Cloud Computing on Ulitzer

Comptel Corporation announced that BT and Progress Software will be participating in the second phase of the Service Model Catalyst, as it explores the creation of new converged services that include cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) components.

The collaborative effort brings together business use cases from BT and Qwest as co-sponsors, with BT providing cloud brokering and cloud assurance services on Amazon Web Services' EC2 platform, Comptel providing a consolidated product and service catalog, Network Cadence providing systems integration with a service fabric broker for fulfilment and assurance orchestration, and Progress providing a management tool for the canonical data model.

"BT believes that, if customers and end-users are to see the huge, potential benefits of cloud computing, vendors, suppliers and communications service providers (CSPs) will need to work together to ensure interoperability," said Gary Bruce, Catalyst lead, BT Innovate & Design. "The Service Model Catalyst presents an excellent opportunity for us to work together to push the boundaries of cloud computing management. We are keen to continue to work with TM Forum, to draw out further key business requirements for cloud and to continue to develop cutting-edge prototypes."

The second phase of the Service Model Catalyst will consist of a technical demonstration that shows how CSPs can reduce the time and cost to launch new converged products that include cloud-based components, by applying a consistent model to the definition of service components prior to their assembly.

The first phase of the Service Model Catalyst was launched by existing participants Comptel, Network Cadence and Qwest at Management World 2009, and built on the Product and Service Assembly (PSA) initiative, which established that a service assembly approach, where CSPs organize their business into an agile factory that supports the rapid creation, assembly and launch of new products and services, could yield significant time and cost benefits.

"Qwest is proud of the leadership we are contributing to the Service Model Catalyst, and view our involvement as a natural extension of growing by aligning with other best-of-breed organizations," said Neil Cox, executive vice president of product and IT, Qwest. "We believe an adaptable architecture will let Qwest quickly bring multiple technologies online and new products to market efficiently and productively. That is the real benefit of the Catalyst experience, and one that is leading to the creation of unified, next-generation solutions for our customers."

"Delivering IT services is becoming more critical within the telecom industry, and the Service Model Catalyst is helping support these non-traditional, cloud-based activities," said Gareth Senior, CTO, Comptel. "We're excited to be a part of this collaboration that continues to extend the value of the PSA -- and shows that a holistic product and service catalog can improve time-to-market for the new generation of CSPs."

"Network Cadence is very pleased to be a part of such an important and forward-looking Catalyst. We believe that the work done in this project in the areas of service modelling, cloud computing and service lifecycle management are key in enabling our CSP partners to take advantage of the emerging cloud computing market," said John McCawley, CEO, Network Cadence.

"Progress enables the world's leading companies to create new opportunities, manage risk and gain efficiencies by becoming more operationally responsive. Progress is proud to be a part of the Service Model Catalyst, providing a means for CSPs to increase their agility in offering new services in cloud-based environments," said Hub Vandervoort, CTO, Progress. "By ensuring data interoperability and standards compliance in the cloud, CSPs can shorten the time-to-market of introducing new services. We are excited to be showcasing this solution in conjunction with our Catalyst partners."

The Service Model Catalyst continues the tradition of TM Forum's Technology Catalyst Program by addressing the convergence of carrier-provided products with cloud services. The Catalyst leverages TM Forum standards and frameworks and open source technologies to prove the project concepts in a live demonstration.

"As TM Forum's Cloud Initiative moves forward, one of the main things we will be looking at is ease of use," said Jim Warner, VP, cloud programs, TM Forum. "Key underlying 'standards' needed are common definitions of types of cloud services. This enables users to quickly compare and contrast different cloud offerings from different vendors; plus, it allows CSPs to automate much of the ordering and provisioning process and improve their time-to-market for cloud services."

The Service Model Catalyst will be on display within Forumville at this year's Management World Americas, taking place December 8-10, 2009 in Orlando, Florida.