Microsoft Corp is keen to wean telecommunications companies away from their dependence on the Unix operating system, and at the Supercomm 98 show yesterday introduced a new Active Operations Support Systems framework to address some of the shortcomings of Windows NT when used for telecoms applications. The services are intended to cover the operations, administration, maintenance and service provisioning support that third parties writing applications for telcos need, reducing time to market. It’s the latest stage in a strategy Microsoft announced a year ago to target the area at the same event (CI No 3,174). The new OSS framework adds core telecommunications operations and business process support to the intelligent networks development it is doing using SS7 Signaling System 7 and the xDSL high speed services and IP-based services it is also working on. Microsoft also insists the strategy fits in well with the Windows application services it renamed last year as its Distributed interNet Applications, or DNA, its COM and DCOM distributed component models, Microsoft Transaction Server and MQS messaging. OSS uses process models based on Network Management Forum models, and the TNM Telecommunications Management Network models established by the International Telecommunications Union. As usual, a raft of third parties was on hand to support the move, including AI Metrix Inc, CableData Inc, Digital Equipment Corp, Eagle Telecom Software Inc, Euristix Ltd, Minacom International Inc, NCR Corp, Northern Telecom Ltd, Tandem Computers Inc and Vertel Corp, all working on applications to support the new framework. A white paper on the Active OSS Framework is available at http://www.microsoft.com/industry/telecom/
