Please contact one of the co-leaders or Antonio Plutino if you desire additional information on this project.

The TM Forum has given much attention to the evolution of next generation networks and the business and operational support systems needed to manage them. As a result, the NGOSS framework was developed to provide a toolkit of industry-agreed specifications and guidelines that cover key business and technical areas. NGOSS is reinforced by a set of unified open interfaces used between Operations Systems (OSs) for the purpose of network and service management. Many of these interfaces have been developed by individual groups such as OSS/J, mTOP, and SLA management teams. 

Nevertheless there are potential gaps for service problem management, especially for newer, more advanced information and content services. To date, most service assurance activities have focused on a set of network-facing processes aimed at determining and resolving network and service issues and “events”. With the increased range of services now being offered and the increasingly competitive market-driven environment, new demands are being placed on the service assurance functions to deliver even higher levels of service to customers. 

The TM Forum recognizes the service assurance platforms need to evolve at the same rate of speed as the networks used to deliver services. The NGOSS Service Assurance team has been created to develop interfaces at the service management level.  The two main goals for the team are to:

• provide a detailed service problem management interface for transport services, information services and content services
• define a methodology (in practice) and example of how to define NGOSS interfaces that satisfy the needs of OSS/J and mTOP while following the SID model.

Initial Project Member Companies: Amdocs, AT&T, Ceon, Chunghwa Telecom, Elanti Systems, HP, IBM, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Telecom Italia, Telcordia, TTI Telecom

NGOSS Service Assurance work continues in the TMForum Interface Program:

The TM Forum Interface Program was launched in April 2008 as the entity responsible for all normative interface work within the TM Forum.

Under the TM Forum Interface Program, all interface development efforts will be unified. That includes OSS/J (the multi-technology APIs that deliver on NGOSS design guidelines); mTOP (network and service management from transport); IPDR (the interfaces used for usage data management and accounting); and CO-OP(implementation of a common architecture for mobile network management.) Each will now leverage each other’s development resources to create a common roadmap and architectural framework.

The work of the NGOSS Service Assurance team continues under the umbrella of the Interface Program Resource and Service Assurance team. The exploder for this team can be joined by first going to the TIP All project on the Collaboration Workspace at www.tmforum.org/cws and then to the MyPreference tab (select the exploder named tip-assurance@lists.tmforum.org). The leader for this team is Marc Flauw (HP, marc.flauw@hp.com).

For specific team information, it is suggested that you go directly to the team information on the Collaboration Workspace (as described below) or directly contact the team leader.

Visit the TM Forum Interface Program site to read more.