Base Station Subsystem – an element of GSM mobile telephone networks
Basic Service Set – the basic building block of IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs (aka Wi-Fi networks)
Block Started by Symbol – the pseudo-op BSS in the UA-SAP assembler program
Broadcasting Satellite Service – another name for DBS (direct broadcast satellite) satellite television

Signal Processing

Blind signal separation – mathematical and statistical techniques allowing (mostly non-parametric) discrimination between different parts composing mixed data sets

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Thinking outside the network: an increasingly seamless OSS, BSS, asset management and CRM world view is continuing to emerge - Spotlight: The New OSS
From Telecommunications Americas, 2/1/03 by Julie R. Wingerter

A transformation is occurring in the definition and understanding of OSS today. In the aftermath of failed OSS implementations and severe and ongoing budget constraints, service providers are approaching OSS differently than they did just three or four years ago. These differences are reflected in the types of software architecture they are requiring, the types of applications they are purchasing and the types of vendors with which they are doing business. This evolution in thinking is critical in shaping the role of OSS today and in the future.

Among the most significant changes is the migration away from the best-of-breed philosophy whereby five or six disparate, best-of-breed solutions are integrated through a seventh middleware solution. Instead, service providers are purchasing solutions from a limited set of vendors that provide multiple OSS components (e.g., order management, inventory and provisioning) in a single integrated system.

Several factors are driving this transition. First, many service providers have found that integrating multiple solutions is extremely expensive and time consuming. In addition, there are no guarantees that an integrated solution will actually work given that many software integrations are attempted for the first time during an actual customer implementation. Technical challenges aside, the pure complexity of managing multiple vendors, all of whom are vying for a larger piece of the proverbial software and services pie, presents expensive, time-consuming challenges. Finally, in an environment with so many vendors and applications it is difficult to assign blame and resolve issues when there is no clear software ownership of the entire OSS.

Inventory Reborn

This movement toward "single sourcing" is only a part of the story. More interesting is the change occurring in the types of applications that service providers are procuring, specifically inventory management. The notion of inventory in particular has expanded significantly. Originally, inventory referred to actual physical inventory or network inventory and included items such as switches, routers and patch panels. Inventory evolved to include not only the physical inventory but also logical inventory such as phone number and IP address management and circuits. Carriers today realize that this is still only a partial list of what is required to deliver service to an end customer. Most service providers must also track the equipment that extends beyond the CO or NOC--he outside plant. This equipment includes cabling and ductwork that extends through the city and out to the last customer mile. It also includes access rights and access locations (such as telephone poles and manholes) along with a GIS (geograph ic information system) component for location identification (see Figure 1).

Service providers have long tracked this outside plant inventory. However, this was typically managed outside of network provisioners by OSS operations staff also known as outside plant, facilities or, occasionally, network engineering departments. This departmental division has been institutionalized due to a division in the software industry (and thus applications) used to support the outside plant.

Historically, the outside plant organization purchased applications that were not connected with the OSS industry. Rarely were the two sets of information linked at much more than a very high level. With few exceptions, software integration of network inventory and outside plant applications was almost non-existent. As a result, service providers were required to maintain multiple applications and experienced other inefficiencies including 90-day lead times for DSL service, an inability to properly identify and communicate with customers during network outages, and redundant data capture and processing.

However, today's forward-thinking service providers are taking a holistic approach to network inventory and are interested in combining all of the assets required to provision services in a single application. They acknowledge that for seamless service provisioning and satisfied customers it is essential to have a single database of record where all required resources could be tracked and managed. This increases response times for trouble shooting as well as service turn-up.

The notion of inventory is starting to extend in one other direction as well: other IT assets. Items such as laptops, servers and printers are critical pieces of internal networks that must be managed and provisioned just as network assets. Some carriers are asking themselves why not include these in the single database of record. In fact, according to CIO organizations, this concept of a single information repository should extend further and include all information such as depreciation schedules, warranty information and total cost of ownership details. In essence, the industry is endorsing the concept of a single database of record to manage all information related to IT and communications assets.

Other shifts in OSS

With inventory at the core of the OSS, the evolution in the service provider definition of inventory is certainly the most advanced. However, other pieces of the OSS are also evolving. Witness the number of billing vendors that have attempted to enter the order management space as well as the CRM (customer relationship management) space. Certainly the distinctions between OSS and BSS (billing support systems) are rapidly becoming historical divisions, founded in a silo approach that was necessary to cope in a world where software applications could not extend into other areas or be integrated with other functional applications. Today, as companies enable customers to order and provision their own services, the linkages between ordering and billing are largely inseparable.

Network management and performance management are also two areas of OSS that are converging. With usage- and capacity-based services forming an increasingly important part of the market for communications services, carriers must track and manage their performance and, extending the integrated OSS concept further, provide this information to their customers in the customer bill.

Software Development as an Enabler

The transformation of the OSS model from a series of distinct, related applications that must be integrated to a single, seamless application with various functional components is ongoing. Furthermore, it is not the result of some new insight into providing services to end users. Rather it is a direct result of the ability of software technology, and subsequently software providers, to develop and demonstrate a single, truly integrated solution. When OSS applications consisted of millions of lines of C++ and older code, it was not even possible to develop and deploy a scalable solution that could meet all of the functional requirements of a robust OSS--even for simple wireline services.

Today, however, with 100 percent Java applications that are built on a scalable n-tier model it is possible for providers of software and telecom services alike to begin to break down the OSS walls. Distributed computing, object-driven meta-models, user-configurable interfaces and dynamic workflows that can be easily tailored to meet specific business objectives are making this possible. As this technology continues to evolve and developers and service providers capitalize on it, an increasingly seamless OSS, BSS, asset management and CRM world view will undoubtedly continue to emerge.

The benefits stemming from a more efficient OSS are, as would be expected, those of a more efficient operation: streamlined information management and transfer, faster time to market with new services, reduced overhead by eliminating redundant information tracking and redundant system maintenance, and improved customer acquisition and retention. Additionally, the ability to automate many routine processes is also an important benefit of a truly integrated OSS. In the months ahead, look for service providers to increasingly request these integrated OSS applications.