Why Information Models are Needed for Agile Operations R14.5.1 (IG1115)

Virtualization is a trend that is sweeping across the IT and Communications industries. It is bringing radical change to technical solutions, development and operations practices for Carriers, Cloud Providers, and Data Centers alike.

Recent publications from ETSI on Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) have provided early insights as to how Network Functions can be virtualized by adaptions of virtualization of Compute, Storage, and Network technologies.

In the initial ETSI work, a simplifying decision was taken to assume that changes to existing legacy OSSs and BSSs were out of scope; hence, NFV-based products and solutions would be supported by additional functions added to OSSs and/BSSs.

However, TM Forum studies in the ZOOM Project have shown that the ultimate impact of NFV-based technologies on OSSs and BSSs will be significant, and requires a transformation of both OSS and BSS solutions as well as the operational practices of Service Providers.

This document overviews the requirements for Information and data models to support agility and automation in a multi-vendor, multi-technology solution. It also explains why the TM Forum Information Model work, and supporting APIs, are a robust and proven approach to achieving agility for legacy and new environments, such as NFV-based solutions.

The intended audience of this document is people active in developing NFV-based solutions based on ETSI NFV concepts that are interested in Information and data modeling.