10/20/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/20/2022 04:56
BSS (Business Support Systems) mainly cater to processes of product management, order management, customer services provisioning, revenue management, and customer management. Digital BSS, however, can support 5G monetization, enabling BSS to support hybrid networks and ensuring heterogeneity across these journeys. Going forward, as CSPs move toward 5G and digital BSS, evolving solutions will contain the following key components and functionality:
5G applications and services are defined by different standardization bodies and industry alliances (namely 3GPP, ETSI, ITU, IEEE, NGMN, and 5G-PPP), while the OSS/BSS upgrades needed for 5G applications and services are being investigated by industry alliances like TM Forum. These industry alliances and standardization bodies are, therefore, becoming the key drivers for achieving the digitalization of existing business processes in different industry verticals with 5G applications and services. Standardized APIs from OSS/BSS, virtualization, and cloud vendors will be needed to enable the smooth integration of different interacting parties. This will help in providing the automated and standardized provisioning of network and connectivity needed for 5G applications and services.
TM Forum has drawn up a blueprint for intelligent operations for the 5G era called the Open Digital Framework (ODF), which comprises its Open Digital Architecture (ODA), together with tools, models, and data that guide the transformation to that ODA. ODA comprises an architecture framework, common language, design principles, and specifications for standardized, interoperable software components and Open APIs. It replaces traditional OSS and BSS with a new approach to building software for the telecoms industry, opening a market for standardized, cloud-native software components, and enabling CSPs to invest in IT for new and differentiated services instead of maintenance and integration.
As 5G use cases encompass multi-vendor, multi-technology, and hybrid network solutions, there will be a need to integrate with legacy and third-party systems so that the new OSS/BSS architecture can work on the principle of common data/information models, designing ODA to support openness, interoperability, and a collaborative approach.
The ODA team has laid out a core layered approach to a future architecture which removes the separation of OSS and BSS functionality (see below). Although OSS and BSS may remain in separate operational domains, they are designed as part of a single architecture.
https://www.tmforum.org/opendigitalframework/Governance: ODA governance describes the activities applied throughout the project lifecycle that ensure all under-construction solutions adhere to ODA principles.
Business: Business architecture represents the suite of building blocks that provide context for how an organization delivers value to its stakeholders.
Information system: Information systems architecture provides the systems and data view within ODA. It contains the functional architecture, the functional framework, and the information framework.
Implementation: This defines the Open APIs and reusable components needed to evolve BSS and OSS systems into agile, cloud-native solutions.
Deployment & runtime: The deployment & runtime area of ODA provides guidance on how to turn a well-documented enterprise architecture into a real-world solution.
Replacing legacy systems to make them compatible with 5G use cases is too expensive, time-consuming, and risky. Implementing ODA and its new components, on the other hand, is a way to save time, transform business agility, enable simpler IT solutions that are easier and cheaper to deploy, re-use software applications, integrate and upgrade, monetize IT and network capabilities, and establish a standardized software model and market that benefits all parties (service providers, suppliers, and systems integrators).
Reference:
https://www.tmforum.org/oda/
https://www.tmforum.org/opendigitalframework/
https://inform.tmforum.org/news/2018/02/action-week-tm-forum-unveils-open-digital-architecture/