The TM Forum launched a new initiative today called Blueprint that will build on its library of Solution Frameworks and provide a roadmap for helping service providers become service-oriented.
Based on a standard Service Oriented Architecture – a technology standard with strong support in the service provider community, but beginning to be maligned by some in the enterprise space – Blueprint addresses longstanding problems with customization by providing a growing set of reusable and implementable building blocks called Business Services.
Despite some detractors in the enterprise space, SOA has a bright future according to analyst firm OSS Observer, an Analysys Mason company, which said last April that commercial success is catching up to the high expectations for the SOA market and that over the next four years is projected to have a 27 percent compound annual growth rate.
Each Business Service (also called NGOSS Contracts) relates to a standard business function, such as a service launch, billing or customer care, which can be assembled to meet the proprietary business needs of individual companies. It delivers a few key benefits: It reduces development cost, time and risk; it enables end-to-end process automation and presents new business opportunities by making business functions available to third parties on a commercial basis.
The forum is taking a page from other retail sectors such as Amazon.com, which pioneered the Service Oriented Enterprise approach. Blueprint will add more implementation support and guidance.
BT Group CIO Phil Dance supports the Blueprint initiative, saying his company encourages common industry approaches that help build a vibrant market and deliver innovative software at realistic prices. “We welcome the Forum’s move to an SOE-based approach, as it future-proofs our investments as the market changes. We especially welcome the ability to build systems and process tailored to our specific business needs using a common set of standard building blocks,” he said.
Blueprint also will identify common elements and synergies among its core New Generation Operations Systems and Software (NGOSS) framework, including the business process framework known as the eTOM, the information framework known as the Shared Information Data (SID) model, the Telecom Application Map and the Integration Framework, aka the Technology Neutral Architecture.
This initiative may help the TM Forum in its goal to reach out to other industries, such as media and content companies and others dealing with information-based service management. The forum itself will have an emphasis on implementation for which it will offer guidance.
The initiative will require active collaboration on the part of forum members as well as the external alignment of other industry frameworks and standards.
"As network and IT operations merge and IT moves from the back office to the front, the SOE-based methodology underpinning the Blueprint Initiative will enable the Solution Frameworks to be used in the backbone of service provider’s IT approach – applicable across not only their entire enterprise, but across partners in the value chain as well,” said Keith Willetts, chairman and CEO, TM Forum.
