Dear Colleague:

OSS systems are a crucial ingredient of success for telecom carriers worldwide.  They are especially critical as the large U.S. wireline carriers roll out sophisticated next generation systems such as triple-play services that bundle voice, video, and high speed internet.

To better understand how carriers are upgrading their OSS infrastructure for next generation networks and triple play, Dittberner Associates conducted a research investigation engaging carriers and leading vendors. 

The report is an authoritative 78-page guide to the OSS issues that are crucial to carriers and vendors who now participate -- or hope to participate -- in the triple play services market.

The report addresses several strategic questions, for instance::

- What aspects of the triple play systems integration problem require the most attention?;
- Which OSS/BSS vendors offer compelling solutions that might jumpstart the process?
- Should a carrier buy or build its triple play solutions?  And is it best to create systems from scratch or build on what already exists?

Dittberner explores these and many other issues in a new research report titled OSS for Triple Play Services: An Analysis of the Next Generation OSS Plans of Large U.S. Wireline Carriers.

Whether you're a carrier executive aiming to improve your OSS infrastructure or a vendor delivering triple play or next generation OSS solutions, the Report addresses several crucial concerns:

COTS vs. In-House Build -- While the general industry trend is for service providers to rely on Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products, very large carriers such as Verizon and AT&T are focusing on in-house developed systems.  The report shows the rationale the large U.S. incumbents used to make these decisions and provides a scoresheet to help other telecoms make their own choices.

Revolution vs. Evolution of OSS -- Another key issue is how the major US service providers will migrate or retire their legacy systems as the next generation services world approaches. Will the large U.S. carriers completely revolutionize their OSS systems to accommodate next generation networks as British Telecom (BT) now plans or will they upgrade their current systems to do the job.

Next Generation Network and OSS Plans of Specific Carriers -- 
We examined the network infrastructures and OSS plans of four carriers in this study: AT&T, BellSouth, SBC Communications, and Verizon.

OSS Readiness Assessment for Next Generation Networks -- 
We point to specific OSS and related challenges that need to be addressed before NGN or triple play services can be delivered with the kind of robustness the U.S. market expects of its incumbent carriers.

Please scan the executive summary and full table of contents below.  To access this market intelligence today, contact Dittberner's sales office at 301-652-8350.

Sincerely,

Dan Baker
Research Director, Dittberner OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase

P.S.  This OSS Triple Play report is one research module in Dittberner's on-going OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase covering the breadth of telecom software innovations on a yearly basis.

OSS Systems for 
Triple Play Services

Executive Summary

Landing a man on the moon in 1969 was a great technological feat.

Indeed, the moonshot was actually a triumph of many technologies: rocket science, math, computers, telemetry, aeronautics, high tech manufacturing, and countless other major and minor areas of practical knowledge.

But technology aside, the moonshot was also a huge systems integration achievement -- something often overlooked. In fact, without an ability to synchronize technologies, processes, and human organizations into a workable moonshot system, there would never be footprints on the moon today.

The large U.S. wireline carriers are now planning the 21st century equivalent of a moonshot.

It's called triple play. And to pull it off will require as much systems integration finesse as putting a man on the moon, maybe a bit more.

But by publicizing aggressive roll out schedules, the large U.S. telecom carriers seem to not fully comprehend the huge effort ahead of them. It took a full 10 years to put a man on the moon, but carriers like Verizon and SBC are saying triple play will reach millions of their consumers in a matter of months.

True, the technological pieces of triple play already exist: WebTV, settop boxes, digital content, billing systems, telecom networks, IP routers, DSLAMs, fiber and copper connections to the home, network management systems, and consumer websites. 

But Dittberner believes synchronizing all those technologies into a fully integrated, robust, scaleable, and profitable system will take many years to achieve.

Truth be known, the much heralded "success stories" of triple play in North America are still struggling to scale.

Comcast, for instance, claims it will have 250,000 triple play subscribers by the end of 2005, which means they probably have only 50,000 up and running today. In the LEC camp, the most advanced in North America is Canada's SaskTel, but SaskTel currently has only 35,000 consumers accessing its DSL/copper loop triple play system.

Subscriber count isn't all that matters either. OPEX is also key.  And to keep OPEX under control requires sufficient flow-through or mechanization of the triple play operation. On that score, Comcast and SaskTel are still ramping up.  

Comcast is employing 900 people in Denver to provision services and monitor/troubleshoot its triple play network. SaskTel's triple play operation, meanwhile, is fraught with manual workarounds and systems integration problems. So who knows how long it will take these early adopters to lower their OPEX enough to actually make money on triple play.

For all these reasons, Dittberner believes serious triple play systems are still in the R&D phase. In North America, large scale deployment of triple play will take many years to achieve.

Dittberner's report, OSS Systems for Triple Play Services, analyzes the forces shaping the new triple play OSS market and shows how you and your company can capitalize on the opportunities.

Table of Contents

OSS Systems for
Triple Play Services

A. Executive Summary (1 page)

B. Background & Report Organization (1 page)

C. NGN Plans of Large U.S. Wireline Carriers (16 pages)
The History of Telecom Revolutions
- BT's 21CN Plan
- Sprint ION
U.S. Carrier's Approach to Revolution vs. Evolution
The Limitations of IP MPLS for Large Carriers
- IP Version Compatibility.
- Management Costs
 - The Cost of Putting ATM over MPLS.
- Enterprise Customers Issues with IP QoS.
Large U.S. Wireline Carriers and the Corporate Data Services Market
The Role of Frame Relay and ATM
IXC vs. RBOC Approach
U.S. Wireline Economic Troubles Slow IP MPLS Migration
Impact of Telecom Recession on U.S. Wireline Carriers
History of MPLS Migration and Equipment Purchases
Analysis of IP MPLS Adoption
MPLS Growth Forecast
Network Equipment Vendor OSSs for MPLS
- Cisco Internet OSS Solution
- Alcatel's turnkey IP/MPLS solution.
OSS Build Strategy
COTS vs. In-House Build
Evolution vs. Revolution: Final Analysis
AT&T Next Generation Network Profile
- Company Profile, Description & Situation
- Systems and Suppliers Utilized
- Supplier and Product Description
- Network Architecture
- Comparison to Previous Method
- Anticipated Benefits / Payback Period
- Major Implementation Problems Encountered
- Benefits Achieved
- Anticipation vs. Actual
Verizon Next Generation Network Profile
- Company Profile, Description & Situation
- Systems and Suppliers Utilized
- Supplier and Product Description
- Network Architecture
- Comparison to Previous Method
Major Implementation Problems Encountered
Benefits Achieved
Anticipation vs. Actual
Future Anticipation

D. Next Generation OSS Progress at Large U.S. Carriers (43 pages)
AT&T (12 pages)
- Overview of Company
- Competitive Climate
- Overview of New Services Introduction over IP NW & IP MPLS
- IP MPLS Infrastructure
- The CallVantage and Voice DNA Platforms
- Concept, Architecture & Requirements for NG OSS for IP NW
   - The Concept of One and Target Architecture
   - Zero Touch
   - e-Enablement
   - Open Standards
- OSS Function Overview of Next Generation OSS for IP NW
   -  Ordering Platform
   - Fault Management
   - Configuration Management
   - Service Provisioning
   - Network Provisioning
   - Performance Management and Incident Management
   - Performance Surveillance
   - Incident Management
   - Traffic Management
BellSouth
- Overview of Company & Competitive Climate
- Overview of New Services Introduction over IP NW & IP MPLS
- Technology & Vendor Selections
- Business Considerations
- Capital requirements
- Legacy albatross
- Slow Customer Adoption of New Services
- Little Short Term Financial Advantages to Deploying VoIP
- The Transition from Network to Service Provider Won't Be Easy
- OSS Function Overview of Next Generation OSS for IP NW
- Dealing with its Vertical Stack OSS - Federated Network Inventory
- Telcordia's Next Generation Fulfillment Architecture
- Cost Saving Driver
- COTS vs. In-House Build
SBC Corporation
- Overview of Company & Competitive Climate
- Overview of New Services Introduction over IP NW & IP MPLS
- Concept, Architecture & Requirements for NG OSS for IP NW
- COTS Vendors at SBC
- Service Assurance & Traffic Management
- Provisioning
- Network Inventory
- Details of Next Gen OSS
- Overall Objectives & Goals
Sprint (1 page)
COTS vs. In-House Build
Verizon (7 pages)
Overview of Company
Competitive Climate
Overview of New Services Introduction over IP NW & IP MPLS
Build: Next Gen OSS vs. Mixed Next Gen OSS & Existing OSS
Details of Next Gen OSS

E. Next Generation OSS Readiness at Large U.S. Wireline Carriers (11 pages)
OSS Importance to Triple Play Roll-Out
Need for a Better-than-Cable User Experience
Assessment of Challenges Carriers Face
- Quality of Service and Trouble Management
- Interconnect Assurance
- Service Activation
- Video Quality
- Technician Coordination with Network Assurance
- Video Settop Monitoring
- Real-Time Billing & Marketing
- Network Inventory and Provisioning
- Customer Self-Provisioning & the Call Center
- System Interoperability 
- Synchronizing & Testing OSS/BSS Pieces
- IP MPLS Readiness
- Project Management & Organization
   - Planning
   - User Involvement
   - Triple Play Experience of Development Team
   - Carrier to Vendor Communication
   - Aggressive Development Schedule

F. NG OSS Buy vs. Build Analysis
Factors in the Buy vs. Build Strategy 
- Comfort with Outsourcing
- IT Control in Business Units
- IT Wedded to Legacy Infrastructure
- Big Infrastructure Problems/Poor SOA
- IT Lacks Experience with IP/Next Gen Systems
- Financial Strength of Carrier
- Size of IT Organization
- Success Managing COTS
- Complexity of NG Network Rollout
How AT&T Evaluates COTS Solutions

G. Build vs. Buy Scoresheet 
This section features a scorecard and accompanying excel spreadsheet showing how large U.S. carriers have made their OSS/BSS buy vs. build decision. Readers can modify the excel sheet to change the factor weights and scores. The analysis shows why some carriers have chosen to adopt a mostly-in-house build strategy for NG OSS while others are committed to COTS.

Vendor Profiles

Several vendors have established themselves in the telecommunications triple play OSS market in recent years.

In this section, Dittberner analyzes some of the leading OSS players in terms of their triple play offerings.  A list of vendors profiled follows:

Agilent
Alcatel 
Amdocs
Micromuse
Microsoft
SaskTel International 
Spirent Communications
Syndesis
Telcordia

About the Dittberner
OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase

Dittberner’s OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase^TM is a market research designed to help telecoms and OSS/BSS vendors track the OSS/BSS solutions and innovations.

The Dittberner KnowledgeBase helps carriers and vendors get control of this fast-growing body of knowledge and competitive advantage. . . more

About Dittberner Associates

Founded in 1966, Dittberner Associates, Inc. is an international market research and consultancy with over 70 Telecom Service Providers, and in excess of 100 telecom suppliers as clients. The firm specializes in areas of OSS/BSS, NGN Switching, Broadband Access, and Wireless market segments. . . more

Dittberner Associates
44641 Montgomery Avenue
Bethesda MD 20814

Tel: 301-652-8350
To order or get more info, contact Wyatt Greenwalt
wyatt@dittberner.com