1、CSPs take key steps to modernize network inventoryREPORTAuthor:Mark MortensenEditor:Dawn BushausISBN:Sponsored by:June 2023|www.tmforum.orgAuthor:Dr.Mark H.Mortensen,Contributing AnalystEditor:Dawn Bushaus,Contributing Editorsponsored by:contents03 the big picture06 section 1:why do CSPs need to mod

2、ernize network inventory and what are the biggest challenges?10 section 2:CSPs vision for network inventory modernization14 section 3:aiming for a single system 17 section 4:instant synchronization of inventory 21 section 5:federation of data for a single source of truth 27 section 6:the move to clo

3、ud-native systems 30 section 7:make it happen strategies for modernizing network inventory 32 additional feature by blueplanet:dynamic inventory lays the foundation for OSS modernization36 additional resourcesWe hope you enjoy the report and,most importantly,find ways to use the ideas,concepts and r

4、ecommendations detailed within.You can send your feedback to the editorial team at TM Forum via editortmforum.orgbigpicturethe3inform.tmforum.orgThis report looks at the drivers of and challenges to network inventory modernization within the broader context of digital transformation and network auto

5、mation.Our conclusions are based on interviews with six CSPs from different geographies:BT Ireland,Proximus,Telefnica Brazil,Telia,Vodafone Group and a national operator in the Middle East that requested anonymity.The companies vary in size and are at different levels of sophistication when it comes

6、 to their strategies for modernizing inventory systems.Our discussions with the operators highlight multiple potential paths and steps operators can take on the journey to modernizing inventory systems.Differences in philosophy(having as few systems as possible versus making use of existing systems,

7、for example),the age and number of legacy inventory systems,the size of the CSP and their perceived near-future needs all affect the route chosen.However,all the CSPs we spoke to agree on one point:for the present and the foreseeable future,outside plant including physical cabling and supporting inf

8、rastructure inventory systems will remain separate,meaning they will continue to be owned by different Communications service providers(CSPs)want to accelerate modernization of their network inventory systems,to fully leverage technologies such as 5G,software-defined networks and broadband access se

9、rvices.Today,most large operators use dozens of systems to store information about the physical,virtual and cloud-based resources needed for network planning and to provision,manage and assure services delivered to customers.But because the systems operate in silos,they are not capable,for example,o

10、f supporting dynamic 5G services.4inform.tmforum.orgBecause systems operate in silos they are not capable of supporting dynamic 5G services.teams within the organization and will evolve separately.CSPs goals of inventory modernization are similar:to handle the inventory needs of new 5G networks and

11、prepare for new services like 5G network slicing all while solving the problems of data inconsistencies that have plagued network operations for many years.Their challenges are also similar,with all the companies reporting a large number of existing inventory repositories,many of them more than 20 y

12、ears old and deeply embedded in the operational support system(OSS)architecture.These systems interface with lots of other systems and are involved in multiple network planning,installation and maintenance processes,which makes them hard to replace.Vision for the futureInterviews with the six CSPs a

13、nd our additional research indicate that the ideal network inventory architecture of the future will be a perfect digital twin of the network.That would include all the information about network functions(physical and virtual)and the health and status of the underlying technology comprised of tradit

14、ional 5inform.tmforum.orgThe vision of a full digital twin of the network is guiding the practical steps operators are taking work elements,appliances,supporting software platforms,and the computing and storage infrastructure of virtualized network elements.This will not be an easy vision to achieve

15、.In this report,we describe four paths(with multiple steps)that CSPs can take to get there.Their journeys will vary based on their business models,number and age of legacy systems,and how aggressively the CSP is pursuing digital transformation.Each approach requires considerable planning,resources a

16、nd time,which means that none of the CSPs we interviewed is yet close to implementing a full digital twin of the network.But the vision is guiding the practical steps they are taking today.Read this report to understand:The importance of,and triggers for,a modern inventory system architecture and th

17、e challenges to getting there CSPs visions for network inventory modernization The number of inventory systems operators have now versus how many they plan to have in the future How CSPs coordinate information from multiple inventory systems The importance of cloud-native software architecture and s

18、oftware-as-a-service.why do CSPs need to modernize network inventory and what are the biggest challenges?section 16inform.tmforum.orgNetwork inventory systems were among the earliest operational support systems.Telcos developed them in the 1960s and 1970s because of the finance departments need to u

19、nderstand deployment of network resources for regulatory reasons.As service assurance systems that monitor faults and performance were introduced,and later service management and provisioning systems,a good view of network resources,including their location and connectivity was required,along with a

20、 view of all the services using the resources.Much of the information was locked up in the network elements themselves in element management systems(EMS)and network management systems(NMS),but the service assurance and service provisioning systems needed that high-quality data to do their jobs.As a

21、result,assurance and provisioning systems often used subsystems to store their own,local network inventory information.At the beginning of the twenty-first century the concept of a universal inventory system became popular.The idea was to create a central repository,or“database of record”,for the ne

22、twork and provisioning and assurance systems.As the concept matured,CSPs and their suppliers developed a global vision of a centralized system(or multiple federated systems)acting as a“single source of truth”for network configuration and the state of the network and the services using it.This would

23、allow planning,installation and operations processes to be 7inform.tmforum.orgDrivers for network inventory modernization 5G deploymentUltra-reliable,low-latency 5G servicesSD-WAN&SASENaaS/CaaSBroadband access transformation5G network slicingSD-LANTM Forum,20238inform.tmforum.orgperformed efficientl

24、y,with people catching any errors in the data as they did their work.But with the introduction of automation,errors in the inventory data introduced errors in the automated processes.5G is the driverA single source of truth for network inventory is becoming more critical as CSPs deploy 5G and eventu

25、ally look to implement network-and connectivity-as-a-service(NaaS and CaaS)which use platforms and APIs to allow developers and customers to create their own services and 5G network slicing.Based on our interviews with the six CSPs,the graphic on the previous page shows the drivers for network inven

26、tory modernization by level of importance.Overwhelmingly,the main driver is the implementation of 5G technology in the radio access network and core networks as these new,often virtualized,network elements need to be inventoried and managed.Other key drivers include the ability to deliver software-d

27、efined wide area networks(SD-WANs)and secure access service edge(SASE)services,along with transformation of broadband access as fiber is deployed to customers premises.Future services like NaaS,network slicing,ultra-reliable low-latency services and SD-LAN are not major drivers in the near term.But

28、operators say they intend to tackle the issue of how to handle slicing in the near future as it requires special handling in network inventory systems.Overcoming challengesCSPs have grappled with fragmented inventory infrastructure for many years,but they have been unable to solve the problem becaus

29、e of complexity and the sheer number of systems involved.The graphic above shows some of the complexities that make network inventory modernization challenging.Complexity obstructs inventory modernization Multiple processes are affected Database size/cleanlinessAgeing network elements with no/poor a

30、uto-discovery and telemetryHigh number of interfaces with OSSInconsistent data modelsTM Forum,2023The main driver of modernization is the implementation of 5G technology in the radio access and core networks.9inform.tmforum.orgCareful co-ordination is necessary when making changes to systems to ensu

31、re that operations are not disrupted.Two main characteristics of inventory systems that make them necessarily very long-lived are the size of the databases and the high number of interfaces between the inventory systems and other support systems.Put simply,nearly every OSS system and all processes r

32、elated to OSS engineering,installation and operations need network inventory data.Changes to inventory systems require changes in all the other systems and processes.Careful co-ordination is necessary when making changes to systems to ensure that operations are not disrupted.In addition,network plan

33、ning,assurance and provisioning processes often use their own data models and conventions,requiring transformation(or standardization)of the models.Older network elements or element/network management systems(EMS/NMS)with inadequate discovery and telemetry capabilities are also a challenge.These sys

34、tems are often incapable of reporting changes to their network configuration or services data and do not support auto-discovery automatic identification of inventory.Finally,mergers and acquisitions can exacerbate all these issues.When two CSPs come together,each brings its own legacy inventory syst

35、ems,but often the systems dont even share a common information model.This makes combining them difficult.The next section looks at CSPs collective vision for network inventory modernization as well as the different paths they are taking to get there.CSPs vision for network inventory modernizationsec

36、tion 210inform.tmforum.orgThe telecoms industry is developing a shared vision for network inventory systems that uses digital twin technology to create representations of networks so that CSPs can easily experiment with network planning and service creation.This representation will allow network eng

37、ineers and AI systems to determine how best to evolve the network,track and fix problems,and configure the network to provide guaranteed quality of service,all while optimizing network usage and energy consumption.In the next sections we outline four paths CSPs can take to get to the digital twin vi

38、sion.This section briefly describes each path,while the sections that follow go into more detail and provide case studies of CSPs approaches to inventory modernization.The graphic on the next page shows the vision,with CSPs current challenges depicted at the bottom.Aiming for a single inventory syst

39、emNetwork inventory information is kept in many places:in the network functions themselves,in EMS/NMS typically provided by vendors of the network functions,and in network inventory systems that handle multiple network technologies and geographic domains.In some cases,a second-tier network inventory

40、 system may provide a single place to access network inventory information,either serving as a repository itself or by providing unified access to multiple systems that serve as master data managers for the information assigned to them.The vision is for a single 11inform.tmforum.orgsystem to contain

41、 all network inventory information,which would eventually evolve into a digital twin of the network.Having a single system spanning multiple domains reduces data errors and technical debt and simplifies evolution going forward.The CSPs we interviewed all have multiple inventory systems and want to d

42、ecrease the number.However,none of them are taking the path of a single inventory system because of the number of legacy systems they have.Choosing this path is more likely for greenfield operators.Instant synchronization of inventoryNetwork inventory data that matches the current state of the netwo

43、rk is necessary for all key operational processes including planning,designing,resource provisioning,service provisioning,and network and service assurance.The goal is for instantaneous(millisecond)synchronization,but technology is not None of the CSPs are taking the path of a single inventory syste

44、m because of the number of legacy systems they have.12inform.tmforum.orgavailable yet to support this.So,operators use a variety of methods to synchronize the network with inventory systems and to synchronize overlapping information among the inventory systems.In order of decreasing latency,these in

45、clude:Periodic audits of the network elements and cleansing of the database using mechanized and manual methods to synchronize weekly or within several days.Using the same network inventory system for planning network expansions so that the system knows about all new network elements as they are put

46、 into service.This operates at the daily level.Periodic use of extract/transform/load(ETL)tools between elements and systems or among systems(especially EMS/NMS)can provide daily or weekly synchronization.Using publish and subscribe(Pub/Sub)interfaces among multiple systems that report to the subscr

47、ibing system when changes to a data element occur can track changes within just a few hours.Streaming telemetry of network changes,often using NETCONF and YANG interfaces that usually go to a data lake,with software daemons then recognizing the changes and propagating them to systems that need to kn

48、ow.These can theoretically work in minutes or hours.Increasingly,CSPs are specifying and vendors are providing TM Forum Open API specifications to standardize the intersystem synchronization interfaces.The Service Inventory Management API(TMF638)and the Resource Inventory API(TMF639)are provided mos

49、t often.Paths to network inventory modernizationTM Forum,2023Digital twin of the networkSingle inventory systemInstant synchronization of inventoryFederation of multiple systemsMove to cloud-native Multiple unconnected systemsSlow synchronizationSwivel-chair operationsPremises-based13inform.tmforum.

50、orgAll these methods of synchronizing data are in play among the CSPs we interviewed,depending upon the capabilities of their network elements and supporting EMS/NMS.Federation of dataWith a single network inventory system perfectly synchronized with the network,the inventory system would become a s

51、ingle source of truth for the network configuration.But most CSPs have multiple legacy inventory systems,which means that manual or automated operations need to get the data from wherever they can.Often it comes from a combination of modern domain controllers,older EMS/NMS,home-grown databases,the n

52、etwork elements themselves or even paper records,and humans use“swivel-chair management”manual processes to update systems.To do away with these manual processes and get to a single source of truth for inventory,operators either need to federate data among systems or use an overlay system that can d

53、ynamically extract the information from the correct source.Some CSPs have implemented overlay systems that either store federated data or can get it dynamically.The latter may even provide on-the-fly data translations from one data model to another.Moving to cloud-native systemsTraditional inventory

54、 systems have been sold as perpetual or term licenses with maintenance agreements and implemented on computers on a CSPs premises.They are based on object-oriented programming and relational databases.Modern cloud-native technology and new development and deployment methods provide higher-quality so

55、ftware,radically faster updates for bug fixes,and a more rapid evolution of features and functions in inventory systems.Cloud-native systems feature:Graph database technology,rather than relational databases graph databases provide better performance when modeling complex environments like networks,

56、where many dynamic relationships exist between data.Microservices-based software system built with DevSecOps processes and maintained using continuous integration,delivery(CI/CD)and testing.This approach means that the system uses greater computing and storage than traditional systems but is easier

57、to code,maintain and evolve,which leads to higher quality and faster feature evolution.Multi-cloud and SaaS depending on the CSPs policies and cost structures,systems can be delivered on whatever cloud or combination of compute and storage clouds the CSP wants,or as software-as-a-service(SaaS).The n

58、ext section looks at why its difficult to aim for a single system and why the CSPs we interviewed are choosing to keep some network inventory systems separate.Cloud-native technology provides a more rapid evolution of features and functions in inventory systems.aiming for a single systemsection 314i

59、nform.tmforum.orgAlthough CSPs ideally would have a single inventory system that contains a full picture of the network and the services it supports,the reality is more complicated.All the operators we interviewed said they would like to have a single system but instead are making use of their legac

60、y network inventory systems and keeping outside plant inventory separate from the rest of the network inventory.The graphic on the next page shows the ways these CSPs have diverted from their goal of having a single network inventory system.They have done this because of costs,current organizational

61、 boundaries and the operational complexities of replacing existing inventory systems.An explanation of each divergent path follows.NFVi in separate systemsFour of the six CSPs interviewed BT Ireland,Proximus,Telefnica Brazil and the Middle East operator treat the computing and storage infrastructure

62、 that underpins modern virtualized or containerized network functions as the job of IT,which means it is outside of the purview of a network inventory system.Telia and Vodafone Group intend to federate network functions virtualization infrastructure(NFVi)data via an interface to their cloud provider

63、.Not having NFVi information available to the network engineers(or AI systems)hampers network troubleshooting when problems stem from the underlying compute and storage technology in data centers or data center interconnections.This issue can be exacerbated by divisions between network and IT teams,

64、since the IT team is responsible for managing the cloud technology.15inform.tmforum.orgSeparating assurance and provisioning Telia intends to have separate inventory systems for service assurance and service provisioning and will leave current systems in place with a local subset of the inventory da

65、ta that those systems need.The company is,however,building a sophisticated system to keep these up-to-date with network changes and changes in any local inventory systems(see page 19).This means that their current assurance and provisioning systems do not need changes to existing interfaces or proce

66、sses.However,it also means there is no“single source of truth”inventory information available.Multiple federated systemsCSPs that have a large number of systems built up through acquisitions over the years plan to federate information in the systems by synchronizing the databases.BT Ireland,Proximus

67、,Telefnica Brazil and Vodafone are taking this approach(see section 5).Federation is advantageous because it leaves in place current interfaces to systems that require data.And as one CSP noted:“If we were to move to a single system,after the next acquisition we would again have at least two.”All th

68、e operators we interviewed said they would like to have a single system.16inform.tmforum.orgThe cost of moving geographic information system-based data to another system is huge.Separating logical and physical inventoryOne CSP sees the future possibility of separating the inside plant inventory syst

69、em covering network equipment such as switches,routers and modems into two parts:logical inventory and physical inventory.This would be in keeping with the view of the network as a set of“resources”and a set of“services”that use those resources.Separation of outside and inside plantAll six CSPs desc

70、ribed their current plans to keep the outside plant systems which keep track of where the physical access assets are,covering the twisted wire pair and fiber that serve the“last mile”based on geographic information system(GIS)technology,separate from the inside plant systems,best modelled by relatio

71、nal databases,or graph databases.And they felt that this separation would continue for a long time.These separate domains are different in technology used and handled by separate organizations and the cost and complexity of moving the GIS-based data to another system is huge.BT Ireland,meanwhile,pla

72、ns to have separate inventory systems for business and consumer services,allowing each organization to fund and evolve their systems separately(see page 26).And Proximus has separate inventory systems created for joint ventures that will be federated into the complex of inventory systems in the futu

73、re(see page 23).In the next section we look at how Telia and other CSPs are moving toward near-instant synchronization of network inventory data.Diverging from the single system path TM Forum,2023Multiple unconnected systemsSingle inventory systemLogical resources separate from physical resourcesOut

74、side plant separate from inside plantMultiple federated systemsService assurance separate from service provisioningNFVi in separate system managed by ITinstant synchronization of inventorysection 417inform.tmforum.org18inform.tmforum.orgThe goal of CSPs is instant synchronization of inventory system

75、s with the network.The goal of CSPs is instant synchronization of inventory systems with the network,with state-of-the-art technology currently synchronizing data within minutes.But improving synchronization requires modern network functions that can quickly and accurately report configuration chang

76、es.Many network elements do not have that capability currently,requiring more traditional methods.The graphic on p.19 shows possible ways to improve synchronization.From bottom to top,each technique increases the speed of updates,as described below.Synchronization via ETL toolsTraditional methods of

77、 synchronization use external extract/transform/load,or ETL,tools to copy data from network elements and element/network management systems and load it into the inventory system.In the past,this required manual processes because the data models in the various systems can vary.But low-code/no-code to

78、ols are now used to automate,and speed,the process.Publish and subscribe interfacesPub/Sub interfaces have been used for more than 30 years to synchronize databases.Here,the system that needs to know about changes in the inventory data instructs the system that contains inventory data(subscribe)to r

79、eport the changes(publish).This approach synchronizes data within hours,although it requires substantial compute and data transmission resources.Ontological,dynamic federationOne CSP that has many systems with different data models has developed a federation approach that uses a sophisticated ontolo

80、gical system to transform data“on the fly”from one data model to another.This results in updates within minutes.Streaming telemetry and data lakesModern network elements and functions have vastly more powerful telemetry interfaces,reporting prodigious amounts of fault,performance and configuration d

81、ata.These are captured in a data lake and then analyzed and processed to provide the data to the other systems including inventory systems.This approach can synchronize the network with inventory systems within minutes.In the first of our case studies on the next page,we describe Telias journey to i

82、mplement an end-to-end logical inventory system that provides a single source of truth for data to help it deliver 5G network slicing.19inform.tmforum.orgTelia is developing a Service Input Analyzer to synchronize network changes to the local inventory systems.Ways to improve synchronization TM Foru

83、m,2023Slow synchronizationInstant synchronization of inventoryVia streaming telemetry&data lakes within minutesVia ontological,dynamic federation within minutesVia Pub/Sub interfaces within an hourVia ETL tools within a week or daysTelia boosts data synchronization as it aims for network slicingTeli

84、a serves 25 million customers in six countries across the Nordic and Baltic region.The company is creating separate inventory systems for service assurance and service provisioning,but is leaving its current systems in place with a local subset of the inventory data that those systems need.Telia is

85、developing a customized Service Input Analyzer to synchronize network changes to the local inventory systems.The new analyzer federates and cleans data,which is gathered from several hundred data sources and then fed to higher-level service assurance systems(trouble ticket,fault management and perfo

86、rmance management).It is based on a commercial system that uses graph database technology.The analyzer uses a combination of data loads done weekly or daily,with some faster five-minute Pub-Sub dynamic data loading of compute and storage infrastructure.The higher data latency is considered reasonabl

87、e for now,but five-minute latency is the goal.Telia intends to use a similar approach for service provisioning.The inventory for the assign and design 20inform.tmforum.orgThe changes are being driven by Telias desire to provide network slicing in the mobile network.function in service provisioning c

88、urrently requires the network engineering team to check multiple data sources.But Telia is deploying a modern inventory system similar to the Service Input Analyzer in several countries for the transport network,bringing together the data from optical and IP software-defined network(SDN)controllers

89、and feeding the inventory system.Radio access network(RAN)domain managers provide RAN domain inventory information,and similarly a mobile core domain manager provides core network inventory information.In the short term,Telia is aiming for data synchronization within hours to minutes,with a long-ter

90、m goal of five-minute latency.The changes are being driven by Telias desire to provide network slicing in the mobile network.The company believes an end-to-end logical inventory system that provides a single source of truth for data is critical to supporting slicing architectures.The next section pr

91、ovides multiple examples of how CSPs are federating data to achieve a single source of truth.federation of data for a single source of truthsection 521inform.tmforum.org22inform.tmforum.orgLegacy inventory systems are typically built using relational databases that are expensive to maintain.A single

92、,well-synchronized inventory system would provide a single source of truth about network inventory for all other systems and processes.But if CSPs want to continue using their existing inventory systems,there are two main ways to achieve a single source of truth:federate multiple systems or build an

93、 overlay portal to interface with multiple systems.Legacy inventory systems are typically built using relational databases that are expensive to maintain,and its not uncommon for CSPs to store data in Excel spreadsheets.This leads to“swivel-chair”management,where people must log into multiple system

94、s and painstakingly update inventory databases manually whenever there are changes to the network.The graphic on the next page shows the two paths to a single source of truth for network data.Most of the CSPs we interviewed are taking one of these approaches,federating data thats spread across owner

95、s and domains,or creating overlay systems.Multiple data owners If a CSP has multiple inventory systems,the standard way of ensuring that the other systems get the best inventory information is to federate the databases.This involves deciding which is the“master”database for each data element and con

96、tinuously synchronizing the other systems to it.This is a standard ITIL technique,but results in a lot of data traffic for updates amongst the systems.Thus,instead of a single source of truth in a given system,the“truth”is spread amongst the multiple data element owners and synchronized with any sys

97、tem that needs the current data element.Overlay portalBuilding an overlay system involves creating a portal-like arrangement that knows where the master data elements are stored and then,upon demand,gets the current data.In this technique,the portal knows where the master data is stored for each dat

98、a element.When a system needs the data,it queries the portal,which gets the current data from whatever system is the master for that data element.Four of the CSPs we interviewed are federating data,using a variety of these techniques.Case studies of Proximus,Vodafone,Telefnica Brazil and BT Ireland

99、follow over the next four pages.23inform.tmforum.orgProximus separates resource and service inventory systems and has a separate set of systems for joint ventures.Two paths to a single source of truthTM Forum,2023Swivel-chair operationsFederation of multiple systemsCreate overlay portalAllow for mul

100、tiple data owners Domains Logical Physical GIS(outside plant)Proximus implements cloud-native federationProximus,a multi-play operator in Belgium,has many legacy inventory systems at various stages of their lifecycle.The company separates resource and service inventory systems and has a separate set

101、 of systems for joint ventures.Proximus architectural strategy is to have a large set of reusable inventory parts that are keepers of their own network domain resource and service inventories,with interfaces northbound to service provisioning and assurance systems.On the resource side,each of these

102、domains has its own legacy inventory system or systems:Legacy copper network Backbone fiber network Fiber-to-the-home(FTTH)access network Core network includes the main distribution frame records from pre-digital days as well as Ethernet/IP inventory together In-building customer premises equipment

103、with a separate document management system Mobile network equipment inventory for 3G,4G and 5G infrastructures.24inform.tmforum.orgProximus is building a new inventory federation layer using cloud-native software architecture.Several of these systems are mainframe-based and more than 30 years old fo

104、r example,the copper plant GIS inventory system and the company currently has no plans to retire the systems.Outside plant inventory is separate,and the company does not want to integrate the copper or FTTH outside plant inventory with the interoffice/logical inventory.The entire FTTH fiber network

105、was already consolidated into a single inventory system,used to support both mobile and fixed network services.However,the optical cross-connect frames in the central office and the gigabit passive optical network(GPON)circuits are handled in separate but synchronized systems.The fixed copper networ

106、k inventory is similarly spread among several systems.Compute and storage infrastructure for Proximus virtualized 5G network functions is not handled by traditional OSS but by the IT department.Currently,there is no visibility of these resources in the network organization,requiring additional manua

107、l correlation between the network and IT departments when a problem in the NFVi compute and storage infrastructure causes problems in the virtualized network elements,and hence the network services.The logical(services)view of the network is kept in separate systems including customer premises,fixed

108、 access network,transport,internal network service platforms,and other service platforms(for example,virtual private networks).Proximus supports several joint ventures,including mobile access(tower sharing)and wholesale fiber,each with its own inventory systems.While these are separate now,in the fu

109、ture they will have interfaces to Proximus other systems for data synchronization.Cloud-native federationProximus is building a new inventory federation layer using cloud-native software architecture.The system will use the TM Forum Service Inventory API(TMF638)specifications to multiple domain data

110、 sources including:Customer premises equipment(CPE)Fixed access Mobile access Core and aggregation Cloud Service platforms(for example,SD-WAN,virtual evolved packet core(vEPC)and 5G core)Other third-party domains.Proximus uses a variety of techniques to keep individual domain inventory systems up to

111、 date,but in general new resources are added ahead of time since the same inventory system is used to plan network additions and rearrangements and are activated in the database when in place.All service and network provisioning is done through the domain inventory systems so they are up to date.25i

112、nform.tmforum.orgVodafone is on a five-year journey to consolidate and retire systems and evolve its current architecture.Vodafone is on a five-year quest to reduce inventory systemsVodafone operates in 17 countries and has 323 million mobile customers.The company,which has grown partly through acqu

113、isitions,has dozens of inventory systems at various stages of their lifecycle.The company considers the large number of inventory systems it maintains to be a challenge,and is on a five-year journey to consolidate and retire systems and evolve its current architecture.Vodafone wants a single logical

114、,federated inventory store for each operating company that includes an overlay centralized hub synchronized to the inventory in the legacy systems and in the domain control systems.This would provide a single source of truth inventory database.Outside plant inventory is maintained separately,and the

115、 company does not intend to integrate it with its interoffice/logical inventory.Vodafone does not consider database latency to be a big problem,but it varies greatly across properties and technologies.Some physical network elements whose data are kept in traditional systems are updated on a daily ba

116、sis,which is considered acceptable for technology/inventory areas that do not change frequently.However,the information about virtualized network elements can change much faster since they can be created,decommissioned or changed with simple software commands.This requires much faster data managemen

117、t in the minutes range.Telefnica Brazil aims to unify systems as it moves to automationTelefnica Brazil is an integrated operator with more than 95 million subscribers,providing telecoms and digital services under the Vivo brand.It is undergoing a major inventory transformation,driven by a desire to

118、 create new services and automate operations.Today Telefnica Brazil has eight major systems:two outside plant systems and six major inside plant systems,some commercial and some home-grown.The company considers the large number of inventory systems to be a problem and is working to get to one unifie

119、d outside plant and one unified inside plant system.The operator is starting with 5G and 4G and then adding the other technologies in a planned three-to five-year migration period.This is part of a larger program to rework all mobile network processes including network planning,service fulfillment a

120、nd service assurance.26inform.tmforum.orgBT Ireland intends each organization to have its own inventory system for B2B and consumer services.Telefnica Brazil plans to keep outside plant inventory separate.For FTTH,the fiber cables and splices will be kept in that system,while the active components w

121、ill be in the inside plant(logical)system.Like several of the other CSPs we interviewed,Telefnica Brazils network functions virtualization(NFV)infrastructure compute and storage for the virtual network functions(VNFs)and cloud-native functions(CNFs)is handled by the IT department and will not be in

122、the purview of the network inventory systems.BT Ireland consolidates for a clearer view of network resourcesBT Ireland recently completed a two-year planning project for inventory modernization across the entire service fulfillment stack that seeks to simplify the network inventory system.It is a pa

123、rt of an overall effort to reduce approximately 2,400 OSS/BSS systems to fewer than 500.BT Ireland has more than 50 inventory systems including configuration management systems and asset inventory and 65 network monitoring systems.This has led to difficulties understanding what network resources it

124、has as well as finding the cause of network and service issues.It is also challenging to feed the 65 monitoring systems with updated network configuration data.BT Ireland considers the large number of inventory systems to be a problem because the interfaces are difficult to maintain and the technica

125、l debt unsustainable.The company needs clean and consolidated inventory to support its introduction of zero operations processes with AI-based analysis,root cause analysis and auto-remediation,as well as to speed service fulfillment for its growing FTTH network.As a part of BT Group,BT Ireland depen

126、ds on Openreach to provide the cable infrastructure for its network and so does not track cable,fiber or copper infrastructure.The RAN is also outsourced and not part of the inventory database.BT Irelands IT group handles NFVi,so it is not in the purview of network inventory systems.It is not curren

127、tly considered a major issue.BT Ireland intends for each organization to have its own inventory system for B2B and consumer services,although both will use the same underlying commercial product.There will also be separate OSSs for the Digital unit including SD-WAN and other data services providing

128、inventory,service fulfillment and service assurance(but not planning and building,which will be separate).In the next section we look at how a Middle Eastern CSP is moving its inventory systems to a cloud-native infrastructure.the move to cloud-native systemssection 627inform.tmforum.org28inform.tmf

129、orum.orgModern software systems are architected,built,delivered and run using very different methods and techniques than systems older than a few years.The CSPs in this report want this new technology for any new systems,but do not see it as a driver for retiring old systems.Current systems are run

130、on the CSPs premises and are pre-cloud native.Those CSPs which are keeping these old systems see little reason to change them,federating the information with the new systems being introduced.In many cases,this means that the old network elements are in the old systems,and the new network elements an

131、d network functions are in the new systems.These new systems will be run on private clouds for the most part,although one CSP intends to run its new inventory system on a public cloud.A software-as-a-service(SaaS)model was considered by most of the CSPs as a possibility for the future,but this was n

132、ot a deciding factor in vendor selection.On the next page our final case study describes how an operator from the Middle East is implementing a centralized modern inventory system.Move to cloud-nativeGoing cloud-native to increase speed and agility TM Forum,2023Premises-basedFederate old systemsVNFs

133、/CNFs SDN-enabled network elements Old network elements29inform.tmforum.orgThis operator,which asked to remain anonymous,currently has no effective network inventory systems in place,with the operations personnel making use of the existing EMS/NMS systems and direct access to the network elements wh

134、en needed.It sees this as the major blocker to automating its operations and so is implementing a centralized modern inventory system to support its overall operations as well as its network and service operations centers(NOC/SOC).As the new inventory system is being implemented,the various teams ar

135、e using ETL tools nightly to extract the network inventory information changes from the EMS/NMS and build a daily snapshot of the EMS/NMS database.These are brought together weekly,rebuilding and reloading the entire inventory system network database every week.As a result,the data can be almost a w

136、eek out of date at times.The operator currently deploys limited virtualized or containerized network functions.The compute and storage infrastructure is not considered part of the network and is handled completely separately by the IT department.Monitoring of this infrastructure is not currently par

137、t of the NOC.National Middle East operator Building towards a centralized inventory systemAs the new inventory system is being implemented,teams are using ETL tools to extract the network inventory information changes and build a daily snapshot of the database.make it happen strategies for modernizi

138、ng network inventorysection 730inform.tmforum.org31inform.tmforum.orgAlthough inventory system modernization is a daunting task,these CSPs,and many like them,have embarked on the four journeys outlined in this report.But how should they proceed?Following are brief recommendations for CSPs and vendor

139、s when it comes to modernizing network inventory systems and processes.CSPs should:Plan to reduce the number of inventory systems as much as possible,consolidating them into fewer systems that are being updated to the latest software technologies.If systems are not on a path to being updated,serious

140、 consideration should be given to retiring them.Consider implementing a modern inventory system as an overlay that:Look forward to network-as-a-service(NaaS)and network slicing requirements and add them into the plan.Network inventory system vendors should:Implement standard inventory interfaces suc

141、h as TMF638,for example specified by the TM Forum and other standards organizations to allow easier sharing of data.Provide professional services to help CSPs with their implementation planning.Recognize the significant challenges that CSPs face in implementing the new systems and the realities that

142、 keep them from moving quickly towards the next generation of modern inventory systems.Is based on graph technology for high performance in modeling increasingly complex services and technologies Adheres to cloud-native architecture and modern DevSecOps development processes for software quality and

143、 security and ease of future evolution Is implemented using CI/CD deployment for faster software updates Can be run on hybrid private,public and multi-cloud compute and storage infrastructures as the strategies of the CSP evolve in these fast-moving areas Uses ITIL Master Data Management techniques

144、to identify the data owners for federation or overlay methods that create a source of high-quality inventory dataDynamic Inventory Lays the Foundation for OSS Modernization Additional feature by Blue Planet 32inform.tmforum.orgCommunications Service Providers(CSPs)are deploying new services and netw

145、orks such as 5G,Edge Cloud,and next-gen broadband access to enrich the customer experience and remain competitive.Yet many inventory systems today cant support the dynamic and hybrid nature of these services,which utilize a mix of physical and cloud-based resources that are distributed across multip

146、le domains.Delivering and managing these new digital services requires a new approach to network inventory that provides the foundation for CSPs to modernize their Operational Support System(OSS)architecture.Challenging the status quo The challenge is that traditional network inventory systems were

147、designed to operate in domain silos.Historically,this has limited CSPs ability to intelligently plan and deploy new infrastructure and automate operations,because network design and operations teams need to manually correlate network inventory data by swivel-chairing between multiple systems in each

148、 domain.As a result,end-to-end network planning and service delivery is excruciatingly slow and error prone,resulting in the inability to support dynamic,on-demand services like network slicing.Despite a clear need for a modern approach to network inventory,some CSPs have been reluctant to move forw

149、ard for a variety of technology,business,and organizational reasons.For example,some believe that unified and dynamic inventory management is only possible by creating a customized inventory system with an existing vendor,or by developing a new homegrown solution.Both are time-consuming and expensiv

150、e endeavors.Others struggle to demonstrate how a more accurate dynamic network inventory can drive operational cost savings and business value for the company.But without a modern inventory,CSPs risk their ability to deliver high-quality customer experiences.Escalating costs associated with addition

151、al band-aid approaches only increase operational complexity,and reinforce an inefficient and siloed operational approach.Figure 1.A 5G example of CSP legacy inventory systems operating in siloed domains33inform.tmforum.orgA path to inventory modernization So how can CSPs close the gap between where

152、they are today and where they need to go with inventory system management to deliver new digital services faster and more efficiently?Thats where Blue Planet Inventory(BPI)can help.As a foundational building block for OSS modernization,BPI is an open and multi-vendor network inventory solution that

153、provides a single,unified view of hybrid resources and services across multiple domains to streamline operations and reduce complexity.BPIs proven auto-discovery and data federation capabilities leverage state-of-the-art graph database technology to accurately model and visualize complex,dynamic net

154、worksenabling automated workflows to simplify and accelerate business processes.And because BPI is productized and cloud native by design,CSPs can avoid extensive ongoing customizations to gain the deployment flexibility and operational agility needed to take advantage of new technologies and stay a

155、head of the competition.By federating inventory data from multiple sources into a unified,model-driven view,Blue Planet provides a single source of truth for the current state of the network.This approach lets you streamline and simplify operations and modernize at your own pace to minimize the risk

156、s associated with large transformation projects.Key BPI features and how they map to the requirements of a modern inventory can be found in the appendix.CSP success using BPI Customers that have adopted BPI represent CSPs of all sizes worldwide and at different stages of their OSS modernization jour

157、ney.Some need to replace a legacy inventory system,while others seek a unified approach that will support new dynamic services and networks like 5G,and evolve with their business over time.Learn how BPI customers are generating breakthrough results.Dynamic Inventory Lays the Foundation for OSS Moder

158、nization Additional feature by Blue Planet Figure 2.BPIs multi-vendor,multi-domain approach to dynamic inventory34inform.tmforum.orgAbout Blue Planet Blue Planet provides the industrys first intelligent automation platform that converges design,delivery,and assurance to streamline the introduction o

159、f new services,without creating costly and inefficient operational silos.Blue Planet products,which can be deployed individually or in any combination,include:Blue Planet Inventory(BPI)creates a single source of truth that accurately reflects the current state of the network Blue Planet Orchestratio

160、n(BPO)leverages abstraction and open APIs to automate delivery of end-to-end services across any mix of vendors Blue Planet Unified Assurance and Analytics(UAA)harnesses the power of advanced analytics and AI to provide real-time network and services assurance Blue Planet Route Optimization and Anal

161、ysis(ROA)provides real-time visibility into how routing behavior affects service delivery and traffic engineeringBlue Planet software is trusted and deployed by the largest CSPs worldwide and backed by an ecosystem of partners.And as a division of Ciena,we bring unique expertise across network,softw

162、are,and operations to help our customers accelerate their digital transformation.Please contact us to learn how Blue Planet can accelerate your journey.Was this content useful?YesNo Dynamic Inventory Lays the Foundation for OSS Modernization Additional feature by Blue Planet 35inform.tmforum.orgDyna

163、mic Inventory Lays the Foundation for OSS Modernization Additional feature by Blue Planet Proven federation capability integrates operational data from legacy inventory systems as well as newer SDN controllers,Network Management Systems(NMSs)and orchestration systems,to create a single view of all n

164、etwork resources and logical services Models any mix of virtual(VNFs and CNFs)and physical resources(active and passive)across multiple network and cloud domains Leverages advanced graph database technology for modeling complex network environments,where many dynamic relationships exist between data

165、 Supports phased migration of data,people,and processesdecommission systems at own pace to minimize disruption and risk Supports TM Forum TMF 638,TMF 639,TMF 634 as well as other standards-based open APIs,and incorporates best-of-breed,open-source components Robust auto-discovery and reconciliation

166、capabilities identify and correct discrepancies between active network resources and off-line inventory systems across multiple layers and vendors for improved data accuracy/qualityreducing the need for manual intervention Automated resolution of discrepancies between OSS and network data sources ba

167、sed on user-driven business rules Combination of migration and discovery to ensure accuracy from day 1 100 percent cloud-native software built with a container-based,micro-services architecture Key component of a converged Kubernetes-based platform deployable in any public or private cloud infrastru

168、cture,or on-premises;Software-as-a-Service(SaaS)consumption model also supported for additional flexibilityAppendixBlue Planet Alignment with TM Forum Vision for InventoryBlue Planet Inventory features TM Forum characteristicsSingle system/Single source of truthInstant synchronizationCloud-native tm

169、 forum open digital framework36inform.tmforum.orgThe TM Forum Open Digital Framework provides a migration path from legacy IT systems and processes to modular,cloud native software orchestrated using AI.The framework comprises tools,code,knowledge and standards(machine-readable assets,not just docum

170、ents).It is delivering business value for TM Forum members today,accelerating concept-to-cash,eliminating IT and network costs,and enhancing digital customer experience.Developed by TM Forum members through our Collaboration Community and Catalyst proofs of concept and building on TM Forums establis

171、hed standards,the Open Digital Framework is being used by leading service providers and software companies worldwide.Core elements of the Open Digital FrameworkThe framework comprises TM Forums Open Digital Architecture(ODA),together with tools,models and data that guide the transformation to ODA fr

172、om legacy IT systems and operations.Open Digital Architecture Architecture framework,common language and design principles Open APIs exposing business services Standardized software components Reference implementation and test environmentTransformation tools Guides to navigate digital transformation

173、 Tools to support the migration from legacy architecture to ODAMaturity tools&data Maturity models and readiness checks to baseline digital capabilities Data for benchmarking progress and training AIGoals of the Open Digital FrameworkThe Open Digital Framework aims to transform business agility(acce

174、lerating concept-to-cash from 18 months to 18 days),enable simpler IT solutions that are easier and cheaper to deploy,integrate and upgrade,and to establish a standardized software model and market which benefits all parties(service providers,vendors and systems integrators).A blueprint for intellig

175、ent operations fit for the 5G eraLearn more about collaborationIf you would like to learn more about the project or how to get involved in the TM Forum Collaboration Community,please contact George Glass.37inform.tmforum.orgtm forum research reports38inform.tmforum.org39inform.tmforum.orgimprovingin

176、 autonomousnetworksAuthor:Dana A.Cooperson,Contributing Analyst Editor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editor March 2022 inform.tmforum.orgSPONSORED BY:February 2022|www.tmforum.orgAuthor:Dean Ramsay,Principal AnalystEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editorsponsored by:next generationCEMnow!BENCHMARKSPONSORED BY:SUPPORTED

177、 BY:Authors:Mark Newman,Chief Analyst Dean Ramsay,Principal AnalystEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing EditorMay 2022 inform.tmforum.orgThe search for value intensifiesJune 2022|www.tmforum.orgDigitalTransformationTracker6Author Mark Newman,Chief AnalystEditor Ian Kemp,Managing EditorSponsored byREPORTNext-gen

178、eration telcoREPORT COVERCALL TO ACTIONAuthors and editors:xxxxxxknowledgeREPORTSponsored by:for integrationsetting new standardsDIGITAL ECOSYSTEMSImage used on tileReport CoverKey WordsBridging boundaries with common standardsWorking together Handing over common standards to each otherLogistics cha

179、insCooperationJune 2022|www.tmforum.orgAuthor:Dr.Mark H.Mortensen,Contributing AnalystEditor:Dawn Bushaus,Contributing EditorDIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS setting new standards for integrationsponsored by:on theedgeREPORTMEC:operatorsAuthors:Sponsored by:Rob van den Dam,Contributing AnalystAnne Morris,Contribu

180、ting AnalystEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing EditorJune 2022|inform.tmforum.orgREPORTSponsored by:Author:Annie TurnerEditor:Dawn BushausISBN:978-1-955998-27-7can telcos the into the future:August 2022|www.tmforum.orgAuthors:Annie Turner,Contributing AnalystDean Ramsay,Principal AnalystEditors:Ian Kemp,Manag

181、ing Editor Dawn Bushaus,Contributing EditorREPORTAuthors:Sponsored by:Dean Ramsay(Principal Analyst)Editor:Ian KempISBN:000 from toautonomous networks:August 2022|www.tmforum.orgAuthor:Dean Ramsay,Principal AnalystEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editorsponsored by:August 2022|www.tmforum.orgAuthor:Ed Fineg

182、old,Contributing AnalystEditor:Dawn Bushaus,Contributing Editorsponsored by:Ed Finegold,Contributing Analyst,TM ForumIan Kemp,Managing Editor,TM ForumAnnie Turner,Contributing Analyst,TM ForumEditors:Author:Sponsored by:September 2022|www.tmforum.orgAuthor:Ed Finegold,Contributing AnalystEditors:Ian

183、 Kemp,Managing EditorAnnie Turner,Contributing Editorsponsored by:Ed Finegold,Contributing Analyst,TM ForumIan Kemp,Managing Editor,TM ForumAnnie Turner,Contributing Analyst,TM ForumEditors:Author:Sponsored by:BENCHMARKAuthors:Sponsored by:Mark Newman,Chief Analyst,TM ForumDean Ramsay,Principal Anal

184、yst,TM ForumEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editor,TM Forumgrowth:taking it tothe next leveltelco revenueTM Forum|October 2022October 2022|www.tmforum.orgAuthor:Teresa Cottam,Contributing AnalystEditor:Dawn Bushaus,Contributing Editorsponsored by:from transformationDIGITAL OPERATIONS MATURITY:achieving bus

185、iness valueREPORTAuthors:Dean Ramsay,Principal Analyst Rahul Gupta,Senior AnalystEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing EditorSPONSORED BY:November 2022|inform.tmforum.org5Gcore:exploring CSPapproachesREPORTAuthor:Mark Newman,Chief AnalystEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing EditorSponsored by:Supported by:evolvingfor future

186、 servicesbusiness support systems December 2022|inform.tmforum.orgREPORTAuthor:Joanne Taafe,Editor in Chief,InformEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editor,TM ForumSponsored by:thesustainable telco:engineeringnetworks for net zeroDecember 2022|inform.tmforum.orgOctober 2022|www.tmforum.orgAuthor:Rahul Gupta,S

187、enior AnalystEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editorsponsored by:mainframemodernization:charting a course to cloud nativeREPORTAuthors:Mark Newman,Chief Analyst,TM ForumDawn Bushaus,Contributing Analyst,TM ForumSponsored by:Editor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editor,TM Forumestablishing links:platform models in the Op

188、en API economy March 2023REPORTAuthor:Sponsored by:Teresa Cottam,Contributing AnalystDawn Bushaus,Contributing Editorcounterusing AI to improve customer experienceintelligenceBENCHMARKAuthors:Mark Newman,Chief Analyst,TM ForumDawn Bushaus,Contributing Analyst,TM ForumJoanne Taafe,Editor in Chief,Inf

189、ormEditor:Ian Kemp,Managing Editor,TM ForumSponsored by:a roadmap fortelecomsgrowthTM Forum|March 2023Asia-PacificREPORTAuthor:Ed Finegold,Contributing AnalystDawn Bushaus,Contributing EditorTM Forum|May 2023who does what and can CSPs compete for more?partner ecosystems:REPORTEditor:Author:Sponsored

190、 by:Dean Ramsay,Principal Analyst,TM ForumIan Kemp,Managing Editor,TM Forummakingwaves:the future for Open RAN technologyJune 2023|inform.tmforum.orgmeet the research&media team40inform.tmforum.orgPublished by:TM Forum 4 Century Drive,Parsippany,NJ 07054 USAwww.tmforum.orgPhone:+1 973-944-5100 Fax:+

191、1 973-944-5110ISBN:978-1-955998-58-1Report Design:Paul Martin 2023.The entire contents of this publication are protected by copyright.All rights reserved.The Forum would like to thank the sponsors and advertisers who have enabled the publication of this fully independently researched report.The view

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193、vice on any matter whatsoever,nor be interpreted as such.The reproduction of advertisements and sponsored features in this publication does not in any way imply endorsement by TM Forum of products or services referred to therein.41inform.tmforum.orgMeet the Research&Media teamReport Author:Dr.Mark H

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195、s Contributing Editor dbushaustmforum.orgManaging Editor:Ian Kemp ikemptmforum.org Editor in Chief,Inform:Joanne Taaffe jtaaffetmforum.orgGlobal Account Director:Carine Vandevelde cvandeveldetmforum.orgSponsor Success Manager:Maryssa Ramsey mramseytmforum.orgMarketing Manager Ritika Bhateja rbhatejatmforum.org For more information about TM Forums work beyond connectivity,please contact Joann OBrien