NSN, Huawei make first move on OSS interface interoperability

NSN and Huawei have become the first vendors to cross licence their OSS interfaces as part of a multi vendor interoperability initiative announced last year.

The bilateral agreement is the first to emerge from the OSS interoperability initiative (OSSii) set up between NSN, Huawei and Ericsson in May 2013. The initiative is designed to facilitate multi-vendor interoperability ‘up front’ between the OSS products of all three vendors, simplifying operations, reducing the overall integration costs as well as speeding up the time it takes to roll out new services.

“The OSSii agreement means that operators can choose the best solutions without the need to invest time and resources in negotiations between the OSS vendors to resolve integration issues. NSN and Huawei will make pre-tested integrations available, and deliver the OSS software verified for deployment in multi-vendor environments,” the vendors said.

Under the OSSii agreement, NSN and Huawei will cross-license their proprietary Element Management System (EMS) interfaces. The agreement allows NSN and Huawei to use the proprietary EMS interfaces for systems integration and provides the rights to develop, manufacture and sell the integrations as part of their OSS system.

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“If the new spirit of friendly and open-mindedness OSSii is trying to engender does gain traction and become the industry norm, doubts over the need for standards bodies of one complexion or another will inevitably grow,” he said. “For this to happen however, the OSSii is going to need a lot more signatories than the current three. Crucial too will be the range of signatories to the MoU, both in terms of size and portfolio.”At the time the initiative was set up, Peter Dykes, principal analyst at Informa and B/OSS specialist, said that OSS in particular has never been a sector that was heavy on standards but with CSP’s increasingly insisting on a multi-vendor approach to next-generation IT systems, reduced integration costs and fast roll-out times, true interoperability is being forced on the sector.

Indeed the initiative still only counts the three founding members as its entire roster and with nine months before the first movement was made it appears the rest of the industry is taking a wait and see approach.