Dimension Data enables radical improvements in business agility for service providers

Dimension Data will unveil SPiNS (Service Provider integration Nerve System), an NGOSS-aligned integration solution and the foundation for its iBOSS (integrated Business and Operational Support Systems) solutions, at the forthcoming TeleManagement World.

Menahem Fuchs, Dimension Data Product Manager iBOSS Integration, says SPiNS was developed in response to the challenges currently facing information and communication service providers (ICSPs). "In the light of depressed market conditions, falling ARPUs and commoditisation of bandwidth, ICSPs urgently need to differentiate their offerings and grow revenues," he says.

"To do this, it is necessary to add more value by vertically integrating products and services, and to increase the value proposition by working with partners to create end-to-end solutions for customers. This approach will enable ICSPs to prosper in today`s increasingly dynamic environment, which sees relationships constantly changing, product and service lifecycles shortening and the number of players rising."

SPiNS is an NGOSS-aligned solution that allows service providers to migrate away from the messy, slow and rigid integration norms of today to achieve a flexible and agile business-enhancing environment. It attaches to all the business components and partner gateways in an SP and orchestrates the way they collaborate to achieve business or service objectives. The goal of SPiNS is to facilitate the rapid development of flexible, low cost of ownership OSS solutions to meet the business needs of the collaborative economy.

Commenting on the benefits offered by SPiNS, Fuchs mentions centrally defined business processes and rules, a standard source of business intelligence and simplified, accelerated integration of new business components.

"In addition, SPiNS transcends differences in underlying applications and data stores," he points out. "It integrates systems and processes at the business level rather than at product functional level, and it accommodates different business models for different partners. It also embeds industry best-practice in the form of business process templates and common information models."

Dimension Data will also demonstrate NGOSS Testing of the iBOSS solution suite at the MVP (Multi-Vendor Pavilion) stand at TeleManagement World, in conjunction with Telecom Italia and the TM Forum`s NGOSS-Powered Compliance Steering Team. The NGOSS Tests being showcased represent the first step towards gaining NGOSS-Powered accreditation, and the iBOSS solution is the first commercially available offering to be put forward for accreditation testing. Telecom Italia Labs, acting as an independent testing authority, is auditing the test procedures, test bed and test results in order to independently ratify the compliance of the iBOSS solution to the NGOSS-Powered test criteria for this pilot phase of the accreditation program.

NGOSS and solutions such as Dimension Data`s iBOSS enable service providers to shorten time-to-revenue for new services, increase levels of customer care and decrease operational costs. Current initiatives such as those led by the TeleManagement Forum aim to simplify the integration process for multi-vendor OSSs. The emerging guidelines will enable flexible, scalable and more robust integrated OSS solutions that free providers to focus on what they do best.