The SPIT Manifesto

Page 2: The SPIT Elements

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light ReadingNext Page: The SPIT Elements

So what are these elements? In a nutshell:

OSS and BSS (operations and business support system) software
At Light Reading, we've broken down this part of the market into a number of categories:

Notable names in this sector (in which hundreds of companies are active) include Agilent, Amdocs, CA, Convergys, HP, IBM, Oracle, and Telcordia, along with the major equipment vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, and Nokia Siemens Networks.

SDPs (service delivery platforms)
A tough category to pin down, as there is no agreed upon, standardized definition. Basically, though, SDPs comprise a collection of standard and specialized IT components that, together, can provision and charge for new services, and are designed to reduce the cost and time of developing and deploying new services and applications. Currently, SDPs are often linked to operator attempts to build symbiotic environments that enable them to provision services and applications that are provided by third-party content owners and/or developed by third-party software vendors.

Notable names in this sector include Accenture, Aepona, Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs, CA, Compuware, Ericsson, HP, Huawei, IBM, NSN, and Telcordia.

We also include "service brokers" in this category. These are (take a deep breath...) network software platforms of various types that essentially allow telecom services and network functions to interact across different technology domains (traditional IN, IMS, and Web), and also to allow new applications to be developed and offered by both network operators and, eventually, third parties in a converged, open environment.

Companies that have developed service brokers include Aepona, AppTrigger, Convergin, Mavenir Systems, Motorola, Opencloud, Tekelec, and Veraz Networks, among others.

IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) elements
We're including the control plane and service plane components of IMS, including application servers, charging systems, policy control servers (Policy and Charging Rules Function, or PCRF), and subscriber management servers (Home Subscriber Server, or HSS), in our SPIT taxonomy.

Vendors in this category include all the major equipment suppliers, plus specialists such as Bridgewater Systems, Camiant, and Openet.

Security tools/platforms
This category includes user authentication and URL filtering (closely linked to policy control), firewalls, and denial-of-service defences. These are particularly relevant here because these tools are now being used to provide hosted services for service provider customers (security as a service) as well as protecting the service provider and its customers.

Cloud/virtualization/hosted services platforms
We're restricting this category to the systems that are of specific relevance to service providers that are looking to offer cloud-based services to their customers. Cloud services deployments include a lot of generic IT, including server technology, but also encompass the critical virtualization tools that enable service providers to aggregate their resources and offer them as services. These are also, of course, vital to service providers' managed services capabilities (where they run enterprise IT systems on an outsourced services basis).

Currently, VMware and shared storage specialist NetApp have emerged as notable specialist technology providers to the telecom world's cloud enthusiasts.

Managed services platforms
This isn't so much a technology category as an integrated SPIT deployment scenario, but worth mentioning. Managed services, whether offered by service providers or vendors, involve the coordinated deployment of a number of elements from the categories above, but also include specific tools for enabling self-service monitoring and provisioning and, using portals, the ability to create real-time views of service and network performance.

Next page: Industry Trends & the SPIT Connection

In this section we elaborate briefly on a key set of service provider goals that couldn't be achieved without the advancement, development, and intelligent deployment of SPIT technologies.

It's also worth noting that the increasing relevance and importance of SPIT will likely have a knock-on effect on service provider personnel strategies, as most operators now need to have expertise in the deployment and management of legacy telecom, IP, and cutting-edge IT systems.

Developing and monetizing new services/applications
Gone are the days when an operator could take two years to develop a new service and roll it out (often by having to manually update TDM voice switches).

Nowadays, communications service providers need to be much more nimble and reactive, which means being able to create and manage their products (services, applications) centrally and more spontaneously, using software and mostly off-the-shelf hardware and computing resources. The competitive environment also means they need to know a lot more about how their services are working and how their customers are behaving – in real time.

This places a much greater emphasis on IT/software systems that, previously, were used for basic support functions. The physical network infrastructure is still vitally important to telco and cable network operators (it is their main differentiator and main source of revenue). But their SPIT resources are now equally as important if they are to remain competitive – you could say that the back office systems have moved to the front line.

Perhaps the most obvious example currently is the emergence of "cloud" services, whereby service providers host applications and computing capabilities in massive data centers, and their customers utilize those resources as an alternative to running their own IT and service capabilities. Service providers need massive IT and applications capabilities – server farms, virtualization software that enables resources to be aggregated and accessed securely by multiple users, the applications themselves (e.g., CRM systems, databases, ERP systems) – to offer these services.

Of course, all services/apps need to be priced, and service usage needs to be billed. This is becoming increasingly complex, especially with the introduction of mobile data services that involve revenue-sharing between partners. SPIT, again, is critical to these capabilities. To add to the drama, service providers are having a tough enough time presenting a single view of the customer across their services.

Cutting costs
Service providers need to reduce costs and increase revenues – a very tough task. Having the most appropriate SPIT capabilities can make operators more efficient by, for example: cutting back the number of traditional OSS/BSS systems being used and supported; using remote diagnostics and repair systems, and remote upgrade capabilities to reduce truck rolls; using customer portals and software support systems to reduce the need for call center resources; using software-based building blocks for service/application creation that cuts development time and enables the use of external developers.

Migrating to next-generation networks
Every network operator is engaged in the migration to new technology platforms, whether it's LTE in mobile, Docsis 3.0 in cable, or all-IP, packet/optical transport, and FTTH for fixed-line telcos. These all require complex transformation programs that involve the upgrade and introduction of SPIT systems. In mobile, for example, the introduction of policy management systems is becoming critical to operators' ability to deal with the demand for data services. In the fixed and mobile worlds, the introduction of SPIT systems known as Service Brokers is proving strategic, as they bridge the legacy and next-gen worlds, enabling continuity of existing services and the introduction of new services without the need to switch across from legacy infrastructure to new systems in one, risky move.

Improving customer care/experience
Improving the "customer experience" has become the new battleground for service providers, as they want to attract and then hold on to new customers. The only way to improve customer experience – to be able to deal with their questions and complaints efficiently, and market appropriate/relevant new services to them – is to know who the customers are, what services they use, how and why they use them, how they pay for them, whether they are profitable customers, where they are physically (increasingly a factor), and so on.

Having this information available in real time and in a format that makes sense is all down to having the right OSS and BSS capabilities – it's a SPIT issue.

Next page: SPIT's Impact on the Communications Ecosystem

The focus in this manifesto has been the identification of SPIT and its role in service provider strategies.

But, of course, all of this is critical to the vendors/partners/suppliers that work with the service providers. Increasingly, the communications systems suppliers find themselves having to provide, not just the iron that constitutes the physical network, but the operational and service-related intelligence that runs atop the network.

That means the likes of Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia Siemens, Motorola, ZTE, et al., need to be software and IT specialists, IP experts, and telecom equipment vendors. Just producing a piece of hardware isn't going to cut it in the next-generation telecom world. And Ericsson, for example, is already showing that more revenues and manpower are coming from the services realm:

All of this is also relevant to the IT sector (in terms of providing IT hardware and software), applications developers (who might now get a chance to develop new services for the cable/fixed/mobile sector and have the operators as channels), and the systems integrators, who have long worked with the operators and vendors. Indeed, as our Heavy Reading surveys have show, telcos will need an ecosystem to support their SPIT initiatives:

And don't forget the customer: The deployment of cutting-edge SPIT technologies should provide significant benefits to enterprise customers of all sizes in particular, but also to residential users, who should all ultimately be faced with a greater choice of services, more and easier ways to pay for them, and even better customer service. We won't hold our breath, though...

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading

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