How NGOSS Compliance Changes the Integration Game (cont'd)

NGOSS Compliance
When any fundamental program such as NGOSS begins to reach fruition, the industry clamours for mechanisms that test vendors' compliance to the specifications. Such testing is essential if the industry is going to arrive from its torturous integration path to a plug 'n play destination. No one seriously expects the hugely complex OSS world to achieve plug 'n play at the level of PC peripherals. However, NGOSS promises orders of magnitude improvement in integration and a compliance structure is essential to drive it.

The TMForum has defined compliance tests and criteria that must be met to achieve NGOSS compliance. Due to NGOSS' scope, some of these tests are in the form of self-test software suites while others are assessed through auditing. These tests are available from the TMForum and many service providers - including BT, AT&T, NTT, Telstra, Telecom Italia, Vodafone, O2, and Orange are bringing them in-house to apply them to their prospective vendors. They are also incorporating NGOSS compliance criteria into their procurement documents. The TMForum has produced a procurement document template for OSS solutions that has the NGOSS criteria built into it, making it simpler for a Service Provider to ask for an NGOSS Complaint product or solution.

The NGOSS 'Cookbook'
Telecom operators' computing environments are among the most complex on the planet. As a result, applying an approach to reduce complexity has challenges. NGOSS provides the tools for the job, but vendors and service providers need education on how to use them well. The TMForum has invested significant time and effort over the past year to define the methodology for using NGOSS. Called "The Cookbook," this guide takes users through a step by step approach to defining business problems, and architecting, implementing and deploying solutions.

Operational processes and systems may not grab headlines like mergers, acquisitions and changes in the boardroom. But they have a profound impact on determining which operators will be successful and which will fail. Just as a sound appreciation of the laws of economics is germane to success in communications, so also is the understanding that what is happening 'down in the engine room' is essential to an operator's survival. Adoption of NGOSS principles, specifications and methodologies is one critical step any service provider, vendor or system integrator can take to help insure OSS success for the long term

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