The following diagram places the use of MTOSI GetInventory within the BT Group OSS architecture.

Legend: DAALI = Design Assign and Activation Logical Inventory, PACS = Planning Assignment and Configuration System

In the diagram, the MTOSI GetInventory discovery is being utilised as the South Bound Interface for the system labelled PACS-GB/NCL/VM. The systems below PACS are known as DAALI’s. There are also deployments of GetInventory in the EMS to DAALI interfaces.

BT Group plc has successful implemented the TMF MTOSI v1.1[1] Standard for Inventory Management processes within its OSS systems. Currently the standard is realized, tested, deployed and operational on the following systems:

• Planning, Assignment and Configuration System PACS which is a large and stable legacy implementation which has been adapted to support MTOSI v1.1.
• Domain Assignment Activation and Logical Inventory (DAALI) systems based on COTS products (Cramer 6 and HP TeMIP) pused roviding network logical and physical information.

This implementation forms the first step to adopting MTOSI within two major BT programs:

• Network Service Inventory and Design (NSI&D): that is developing an SOA based solution for BT planning and inventory requirements.
• Domain Management: that is creating a consistent integration model for network resources based on the DALLI concept.

BT’s first operational deployment of MTOSI is the primary interface between these two programs.

Network Service and Inventory and Design

This program is responsible for:

• The design of end to end services across different layers and capabilities of the network affording technical flexibility, cost-effective network utilization and key customer needs surrounding performance and availability
• Managing the inventory data describing the network resources at all levels and the services that map to these resources.
• Network structure/topology plans for an overall model of the network and its technology capabilities at each location.
• Logical plans for representing the logical inventory of the overall network.
• Physical plans for representing the physical characteristics of the network.

DOMAIN Management

BT has, within the Domain Program, committed plans, and developed systems to move to a MTOSI MTNM based solution for all of our new Communication networking equipment management. This includes our broadband xDSL, metro node based on Ethernet and IP back haul capabilities.

Whilst the initial focus has been inventory processes we have developments to support additional MTOSI MTNM functions:

• Alarms
• Configuration
• Diagnostic and testing

within the Domain management program. This program is developing a set of Resource Domain Management applications (aka DALLI) are responsible for providing a completely encapsulated interface to network technology domains by:-

• Providing in domain activation.
• Providing in domain alarm collection, filtering (and non data based correlation) to supplement that done by Correlation & Root Cause Analysis.
• Providing in domain QoS activation.
• Providing in domain inventory discovery to supplement that done by Resource Inventory Management.
• Hiding vendor specific idiosyncrasies through the use of MTOP/MRNM/MTOSI template mechanisms.
• Presenting a standards-based interface based on mTOP/MTOSI/MTNM specifications.
• Containing limited distributed copies of logical network inventory sufficient to support atomic operation rollback, element manager selection and network auto-discovery. Domain Managers are not the masters of this data. Where keys need to be assigned (e.g. IP addresses, VLAN IDs, PortIDs, telephone numbers) this will be undertaken by other applications in the Resource Management Layer.

The basic model is shown below and is related to the examples shown in section 4.2 of TMF 516.

Relationship of Resource Domain Management to other OSS application areas

The dotted line shows the current scope of the deployed operational interfaces between NSI&D and Resource Domain management systems.

Architect Designer and Program Management Experiences

The BT Group has surveyed our key program managers, architects and designers for their opinions and experiences in using the MTOSI Inventory Management and other MTOSI Functions.

Senior stakeholder buy-in
George Glass Platform Director Design and Build:
“We have set a policy for our OSS architecture to use pragmatic and available industry standards. Within the scope of our Domain Management Platform we have found that the MTOP MTOSI specifications have allowed us to integrate a number of suppliers’ equipment into our COTS packages more effectively than with traditional point solutions.’

Give rationale for adopting MTOSI in NS&ID
Yiannis Troullides Architect for NSI&D Program:
"As part of BT’s program for rationalizing planning & inventory management systems and processes we needed, in order to reduce development and support costs, a standard for linking the planning systems within our program, to the diverse network resources being managed at specific layers in other programs. We investigated a number proprietary and standards based solutions. Our conclusion was to adopt the MTOSI Inventory interface since:

• It met our immediate functional requirements;
• It was based on the Middleware (Web Service and JMS) we were seeing in our current and planned resource management systems;
• There were many resource equipment suppliers advocating its use to us, and had it on their roadmaps.
• Inventory COTS suppliers, in particular Cramer and Telcordia, had been very proactive in developing MTOSI in line with our requirements.

Importance to BT the end-to-end view
Huw Phillips Senior Information Architecture Resource Management
“A continuing challenge for BT has been the effort to create an end to end view of a service that depends on multiple resources and technologies from many suppliers. This challenge is complicated when the resources used to create an end to end service all expose different and conflicting management interfaces that are based on different principles. With MTOSI / MTNM we saw a comprehensive information data model (TMF608) that meet our needs for a consistent view and that was supported by many technologies and suppliers. The MTOSI TMF 608 model has been incorporated into our Enterprise Information Architecture and allows us now to create end to end service views from the individual technology and vendor domain views. We are actively feeding our new requirements into the MTOP/MTOSI program through the TMF Gforge on-line change management system.’

Operational Support System Design View
Colin Barker CEng., CITP, MBCS Senior Solution Designer
“By adopting MTOSI data model, we have been able to address the key goals of standardisation of data and operations between cooperating operational support systems. It assists us moving away from stovepipe support for product-lines based on technology towards multiple-services delivered over a common infrastructure and operational support system stack. We have been able to adapt MTOSI to promote a Service Oriented Architecture of cooperating Capabilities - where individual legacy components of the architecture can be more easily substituted by ‘best of breed’. MTOSI supports our aim of standardization of data representation across equipment vendors, yet the model permits the extensibility that allows us to drive innovation in both infrastructure and services.”

Strategic Importance
Dave Tapping, BT Domain Management Platform Strategy
"The Domain Manager strategy and architecture is focused on the adoption and use of industrial strength standards, and a rationalisation of the OSS estate away from bespoke stovepiped solutions, to Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) driven capabilities. Given the size, complexity and technologies of our operations in the Global and UK Wholesale markets, it is essential that we have robust capabilities to support our business functions, security and performance requirements. The new networks we are building demand the best of breed standards that will enable us to be fully responsive to our customer experience demands, and rapidly meet challenges from the ever changing network technology landscape. Our research, analysis, and partnership studies concluded that those standards emerging from the TMF MTOP/MTOSI team were best suited to our needs. This judgment is based on the technical suitability of the specification, and the level of network industry support. In developing extensions to the MTOSI standards or Testing and Diagnostics we were impressed with the support, commitment, responsiveness, and team work of those companies forming the eco system supporting the MTOP/MTOSI specification."

Used Versions of documents / specifications

The following versions of documents / specifications have been used to develop this real life integration scenario

Cost Benefit / Savings

The BT Group has carried out an initial costs analysis of using MTOSI for the Copper MSAN Management. The outline results were reported at the TAW in July 2006.

Use of MTOSI for inventory and configuration delivers cost advantages in a number of areas:

• It replaces a multitude of point to point solutions each based on different technical specifications by a single well tested ‘contract first’ model, Note many traditional Command line TL1 Solutions are ‘contract last’ models where the specification of the interfaces is not known until late in the suppliers’ development program. The MTOSI Contract first approach saves development costs on the inventory systems and reduces pressure on its’ development and VVT work stacks.
• CAPEX Related: For first office installation CAPEX development costs we compared a traditional point integration approach based on a mixture of APIs with a standards based solution based on MTOSI. Our coarse estimates showed significant saving in costs and significant reduction in risk by using an MTOSI approach.

• Note there were other large invariant costs between the two approaches.
• The main benefit arose in risk reduction – i.e. meeting dates - especially the move to a contract first model which settled the choice of interfaces technologies early in the development, the availability of MTOSI specification that had better than 85% coverage of our requirements and clear guidelines on how to extend them. Also as all vendors were working to the same core interface, enhancement work could be shared out amongst the vendors. Finally the integration problem was simplified, because all interfaces worked the same way and the same test suites could be used on all interfaces.
• OPEX Related. Whilst getting to first office release is important, it also important to ensure that the support costs are not prohibitive for onward use of the interface. Our coarse estimates were.

Whilst the absolute cost of each category cannot be provided for commercial reasons the most significant benefits numerically are the risk reduction and the onward support costs.

Contact details

Dave Milham
BT Group plc
Rm8 B36
Adastral Park
Martlesham Heath
Ipswich, UK
IP5 3RE
eMail: dave.milham@bt.com
Phone: +44 (0) 1473 649801