The emergence of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Service Delivery Platform (SDP) technologies is having a profound effect on the operations support system (OSS) sector, one that will drastically reshape the ways that network operators of all stripes will build, provision, and manage current and future services, according to a new report from Light Reading.
"OSS rationalization and SDP/IMS implementation need to go hand in hand if operators are to put in place the correct transformational architecture to support their businesses in the future," says Caroline Chappell, lead analyst and author of the report. "Understanding how these platforms fit together; how to avoid functional duplication at different levels of the architecture; and how to drive toward a single view of the truth, with no dangerous replication of data that enables inconsistencies and cost to creep, are huge tasks for network operators, but they are essential for survival."
Key study findings include the following:
- SDP and IMS are driving new requirements for OSS in the areas of service fulfillment and assurance.
- Verizon Wireless is leading a new industry initiative, Advances in IMS (A-IMS), to standardize the management plane for IMS.
- OSS product vendors must align their products with operators' emerging service-oriented provisioning and assurance needs.
- Subscriber-centric fulfillment is where the blurring of boundaries between the SDP and OSS is most apparent.
- Large OSS and BSS/ERP vendors are likely to buy their way into the SDP sector through acquisition.
"OSS rationalization and SDP/IMS implementation need to go hand in hand if operators are to put in place the correct transformational architecture to support their businesses in the future," says Caroline Chappell, lead analyst and author of the report. "Understanding how these platforms fit together; how to avoid functional duplication at different levels of the architecture; and how to drive toward a single view of the truth, with no dangerous replication of data that enables inconsistencies and cost to creep, are huge tasks for network operators, but they are essential for survival."
Key study findings include the following:
- SDP and IMS are driving new requirements for OSS in the areas of service fulfillment and assurance.
- Verizon Wireless is leading a new industry initiative, Advances in IMS (A-IMS), to standardize the management plane for IMS.
- OSS product vendors must align their products with operators' emerging service-oriented provisioning and assurance needs.
- Subscriber-centric fulfillment is where the blurring of boundaries between the SDP and OSS is most apparent.
- Large OSS and BSS/ERP vendors are likely to buy their way into the SDP sector through acquisition.