By the end of 2020, there were 5.25 billion smartphone users in the world. Each of them relies on a communications network that operates smoothly, that allows them to call, text, download apps, conduct business, share with friends on social media, and more. At the same time, smart cars, homes, and cities require machine-to-machine communications networks. 5G is the latest technology for all of these communication needs, and its use is ever expanding in the telecom industry. In fact, the telecom industry now includes communication between people with other people, people with machines, and machines with machines. It is probably the fastest expanding industry of all, considering that communications are the backbone of every other economic sector in the world.
Telecom companies that intend to remain competitive and thrive must look long and hard at their current architectures, make plans for transforming those architectures, and implement those plans in a strategic, well-defined way. And often, those transformations must occur rapidly while still providing the top-quality end-to-end service that their consumers demand.
Two terms are often used together when talking about the telecom industry – BSS and OSS. Both are essential “backbones” that support very different operations. And both continue to undergo digital transformations.
Business support services have been around longer, are usually legacy systems, often purchased from a PaaS, and are well-entrenched. They provide all of the broader customer-facing functions. This is, for all intents and purposes, the business side of a telecom - product offerings, order fulfillment, customer relations and management, invoicing, contracts and subscription services, revenue accounting and reporting, etc. Whether built in-house or purchased from outside vendors, the software applications provide direct connections with the customer.
The Oft-Undervalued Importance of OSS
It’s not that managing network architecture is considered unimportant. Telecom companies are strongly focused on providing operational support systems, based upon such things as an ever-widening base of mobile device users and new demands for additional services. In fact, according to Forest Interactive, the APAC region is the fastest-growing demand region in the world. When surveyed, here is what these consumers stated they wanted from telecom company services:
As telecom companies become aware of these demands, they immediately jump to provide the operational architecture to meet these new demands. The net result is that there is very specialized software developed or purchased that will provide for the demands and let telecom operators monitor operations and maintenance, from a centralized location, as well as keep abreast of new service demands.
What This Means for Telecom Operators
Telecom companies now have to offer a wide range of differentiated products and services for a much more complex market. BSS can develop and offer the products, but the right network of services requires a transformed and modernized OSS system. And a critical part of all of this is to integrate BSS and OSS which have heretofore operated separately.
The Current State of OSS in Telecom
Once telecom began to go through rapid and ever-changing products and service demands, the larger providers continued to expand their OSS with individual and isolated applications. Smaller telecom companies also got on board with sometimes hundreds of disparate apps, many powered by a variety of vendors and technologies. This creates incredible complexity. Add to that the demands of a growing consumer base and such things 5G services or IoT, and telecoms must realize they have to be more agile, not to mention provide more security for the revolution in new devices.
So how does a telecom company build the OSS architecture transformation it needs?
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Move to the Cloud
Most enterprises have moved their BSS to the cloud. Small-to-mid-sized companies need to do the same. If OSS has not been moved, it should be.
Not moving BSS and OSS to the cloud means the following limitations, given the increasing demands and pressure:
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Traditional in-house systems are rigid, especially for coupling of design and systems
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Outages
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Increases in complexity as more and more demands are placed on the system
Now, consider the advantages of getting everything into the cloud:
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The obvious big benefit is cost-savings. Using cloud for the systems, a company can reduce the in-house IT staff and focus on other important matters. Cloud service, whether public, private, or hybrid, are far cheaper
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Protection of Data: In the cloud, you have options to store all of your data in different centers. If a natural disaster should strike in the area of one center, you will still have access to that data in another center.
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Faster Delivery: Launching services is faster in the cloud
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Greater efficiency of integration of BSS and OSS: Operations via APIs
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Scalability is easier: there is no need to acquire new hardware. This can be handled by a BSS/OSS provider.
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Greater Security: Cloud-based operations, whether for BSS or OSS services, provide greater security for both the telecom company and for its consumers.
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Two-Speed Architecture
There are front-end and back-end architectures in all design and development, and the telecom industry is no different. Using a two-speed model separates the front-end functions and software from the core technology of the architecture. This means that the front-end functions can be updated and expanded faster. At the same time, developers can take a slower, more considered approach, taking care of the security, performance, and stability of the system. The lower speed of the back-end architecture ensures that the migration is well-done, especially in data cleansing and storage areas. These can occur while the OSS operations are enhanced and/or launched quickly.
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Co-Mingling of IT and OT
Traditionally, these two systems were separate. But converging them has real business benefits:
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There is a level of standardization of both systems and processes, improving flexibility and agility. It provides predictive maintenance, and the ability to see the entire “picture.”
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Security is better controlled, especially with the traceability from cloud migration
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Greater control of business functions, such as HR management, working environment and access to specific functions, both with in-house and remote work force.
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Focus Optimizing Your Network and End-to-End Service Solutions
Most telecom networks are comprised of a variety of technologies, some developed in-house, some from vendors. They have end users for whom a streamlined and satisfactory experience must be provided. To achieve this, there must be highly efficient network design and performance, along with constant monitoring and optimization as new OSS pieces are added to provide for additional devices and an ever-widening consumer base. Further, methods must be in place to gather data on incidents and other problems, so that service quality remains high.
Recently, Charter Spectrum began to receive more than average contacts reporting user outages. These problems were resolved by sending signals to consumer cable boxes to re-boot those systems. However, the unusual uptick in the issue was picked up by an automatic data gathering function which pointed to a larger problem than normal. Network managers were able to investigate and determine that their own current system updating was causing the issue and were able to apply a “fix” quite quickly.
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Provide for Uneven Bandwidth Demand
Cloud computing services (and bills) customers based upon the amount of use. Customers have the assurance that they will still have their need met no matter what the overall demand might be at a given time. Telecoms have come to realize that they, too, must provide for the same type of unevenness of demand. They may have a common shared physical infrastructure, but network slicing will allow a number of virtual networks to be created on top of that infrastructure. Each layer can be dedicated to specific devices and services, for example, smartphones or IoT devices.
Traditional, static infrastructure cannot provide these types of slice configurations in 5G networks.
Two architectures that have been developed to provide for this necessary flexibility are Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV), and telecoms that want to remain competitive by meeting consumer demand should adopt one of these in order to control and manage their network resources. And even each large category of network configuration can be further sliced. Taking IoT as an example, there is a certain level of demand for devices used in an operating room, but a very different demand level for machine type communications, such as electrical grids.
Conclusion
Any telecom host must come to the realization that its OSS infrastructure is now critical to meet the ever-expanding demands of increasingly complex communications networks. Those demands include speed, flexibility, top-level service, and an expanded portfolio of devices, from cell phones to entertainment, to cars, to IoT technology of all kinds. OSS architecture must now be integrated with BSS systems, must be transformed for a new world of communication types and devices, must have the agility and flexibility to meet varying levels of demand, whether for pleasure or business. As telecoms consider the architectures they build, these five factors will be critical.