IBM SPDE - Enabling Service Providers to Work Smarter

March 2009

IBM SPDE – Enabling Service Providers to
Work Smarter
An Executive Brief
Sponsored by IBM

IBM SPDE – Enabling Service Providers to Work Smarter
A Stratecast Executive Whitepaper

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IBM SPDE – Enabling Service Providers © Stratecast (a Division of Frost & Sullivan), 2009 Page 2



Table of Contents
Executive Summary ............................................................................................ 5
The Converging Communications Marketplace ................................................ 6
Industry Convergence ...........................................................................................................6
New Generation Service Offerings – Lifestyle Services ........................................................6
Addressing CSP Business Change ........................................................................................7
IBM’s Strategy for Communications Industry Evolution................................... 8
IBM’s Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE) .......................................................8
SPDE 3.0 – Service Delivery AND Business Process Support ........................................... 10
Addressing Key Industry Imperatives................................................................12
Accelerate Service Innovation & Delivery........................................................................... 12
Evolve to Optimized Operations......................................................................................... 13
Differentiate the Customer Experience .............................................................................. 15
The Last Word ...................................................................................................17




List of Figures
Figure 1 – The Market Drivers of Change.................................................................................6
Figure 2 - Business Transformation is More Than a Shift in Business Strategy......................8
Figure 3 - IBM SPDE Framework Evolution (2001 to Today) ............................................... 10
Figure 4 – IBM Service Provider Delivery Environment 3.0................................................... 11
Figure 5 – Expands Source of Innovation and Shortens Development Cycle........................ 12
Figure 6 – Focus on Business Optimization is Accelerating.................................................. 14
Figure 7 - Optimize Service Quality and Focus on Customer Value...................................... 15



Executive Summary
Those communications providers that don’t own their own access networks often understand well
how to effectively market to business customers and consumers, and because they are not endowed
with “incumbent” status, are the very organizations that are changing the Communications Service
Provider (CSP) competitive landscape. Smartphone devices from various manufacturers are
presently associated with several network-based operators around the world, which combine
2.5G/3G network connectivity with internet-based content and applications. However, this strategy
is likely to change in the near future as consumer electronics and mobile voice technology are rapidly
consolidating. Voice communications as an IP service—VoIP via a broadband connection—is just
one of many applications enabled from a single device by customers for a variety of business and
personal needs.
For CSPs to “stay up with technology” huge demand—at an increasingly faster pace—is now placed
on internal IT resources to better enable today’s installed Operations Support Systems (OSS) and
Business Support Systems (BSS). Along with systems change is a heavy requirement to update and
modify the business processes tied to defining new services, providing customers with choice in
service options, provisioning each service, billing for service usage and of course assuring each
service works every time the customer expects it to work. Tied to these requirements are the
increasing levels of network flexibility offered through the latest advances in technology
infrastructure, which are driving service availability to any time, anywhere, on any device. In
addition, there is a growing awareness of network, service, and customer data to be collected,
processed and harvested for better understanding of customer needs and to more effectively match
those needs with business capability.
This report discusses the key business drivers moving the communications industry toward
“customer lifestyle services.” Such services require a variety of capabilities CSPs must address
regarding both network connectivity and content interaction. The report points out why today’s CSP
installed systems and business processes must be transformed to more effectively meet the changing
needs of the converging communications industry. It provides a brief history concerning IBM’s
Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE) strategy. The bulk of this report summarizes the
latest capabilities IBM’s SPDE 3.0 brings to bear and highlights a number of case examples
successfully addressing the transformation challenges CSPs must deal with today and in the near-
term future.



The Converging Communications Marketplace
Industry Convergence
Today’s market landscape is much more than simply the convergence of fixed line and mobile
technologies. The telecommunications industry is converging with the means of other markets
including those from IT (e.g. data storage, security functions, and applications), media (print and
broadcast news), entertainment (gaming, video, broadcasting), and advertising. As shown in Figure
1 below, convergence of these multiple industries is defining business drivers that are producing new
capabilities for better meeting today’s customer “lifestyle” needs. For the CSP community, such
change is driving a new level of “real time” Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Business
Support Systems (BSS) requirements, which in turn are placing an overwhelming demand on
Information Technology (IT) resources to change, enhance and/or replace existing OSS/BSS.
Figure 1 – The Market Drivers of Change
Converging Marketplace

Key Business Drivers

Consumer Electronics
Device Evolution +
Communications

Network, IT and
Infrastructure Mobile, Fixed

CSP Business Maturation

Access
Data Retention
Regulatory Change Competitive Play
Corp Comply
New Business Models Through Customer Lifestyle Services
Examples of Lifestyle Service Enablers:
Network services (VM, Email, voice, SMS, MMS, VoIP, IPVPN, IPTV, telepresence, …)
User definable controls based on transaction volumes, relationships and financial limits
Business applications (office, sales, medical, supply chain, …)
Personal lifestyle preferences (fitness, geriatric, pets, social)
Content (media and/or entertainment)
Advertising sponsorship of voice minutes and text message for consumer opinion
Several others …

Source: Stratecast

New Generation Service Offerings – Lifestyle Services
Stratecast defines customer lifestyle services as any combination of network capabilities, content,
and user device features for addressing a variety of lifestyle preferences defined by business, social or
personal interest categories. These complex offerings can involve a number of capabilities alone or
together including: multiple network access methods (broadband, mobile, fixed line); network
services (email, VM, voice, and IP-X e.g. IP-VPN, IP-PBX, IPTV); IT functions (data storage,
business applications, single sign-on security); media and/or interactive content. Examples of such
services, which are deployed by some organizations already, include the following:



• Interactive Multi-flow Messaging – The best example of multi-flow messaging services
comes from the entertainment sector, and in particular, gaming, with its real-time,
coordinated multi-flow needs (e.g. game logic flow, video flow, communication flow via
voice or IM, and a player presence flow). Other multi-flow services for both business and
consumers are also possible including distance learning, social networking, telepresence
meetings, high-technology collaborative research, transportation/logistics management, and
marketing/sales coordination.
• Business Application Solutions – Business solutions can take on many forms involving
packaged or individualized groupings of network/content functions such as email, office
applications, data storage, security, VoIP, specialized applications particular to an industry
vertical, and a variety of push or pull content sources. Some operators even include the
necessary user device tools based on Software as a Service (SaaS) models.
• Telemedicine – Telemedicine services include several areas as the healthcare industry looks
for ways to cut costs including: life function monitoring (pacemaker/defibrillator heart
monitoring, high risk fetal/neonatal monitoring, and “at-home” geriatric monitoring) via a
wireless or fixed line connection tied to “on-tap” analysis applications or specialized
customer care services; clinical records analysis and correlation between healthcare facilities
and/or insurance companies via common data storage and secure access; medical imaging
data storage and retrieval through remote secure access; and for patients with chronic
medical conditions, records coordination between same provider clinics and multiple
healthcare facilities via patient-authorized secure assess.
• Machine-to-Machine Interaction – Remote monitoring and assembly of raw data to
usable “information blocks” that are then passed to other “added value” applications.
Examples include remote device dispenser monitoring integrated to a supply chain system or
aggregation of remote sensor fluid flows with critical manufacturing environmental
definitions for optimizing service delivery performance.
• Health and Fitness – Bringing together presence and availability functions to chart jogging
progress via a GPS-enabled mobile device. The long-term opportunity may even allow a
mobile device to possess health monitoring capabilities (e.g. pulse, blood pressure, oxygen
saturation, and respiration rate) based on a user-defined set of conditions combined with
individual presence (location, time from start, pace, and time-to-completion).
Processes and systems to support these new services, and in many cases engage as part of the
service, are redefining the way OSS/BSS are used globally.

Addressing CSP Business Change
Based on network technology and personal electronics evolution, business customers and
consumers now have choice when addressing a growing list of needs—in network access, in service
definition and manageability, in interacting with media and entertainment content, and even in how
services are subscribed and paid for. Several of these choices now involve some type of real-time
manageability features. The thrust of today’s needed change in business approach, as shown in
Figure 2 below, rests in realignment of processes, systems, and the way business is conducted. This
is essential to better address a variety of the multiple issues involving offers of lifestyle services.
Many of the large business solution suppliers have recognized this shift and are now much more
focused on end-to-end business improvements, while others are still trying to get it right. For



example, IBM continues working with several different CSPs around the world to redefine the way
they do business. This is accomplished by emphasizing new ways to address subscriber growth
while at the same time making improvements to processes and systems to reduce operating costs,
improve overall end-user satisfaction, deliver more appealing lifestyle services as a point of
differentiation and to successfully augment declining revenues from traditional services.
Figure 2 - Business Transformation is More Than a Shift in Business Strategy
Key Business Drivers

Consumer Electronics
Device Evolution +
Communications

Infrastructure Network, IT and
Mobile, Fixed
CSP Business Model
Processes
CSP Business Strategy
CSP Business Maturation
Access
Data Retention
Start Finish
Regulatory Change Competitive Play
Corp Comply

People

Business Transformation is a
Systems
CSP’s reaction to new and/or
changing business drivers in
realigning strategy, processes,
systems and the way people
conduct business to best Network 3rd Party
address customer expectations Infrastructure Partners &
Suppliers
and to provide the greatest
shareholder value.

Source: Stratecast
1
For CSPs that have taken the first steps in the transformation journey for their business
processes and systems to address the new generation customer lifestyle services, the future
looks very promising. For those considering what to do next there is time. However,
holding back to wait out the current storm of economic uncertainty is not a safe harbor. As
technology evolution continues, CSPs still deciding on a “best strategy” for their business
needs should look closely at partnering with a supplier possessing proven transformation
credentials. Choosing an unproven path, given today’s economic uncertainties, substantially
increases the risk of major disappointment and serious business concern in the months to
come.

IBM’s Strategy for Communications Industry Evolution
IBM’s Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE)
In early 2001, IBM identified the telecommunications market as one of its strategic focus areas, with
specific attention to the top 25 global CSPs. To serve this segment, the company introduced the

1 Business transformation within the communications industry is a journey and not a destination. Stratecast defines it is
as a CSP’s reaction to some or all of today’s business drivers (technology evolution at both the network and user device
level, changing regulation, and a maturing of the CSP marketplace) in realigning strategy, processes, systems and the way
people conduct business to best meet the needs of technology evolution, changing customer expectations, and in
providing the greatest shareholder value.



Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE), which was defined as IBM’s current go-to-market
strategy for the telecommunications sector. More specifically, a Stratecast report assessing IBM’s
foray into the telecom sector stated: “SPDE includes an IBM-supplied reference architecture
for application integration and business process management, professional services,
demonstrated integration capability through the company’s Network Integration Labs
(NIL), pre-defined process templates, an extensible data platform, and partner programs.” 2
IBM officially launched SPDE in February 2002, defining it as a “… comprehensive delivery and
management architecture for content and applications through multiple transport environments
without significant modification. It is based on open IT and telecom standards and is designed to
take advantage of telco industry standards such as Parlay and OMA (Open Mobile Architecture) as
they emerge, as well as key emerging Internet standards such as UDDI, WSDL, and SOAP that are
key to delivering Web Services.” 3
Shown in Figure 3 below, the 2001 SPDE framework was focused on supporting mobile data
services in a way that was standards-based in a soon-to-be-proven cost effective manner. It would
also allow CSPs to introduce traditional network services combined with application and content
capabilities. From these early beginnings SPDE was clearly designed to be more than a technical
architecture, as consideration for the end-to-end business needs tied to addressing the evolving new
generation of “network connectivity plus content” services was starting to take shape.
Keeping pace with technology evolution, SPDE 2.0 was launched in early 2006. In addition to what
SPDE 2001 offered, the new version included Telecom Operations Content Packs based on
industry standards from the TM Forum 4 , an advancement of Web Services functions in the form of
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) standards, and “… extensions to accommodate the specific
requirements of the 3GPP 5 IMS architecture. The solution comprises two main environments --
Service Execution and Service Creation.” 6 Specifics about each of these extensions, with reference
to a major implementation project for Swisscom at the time, included the following:
• Service Creation Environment – The Service Creation environment was defined as a “…
model-driven and integrated set of tools for creating, deploying and reusing services and
software components. The environment includes a well-defined and automated process

2 Stratecast Report “OSSCS 03-04 An Assessment of IBM’s Telecom Strategy: Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE),”

August 2002.
3
IBM Press Release “IBM Offers 'Speedy' Introduction of Next-Generation Wireless and Telecom Services – New Framework Cuts
Development Time from Months to Weeks,” February 19, 2002.
4 IBM’s Telecom Operations Content Packs incorporate standards definitions based on the TM Forum’s Next

Generation OSS (NGOSS) enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM), NGOSS Telecom Applications Map (TAM),
NGOSS Shared Information Data (SID) model, NGOSS OSS through Java (OSS/J) interface definitions, and the
NGOSS Multi-Technology Operations Systems Interface (MTOSI) for messaging schemas.
5 The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration effort between groups of telecommunications
associations, to make a globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone system specification.
6
IBM Press Release “Telecommunications Operators Can Reduce Time-to-Market With New Platform – Swisscom Mobile and IBM
Have Demonstrated the Capability to More Efficiently and Rapidly Create Telecom Services and Incorporate Third-Party Applications,”
February 13, 2006.



offering guidance across the service creation lifecycle. The domain is realized using an
integrated set of technology including IBM's WebSphere and Rational software ….” 7
• Service Execution Environment – In an early deployment at Swisscom, the Service
Execution environment utilized “… Nortel's IMS control plane located at IBM's Montpellier
facility and which is connected to Swisscom Mobile's network via IP VPN circuits.” 8
Figure 3 - IBM SPDE Framework Evolution (2001 to Today)
2009 – SPDE 3.0
Service Oriented Architecture
3rd Party Domain

Service Execution Domain Support Systems Domain
3rd Party Access
Process Choreographies
Core Runtime Functions Service Core OSS & BSS Functions
Runtime
Support Billing
Content & Media Assuranc
Ideas to Web 2.0 e
Fulfillmen
Deployment Service
Convergent Services Applications t
Care

User Interaction
Portal &
Personalization Information Management
2006 – SPDE 2.0 Presentation

Network Abstraction Layer Network Access
Network Delivery Domain

Device Domain User interaction Device Support

Business Intelligence
Security

2001 – Framework
Introduction
Ap p lica tio n D e liv ery E n viron m e nt
U sers D evices Netw ork S ervice s Bro kerage U ser S ervices
Delivery Prov is io ne d As s e ts (inte rnal)
M obile
P re s e nta tio n B us ine s s App lica tions
S ervic e s
B roa d - N e tw o rk Lo c atio n S e rvic e s
B a nd S e rvic e s
othe r
C ore IP
B2B Co m m e rce
G a te w a y
PST N
M e s sa g ing
Subs c rip tion
o the r S e rvic e s C onne c te d (ex te rnal)
C onte nt a nd A pplic a tio ns

In te g ra tio n O p era tions Sup port & S ervice s Fina ncial
Re a dine ss (C RM ) M an agem ent S ervices
Hu b

B usin ess P ro cesses and W o rk flow Ex te rna l

F ulfillm e nt As s ura nc e B illing
other Se rv ice s S e rvic e s Se rvic e s

Source: IBM

SPDE 3.0 – Service Delivery AND Business Process Support
The SPDE 3.0 Framework, shown in Figure 4 below, was announced in February 2009 9 . Beyond
what SPDE 2.0 provided, the current version includes capabilities not typically identified with the
technology architecture the industry today has come to call a Service Delivery Platform (SDP).
While no specific industry standard has been established for an SDP, the basic expectations from
any such services framework involves: the ability for a CSP to create new services from various
network-based building blocks; implement these services and control their behavior when
operationalized within a public or private communications network; and interface through standard
protocols with existing network equipment.

7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 IBM Press Release “IBM Unveils Next Generation Service Delivery Framework to Help Communications Service Providers Thrive in
an Interconnected World,” February 11, 2009.



Figure 4 – IBM Service Provider Delivery Environment 3.0
Service Oriented Architecture

3rd Party Domain

Service Execution Domain Support Systems Domain

3rd Party Access
Process Choreographies
Service
Creation Core Runtime Functions Service Core OSS & BSS Functions
Domain Runtime Billing
Content & Media Support
Assurance
Ideas to Web 2.0
Deployment Service Fulfillment
Convergent Services Applications Care

User Interaction
Portal &
Personalization Information Management
Presentation

Network Abstraction Layer Network Access

Device Domain User interaction Device Support

Business Intelligence
Security

Source: IBM
What makes SPDE 3.0 more than just a technology architecture is its focus on the end-to-end
solution support picture pertaining to the business issues around today’s customer-focused complex
lifestyle services. Some of these “operational and management functions”, beyond the actual service
delivery capabilities previously mentioned include:
• An ideation environment that can evolve service concepts to service implementation realities
• Advances in SOA-based business processes critical for immediate support of new service
options
• Media integration functions in the form of composite services for enabling CSPs to blend
entertainment, advertising and other forms of digital media into complex customer services
that can be offered across a variety of networks and devices
• Service runtime support for core OSS/BSS functions including customer care, fulfillment,
billing and assurance
• Expansion into the service management domain to help automate and secure a dynamic
infrastructure of applications, systems and networks
• Business intelligence capabilities for analyzing consumer usage behaviors and trends as a
means for helping CSPs improve the success of their service portfolio, better understand
customer preferences, and improve overall network performance
• Advanced security functions.
IBM has approached the business transformation challenge, through SPDE 3.0, with numerous
customers emphasizing a variety of focal points. Some of these are approaching transformation
from the service innovation and exposure perspective. Others are going about it from an



information management, service assurance and even multi-systems integration point of view. Since
no two CSP business strategies are alike, to better explain how SPDE 3.0 addresses a number of
needs within the CSP marketplace today, the balance of this report offers several customer case
examples tied to the following critical business functions:
• Accelerating the rapid definition and launch of new services
• Reducing the cost of operations and optimizing understanding of operational information
• Differentiating the end-user customer experience.

Addressing Key Industry Imperatives
Accelerate Service Innovation & Delivery
• The SPDE 3.0 service creation and execution domains are a major point of emphasis for
CSPs looking to expand their service footprint through offerings with appeal to the
customer lifestyle needs previously described. As shown in Figure 5 below, the Service
Innovation, Design and Creation process is set up to enhance the “idea-to-implementation”
portion of a new service launch.
Figure 5 – Expands Source of Innovation and Shortens Development Cycle

Partners
Service 3rd Party Access to
Innovation exposed enablers

3rd Party Domain

3rd Party Access
Service Execution Domain

Service Service
Service Applications Content Runtime
& Media
Creation Support
Service Web 2.0
Domain
Design and
Creation Convergent
Services Service
Execution
Network Abstraction Layer


Service Exposure of
Network Enablers

Subscribers

Source: IBM
Components of SPDE 3.0 supporting this need include:
• Service Innovation – Uses IBM’s array of initiatives with Web 2.0 for a dynamic and
connected “ideation” process.



• Service Design and Creation – Incorporates IBM’s Rational service creation capabilities
for building IP-based converged communications applications. This involves a suite of tools
tied to service concept & definition, service design, service development, service testing, and
service deployment.
• Service Execution – IBM’s WebSphere execution platform provides a common SOA-
based approach for composite service applications, leveraging presence, voice, media and IT
enablers.
• Service Exposure – Industry-standard Web service exposure of telecom network
capabilities and connections into the Web 2.0 world.
Implementation examples include the following:
• Improving Service Innovation and Time-to-Market – A large Asian CSP implemented
IBM’s Idea Factory to create a collaboration environment for product managers, partners,
and end-users. Idea Factory is part of the IBM Service Innovation, Design and Creation
Domain. In this example, a portal allows product managers to set up a trial using templates
and tools to on-board users, conduct surveys, prompt for feedback, collect all responses, and
analyze results. During a 9-month period, this CSP was able to identify 27 new services
based on 576 defined ideas. Without Idea Factory, only 3 new services from 259 ideas were
previously established in approximately the same time period. The first suggestion was
entered to the system only 10 minutes after initial implementation, which showed the level
of interest in this advanced way of bringing a number of thought/action processes together.
• User Assisted Service Definition – A large Asian operator sponsored a contest to develop
next generation applications. Controlled access to network information from services such
as SMS, call control, presence and IMS to internal employees and external users was
provided as Web services. By offering a secured environment this operator successfully
demonstrated it can tap into the creativity and innovation of third party developers and Web
2.0 clients. Going forward, this CSP views such practices as essential in its quest to rapidly
respond to new market opportunities, to explore new potential revenue streams, and to
extend its market reach with finer grain targeting of select service offerings.

Evolve to Optimized Operations
The SPDE 3.0 service runtime support and information management domains allow CSPs to
capitalize on dynamic process integration and information management capabilities. It involves
SOA-based integration of various business processes using IBM’s Telecom Operations Content
Pack. This consists of approximately 150 pre-built business processes addressing the assurance,
fulfillment and billing functions using the TMF NGOSS definitions including eTOM, TAM, SID,
OSS/J and MTOSI. The content pack assets are then pre-certified, tested, and supported on IBM’s
middleware layer.
Beyond process integration, the SPDE 3.0 approach also paints a course for CSPs to capitalize on
customer and product/service information using master data management, information integration,
and business intelligence functions to optimize their businesses. This is a journey as shown in
Figure 6 below. Creating an “Information Agenda” now is critical for CSPs to leverage their
information (customer, product, service, and network) as a strategic asset in establishing and
sustaining competitive advantage.



Figure 6 – Focus on Business Optimization is Accelerating

Source: IBM
Business optimization examples include the following:
• Delivering Innovative Services with Greater Speed and Quality – Since implementing
SPDE 3.0 a large European mobile operator has reduced the time required to integrate and
deliver new services to its target market by 64%. By using a common platform and service
bus, this CSP also expects a 19% reduction in the total cost of ownership over five years.
This cost reduction includes several points: software license and maintenance, hardware, new
service startup costs, implementation, business model change, and Enterprise Service Bus
(ESB) maintenance.
• Integrating New Services with Existing OSS/BSS – Reusable integration templates
(IBM Telecom Operations Content Pack) applied across services and channels reduces
order-to-cash delays, reduces fall out, and improves customer satisfaction. An Asian mobile
CSP used a portion of SPDE 3.0 to construct a flexible service-oriented architecture. Using
that foundation, this CSP was able to broker approximately 5,000 messages per day between
previously siloed OSS/BSS. The solution cut average problem resolution time from two
days to less than one hour, helping to boost customer satisfaction levels. An Eastern
European CSP also uses a SPDE 3.0 configuration to accelerate provisioning time for new
subscriber services from several days to several minutes using existing OSS/BSS.
• Unlocking the business Value of Information to Create Competitive Advantage – By
creating and maintaining an accurate view of the customer, other business units can utilize
the data to determine offers and discounts or insert advertising. Meshing customer, service,
and network information enhances the ability to define, deliver, and support new revenue
generating services. A South American CSP implemented a data warehouse solution based
on IBM DB2 Warehouse. The resultant data warehouse contains more than five years of



information and supports most of the CSP’s key business processes, including marketing,
financial, commercial and network systems. The system uses advanced data mining
techniques to identify the most profitable customers and predict payment delays. Since the
data warehouse has been in place, this CSP reports it has avoided revenue losses of
approximately $4 million per month.

Differentiate the Customer Experience
The SPDE 3.0 framework is designed to improve the customer experience by offering multiple
capabilities and functions in service management and security. As shown in Figure 7 below, IBM’s
SPDE 3.0 Service Management offering can address a number of different functions.
Figure 7 - Optimize Service Quality and Focus on Customer Value

Source: IBM
The three aspects of this strategy rest with visibility, control and automation as defined by the
following:
• Visibility for Improving Service Quality and Customer Retention – SPDE 3.0 service
management solution provides: end-to-end visibility of services across multiple network and
IT technology domains; delivers a visual link between customers, infrastructure and SLA
definitions; provides instantaneous notification of any SLA violations; monitors for service
quality through Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Key Quality Indicators (KQI); and
can pinpoint service-affecting events and the impact such events will have on service
availability and quality.
• Control to Maximize Return on Assets and Reduce Risk – SPDE 3.0 service
management solution offers: monitoring of all network/IT assets (IT data center operations,
mobile base station utilization and network node capacity) for maximizing usage and



identifying unused capacity; improvements in labor efficiency through combined helpdesk
support for network, IT and even customer needs; improved governance and compliance
through single sign-on and authorization by network or operations asset type/function; and
manage the explosive demand for data storage tied to content-based services.
• Automate and Streamline Management Processes to Accelerate Growth – SPDE 3.0
service management solution supports a number of business needs including: a single view
of events and management details from both new and existing service assurance tools to
reduce complexity and deliver a more effective means for isolating problems; tracks more
than 100 million events per day; correlates this data and reports on top-end issues for
operator resolution; and monitors end-to-end business processes to identify issues and
business challenges.
Industry progress within the service management and security domain, especially with regard to
differentiating the customer experience, include the following CSP case examples:
• Preventing and Responding to Security Threats – With more services in use by more
customers, the risk of compromise is significant. SDPE 3.0 provides the ability to secure
applications, services, and service access while managing users and service usage changes.
This includes federated identification and secure portal integration. For example, by using
the IBM DataPower Appliance as the front end of a Web Services Gateway, a North
American operator was able to expose services to subscribers and partners while also
ensuring security. The IBM DataPower appliance provides authentication, authorization,
and audit functions in addition to content-based routing utilizing digital signatures and
encryption features, validation of schemas, and protection against malicious attacks. The
deployment is clustered in the CSP’s wireless network.
• Improving Quality of Service and Reduce Customer Churn – Real-time end-to-end
network and services visibility allows CSPs to maximize utilization of existing assets while
ensuring security and survivability. As a means for proactively delivering high quality voice
and data services, a European mobile CSP presently utilizes IBM Tivoli Netcool to monitor
business and consumer services across its mobile infrastructure. The ability to manage its
network in real time and anticipate problems is a key differentiator for this operator in
reducing the level of customer churn. Automated event correlation and analysis has reduced
the number of daily events from 20,000 to 4,000 and subsequently reduced the resources
required to manage the network by a significant level. Through this approach the NOC staff
gains a better understanding of the impacts of service degradation, resulting in executing
trouble resolution processes aimed at addressing critical customer-affecting problems first.



Stratecast
The Last Word
Network technology advances and mobile user device evolution have enabled a new generation of
complex customer services making up today’s “real time” world. These services compel CSPs to
transform many of their business processes to recognize systems functions—within customer care,
billing and provisioning especially—as a working part of each service. They are also ushering in a
new generation of business models that look to deal with customer lifestyle needs first, then on how
these needs impact the content, service, application, and network layers. Most importantly,
customer lifestyle services are placing requirements on current business processes and installed
systems they were never designed to address, especially regarding capabilities tied to real time
verification, validation and notification.
From managing evolving requirements to accelerating and delivering change, a collaborative
customer data and product/services lifecycle management platform such as IBM’s SPDE, creates
consistency and continuity of software processes, data, and delivery. Stratecast believes business
transformation requires not only flexible systems but also an automated means for adjusting
business processes and the work tasks that will be completed by human resources. It
further requires dedication to better response time from applications, more effective
generation and notification of customer usage charges, rapid assimilation of service
enablers to meet unique customer needs and near real-time settlement with partners to
name just a few. A CSP’s OSS/BSS environment can no longer provide passive support; it
must be part of the new wave of customer service offerings. Beyond this, harvesting the
richness of network, product, service and customer data to optimize business performance
can no longer be ignored if competitive positioning and new revenue generation are now
major imperatives for long-term success.
SPDE 3.0 has proven it is possible to transform the way CSPs conduct business to a new tightly
integrated approach involving network technology, OSS/BSS, business processes, and customer
data working in an “interactive and fully dependent relationship”. Such business redirection has
yielded several business benefits including reduced cost of operations, improved customer
satisfaction, scalability sufficient to meet the demands of rapid subscriber growth, and enablement
of new business models in the ever-changing communications marketplace. It follows logically that
as the converging communications market continues to advance, so will the capabilities IBM brings
to bear through its SPDE-based solution strategy.

Karl Whitelock Nancee Ruzicka
Senior Consulting Analyst – OSS/BSS Global Competitive Strategies (OSSCS) Senior Research Analyst - OSSCS
Stratecast a division of Frost & Sullivan Stratecast a division of Frost & Sullivan
kwhitelock@stratecast.com nruzicka@stratecast.com



About Stratecast
Stratecast assists clients in achieving their strategic and growth objectives by providing critical, objective
and accurate strategic insight on the global communications industry. As a division of Frost & Sullivan,
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and Growth Partnership services. Stratecast's product line includes subscription-based recurring analysis
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(OSSCS), and our weekly opinion editorial, Stratecast Perspectives and Insight for Executives (SPIE).
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and Wireless (M&W), Multi-Channel Video Programming Distribution (MVPD), and Secure Networking
(SN). Custom consulting engagements are available. Contact your Stratecast Account Executive for advice
on the best collection of services for your growth needs.

About Frost & Sullivan
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CONTACT US
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IBM SPDE - Enabling Service Providers to Work Smarter

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