Telecom Provisioning, Network Inventory, and Service Management Solutions

Telecom Provisioning, Network Inventory, and Service Management Solutions published by Dittberner Associates, Inc. in February, 2006. This report consists of 225 PAGES and the price starts from US $ 8000.

Introduction

Abstract

"Telecom Provisioning, Network Inventory, and Service Management Solutions", telecom service providers are finally investing serious money in OSS, especially provisioning and network inventory. On the strength of service providers' new commitment to operational readiness, Dittberner forecasts the market for provisioning and network inventory software will grow at a modest, but healthy 4.6% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) from roughly $2.1 billion in 2005 to $2.6 billion in 2010.

The prospects for the overall OSS market and some 21 provisioning and network inventory vendors are discussed in detail in Dittberner' s new report.

On the efficiency front, Dittberner predicts the most promising functional areas for provisioning and inventory investment will be:

• Telecom discovery - Periodically validating network inventory with the live network to find stranded assets and faulty provisioning;
• Network order management - Gaining better control over complex ordering processes to reduce the order-to-bill delay;
• Transport network provisioning - Transforming rag tag, manually provisioned long haul networks into fully automated systems;
• Access network provisioning - Building access-to-transport integration so that anything from POTS to triple play can be provisioned on the same platform.
• Network inventory - Consolidating multiple inventory systems into a single, one-version-of-the-truth representation of network assets;

According to the Dittberner report, service providers are also asking their OSS vendors to supply a more service-enabling OSS to help them exploit next generation IP services.

This trend is driving yet another set of provisioning and network inventory solutions:

• Service management - Rolling up services into a framework or SOA that can be used to create and provision services across the telecom enterprise.
• Wireless terminal management - Managing the hundreds of wireless handset models and features so customers are automatically configured for advanced 3G and smart phone services.
• Content management - Taming the growing number of third party content providers so their services are technically and financially in synch with the carrier' s business strategy.

Table of Contents

A. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

B. DEFINITIONS OF PROVISIONING FUNCTIONS

C. PROVISIONING HISTORY AND MIGRATION TO NGN

• 1. Provisioning Simplicity in the Circuit Voice World
• 2. NGN: Multi-Vendor & Multi-Technology Complexity
• 3. Uniting the Data and Network Layers
• 4. The Dynamic Nature of NGN Networks

D. PROVISIONING MECHANIZATION AND FLOW-

• 1. The Human Engineer in the OSS Loop
• 2. The Challenge of Flow Through Provisioning

E. TRANSPORT NETWORK PROVISIONING

• 1. The History of the Merchant Provisioning/Inventory Market
• 2. The Purpose of a Transport Provisioning System
• 3. The Many OSS Systems Transport Provisioning Touches
• 4. Adding Business Rules during Service Creation
• 5. How Multi-Carrier, Multi-Technology Service Creation is Accomplished

F. ACCESS NETWORK PROVISIONING

• 1. Why The Copper Local Loop is Still Strategic
• 2. The Benefits of Outside Plant Integration
• 3. Access Network Provisioning Benefits to Customer Care

G. WIRELESS TERMINAL MANAGEMENT

• 1. Market Drivers: Handsets, Protocols, Services, & Automation
• 2. How Terminals are Provisioned
• 3. The Position of Wireless Network Equipment Providers

H. NETWORK ORDER MANAGEMENT

• 1. Maintaining 8 Million Customers with a Manual Ordering
• 2. Customer & Network-Facing Sides of Telecom Service Orders
• 3. Network Orders and Billing Bundles
• 4. Why Cross-Industry Ordering Solutions Don' t Fit Telecom
• 5. The Economics of Order Process Change
• 6. The Requirement for Advanced Order Management
• 7. Features: advanced Order Management System: Expeditor

J. SERVICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

• 1. Vertical Silos to a Horizontal Service Management System
• 2. Service Management Components
• 3. Managing Component Dependencies
• 4. The Product Conception to Deployment Advantage
• 5. Instantiating the Service for the Customer
• 6. Service Management Initiative at Orange/France Telecom
• 7. Paving the Way for the Business Virtual Network Operator

K. IP SERVICE PROVISIONING

• 1. Why Enterprises are Looking to IP-VPNs
• 2. The QoS Capabilities of MPLS Routing
• 3. Telecoms Gravitate to IP-SEC
• 4. The VPN Connectivity Experts at Netifice
• 5. Provisioning Software for IP-VPNs
• 6. The Rise of Ethernet Competition to IP-VPNs
• 7. Yipes Rises Again as National Ethernet Provider

L. CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

• 1. Definition and Functions
• 2. Content Acquisition & Bundling
• 3. Why Content Management Gives Carriers Better Control

M. THE IP MULTIMEDIA CN SUBSYSTEM (IMS) &

• 1. Managing Multimedia Applications in an IP Services World
• 2. Instant Messenger IMS Implementation at SK Telecom
• 3. IMS Analysis and Alternative Solutions

N. MARKET THREATS

• 1. Next Generation Service Markets Will Emerge Slowly

O. MARKET OPPORTUNITIES

• 1. Operations Efficiency vs. Service Enablement
• 2. Service Management
• 3. Access Network Still Vital

P. CARRIER RECOMMENDATIONS

• 1. Selecting the Best Provisioning & Inventory Vendors
• 2. Managing OSS Vendors and Global Sourcing

Q. MARKET SEGMENTATION & FORECAST ANALYSIS

• 1. How Dittberner Develops its Market Segmentations
• 2. Market Growth Forecast
• 3. OEM vs. Service Provider
• 4. Distribution Channels
• 5. Geographic Region
• 6. Service Provider Type
• 7. Service Provider Size
• 8. Type of Provisioning & Inventory Solution
• 9. Networks/Devices Provisioned & Inventoried

R. CASE STUDIES

• 1. CenturyTel' s Access-to-Transport DSL Provisioning System
• 2. Telecom Italia Sparkle' s International Network Inventory
• 3. Verizon Wireless Content Management System
• 4. XO Communications Inventory & Provisioning System

S. VENDOR PROFILES

• 1. Amdocs
• 2. Axiom
• 3. Comptel
• 4. ConceptWave
• 5. Convergys
• 6. Cramer Systems
• 7. GE Smallworld
• 8. Intelliden
• 9. Lucent Technologies
• 10. MetaSolv
• 11. Nakina Systems
• 12. NetCracker
• 13. Nokia Corporation
• 14. Open Telecommunications
• 15. SaskTel International
• 16. Sigma Systems
• 17. Sterling Commerce
• 18. Syndesis
• 19. Telcordia
• 20. Telution
• 21. Wisor Telecom