OSS goes open-source

Does open-source software make sense for the telco back office? It may seem like a long shot, but a well-funded, smartly staffed new vendor, Transverse, launched itself and its new open-source operational support system (OSS) platform in September, aiming to bring the disruptive economics of open source to this core telecom application.

“This is not just about cheaper software, but fundamentally adjusting the cost model for [service provider] IT infrastructure,” said Chris Couch, chief operating officer for Transverse.

To that end, Transverse's business model is to make money by focusing on the design, deployment and support services required to install its platform, rather than on selling the software itself, Couch said. That approach is now common in the world of enterprise-focused open source. While open source remains somewhat at the edge of the telephony world, large IT vendors such as HP, IBM and Sun have in many ways rebuilt their core businesses around offering so-called “free” software — and then selling support, hardware and services. Earlier this year, Sun Chairman Eric Schmidt, in announcing a new telco-ready version of the open-source MySQL database, went so far as to ask service providers, “Why are you still buying software?”

In turn, Transverse is taking on very established OSS players such as Amdocs, Convergys, Oracle and others with its open-source OSS play.

Transverse's new “bleep,” or Business Logic Execution Environment and Platform, aims to take advantage of not only open-source economics but also new service-oriented architectures (SOAs) that are emerging in the telecom industry. SOA offers a more flexible, less stove-piped approach to deploying and maintaining key telco software platforms such as OSS, billing and customer service apps. The company leverages that more component-oriented approach to software by offering more than 2100 individual services that can be combined to create applications such as multiservice billing and customer care; order and service management; real-time service delivery; and enterprise resource planning.

Transverse is out of the gate with two customers: Crossroads Wireless, a white space spectrum operator, and Spectrum Five, a next-generation satellite player.

TELCO OPEN SOURCE

Open source software and applications affect many tiers of the carrier network:

Core Infrastructure

Apache (Web server), Tomcat (application server) and MySQL (database server) all offer low-cost platforms that service providers deploy themselves or carrier vendors embed within their products.

Enterprise Applications

Although not as widely deployed as in the infrastructure realm, open-source enterprise applications such as SugarCRM and ERP apps such as OpenBravo and Apache Open For Business do have some adherents. SugarCRM even counts BT among its large enterprise users.

Mobile

Open source is having an increasing impact in the mobile world, with operating systems such as LiMo (Linux Mobile) and Android promising to change the economics of software on the mobile handset.