OSS is an area of growing importance. When new broadband services and mobile broadband data services are migrating to IP it makes the networks more complex. Consequently, integration and network management becomes a key issue. 

In the network management area Ericsson is number one according to Analysys Mason, and Ericsson’s position is even stronger in the mobile part. Correspondingly, Cisco is the leader in the business services area and Alcatel-Lucent in OSS for residential broadband networks.

Broadly viewed, OSS is part of the telecom software market that also includes service delivery platform, real time charging, customer care and billing systems.  Ericsson has a strong product and services offering and ranks number three in the total telecom software product market after software vendors Amdocs and Oracle.

OSS comprises service fulfillment, service assurance and network management systems.  Mottishaw presented three network equipment providers as undisputable network management system leaders: Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks. These top three have around 61 percent of the market for network management systems. Well behind are Huawei and Cisco, competing for new market shares. Actually, ranking Huawei just ahead of Cisco has attracted much attention.

“Ericsson has done a very good job with their OSS Radio-Core product, a solution that makes it possible to manage multiple networks from a single platform,” Mottishaw says.

“Nevertheless, the summary is that Ericsson currently has a clear advantage over the competitors and that it’s a golden opportunity to win business with the telecom operators who need to invest in new systems.”

The importance of network management will be discussed by Jan Insulander, director business strategy and marketing at Ericsson and Per-Erik Gustafsson, senior product manager at Ericsson, at this week’s TM Forum event in Orlando, USA, November 16-20.

The starting point for their discussion will be the convergence of IT and telecom. They will compare concepts from two industries and go on to identify several advantages of using OSS.

The TM Forum is an industry association focused on transforming business processes, operations and systems for managing and monetizing on-line information, communications and entertainment services. The Forum has over 700 global members from across the converging industries of telecom, cable, media and the internet.