A TSP perspective on OSGi

Anders W. Ljunggren,Director of Technology and DevelopmentWirelessCar Europe

– Founded in 2000 by Ericsson, AB Volvo and Telia

– Offices in Göteborg, Sweden and Irvine, California

WirelessCar background

Current owners

Current Telematics offering• WirelessCar is an operator of telematics services• Offer unbranded telematics services to OEMs and other TSPs• Our platform is called the Universal Telematics Network (UTN):

Other SPs

Voice servers

Mappingproviders

Network operator

OEM Dealer/OEM

customer care

OEM Finance or outsourced

WAP Portal

Service Integration & Management

Customer Management

Connectivity& Service roaming

Operations &

Support

Service Interface Call centre system interface

Network op. Interface

Device Interface

Provisioning Interface

Invoicing and interface to

Finance systems

Billing

Call centre of choice

HW OEM

Protocol Conversion

Voice

An example of a UTN application –Volvo On Call

Providebilling input and CRM data

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Factoryinterface

Dealer

WirelessCarWirelessCarUTNUTN

Provide service or content

GSM #nGSM #n

GSM #2GSM #2

Validate &decode message

GSMGSMRoute &translate message

Call Center

Where does OSGi fit in the WirelessCar solution?

• From a TSP perspective, OSGi means two new standardized interfaces for configuration and deployment of applications.

• BUT - Just like today’s solutions, an OSGi-based solution is dependant on communication-, provisioning-, billing- and support services.

• WirelessCar can leverage on its current platform and interfaces and integrate OSGi components into the UTN as a natural extension to the platform.

• BUT – WirelessCar will also be able to operate services based on other protocols/standards.

Other SPs

Voice servers

Mappingproviders

Network operator

OEM Dealer/OEM

customer care

OEM Finance or outsourced

WAP Portal

Service Integration & Management

Customer Management

Connectivity& Service roaming

Operations &

Support

Service Interface Call centre system interface

Network op. Interface

Device Interface

Provisioning Interface

Invoicing and interface to

Finance systems

Billing

Call centre of choice

HW OEM

Protocol Conversion

Where does OSGi fit in (cont’d)?

”CC”

Open standards – SWOT from a TSP perspecitve

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

• Less implementation cost

• More efficient development, less need for do-it-yourself

• More efficient partner integration ⇒ more services available

• Less competitive advantage on the technology side.

• Larger captive market

• Lower switching cost for potential customers.

• Key to general adoption and cost reductions/volume

• Long TTM – can not wait!

• Costly implementations – too advanced for today´s services

• New standards and technologies

• Lower switching cost for current customers

The role of Telematics Service Provider –does it´s business change with OSGi?

• A TSP ties the different systems (HW, network, services, support) together and takes end-to-end responsibility.

• The TSP usually controls several key systems including• Control center software• Billing engine• Provisioning systems• Customer & vehicle database

• Focus is on operating services with high availability and 24/7 support

• Business model is driven by support and operation – not implementation cost!

THIS WILL NOT CHANGE – The business is driven by exactly the same factors and the same requirements are placed on the organisation, solution and business model.

Securing quality assurance from your service providers

Managing Quality IS NOT necessarily the same as securing high quality

OSGi will set the focus on Quality Management:

• Securing the right quality for each service

• Different SLAs’ along the value chain with different services (packages)

• OEM RESPONSIBILITY for some services, while other services are the responsibility of the TSP, SP or NO.

Quality Management is key to be able to deliver what the customers want at the right price-point.

Optimizing provisioning and billing in an OSGi environment

As the availibility of different services increases, focus will be on providing an efficient provisioning and billing solution:

Provisioning• Ability to tailor subscriptions to different customers desires• Ability for the customer to manage his own subscription using different

access technologies.• EASY TO USE is key, this must not be complex!

Billing• Different business models on the basis of service type.• Convergent billing is a necessity• Standardisation of EDRs

A TSP wishlist for “CC” servers

• User friendly GUIs for operations staff

• Detailed log files with configurable trace levels

• High availability option (clustered servers)

• Alarm & monitor interface (SNMP)

• Billing interface (configurable EDR/CDRs)

• CRM interface (insert/remove/modify…)

• Multi platform (Solaris/HP-UX/Linux…)

• External database support

Roadmap to OSGi

1. WirelessCar’s view about OSGi is pragmatic –Expand the UTN platform today, integrate OSGi tomorrow.

2. WirelessCar will gain operational experience from Acunia and Gatespace control center platforms in the Göteborg 3GT field trial.

3. Pilot projects for interested OEMs

4. Full scale implementation

• WirelessCar is an operator of unbranded telematics services.

• OSGi-based services will still be dependant on communication-, provisioning-, billing- and support services – during and after deployment.

• WirelessCar will leverage on its current operational UTN platform and integrate OSGi into it.

• Managing Quality is not necessarily the same as securing high quality

• WirelessCar will gain operational experience in the Göteborg 3GT field trial

Summary

Questions ?