Global 5G connections reached nearly 2 billion in Q1 2024 and show no signs of stopping—they’re projected to hit 7.7 billion by 2028 [1]. The leaps-and-bounds growth in the 5G market makes modernizing operational support systems (OSS) even more critical.
Communication service providers (CSPs) are responding, and forecasts show OSS/BSS software and services growing at a 5% CAGR through 2028 [2]. But are they moving fast enough?
Legacy OSS won’t manage complex network architectures and innovative 5G services that require real-time network adjustments and service provisioning. Attempting to use closed, proprietary APIs to integrate heterogeneous 5G networks is too difficult and expensive. The challenge is real, and only a modern cloud-native OSS can fully unlock innovative services and revenue streams that 5G environments promise [3].
OSS modernization is needed to bring the agility, scalability, and automation that 5G and edge computing initiatives demand. This transformation necessitates cloud-native software architectures, automation, and standardized open APIs to achieve operational efficiency, enhance customer experiences, and position CSPs for success.
Legacy OSS constrains innovation, elevates costs
Custom integration costs from OSS vendors can run into the millions, and tailoring systems to specific networks can take years. Equally challenging, these efforts create long-term vendor lock-in that can further inflate costs and constrain innovation.
Without true end-to-end automation, these legacy OSS struggle to deliver new services quickly, leading to sluggish fulfillment and elevated labor costs. The lack of automation also prevents a legacy OSS from effectively integrating cloud-based resources, further preventing CSPs from offering innovative services that drive revenue growth and marketplace differentiation. These issues are particularly relevant to 5G networks that utilize a wide-variety of cloud-native functions (CNFs).
Even when hosted in the cloud, legacy OSS built on monolithic software architectures cannot take advantage of dynamic scaling and other cloud benefits, hindering efficiency and adding friction to updates. In fact, many CSPs are running on outdated OSS releases because upgrades are too risky and expensive.
Legacy OSS also require manual intervention in critical service assurance related tasks. Trouble-to-resolve (T2R) workflows start when a CSP or customer reports an issue, and the ticket stays open until complex manual fault isolation and resolution activities are complete. In these cases, manual intervention not only increases operational expenses and lower profit margins, but also puts service level agreements (SLAs) at risk.
Cloud-native: The foundation of a modern OSS
For CSPs seeking to stand out against competitors while maximizing profit, implementing a contemporary OSS built on a cloud-native architecture offers the best path forward [4]. A cloud-native model permits the dynamic orchestration of containerized microservices, enabling scalable and flexible creation, deployment and management of dynamic services.
The ability to rapidly deploy and efficiently manage network services is not only the foundation of a modern OSS, but also an absolute requirement for maximizing ROI in highly dynamic cloud-centric environments like 5G.
The design in a cloud-native approach breaks complex monolithic software systems into modular components that are highly manageable—and reusable. This lets CSPs easily update individual components and quickly build new services from existing components. Cloud-native also eases cloud deployment, even in hybrid- and multi-cloud environments.
The modular nature of cloud-native OSS also streamlines customization initiatives that allow CSPs to meet unique customer needs and even application-specific demands. This modularity improves service agility because CSPs can enhance components as needed—in a DevOps methodology—without expensive vendor-lead integration and customization efforts.
Under the hood of a modern OSS: Blue Planet’s cloud native platform
The Blue Planet Intelligent Automation Portfolio lets CSPs overcome the challenges of legacy OSS. Its cloud-native architecture provides service agility, permits low code/no code development customization, and lets CSPs easily deploy it in private and public clouds—including AWS, Google, and Microsoft Azure.
Open, industry-standard APIs [5] are essential to Blue Planet, streamlining integration with existing systems and third-party applications. Importantly, Blue Planet also converges inventory, orchestration, and assurance functions, which facilitates service lifecycle automation and breaks down artificial system silos.
Blue Planet’s approach enlists all the benefits of the cloud, including economies of scale and elasticity. It enables dynamic resource allocation, automated scaling, and simplified service management. It also solves flexibility issues and high operational costs associated with traditional OSS deployments.
OSS modernization delivers continuous value
CSPs create increasing value through OSS modernization by shrinking time-to-market for new services [6]. The modern OSS leverages standardized APIs and modular code so CSPs can quickly assemble new services by reusing proven and tested software components, accelerating service development, validation, and deployment cycles.
This modern methodology replaces the legacy OSS approach—with its custom, single-use integrations for each new service—with a flexible platform that accommodates various services without extensive custom coding.
These improvements over legacy OSS enable CSPs to launch new services faster, respond quickly to shifting market demands, and gain a competitive edge. A modern OSS empowers CSPs by speeding time-to-market, hence generating revenue faster and boosting the ROI of the project. In most cases, automation can activate new services in mere moments—instead of weeks or even months.
OSS modernization and automation can also support high-value, on-demand services via a self-service portal. Enterprises can instantly activate services to meet unique business requirements—and CSPs can charge premium prices for the capability, which generates additional revenue beyond basic commodity connectivity pricing.
CSPs can also create value and speed time-to-revenue by using automation to power Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offerings like SD-WAN and 5G Network Slicing. Automation enables rapid configuration and activation of NaaS services, reducing deployment times to minutes by eliminating manual intervention while maximizing service agility.
The end game for cloud-native OSS: Monetize
The end game for OSS modernization is to help CSPs fully monetize their network investments, especially recent investments in 5G and disaggregated fiber broadband access networks. A cloud-native OSS helps CSPs achieve this goal in many ways: It accelerates time-to-market for new services, allows DevOps style customization and feature development; and it provides real-time scaling, ensuring efficient use of network resources.
A modern OSS also speeds service activation by replacing manual interventions with automation, shrinking operational expenses. CSPs can offer these services through self-service portals with on-demand activation, further raising customer satisfaction—and revenue.
A cloud-native OSS accelerates CSPs’ strategic digital transformation and automation projects and can easily incorporate emerging AI technologies like machine learning (ML) and GenAI to improve critical operational processes even further.
Finally, a modern and automated OSS helps CSPs explore new business models with third-party developers and partners. For instance, CSPs can use automation and open APIs to combine applications from their partner ecosystem with network connectivity to create competitive service offers that are precisely tailored to address a specific use-case or customer need.
Footnotes
[1] https://www.5gamericas.org/global-5g-connections-reaches-nearly-two-billion/
[2] https://www.analysysmason.com/research/content/articles/spending-oss-bss-rma09/
[3] https://www.blueplanet.com/resources/what-is-cloud-native-oss
[5] https://straitsresearch.com/report/open-api-market
[6] https://www.blueplanet.com/blog/2024/collaborate-to-innovate-a-blueprint-for-oss-modernization