Standardised platform for operators
Sun Microsystems, Ericsson and Nokia have joined up to work together for a common platform management infrastructure for network equipment.
The initiative, which will see the companies collaborating on a series of publicly available requirements documents for the Operations, Administration and Management Layer (OA&M) and Service Layer environments, is aimed at making it easier for operators to manage their infrastructure.
“We are faced with huge integration issues today when we purchase solutions from multiple NEPs,” said Javier Gutierrez, Enablers Development Senior Manager of Telefónica Moviles España. “The results of the newly formed Telecommunications Platform Initiative will help us simplify platform management, allowing us to focus more on rapidly launching innovative services for our customers.”
Nokia’s Jyrki Holmala, Vice President, OSS Software, Networks, said, “The Initiative shows our willingness to work together to find cost-efficient and open standards-based solutions for the industry. There is an excellent fit with Nokia’s Operations Support Systems (OSS) middleware strategy and our Open EMS Suite platform product roadmaps.”
Standardised operations management, middleware, Sun Microsystems? Sounds like Java OSS to us, which is currently being developed within the Telemanagement Forum (TMF) with a view to standardisation. With next generation OSS (also undergoing specification within TMF) also all about open platform architecture, rather than proprietary systems, why the need for this separate intitiative?