on NGOSS advancements.

Solution Design & Integration delivered in the Contract Interface and Technology Neutral Architecture (TNA)

Avshalom Ben-Zoor, AVP Product Management for TTI Telecom explains that while the TMF has rather successfully managed to establish its Multi-Technology Network Management (MTNM) set of recommendations (and specifically: TMF 814) as a common EMS-NMS interface "to-date, the industry has lacked standards defining the OSS-OSS interface. The OSS over Java (OSS/J) initiative is trying to address this space. In addition, the TMF has been trying to align MTNM and NGOSS Information Models in order to establish a consolidated IM for the telecom market. TTI intends to offer an XML over JMS based API based on the MTNM and OSS/J guidelines." Recently, the TMF has been trying to align MTNM and NGOSS information models in order to establish a consolidated information model for telecom management. TTI is a member of TMF MTNM group, working on the establishment of the recommendation and follows those efforts very closely. We intend to offer an XML over JMS based API, based upon TMF and OSS/J guidelines, to the extent possible.

The process of approving the new NGOSS recommendation is a long and arduous one, where the working group works on developing an agreement on the recommendation and then advancing this to the TMF President:

Where the work of a Program Team results in the production of a system, standard or other work output in documentary form, such document may, with the approval of the President, be submitted to the Corporate Members for approval.

A simple majority is needed within the Program Team for the document to advance and another one is needed from the Corporate Members for the recommendation to become an officially sanctioned TMF Recommendation. Unfortunately these approvals can take time as the different Service Providers, Hardware and Software manufactures (like TTI Telecom) have different goals and requirements. But this is part of all standards approvals and shows that the process works, as it allows all members to voice their opinions and recommendations regardless of which aspect of the industry they represent.

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