IBM Intros Products; Programs Aimed At NSPs And Carriers

IBM

The offerings include a new WebSphere product called Business Integration for Telecommunications, which features built-in integration capabilities, according to the company.

The new service provider offerings hook into ISV templates and service delivery models such as DSL, said Joe Ziskin, director for IBM's global telecommunications industry.

IBM is also pushing a new program to encourage service providers to use its Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE). SPDE is an open-standards framework comprised of reference architectures, business processes and open standards interfaces.

"SPDE is designed to enable the industry to introduce services faster and more efficiently and look at how to leverage third-party applications and content providers," Ziskin said.

Third-party providers already allied with IBM in this effort include Redback Networks and Siebel, Ziskin said. The company is working with a number of ISVs to ensure their applications integrate with the SPDE environment, he said.

Tied to this effort is a new Network Innovation Lab, where service providers can design and test service management processes such as product selection, ordering, provisioning, activation, CRM and billing within their existing IT infrastructure.

To also help service providers manage third-party content, IBM has created new software management tools compliant with specifications sanctioned by Parlay, a multivendor consortium formed to develop open technology-independent APIs that enable technology vendors, Internet and e-business companies, ISVs, network device vendors and ASPs to develop applications and technology solutions to operate across multiple networking platform environments.

The management tools are also compliant with Open Mobile Architecture, WAP, SOAP, UDDI and WDSL, the company said.