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Article: OSS: a buyer's guide: once a mundane network add-on, operating support systems are critical competitive tools. Telecom Asia guides you through the complexity.(Telecom Corporate)(operations support systems)
- Article from:
- Telecom Asia
- Article date:
- December 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Questex Media Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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During the telecom boom, operations support systems were not sexy. Fiber was sexy, and so was IP technology. Stodgy old OSS was relegated to the far reaches of exhibition show floors.
But OSS began to garner interest after the transport and hardware markets crashed. Faced with flat or declining revenues, carriers began to look for ways to cut costs from their operations, and savvy software vendors developed and marketed products that enabled them to do just that. Terms such as "inventory management" and "revenue assurance" have become industry buzzwords.
Not that it's been a bonanza for the OSS sector. Carriers have been in window-shopping mode for the ...