TM Forum Creates Interface Factory

The TM Forum has launched an interface program intended to help service providers expedite their time to market with convergent service bundles and foster the flexibility necessary to rapidly accommodate market changes.

Under the TM Forum Interface Program, all interface development efforts will be unified. That includes OSS/J (the multi-technology APIs that deliver on NGOSS design guidelines); MTOP (network and service management from transport); and IPDR (the interfaces used for usage data management and accounting). Each will now leverage each other’s development resources to create a common roadmap and architectural framework.

The end result will be the empowerment of service providers to freely choose the operations support systems they want, based on price, quality and functionality.

The purpose of the Interface Program is to help service providers reduced the risk of service delivery by eliminating the need for proprietary interfaces. Ultimately, that could mean lower integration costs and a clear migration path, as interfaces are no longer bound to middleware, transport or computing languages.