Based on this background, one way to model OSS is as similar to the human brain.  That is, they have a centralized, but somewhat incomplete and out-of-date view of the situation handled by multiple independent systems, some overlapping and some totally separate.  Just as the human brain provides valuable capabilities with its model, so too do OSS.

Orchestration

The concept of orchestration came into use in the era of server farms, and then grew into Cloud Computing.  It started by focusing on how applications would be distributed over servers and then grew into how many VMs (and later Containers) would be created and deployed where and when; plus how the applications would be distributed over the result.  With Cloud Computing’s focus on matching capacity to demand, the number of VMs was constantly changing.  In order to meet the demands of this environment, it was necessary to react in very small fractions of a second.  These response times were slower than those required for packet routing, etc., but much faster than the previously existing management and provisioning systems operated.

As Telco equipment became more and more software based, orchestration became a need.  With the advent of SDN and NFV, it became even more serious.  Telcos and their supply chains began to look to the cloud computing leaders for inspiration.  So, the concept of a layer responding faster than the OSS began to be recognized and valued.  In order to meet the faster response time requirements, orchestration systems began to be distributed – out into the network and in some case at the very edge.

In the human body, we have ganglions in our toes.  In order to stand up, and not fall down, our toes have to make small adjustments all the time, very quickly.  If the sensors in our toes had to send signals to our brains and then our brains send commands back to our toes, we would fall over before they got there.  In our bodies, we have distributed control systems called ganglions.  The ganglions in our toes get information from the sensors in our toes and tell our muscles to make the constant small changes that keep us standing up.  This is all done locally at the edge because of the response time requirements.  In general parlance, this is called “muscle memory”.  Thus, orchestration systems began to take on the characteristics of that portion of our distributed nervous system with its ganglions.

Synergy or Competition

While these small rapid changes are going on, our brain keeps track of larger scale phenomenon.  For example, if our shoes are too tight and starting to cause a blister.  Then deciding to change shoes.  These two portions of our nervous system are called the conscious and the autonomic.  They work together very successfully.  Using this model, the OSS can be thought of as the conscious and the orchestration as the autonomic.

OSS vendors saw the appearance of orchestration as both a threat and an opportunity.  The threat is that new entrants with new technology focused on Telco orchestration would displace them.  The opportunity was that they could expand their footprint and maybe displace other traditional competitors. At the same time, some of the new entrants with orchestration technology, thought that they had to enhance their value proposition by trying to combine traditional OSS functionality with their new orchestration capability.

Right Tool for Right Job

Just as it is possible to use a screwdriver as a hammer, it is better to use a hammer as a hammer.  Both OSS and orchestration tools are well suited to their respective jobs.  Furthermore, Telcos are not going to abandon their undepreciated investments in OSS, let alone their well-established procedures and staff skill sets in using them.

What emerges, then, is a system of systems composed of synergistic OSS and orchestration systems modeled on the way the human body works.  That is OSS functioning as the conscious portion and orchestration systems functioning as the autonomic portion.