IT Integration

Information technology is an indispensable part of any business. Today all business processes are built around IT infrastructure. Nobody would consider running even the smallest business without IT support.

IT software is a huge market, and is supported by thousands of smart developers. Integrating various IT tools into a seamless and automated system is an important focus in almost all industries. Software tools track the supply chain, monitor raw materials inventory, schedule manufacturing, prioritize distribution. All stages tie onto billing and cost accounting systems, which in-turn tie into financial reporting systems. SCADA systems track product through all stages of the manufacturing process, and increasingly are tied into the IT system. The goal is seamless business intelligence.

Service providers have an advantage: Their infrastructure is built using software technology, so interconnecting into a software based IT infrastructure should be relatively simple. Integrating network operations into the overall business process is just as important.

Fulfillment of customer requests consumes network resources and generates revenue. Accurately tracking this balance can help service providers reduce costs, coordinate capital expenditures, and maximize revenue potential. Getting the right information to the right people at the right time, can have a dramatic impact on productivity and profitability.

Packet Optical networks support closer collaboration between parts of the organization that work on services with those that work with the optical infrastructure. Packet Optical systems inherently manage packet services and optical infrastructure under one software system. The CAPEX saving that results from reduced interconnect, ports and network elements is obvious. But the operational impact that comes from unifying the management of these client server functions is much greater.

This is just a start. Integration of the network management and operation support tools into a common IT framework is the next step. The goal is two-way flow-through of business information between the network infrastructure and the IT systems, to enable timely fulfillment, delivery confirmation and service assurance. The IT integration considers both services and infrastructure, as well as the complete planning, turn-up, fulfillment and operations lifecycle.

The TMForum Business Process Framework (eTOM) is an example of an industry initiative that targets Service Provider IT integration. In a ironic twist, IT integration is enabled by the same software technologies that are enabled by packet optical networks.