80 OSS for Telecom Networks
quickly be defined and provisioned. From a ServiceExpress form, services are pro-
visioned and then monitored to ensure that they are delivered
ServiceExpress increases provisioning quality by masking the complexities and
potential inaccuracies in provisioning through a CLI. To be fair, such functionality is
no longer unusual. It would be a brave OSS vendor who lumped a service provider
with nothing but a command line interface with which to provision new services.
6.11 CallGate Service Provisioning Functionality
CallGate is a mediation device and mult-filtering tool. CallGate filters switch-related
data to and from GSM and analogue switches. Fulfilling a typical mediation role, it
acts as an interface between switches and data destinations such as billing systems.
CallGate functionality includes service provisioning of network resources such as
switches. Figure 6.10 describes the general setup in which CallGate is usually installed.
Service provisioning commands are received by the CallGate server from the cus-
tomer care layer. The commands are converted into the format(s) required by the
switches and devices which must receive provisioning commands in order that the
service be activated, In the case of service provisioning towards a switch, CallGate
typically uses MTP/CMISE. The protocols that are recognised by network devices
are an ongoing difficulty faced by OSS vendors, since there can be various old and
exotic equipment in any network and such equipment may only recognise some
non-standard proprietary protocol. If the software of a particular vendor does not
support that protocol, then often the OSS software product will have to be extended.
by the vendor in order to support the protocol.
Customer layer biting
system
[Notwork management layer service pe
provisioning ‘system
system
ee
swith ‘witch
Figure 6.10 Callcate general setup.