ATIS Launches Service Oriented Networks Forum And Releases SON Assessment /Work Plan

 February 5, 2009, Washington, DC - The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) announced today the launch of the Service Oriented Networks (SON) Forum and the release of the corresponding SON Assessment and Workplan. This Forum’s creation was one of the SON Assessment and Workplan’s specific recommendations.

 Commissioned by the ATIS Board of Directors, the SON Forum will convene representatives from the telecommunications, IT and Web industries to develop practices and standards necessary to support an open and flexible SON ecosystem. Its work will enable more agile and adaptable telecommunications networks incorporating customization characteristics typically associated with IT applications and Web portals. The SON Forum’s work will also ensure that service oriented networks are reliable, secure and interoperable with future and existing infrastructures.

Ultimately, the Forum’s work will result in telecommunications providers bringing innovative new products and services to the marketplace faster and in a manner that maximizes their commercial appeal.

The SON Assessment and Workplan comprehensively evaluated current standards efforts to support SONs. The culmination of a year’s work, the 259-page assessment concluded the following:

• It is not currently possible to deploy a SON using existing standards.
• There are major gaps across the SON landscape.
• Any standards that do exist are inconsistent, incomplete, or not interoperable with the Telco, IT and Web domains.
• There is no single standards development organization responsible for this large and complex landscape.

The Assessment and Workplan was compiled by representatives of ATIS member companies including:British Telecom, Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Cisco, D&E Communications, Deutsche Telekom, Detecon, Ericsson, GENBAND, Hewlett Packard, Huawei, JDSU, Juniper, LG, Motorola, Neustar, Nortel, Qwest, RIM, Sprint, TDS Telecom, Tekelec and UTStarcom. It was also endorsed by ATIS’ Board of Directors.

“The focus and formation of the SON Forum reflects the industry’s need to address this emerging space.” said Susan Miller, ATIS President and CEO. “This important Forum will deliver the benefits that the best of the Telco, IT and Web worlds can offer by developing business-driven standards and solutions that will support changing networks, technologies and business models. It reflects ATIS’ continuing commitment to innovate and evolve in the direction dictated by our member companies.

The SON Forum has scheduled its first meeting for March 10, 2009. British Telecom’s Head of Information Technology Strategy, Paul Muschamp, will serve as the Convenor. The first meeting will be open to all interested parties. For more information on the SON Forum and to register for the March 10 th meeting, please contact Veronica Lancaster at vlancaster@atis.org. or call at (202) 434-8840.

ATIS SON Forum’s Mission Statement

The SON Forum will enable the interoperability and implementation of Service Oriented Network (SON) applications and services by developing standards, providing coordination for the development of standards and practices and facilitating related technical activities. This Forum will place an emphasis on telecommunications industry needs in collaboration with regional and international standards development programs in the telecommunications, IT and Web industries.

About ATIS
ATIS is the leading technical planning and standards development organization committed to the rapid development of global, market-driven standards for the information, entertainment and communications industry. More than 300 companies actively formulate standards in ATIS’ 20 Committees, covering issues including: IPTV, Service Oriented Networks, Home Networking, Energy Efficiency, IP-Based and Wireless Technologies, Quality of Service, Billing and Operational Support. In addition, numerous Incubators, Focus and Exploratory Groups address emerging industry priorities including “Green”, IP Downloadable Security, Next Generation Carrier Interconnect, IPv6 and Convergence.

ATIS is the North American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a member and major U.S. contributor to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio and Telecommunications’ Sectors, and a member of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). www.atis.org