ZTE demos NGOSS, IMS integration

Chinese network equipment vendor ZTE said it successfully demonstrated earlier this month the integration of its IMS network elements with the Telemanagement Forum’s (TMF) New Generation Operations Systems and Software (NGOSS) framework, believed to be the first such demonstration by any IMS vendor. The demonstration took place during the TMF’s Management World Americas event in Dallas earlier this month, and was part of the TMF Catalyst Project.

Successfully demonstrating proof of concept for the integration is the first step toward see NGOSS used for management of IMS architectures, said Weijun Lee, vice president of ZTE USA. He added that such a management framework is one of the pieces that has been missing from the IMS evolution thus far. “Carriers are offering more and more types of services, and that puts more requirements on the network,” Lee said. “We understand that convergence is not only happening in the control domain, but also in the management domain.”

The Catalyst Project demonstration was supported by China Unicom and Chunghwa Telecom, and though neither carrier has yet to commit to using NGOSS in commercial implementation, Lee said next steps are being discussed.

“The project provided valuable experience to operators around the world in building an OSS/BSS system seamlessly supporting IMS services,” said Zhang Zhijiang, General Leader of Technology Department, China Unicom, in a statement.

The demonstration tested scenarios such as IMS deployment, activation, charging policies and management of a full-duplex, video-telephony service available for a range of devices including SIP video phones and laptops. It’s success will help drive development of a reference framework for carriers to manage all of these functions. ZTE’s vendor partners in the demo included Amdocs’ IMS and Microsoft.