There's no question that open source has radically reshaped software development, with implications for virtually every industry. The telecom industry is no exception, and many open-source operational support systems (OSS) solutions are in use today. Intrigued by the possibility of a low-cost and lightweight option, some service providers have explored adopting an open-source OSS, particularly for functions like Auto Configuration Server (ACS) for device management.
But revenue streams for service providers depend on providing consistent, reliable services with the features customers expect and a high-quality user experience. Some open-source solutions can put this at risk. By adopting what can be unproven, sometimes unreliable, unpredictable, and unaccountable platforms, service providers are taking a serious gamble by building a service package on an open-source OSS.
Tried, tested, and proven carrier-grade OSS solutions give service providers the ability to efficiently and effectively manage the networks and services they offer to end users, whether that's provisioning and managing customer premises equipment (CPE), orchestrating the delivery of dynamic services across converged access networks, or gaining actionable insights from network performance. In today's competitive environment, carrier-grade solutions offer unique capabilities that make them stand out from open-source options as service providers seek to scale operations, increase revenue, reduce churn, and enhance their operational agility.
Open-Source Lacks Predictability and Accountability
A common maxim in the open-source world is that while the best thing about open source is that it's open, the worst thing about open source is that it's open. While anyone can contribute to an open-source project, no one must contribute to it.
In other words, there's no guarantee that development will continue on an open-source OSS project after it has been introduced. Support could wane or disappear at any time with no way to bring it back. This can create security issues if there are vulnerabilities in the software. Development of new features that service providers were counting on can stop without warning. And support questions or concerns posed to developers may simply go unanswered.
This unpredictability makes any kind of future planning based on open-source OSS solutions a significant risk. Long-term and even potentially short-term, there's no guarantee the software will continue to evolve in a usable form. Even if planned features continue to be developed, development timelines could extend dramatically. Contributing to the unpredictability is the simple fact that, in many cases, open-source project teams make their own decisions about which features to add or deprecate. This means crucial features service providers rely on may fall by the wayside. As a result, the ability to provide uninterrupted service to customers can be suddenly at risk.
Open-Source Adoption Requires Manual Input and Heavy Lifting
While some open-source OSS offerings are focused on eliminating the risk to service provider operations, the reality is that even the most stable and predictable options often require significant heavy lifting by service provider operations teams.
Typically, open-source OSS applications provide a framework without services. Operations teams can build on that framework, but this requires having personnel that deeply understand the underlying specifications and tooling of the framework to even begin integration. This is an expensive and slow process, greatly limiting operational flexibility and scalability. Everything from setup and support to deployment and maintenance is often the province of the service provider, not the project. Integration into existing operations systems is likely to be slow and complex. Advanced features must often be built manually, and custom development may be required to set up dashboard and analytics capabilities.
When these considerations are factored in, costs can suddenly balloon as service providers uncover increasingly more that must be done to establish a stable and reliable OSS operation with an open-source solution. The process can require potentially significant outlays of time and capital on developing features for a framework that could lose support at any time.
Carrier-Grade Solutions Are Dependable and Purpose-Built
Cost and flexibility are often the first considerations for service providers looking at OSS options. But reliability, security, and utility are often more relevant, particularly for long-term operations.
The up-front cost of carrier-grade OSS solutions are an investment in stability and scalability, giving service providers solutions they can count on to deliver what they need in the short and long term. These purpose-built solutions generally require little or no technical expertise to adopt and integrate with existing systems. They provide numerous, built-in advanced features to enable seamless integration with billing, order management, provisioning, and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, as well as advanced dashboards with real-time analytics to enable ongoing, informed maintenance and management of operations. Most OSS offerings are typically pre-certified for service provider networks and designed to enable efficient scalability, through rapid deployment and provisioning of new devices and services. And these systems are also generally standards-based, greatly simplifying interoperability and integration. Many leading vendors are themselves contributing members of the standards community.
Crucially, the vendors of these solutions are also accountable to their users. Costs are explicitly outlined in advance, allowing for accurate planning and more reliable ROI predictions. Since they are developed and offered by commercial entities with commercial interests, these vendors are committed to ongoing research and development to improve their products. Service providers get clear product roadmaps with timeline projections for updates and new features to help future-proof their investment. Most commercial vendors also offer professional services and dedicated support by staff who are employed and trained to provide support so service providers can count on having inquiries answered and issues resolved in a timely manner. Service providers also usually have avenues to provide feedback to vendors, allowing them to influence the direction of future product feature development and suggest potential product enhancements.
Deploy Industry-Leading OSS Capabilities with Incognito
The most dependable OSS solutions are those that have stood the test of time while continuing to innovate. Incognito is a proven and reliable OSS provider, with over 30 years of experience delivering market-ready solutions for service providers. Incognito's OSS solutions are purpose-built and field-tested to deliver powerful, flexible, secure, and dependable capabilities.
Incognito's carrier-grade solutions cover the full spectrum of capabilities service providers need. Incognito's Digital Experience (DX) Solution supports vendor-neutral and scalable unified device management and monitoring using a TR-069 ACS and TR-369 User Services Platform (USP) controller. Incognito's Broadband Command Center (BCC) offers end-to-end network provisioning for any access network technology, including fiber, cable, and mobile, while Incognito's Address Commander (AC) solution centralizes, automates, and streamlines IP resource management. Combined with Incognito's Service Activation Center (SAC) for no-code configuration and network-agnostic service orchestration, activation, and fulfillment, service providers can enhance the subscriber quality of experience while simplifying processes to monitor and manage broadband services. Incognito's Monetization and Analytics Platform (MAP) also plays a role to help optimize network performance and increase revenue by delivering holistic and accurate real-time data collection, analysis, and actionable intelligence of all network activity. With MAP, service providers can easily diagnose network capacity issues, visualize network data and calibrate it reliably at scale, correlate data with subscribers, and automate network actions based on triggers – all from one platform.
Incognito's purpose-built, carrier-grade OSS solutions offer service providers the reliability and security they need to deliver high-quality, dependable connectivity to end users. With an advanced suite of features, Incognito's solutions give service providers all the tools they need to optimize operational efficiency. Finally, ongoing real-time support and access to future improvements ensures service providers always have the answers they need to optimize operations when they need them.
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