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43-520: Together with business support systems (BSS), operations support systems support various end-to-end telecommunication services. BSS and OSS have their own data and service responsibilities. The two systems together are often abbreviated OSS/BSS, BSS/OSS or simply B/OSS. The acronym OSS is also used in a singular form to refer to all the Operations Support Systems viewed as a whole system . Different subdivisions of OSS have been proposed by

86-611: A 4-layer model of TMN applicable within an OSS: A fifth level is mentioned at times being the elements themselves, though the standards speak of only four levels. This was a basis for later work. Network management was further defined by the ISO using the FCAPS model—Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance and Security. This basis was adopted by the ITU-T TMN standards as the Functional model for

129-508: A beginning of assurance is normally associated with OSS, although BSS is often the business driver for fulfillment management and order provisioning. IETF Early research and development: Merging the networks and creating the Internet: Commercialization, privatization, broader access leads to the modern Internet: Examples of Internet services: The Internet Engineering Task Force ( IETF )

172-510: A charter that describes its focus; and what it is expected to produce, and when. It is open to all who want to participate and holds discussions on an open mailing list . Working groups hold open sessions at IETF meetings, where the onsite registration fee in 2024 was between US$ 875 (early registration) and $ 1200 per person for the week. Significant discounts are available for students and remote participants. As working groups do not make decisions at IETF meetings, with all decisions taken later on

215-651: A cooperative agreement, No. NCR-8820945, wherein CNRI agreed to create and provide a "secretariat" for the "overall coordination, management and support of the work of the IAB, its various task forces and, particularly, the IETF". In 1992, CNRI supported the formation and early funding of the Internet Society, which took on the IETF as a fiscally sponsored project, along with the IAB, the IRTF, and

258-472: A network-up approach to these systems (hence OSS/BSS) and others take a business-down approach (hence BSS/OSS). The initialism BSS is also used in a singular form to refer to all the business support systems, viewed as a whole system . BSS deals with the taking of orders, payment issues, revenues, etc. It supports four processes: product management, order management, revenue management and customer management. Product management supports product development,

301-610: A set of Web Services providing Multi-Technology Operations System Interfaces MTOSI . Most recently, the OSS through Java initiative (OSS/J) joined the TMF to provide NGOSS-based BSS/OSS APIs . Open Digital Architecture (ODA) offers an industry-agreed blueprint, language and set of key design principles to follow. It will provide pragmatic pathways for the journey from maintaining monolithic, legacy software solutions, towards managing nimble, cloud based capabilities that can be orchestrated using AI . It

344-528: Is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements and all its participants are volunteers. Their work is usually funded by employers or other sponsors. The IETF was initially supported by the federal government of the United States but since 1993 has operated under

387-679: Is a reference architecture that maps TM Forum’s Open APIs against technical and business platform functions. Business support system Business support systems ( BSS ) are the components that a telecommunications service provider (or telco ) uses to run its business operations towards customers. Together with operations support systems (OSS), they are used to support various end-to-end telecommunication services (e.g., telephone services). BSS and OSS have their own data and service responsibilities. The two systems together are abbreviated in various ways, such as OSS/BSS, BSS/OSS, B/OSS, BSSOSS, OSSBSS or BOSS. Some commentators and analysts take

430-421: Is also standardizing protocols for autonomic networking that enables networks to be self managing. It is a network of physical objects or things that are embedded with electronics, sensors, software and also enables objects to exchange data with operator, manufacturer and other connected devices. Several IETF working groups are developing protocols that are directly relevant to IoT . Its development provides

473-678: Is available from these statistics. The IETF chairperson is selected by the NomCom process for a two-year renewable term. Before 1993, the IETF Chair was selected by the IAB. A list of the past and current chairs of the IETF: The IETF works on a broad range of networking technologies which provide foundation for the Internet's growth and evolution. It aims to improve the efficiency in management of networks as they grow in size and complexity. The IETF

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516-598: Is on implementing code that will improve standards in terms of quality and interoperability. The details of IETF operations have changed considerably as the organization has grown, but the basic mechanism remains publication of proposed specifications, development based on the proposals, review and independent testing by participants, and republication as a revised proposal, a draft proposal, or eventually as an Internet Standard. IETF standards are developed in an open, all-inclusive process in which any interested individual can participate. All IETF documents are freely available over

559-448: Is on the IETF meetings page. The IETF strives to hold its meetings near where most of the IETF volunteers are located. IETF meetings are held three times a year, with one meeting each in Asia, Europe and North America. An occasional exploratory meeting is held outside of those regions in place of one of the other regions. The IETF also organizes hackathons during the IETF meetings. The focus

602-555: Is overseen by an area director (AD), with most areas having two ADs. The ADs are responsible for appointing working group chairs. The area directors, together with the IETF Chair, form the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), which is responsible for the overall operation of the IETF. The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) oversees the IETF's external relationships. The IAB provides long-range technical direction for Internet development. The IAB also manages

645-557: Is responsible for day-to-day management of the IETF. It receives appeals of the decisions of the working groups, and the IESG makes the decision to progress documents in the standards track . The chair of the IESG is the area director of the general area, who also serves as the overall IETF chair. Members of the IESG include the two directors, sometimes three, of each of the following areas: Liaison and ex officio members include: The Gateway Algorithms and Data Structures (GADS) Task Force

688-496: The Bell System Technical Journal , Bell Labs Record , and Telcordia Technologies (now part of Ericsson ) SR-2275. Many OSS systems were initially not linked to each other and often required manual intervention. For example, consider the case where a customer wants to order a new telephone service. The ordering system would take the customer's details and details of their order, but would not be able to configure

731-618: The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF), with which the IETF has a number of cross-group relations. A nominating committee (NomCom) of ten randomly chosen volunteers who participate regularly at meetings, a non-voting chair and 4-5 liaisons, is vested with the power to appoint, reappoint, and remove members of the IESG, IAB, IETF Trust and the IETF LLC. To date, no one has been removed by a NomCom, although several people have resigned their positions, requiring replacements. In 1993

774-520: The TM Forum , industrial research labs, or OSS vendors. In general, an OSS covers at least the following five functions: Before about 1970, many OSS activities were performed by manual administrative processes. However, it became obvious that much of this activity could be replaced by computers . In the next 5 years or so, the telephone companies created a number of computer systems (or software applications ) which automated much of this activity. This

817-416: The telephone exchange directly—this would be done by a switch management system. Details of the new service would need to be transferred from the order handling system to the switch management system—and this would normally be done by a technician re-keying the details from one screen into another—a process often referred to as "swivel chair integration". This was clearly another source of inefficiency, so

860-648: The EML-NML interface. The TM Forum , formerly the TeleManagement Forum, is an international membership organization of communications service providers and suppliers to the communications industry. While OSS is generally dominated by proprietary and custom technologies, TM Forum promotes standards and frameworks in OSS and BSS. By 2005, developments in OSS architecture were the results of the TM Forum's New Generation Operations Systems and Software (NGOSS) program, which

903-570: The IETF changed from an activity supported by the US federal government to an independent, international activity associated with the Internet Society , a US-based 501(c)(3) organization . In 2018 the Internet Society created a subsidiary, the IETF Administration LLC, to be the corporate, legal and financial home for the IETF. IETF activities are funded by meeting fees, meeting sponsors and by

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946-613: The ISOC's board of directors. In 2018, ISOC established The IETF Administration LLC, a separate LLC to handle the administration of the IETF. In 2019, the LLC issued a call for proposals to provide secretariat services to the IETF. The first IETF meeting was attended by 21 US federal government-funded researchers on 16 January 1986. It was a continuation of the work of the earlier GADS Task Force. Representatives from non-governmental entities (such as gateway vendors ) were invited to attend starting with

989-615: The Internet Society via its organizational membership and the proceeds of the Public Interest Registry . In December 2005, the IETF Trust was established to manage the copyrighted materials produced by the IETF. The Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) is a body composed of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) chair and area directors. It provides the final technical review of Internet standards and

1032-473: The Internet Standards process, the Internet Standards or their technical content". In 1998, CNRI established Foretec Seminars, Inc. (Foretec), a for-profit subsidiary to take over providing secretariat services to the IETF. Foretec provided these services until at least 2004. By 2013, Foretec was dissolved. In 2003, IETF's RFC  3677 described IETFs role in appointing three board members to

1075-588: The Internet and can be reproduced at will. Multiple, working, useful, interoperable implementations are the chief requirement before an IETF proposed specification can become a standard. Most specifications are focused on single protocols rather than tightly interlocked systems. This has allowed the protocols to be used in many different systems, and its standards are routinely re-used by bodies which create full-fledged architectures (e.g. 3GPP IMS ). Because it relies on volunteers and uses "rough consensus and running code" as its touchstone, results can be slow whenever

1118-418: The auspices of the Internet Society , a non-profit organization with local chapters around the world. There is no membership in the IETF. Anyone can participate by signing up to a working group mailing list, or registering for an IETF meeting. The IETF operates in a bottom-up task creation mode, largely driven by working groups. Each working group normally has appointed two co-chairs (occasionally three);

1161-446: The customers in a better and more informed manner. Revenue management focuses on billing , charging and settlement. It includes billing for consumer, enterprise and wholesale services, including interconnect and roaming. This includes billing mediation systems, bill generation and bill presentment. Revenue management may also include fraud management and revenue assurance. Order management encompasses four areas: Order management as

1204-470: The event a deficit occurs, CNRI has agreed to contribute up to USD$ 102,000 to offset it." In 1993, Cerf continued to support the formation of ISOC while working for CNRI, and the role of ISOC in "the official procedures for creating and documenting Internet Standards" was codified in the IETF's RFC   1602 . In 1995, IETF's RFC  2031 describes ISOC's role in the IETF as being purely administrative, and ISOC as having "no influence whatsoever on

1247-608: The focus for the next few years was on creating automated interfaces between the OSS applications—OSS integration. Cheap and simple OSS integration remains a major goal of most telecom companies. A lot of the work on OSS has been centered on defining its architecture. Put simply, there are four key elements of OSS: During the 1990s, new OSS architecture definitions were done by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) in its Telecommunications Management Network (TMN) model. This established

1290-454: The fourth IETF meeting in October 1986. Since that time all IETF meetings have been open to the public. Initially, the IETF met quarterly, but from 1991, it has been meeting three times a year. The initial meetings were very small, with fewer than 35 people in attendance at each of the first five meetings. The maximum attendance during the first 13 meetings was only 120 attendees. This occurred at

1333-423: The number of volunteers is either too small to make progress, or so large as to make consensus difficult, or when volunteers lack the necessary expertise. For protocols like SMTP , which is used to transport e-mail for a user community in the many hundreds of millions, there is also considerable resistance to any change that is not fully backward compatible , except for IPv6 . Work within the IETF on ways to improve

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1376-419: The organization of annual INET meetings. Gross continued to serve as IETF chair throughout this transition. Cerf, Kahn, and Lyman Chapin announced the formation of ISOC as "a professional society to facilitate, support, and promote the evolution and growth of the Internet as a global research communications infrastructure". At the first board meeting of the Internet Society, Cerf, representing CNRI, offered, "In

1419-568: The other hand IETF SNMP protocol (Simple Network Management Protocol) has become the de facto standard for internet and telco management, at the EML-NML communication level. From 2000 and beyond, with the growth of the new broadband and VoIP services, the management of home networks is also entering the scope of OSS and network management. DSL Forum TR-069 specification has defined the CPE WAN Management Protocol (CWMP), suitable for managing home networks devices and terminals at

1462-678: The sales and management of products, offers and bundles to businesses and mass-market customers. Product management regularly includes offering cross-product discounts, appropriate pricing and managing how products relate to one another. Service providers require a single view of the customer and regularly need to support complex hierarchies across customer-facing applications ( customer relationship management ). Customer management also covers requirements for partner management and 24x7 web-based customer self-service. Customer management can also be thought of as full-fledged customer relationship management systems implemented to help customer care agents handle

1505-522: The speed of the standards-making process is ongoing but, because the number of volunteers with opinions on it is very great, consensus on improvements has been slow to develop. The IETF cooperates with the W3C , ISO / IEC , ITU , and other standards bodies. Statistics are available that show who the top contributors by RFC publication are. While the IETF only allows for participation by individuals, and not by corporations or governments, sponsorship information

1548-707: The technology base of the TMN standards M.3000 – M.3599 series. Although the FCAPS model was originally conceived and is applicable for an IT enterprise network, it was adopted for use in the public networks run by telecommunication service providers adhering to ITU-T TMN standards. A big issue of network and service management is the ability to manage and control the network elements of the access and core networks. Historically, many efforts have been spent in standardization fora (ITU-T, 3GPP) in order to define standard protocol for network management, but with no success and practical results. On

1591-533: The twelfth meeting, held during January 1989. These meetings have grown in both participation and scope a great deal since the early 1990s; it had a maximum attendance of 2810 at the December 2000 IETF held in San Diego, California . Attendance declined with industry restructuring during the early 2000s, and is currently around 1200. The locations for IETF meetings vary greatly. A list of past and future meeting locations

1634-506: The use of process management and/or policy management to orchestrate the functionality provided by the services offered by the components. The early focus of the TM Forum's NGOSS work was on building reference models to support a business stakeholder view on process, information and application interaction. Running in parallel were activities that supported an implementation stakeholder view on interface specifications to provide access to OSS capability (primarily MTNM). The MTNM work evolved into

1677-490: The working group mailing list , meeting attendance is not required for contributors. Rough consensus is the primary basis for decision making. There are no formal voting procedures. Each working group is intended to complete work on its topic and then disband. In some cases, the working group will instead have its charter updated to take on new tasks as appropriate. The working groups are grouped into areas by subject matter ( see § Steering group , below ). Each area

1720-558: Was Mike Corrigan, who was then the technical program manager for the Defense Data Network (DDN). Also in 1986, after leaving DARPA, Robert E. Kahn founded the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), which began providing administrative support to the IETF. In 1987, Corrigan was succeeded as IETF chair by Phill Gross. Effective March 1, 1989, but providing support dating back to late 1988, CNRI and NSF entered into

1763-442: Was established in 2000. This established a set of principles that OSS integration should adopt, along with a set of models that provide standardized approaches. NGOSS was renamed Frameworx. The TM Forum describes Frameworx as an architecture that is: The components interact through a common communications vehicle (using an information exchange infrastructure; e.g., EAI , Web Services , EJB ). The behavior can be controlled through

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1806-663: Was one of the driving factors for the development of the Unix operating system and the C programming language . The Bell System purchased their own product line of PDP-11 computers from Digital Equipment Corporation for a variety of OSS applications. OSS systems used in the Bell System include AMATPS , CSOBS, EADAS , Remote Memory Administration System (RMAS), Switching Control Center System (SCCS), Service Evaluation System (SES), Trunks Integrated Record Keeping System (TIRKS), and many more. OSS systems from this era are described in

1849-618: Was the precursor to the IETF. Its chairman was David L. Mills of the University of Delaware . In January 1986, the Internet Activities Board (IAB; now called the Internet Architecture Board) decided to divide GADS into two entities: an Internet Architecture (INARC) Task Force chaired by Mills to pursue research goals, and the IETF to handle nearer-term engineering and technology transfer issues. The first IETF chair

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