Ericsson Technology Review: 5G BSS: Evolving BSS to fit the 5G economy
•
0 recomendaciones•612 vistas
The 5G network evolution has opened up an abundance of new business opportunities for communication service providers (CSPs) in verticals such as industrial automation, security, health care and automotive. In order to successfully capitalize on them, CSPs must have business support systems (BSS) that are evolved to manage complex value chains and support new business models. Optimized information models and a high degree of automation are required to handle huge numbers of devices through open interfaces. This Ericsson Technology Review article explains how 5G-evolved BSS can help CSPs transform themselves from traditional network developers to service enablers for 5G and the Internet of Things, and ultimately to service creators with the ability to collaborate beyond telecoms and establish lucrative digital value systems.
Recomendados
Recomendados
Más contenido relacionado
La actualidad más candente
La actualidad más candente (20)
Similar a Ericsson Technology Review: 5G BSS: Evolving BSS to fit the 5G economy
Similar a Ericsson Technology Review: 5G BSS: Evolving BSS to fit the 5G economy (20)
Más de Ericsson
Más de Ericsson (20)
Último
Último (20)
Ericsson Technology Review: 5G BSS: Evolving BSS to fit the 5G economy
- 1. Customer and partner interaction BSS exposure layer Order capture and fulfillmentCatalog Charging Mediation BillingBilling Party management Intelligence management = Decoupling and integration THE ROLE OF BSS IN 5G EVOLUTION ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY C H A R T I N G T H E F U T U R E O F I N N O V A T I O N | # 0 3 ∙ 2 0 2 0
- 2. 5G offers communication service providers an unprecedented opportunity to enhance their position in the value chain and tap into new revenue streams in a variety of industry verticals. A successful transition will require business support systems (BSS) that are evolved to fit the 5G economy. JAN FRIMAN, MICHAEL NILSSON, ELISABETH MUELLER The rapidly expanding Internet of Things (IoT) and all the new capabilities available in 5G have opened up a wealth of opportunities for communication service providers (CSPs) beyond their traditional markets, particularly in verticals such as automotive, health care, agriculture, energy and manufacturing. To monetize them, CSPs will need to meet the expectations of a broader range of stakeholders and be able to handle complex ecosystems. ■ One of the primary roles of business support systems (BSS) is to manage a CSP’s relationships with its stakeholders by keeping track of agreements, handling orders, generating reports, sending invoices and so on. In the past, these stakeholders were generally limited to consumers, resellers, partners and suppliers. In the 5G/IoT business context, though, more complex ecosystems are arising that BSS must evolve to support. To do so, the requirements of a larger, more diverse group of stakeholders must be taken 5G BSS: EvolvingBSS tofitthe 5Geconomy ✱ BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY 2 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MARCH 26, 2020
- 3. into account, and mechanisms must be established to manage the relationships between them. Examplesofnewstakeholdergroupsthatneed tobeconsideredinthe5G/IoTbusinesscontext include: ❭ Enterprises and industry verticals that require solutions beyond telecoms ❭ New types of suppliers such as IoT device providers and suppliers of eSIM (embedded SIM) and related technologies ❭ Platform providers that specialize in specific IoT or edge clusters or groups of use cases such as massive and broadband IoT platforms, industrial IoT platforms and content data networks ❭ Integrators that specialize in specific verticals such as asset management, mission-critical services or automotive that combine capabilities from multiple stakeholders to address consumer needs. Networkdeveloper,serviceenabler orservicecreator? Lookingahead,thecapabilitiesthataCSPneeds initsBSSsolutionwilldependontheroleitplays –oraimstoplay–intheIoTecosystem.Figure1 illustratesthethreeroletypes:networkdeveloper, serviceenablerandservicecreator. Inthetraditionalnetworkdeveloperrole,aCSP actssolelyasacellularconnectivityproviderby offeringsolutionssuchasradio,corenetworkand communicationservices.Inthisrole,theCSP’s businessmodelsareconsumerfocused.Itsrolein theIoTecosystemislimited. Intheserviceenablerrole,theCSPextendsits servicesbyincorporatingadditionalcapabilities suchascloud/edgeandIoTenablementandshifts focustobusinesscustomersandindustryverticals. TheCSPbecomesaserviceenablerfor5Gandthe IoT,actingasasupplierofconnectivityandplatform services.Asaserviceenabler,theCSP’sbusiness Figure 1 The evolving role of the CSP in the IoT ecosystem A) Network developer Customer Customer Customer CSP IoT provider IoT providerCSP SIM manufacturer SIM manufacturer Device manufacturer Device manufacturer Device manufacturerCSP CSP B) Service enabler C) Service creator BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY ✱ 3MARCH 26, 2020 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
- 4. modelsareextendedtobusiness-customerfocused withrespectto5GIoT. Intheservicecreatorrole,theCSPtransitions frombeingaconnectivityandplatformproviderto creatingnewdigitalservicesandcollaborating beyondtelecomstoestablishdigitalvaluesystems. Asaservicecreator,theCSPpartnerswithsuppliers todelivernewservicesallthewayuptofullIoT solutions,takingontherolesofintegrator, distributororco-seller. BSSforallthreeCSProles TraditionalBSSsupporttheCSPinthenetwork developerrole,inwhichtheCSPchargesforvoice, textanddataservicesbasedonconsumptionor subscriptionlevel.Themainrequirementsfor theseBSSare: ❭ Customer management, traditional partner business (roaming partners), charging and billing, and finance modules ❭ Order capture and order execution for new telco subscriptions and/or add-on offerings ❭ Charging and balance/quota management in BSS, as well as mediation ❭ Interaction with operations support systems (OSS) for network provisioning. EvolvingBSStosupportaCSPinaserviceenabler rolerequiresashiftinfocustotheneedsof enterprisecustomersandIoTusecases.TheBSS mustbetransformedintoasystemthatisableto monetizeIoT/5Gplatformsandedgedeployments, whichrequiressignificantchangesinboththe functionalandnon-functionalspace.Inthenon- functionalspace,thismainlyinvolvesscalability –thatis,enablingtheBSStohandletrafficand alargenumberofdevicesatIoTscale. Intermsoffunctionality,theBSSenhancements requiredbyserviceenablersinclude: ❭ Automation of full life-cycle management for devices/IoT resources supported by flexible orchestration, including exposure of services for managing relationships with business customers ❭ Support for batch orchestration, flexible supply agreements and contracts for non-telco services with associated charging models ❭ Service exposure of network capabilities, so that IoT providers can bundle their offerings with connectivity and sell them on to their customers ❭ Service exposure of BSS and OSS capabilities to enable efficient ordering processes, especially with regard to the management of mass subscriptions. SupportingaCSPintheservicecreatorrole,where thefulllifecycleofpartnersmustbetakeninto account,requiresBSSwithfurtherfunctional extensions.Thestakeholderecosystemofservice creatorsissignificantlymorecomplex,asthe customerbasebroadenstoincludeverticalsandthe CSPstartsofferingfullsolutionsbeyondtelecoms. Asaresult,BSSforservicecreatorsmustinclude extensiveandflexiblepartnerrelationship management.Supplychainmanagementis especiallyimportant. Thecapacitytoexposenetworkcapabilityaswell asBSSandOSScapabilitiesiscriticallyimportantto aCSP’sabilitytodeliveronservicecreationbeyond Terms and abbreviations API – Application Programming Interface | BSS – Business Support Systems | CSP – Communication Service Provider | IoT – Internet of Things | ODA – Open Digital Architecture | OSS – Operations Support Systems | SBI – Service-Based Interface | SDK – Software Development Kit | SLA – Service Level Agreement ✱ BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY 4 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MARCH 26, 2020
- 5. telecoms,sothatpartnerscandeveloptailored applicationsanddeploythemontheoperator’s infrastructure. Finally,thenewbusinessmodelsavailableto CSPsasservicecreatorsrequirenewmonetization modelsforchargingandbilling.Forexample, multipartycharging,revenuesharingandprofit sharingallrequireextendedbillingand reconciliationfunctionality. BSSsolutionlevelsandkeycapabilities Table1organizesandsequenceskeyBSS capabilitiesbasedontechnicaldependenciesand/or levelofcomplexity.Onebyone,thesecapabilities BSS solution level Capabilities 5G enabled • 5Gservice-basedinterface(SBI)support(chargingfunction) • NetworkslicingsupportinBSSandOSS • Classicroamingpartners • Containerizationandmicroservices • Commontechnologystack IOT and edge monetization •IDmanagementandcorrelation • Life-cyclemanagementforIoTdevices • Businesscustomerand5G/IoTenterprisemanagement • Charginginmultilevelhierarchies • Supplyagreements • Flexibleorchestrationoforderingprocesses • Serviceexposurefordevicemanagement • OpenAPIexposure • Continuousintegration/continuousdelivery(CI/CD)forserviceexposure • Enterpriseself-care • Multipartychargingandbest-effortcharging • Privatenetworks • Platformpartnerships • Contractfornon-telcoservices(IoT/edgeenabled) • Chargingmodelsfornon-telcoservices • Multi-tenancy • Chargingandbillingonbehalfof • Location-awareservices • Blockchainforsmartcontracting • ServiceLevelAgreement(SLA)management Full 5G ecosystem • Partnerrelationshipmanagement • Partnercatalog • Partnerrevenuesharing • Reconciliationandsettlement • Flexiblebilling • Platformasaserviceanddistributedcloud • Edgeplatformservices • Multi-accessedgecomputing(MEC) • BSSasaservice • Continuousmonitoring • Artificialintelligenceandmachine-learningautomation • CI/CD Table 1 Key capabilities of the three BSS solution levels BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY ✱ 5MARCH 26, 2020 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
- 7. monitorthestateofthedevicethroughoutits lifecycleisnotsufficient.Forexample,contracts thatcoverlargeherdsofdevicesarelikelytobe basedonrecurringchargesperactivedevice. Inthesescenarios,theaggregatednumbersof devicesperstatebecomekeyparametersinthe calculationofcharges. ThecalculationofchargesrelatedtoIoTdevices isalsocomplicatedbythefactthatthestateofthe devicecaninfluencethechargedparty.Oneexample ofthischallengeisIoTdevicesthataremountedin vehiclesatafactory.Thefactorypersonnelwilllikely wanttotestthatthedeviceisworkingbefore shippingthevehicletothereseller.Theresellermay Figure 2 5G reference architecture for BSS Intelligence management Party management Production Southbound API Core commerce management Social media Mediation = Decoupling and integration Policies IoT Cloud/ edge OSS Comm. services EPC/ 5G Core Customers Business customers Developers Apps Engagement management Northbound API BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY ✱ 7MARCH 26, 2020 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
- 9. Multipartycharging WhiletraditionalBSSareabletohandleroaming partnersandwholesaleagreements,theyarenot equippedtohandlethedramaticincreasein differenttypesofpartneragreementsinthe5G/IoT ecosystem.Theabilitytohandleawidevarietyof partneragreementsandsupporttheonboardingof partnersandrelatedchargingmodelswillbecrucial toCSPs’abilitytomonetizeonexpectedIoTgrowth andavoidbecomingbit-pipewholesalers. Inthe5G/IoTecosystem,asingleeventthatBSS receivefromthe5Gcorenetworkcantriggera complexvaluechainthatrequiresmultiplepartiesto bechargedorsharerevenue.ACSPcannotrelyon traditionaltechniquestohandlethiscomplexity– doingsowouldmeanpostponingchargingor revenuesharedistributionuntilthebillrun. Todeliverup-to-dateinformationtotherelevant partners,theCSPneedsBSSthatcanprocessthe entirevaluechainassoonasanyactivityoccursthat impactsthem.Thisdoesnotmeanthateverything mustbeprocessedinrealtime,butratherthatevents mustbehandledinanonlineasynchronousprocess. Forexample,whenBSSgrantconsumerstherightto accessspecificservices,theeventisfollowedupbya post-sessionprocesstocalculateanddistributethe charges/revenuesharefortheinvolvedpartners. Asaresult,therelevantpartnershaveaccessto up-to-dateinformationwithinseconds,ratherthan attheendofthedayoratthebillrunastheywould intraditionalBSS. In5G-evolvedBSS,differenteventsforthesame servicecanhavedifferentchargeorrevenueshare distribution.One-timefees,recurringchargesor usagefeescanallhavedifferentdistributionrules andincludeoneormorepartners.Forexample,itis possibleforanoperatortochargeaone-timefee toaconsumerandkeepalloftherevenue,whilealso chargingarecurringfeetothesameconsumerand splittingthatrevenuewithapartnerthatprovides theconsumerdeviceonarentalbasis. DigitalBSSarchitecturefor5GandtheIoT Figure3showsthekeycomponentsofEricsson’s digitalBSSarchitecture.Thecolorschemeindicates therelationshipbetweenthecomponentsinthis architectureandthefunctionalODAarchitecture showninFigure2. Figure 3 Ericsson’s digital BSS implementation architecture Customer and partner interaction BSS exposure layer Order capture and fulfillmentCatalog Charging Mediation BillingBilling Party management Intelligence management = Decoupling and integration BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY ✱ 9MARCH 26, 2020 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
- 10. Thefront-endchannelsinthecustomerandpartner interactionlayerandtheBSSexposurelayerare deployedasamicroservicearchitecturetofacilitate businessagility,scalingandtheintroductionof customizedsolutionsasperoperatorneeds. Furtherdowninthestack,thearchitectureisbased onminiservices,primarilytooptimizefootprint, performanceandlatency. Table2mapsoutthe5GevolutionareasinBSS tothemainfunctionalblocksinourdigitalBSS BSS functional block 5G evolution areas Customer and partner interaction •Catalogdriven,omnichannel •B2CandB2Bdigitalfrontend:customer/partnerjourneys •B2CandB2BCPQ(configure,priceandquote),framecontracts •B2B2Xmarketplace BSS exposure layer •OpenAPIexposure •Looselycoupledprinciple •SDKtosupportAPIaggregation Catalog • Exposureforpartnerproductcreation •Enhancedbundlingwithpartnerproducts •Productmodelsfornetworkresources •Productmodelsforenterpriseproducts •Partnercatalog •Multi-deviceofferings Order capture and fulfillment • Ecosystemorchestration •Newbusinessmodelsupport Charging • Supportfornewchargingtriggerpoints •ManagecommunicationservicesatIoTscale •Charginglife-cyclemanagementasapartofmassIoTdevice andmasssubscriptionlife-cyclemanagement •Multipartycharging •Charginginhierarchies •Chargingonbehalfof •Non-telcoservicecharge Mediation • Calldetailrecordgenerationfor5G •OnlinemediationSBI-diameter Party management • ExtendedB2B(supplyagreements,non-telcocontracts) •Digitalpartnermanagement Intelligence management • SLAmanagement •Datalake Billing • Life-cyclemanagementasapartofmassIoTdeviceand masssubscriptionlife-cyclemanagement •Multipartybilling •Billingonbehalfof •Revenuesharing •IoTpartnersettlements Table 2 Prioritized 5G evolution areas in the main BSS functional blocks ✱ BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY 10 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MARCH 26, 2020
- 11. Further reading ❭ EricssonTechnologyReview,BSSandartificialintelligence–timetogonative,January2019,availableat: https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/ericsson-technology-review/articles/bss-and-artificial- intelligence-time-to-go-native ❭ Ericsson blog, Impacts of monetizing 5G and IoT on Digital BSS, October 29, 2019, Michael Fireman, available at: https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2019/10/impacts-of-monetizing-5g-and-iot-on-digital-bss ❭ Ericsson blog, Monetize 5G and IoT business models, October 7, 2019, Michael Fireman, available at: https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2019/10/monetize-5g-and-iot-business-models ❭ Ericsson, Telecom BSS, available at: https://www.ericsson.com/en/portfolio/digital-services/digital-bss ❭ Ericsson, Digital BSS, available at: https://www.ericsson.com/en/digital-services/offerings/digital-bss References 1. TMA, Open Digital Architecture Project, available at: https://www.tmforum.org/collaboration/open-digital- architecture-oda-project/ architecture.Containerization,microservicesanda commontechnologystackarecommontoallblocks. Conclusion The5Gnetworkevolutionpresentscommunication serviceproviderswiththeopportunitytotransform themselvesfromtraditionalnetworkdevelopersto serviceenablersfor5GandtheInternetof Things, andultimatelytoservicecreatorswiththeabilityto collaboratebeyondtelecomsandestablishlucrative digitalvaluesystems.Alongtheway,thisjourney opensupsubstantialnewrevenuestreamsin verticalssuchasindustrialautomation,security, healthcareandautomotive.Tosuccessfully capitalizeonthisopportunity,CSPsneedBSS thatareevolvedtomanagecomplexvaluechains andsupportnewbusinessmodels. 5G-evolvedBSSenablesmoothcollaboration betweenconnectivityproviders,servicecreators, partners,suppliersandothersthatresultsinthe efficientcreationofattractiveandcost-effective services.Optimizedinformationmodelsandahigh degreeofautomationarerequiredtohandlehuge numbersofdevicesthroughopeninterfaces. Deploymentinacloud-nativearchitectureensures flexibilityandscalability.Itisimportanttokeepthe businesslogic,interfacesandinformationmodels of5G-evolvedBSSflexible,sotheycanbeadjusted tosuitthevaluechainsandbusinessmodelsofthe differentindustryverticals. AtEricsson,wewillcontinuetoevolveourBSS offeringtosupportourcustomersontheirjourneys fromnetworkdeveloperstoserviceenablers,from serviceenablerstoservicecreatorsandbeyond. Aspartofthiswork,wearealsofirmlycommitted todrivingandcontributingtorelevantstandards intheBSSareaandparticipatinginopensource anddevelopercommunitiestopromoteopenness andinteroperability. CSPs NEED BSS THAT ARE EVOLVED TO MANAGE COMPLEX VALUE CHAINS BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY ✱ 11MARCH 26, 2020 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
- 12. theauthors Jan Friman ◆ is an OSS/BSS expert in the architecture and technology team within Business Area Digital Services. Since joining Ericsson in 1997, he has held various OSS/BSS-related positions within the company’s RD, system management and strategic product management organizations. Friman holds anM.Sc.incomputerscience from Linköping University, Sweden. Michael Nilsson ◆ is a BSS expert in the solution architecture team within Business Area Digital Services. Nilsson joined Ericsson in 1990 and has extensive experience from the telecommunications area in support and verification, radio, core and transmission network design and BSS product development. Since 2012, he has held the position of chief architect for next generation BSS development. Elisabeth Mueller ◆ is an expert in BSS end-to-end systems whose current work focuses on 5G/IoT BSS architecture. She joined Ericsson in 2006 when LHS in Frankfurt was acquired to complement the Ericsson BSS offerings with a billingsystem. Since then she has taken on many different roles within the company, including system design, system management and solution architecture in all BSS areas. Mueller holds an M.Sc. in mathematics from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, along with several patents in the BSS area. ✱ BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY 12 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MARCH 26, 2020
- 13. ISSN 0014-0171 284 23-3342 | Uen © Ericsson AB 2020 Ericsson SE-164 83 Stockholm, Sweden Phone: +46 10 719 0000