The OSS Value Chain: Evaluating the Ecosystem, Players, and Future of Operational Support Systems

As digital services and communication networks circle the globe, carriers and service providers face decisive challenges in managing their infrastructure which is expanding with exponential growth rates. Investing on advanced, next generation OSS platforms in the only way to deal with these challenges, however the value of deploying and running complex operating and business support systems depends not only by the owner and end user, the service provider, but equally from the solution integrator and the supplier.

This report evaluates the combined role of service providers, solution integrators and platform vendors in terms of contributing to the final value of an OSS/BSS solution. It analyzes the lifecycle of OSS solutions, elaborate on the role each of the stakeholders play in this lifecycle and present some real world cases and challenges. The report evaluates leading OSS solutions and predicts future perspectives and directions. Finally, it proposes rules of thumb and evaluation metrics to improve the value of OSS projects from the perspective of the service provider, the integrator and the OSS supplier.

This report also compares and contrasts large vendors across: OSS portfolio, strong and weak points and ISV’s across OSS specialization and strong points.

Key Benefits:

• Short presentation of leading OSS solution suppliers
• Evaluation matrices for service providers, integrators and vendors
• Conclusions and rules of thumb from deploying and running OSS solutions, analysis of real world challenges

Analysis of success factors in the deployment of OSS solutions from the perspective of:

• Service provider
• Solution integrator
• Solution supplier

Key Findings:

The success of an OSS project depends on three stakeholders: The service provider, the integrator and the platform vendor form a value chain, affecting the lifecycle of the project. Stakeholders’ business goals, company mentality, technical expertise, experience, resource management and communication skills, all play their part, influencing the value of an OSS solution. At the end of the day, an OSS deployment is not just a technology project, but the result of a combined effort and partnership of groups of people with different mentality and skills.