The OpenOSS Catalyst was initiated to investigate the viability of an open source research program to trial an implementation of NGOSS architecture. The intent was not to complete architecture but to do enough preliminary work to understand value of such an undertaking and the likely issues which would need to be addressed if such a program went forwards. The business requirements and deliverables for this project were defined in the Opens OSS project charter and are not repeated in this document.
The project sponsors desired to kick start an investigation into the potential benefits of Open Source when applied to telecoms Operational Support Systems. The intention was not to create a competitive solution to existing OSS products but to investigate whether an open source approach to collaboration could be promoted to reduce the repeating costs of integration between OSS systems.
A TeleManagement Forum Catalyst project was chosen as the vehicle for this initial investigation for several reasons. TM Forum Catalysts are an established industry mechanism for short term collaborations within a well understood legal and IPR framework. Commercial participants are attracted to catalysts because of the marketing opportunity and the opening to work closely with potential service provider customers. Thus a catalyst provided a means to invite the involvement of players from across the industry and also attract feedback from the results of the work.
Further more, a catalyst represents in microcosm the project structure one would envisage for a longer term project and thus allowed us to understand the organisational issues which a more substantial open source project would have to address. How should we create an environment for collaborative research involving industry, the TeleManagement Forum and Academia? What sort of open source licensing would be required? What collaborative tools and processes should be adopted? How should an open source project be governed and in what sense would Catalyst project sponsors represent a governance model.
|