Crossing the event horizon: ADC combines OSS assets into Singularit.e

ADC Telecommunications last week presented a new operations support system framework that exploits the capabilities of its acquisitions and highlights several strategic partnerships.

The framework is aimed at integrated communications providers and consists of a new suite of software products called Singularit.e that comprises real-time convergent billing, integrated customer management and service assurance. Within Singularit.e, there are six software components built primarily around solutions ADC gained when it acquired Saville Systems and Metrica.

"We have been working hard to refine our strategy based on what we think the industry requires and based on our collective history," said Rich Aroian, vice president of marketing for ADC, who joined the company with the Saville acquisition.

That includes Saville's 20-year history in the billing space. Saville was acquired last October and brings its converged billing and customer care experience to what has become ADC's comprehensive approach to OSS solutions.

"We have taken the approach that there are a number of bundles of applications that need to work together," Aroian said. "We haven't just repackaged what exists, we've taken what exists, improved on it and integrated it within our own applications. [We] have gone down the path of creating those natural bundles of applications that are an important part of the OSS suite in the broadband era."

To make ADC's core products work together and to complete its OSS package, the company has developed relationships with MetaSolv Software, Vitria Technology, Active Software and edocs.

"There is no question they should be doing it, but equally important are the partnerships and looking at [the solution] from a broader perspective," said Rob Rich, executive vice president of The Yankee Group.

Singl.ePath, one of six core components in Singularit.e, addresses that broader perspective. It provides business consulting services through ADC's relationship with Ernst & Young and connectivity modules for integrating Singularit.e with external applications. The connector modules are supplied through Vitria and Active.

Other components include Singl.eView, an integrated customer management and real-time convergent billing application, and the Saville Convergent Billing Platform. The CBP was Saville's original voice and data billing platform, which also addresses reciprocal compensation between service providers with Saville's Interconnect Billing Platform.

Metrica's contribution to the new platform includes Metrica NPR, for performance management reporting, and Metrica SLA, which lets service providers monitor multiple servicelevel agreements.

"We have over 250 implementations comprised of pieces of Singularit.e," Aroian said.

ADC is trying to maintain an open architecture through its multi-technology partners and through its adoption of extensible application interfaces and enterprise application integration architecture.

"The nature of the architecture and the flexibility of our business rules is really unique in the industry," Aroian said. "Also, we are not clearly tied with a central office supplier, so we have the ability to go off and partner with a Nortel or Siemens. Lucent is clearly not going to go off and do that."

Lucent Technologies, like other major telecom equipment providers such as ADC, Nortel Networks and 3Com, has been acquiring OSS software companies and building a broader OSS strategy. ADC appears to be the first to market a single view of its OSS technologies.

"We believe there are some logical bundles of applications that service providers need to have integrated sooner rather than later. We felt, by providing a common framework and a vision for that, that would really set us apart, and that's what Singularit.e is all about," Aroian said.

ADC will continue to partner with Nortel in some implementations, supplying the billing component that Nortel lacks. "At this point, Nortel and ADC both have less-than-complete but relatively complementary portfolios," Rich said.

To help players in its target market get in the game, ADC has implemented a financing program called Fast-Break Financing. Emerging carriers can use the program to acquire or lease equipment and software.

A hosted version of Singl.eView is available to service providers looking for an inexpensive and quick alternative to get to market. All the products in ADC's Singularit.e platform also will be sold separately.