Pipeline Launches

A word from our editorial director

Scott St. John

Back in the bubble-days, the Operational Support Systems (OSS) market was hot. Everything seemed easy: deals came easy, funding came easy, spending came easy and channels to market were seemingly abundant. In this post-bubble era, it would seem that this very viable market has been somehow forsaken.

Obviously, deals and funding still come and go; but they are seemingly harder, smaller or less frequent. The issue of "vendor credibility" has become a significant issue for service providers searching for viable solutions. Hardware and software company's "happy-customer-list" has become almost as important as their capital. In some cases, it has become directly related.

Vendor credibility has also become a growing concern for independent solution providers who are making a valiant attempt at providing products and services to today's leading communications providers. This raises questions about vendor-service provider relationships; are these trusted, sometimes back-door-deals, really in the best interest of the service providers, vendors or customers?

This issue of vendor credibility stirs topics like Next Generation OSS (NGOSS) standards and Return on Investment (ROI) metrics. NGOSS, for example, has become almost a pre-requisite for some service providers while others still appear to principally disagree with the standards. And once again, the illusive ROI unicorn is being demanded center-stage.

Additionally, service providers are still struggling with some the same old OSS issues: rapid delivery of new services; integrating and managing new equipment and legacy equipment; sharing of information between systems and departments; reduction of customer churn, etcetera. You'll find all of these issues and more discussed in pages of Pipeline.

So the problems still exist, but where have the channels gone? Where can service provider go to receive objective information on viable OSS solutions? Where can vendors go to tell their story to leading service providers? Few publications dedicated covering the OSS area remain. Other, more general telecommunications publications have offered good, but spotty, coverage of the OSS space at best. We launched Pipeline was because we saw the need to bridge this gap. Pipeline has been designed to specifically provide a channel of information between vendors and service provider with our own, interpretive analysis of claims, developments, and news.

It's also important to note, while our focal point is OSS, we intend to approach this from every direction. We plan to explore services, applications, hardware, Business Support Systems (BSS), and their relationship to OSS in our upcoming issues.

Lastly and most importantly, I want to extend a personal thank you to everyone involved with this launch. I don't think there is any question that the analysts, editors, writers, journalist, contributors, and designers that came together for the launch issue are all top-notch. I strongly believe, after reading through this issue, you will agree.

Scott St. John
Editorial Director
Pipeline Publishing, LLC

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