An ecosystem of OSS through JavaT Initiative (OSS/J) Referenced Components has grown rapidly, it was announced today. The speed at which OSS/J Referenced Components are proliferating attests to the widespread adoption of OSS/J solutions by leading suppliers of telecommunications software solutions. Referenced Components are software components or products that use or implement parts or entire OSS/J APIs. They make it faster and easier to implement end-to-end solutions supporting the delivery of new products. Many OSS/J Referenced Components are expected to evolve to OSS/J Certified Products.

An advanced implementation of the TeleManagement Forum (TMF) New Generation OSS (NGOSS) architectural standard, OSS/J APIs map closely to the TMF’s Enhanced Telecommunications Operations Map (eTOM). The APIs are based on the Core Business Entity (CBE) model, which is aligned with the TMF’s Shared Information Definition (SID), a widely recognized telco data sharing model. OSS/J’s close alignment with TMF - the dominant standards body in the telecommunications OSS area - and OSS/J’s pragmatic approach to implementation - add up to a powerful, implementable OSS standard.

The OSS/J Initiative extends from its core membership to relationships throughout the entire telecommunications and Java development communities worldwide. This extended community provides a growing family of Referenced Components and Certified Products, plus Affiliated Services and Open Source activities. The OSS/J ecosystem is driving the creation of componentized-based end-to-end OSS/BSS solutions that support the lean operator.

OSS/J Referenced Components include:

* Sun’s OSS/J Trouble Ticket Hub: an extensible middleware infrastructure for development and deployment of solutions solving the issue of interconnecting multiple TT systems. Based on JavaEE middleware products, it provides an integration backbone using the OSS/J TT API. It includes customizable capabilities like unified presentation and identity, and supports business processes orchestration based on SOA JBI standard.

* Ceon’s Intelligent Order Manager 5.3 : Ceon Intelligent Order Manager captures or accepts bundled or simple orders for products or services; resolves dependencies on resources and external systems; integrates seamlessly with customer, inventory management and other OSS; applies manual and automated fallout and escalation processes; and manages resource activation requests across network elements, EMS and third party providers.

* Sigma Systems’ Sigma Service Management Platform 3.0: provides the sophisticated service management functionality required to automate order management, service provisioning and activation, service authorization, resource management, and self-care for complex services on a multi-vendor service delivery network.

* HP’s HP ISM OSS/J Adapter for OpenView TeMIP: it supports the Fault Monitoring subset of JSR90 as a server and JSR91 as a client, allowing HP OpenView TeMIP to seamlessly integrate into an OSS/J environment.

* ARS over OSS/J: combines the power of BMCR RemedyR Action Request SystemR (ARS) based Trouble Ticketing and Work Order solutions with the integrative force of OSS/J in a heterogeneous business environment. The generic approach of ARS over OSS/J allows each ARS-based TT solution to be connected to other ARS based TT solutions using the OSS/J TT API. It is also possible to communicate with each non-ARS-application, which provides an OSS/J TT API adaptor.

“The rapid growth and widespread use of OSS/J Referenced Components within a wide range of ISVs is more proof of the widespread adoption of OSS/J technologies,” says Antonio Plutino, Sun Microsystems, who leads the Initiative’s Product Team. OSS From the beginning, the goals of OSS/J have been to freely share technologies and business models in ways that advanced next generation telco solutions. We believe this is the only away to reduce integration costs and really address deployment challenges.”