Microsoft gets its chance in the TMF spotlight

Long Beach, Calif.—Sun Microsystems and the Java and J2EE communities have had the ear of software providers and the TeleManagement Forum for years. Last week at TeleManagement World, Microsoft took center stage to promote its ideas on NGOSS, partnering, Web services and XML.

Whether the TMF is evolving toward a Microsoft point of view or Microsoft has come to see the TMF differently is debatable, but as the software industry continues to search for the best middleware interfaces for IP-based networks, Microsoft has decided to be more forceful about being a part of that. OSS developers have moved over the last few years from CORBA to J2EE and now to Web services technology for interconnecting disparate software systems.

In a keynote address to TMF members, Maria Martinez, vice president of Microsoft’s Communications Sector, reiterated the company’s support for NGOSS and suggested new ways to think about the network.

She called for the implementation of a software powered services network where services are on par with physical network nodes and managed accordingly. Martinez also called for more collaboration on universal connectivity that would solve the problems of interoperability.

"We are committed to the advancement of XML and Web services and NGOSS is a critical piece of the puzzle for Web services," Martinez said.

She added that there are already Tier 1 NGOSS implementations based on Microsoft solutions.

Driving Microsoft’s increased involvement is the maturity of telecom and wireless networks to support advanced services and content. Microsoft intends to play in the delivery of those services.

"In the new world of IP transport, [the industry] has to adapt to a new business model that [ignores] distance. The revenue lost in billing for long-distance must be made up by services and content," Martinez said.

She added that delivering content is all about relationships with partners that can deliver services on demand, anytime and anywhere. "Ninety-six percent of Microsoft’s revenue is delivered through partnerships," Martinez said. "That’s something we bring to the table."

Martinez also emphasized the security concerns in all IP networks including SPAM and said Microsoft was uniquely positioned to address them. "SPAM continues to interfere with digital communications and we are committed to pursuing legal action against spammers," she said.

Although Microsoft and HP announced last week significant growth in their .NET initiative, with more than 1,000 projects engaged with nearly 700 customers in 39 countries, the company’s solutions to telecom are more than just .NET.

HP and Microsoft have developed .NET-based solutions for many vertical markets. For telecom the companies recently introduced HP ISM.NET, which allows service providers to provision and manage new, revenue-generating services, such as wireless data services with an emphasis on 2.5G General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and 3G services, fixed wireless services, content delivery, networking services, and hosted services, such as application hosting.