AT&T to carriers, vendors and engineers: “We’re opening the hood of our network and showing you the engine…”
Tier-0 telco AT&T is apparently all about developers, developers, developers these days. CIO reports that AT&T has revealed details of a software platform that makes it easier for customers to order new services, and the company may release the code as open source for other service providers to use.
At the Open Networking Summit, technology and operations chief John Donovan announced ECOMP.
ECOMP lets AT&T rapidly on-board new services, providing a framework for real-time, policy-driven software automation of network management functions. Today, the platform all about allowing subscribers to create or modify services through a Web portal. Which is easier said then done when you consider how many OSS and BSS systems a company like AT&T will have under the hood thanks to years of development, evolving network tech, and acquisitions.
If there’s enough interest, AT&T will open-source ECOMP so other carriers can adopt it to streamline their own networks.
AT&T have given a number of reason for going their own way when it comes to open network management functions: The existing solutions or initiatives are based on proprietary technology or are only partial solutions to their needs, and the solution must address service provider needs and operate at the scale required by these service providers.
ECOMP looks likely to compete with the recently announced Open-O project, which AT&T has made ‘no commitment’ to join.
Full article at CIO.