Focusing on an S+S "Management Framework"

For those of us thinking about the practical aspects of implementing and managing Software + Services offerings, including Service Syndication, perusing the link below may prove interesting. Telecom service providers have been working in the S+S paradigm for years: they just don’t call it that. But if you think about it, today millions of disparate devices, running software, attached at the edge of many different networks, interact with “cloud” services to both 1) deliver something via a value chain leveraging “functional interfaces” and 2) to manage those services via a set of “management interfaces”.    

 

If one looks at the list of projects on display at the upcoming TM Forum Management World, note the emphasis on service management i.e., some aspect of Configuration, Provisioning, Fault / Performance, SLA/QoS, Charging/Billing and “eBonding” between service providers: 

 

1. …systems to manage capacity and quality of end to end … services

2. …addresses the issues around handling complex and multi-dimensional mobility applications in a mobile environment…

3. Trouble Ticket (TT) interface specification to facilitate incident management between service providers and their enterprise customers and enterprise partners

4. …Efficient provisioning leveraging …Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Active Catalog and Business Process Management (BPM)

5. …key enablers needed for e2e SQM across a value network, and to show how competitive CE/ SQM applications can be enabled by uniform instrumentation of Edge Devices, Resources, Services, Applications

6. …Service syndication issues focusing on:

  • Charging/Billing – issuing charging based on service usage in the syndicated scenario
  • QoS Management - Correlated SLA, usage and charging

7. …IPsphere framework to provide extended reach for premium service delivery with elements of service transport provided by a combination of providers who have established a partnership brokered through IPsphere.

 

The reason for this ongoing focus has to do with the requirements for manageability and reliability. OpEX is THE KEY FACTOR to service profitability. This is why the projects at the TM Forum tend to focus a great deal on the manageability aspects of the atomic services and assembled services and not as much on the services themselves.  

 

https://tmforum.org/ManagementWorldOrlando/CatalystShowcase/6193/Home.html?ctr=14509194

 

There are a lot of mistakes to be avoided here as Microsoft moves into the world of PROFITABLE hosted / syndicated services.