The software giant is positioning its XML-based BizTalk Server as the go-between for various OSS applications (for more on Microsoft's service provider strategy, see our cover story). Lloyd Spencer, solution unit manager for OSS/BSS at Microsoft, says BizTalk Server takes a third of the time and cost to implement when compared with other solutions. "Adaptors are easier to write," says Spencer. "Work flow tools make it easier to set up the provisioning process."
Broadwing Inc. is among the service providers using BizTalk Server to tie together its operations support systems. Dave Torline, Broadwing's chief information officer, says the service provider uses BizTalk Server extensively in its national network to support network monitoring, provisioning and service activation. It allows Broadwing to tie in new applications with legacy OSSs and to web-enable transactional services, allowing customers to order services and to pay or to check the status of bills on the Internet.
Torline says nearly two years ago Broadwing looked at solutions from traditional OSS middleware providers, but chose BizTalk because it allowed the company to incorporate more features -- like codifying business rules -- into the messaging bus. That kind of flexibility was possible because BizTalk is based on XML, Torline says.
The BizTalk solution was 50 percent less expensive and 50 percent faster to deploy at Broadwing than competing solutions would have been. Torline says the fact that Broadwing already uses Microsoft technology, such as SQL, extensively also added to BizTalk's appeal. "We feel it was more integrated," he says.
Microsoft's Spencer says the developer community seems to prefer XML and Visual Studio.net is integrated into the BizTalk product.
The BizTalk approach effectively goes head-to-head with existing solutions from Vitria and others based on the TeleManagement Forum's "bus" concept, in which middleware sits between various OSS applications so service providers don't have to make one-to-one connections between each and every OSS application they're running.
Although the Tele- Management Forum is pushing the idea of a bus-based platform to tie various OSS applications, Andy Chu, product manager of network service providers OSS/BSS at Microsoft, says the design for the bus is not standardized and there's no tie-in to legacy OSS.
"The bus idea is right architecturally, but it needs to be open," adds Jim Culbert, vice president of technology for Metratech, which runs a billing bureau based on BizTalk.
Vitria spokesman Richard Kain says, like Microsoft's solution, Vitria's Businessware supports XML. In fact, Vitria recently bought XML Solutions, he says.
Kain says service providers can use Businessware to define XML between applications, as can be done with BizTalk. Vitria can talk to Siebel CORBA Object Manager and the carrier customer doesn't have to define XML structures to talk to Siebel, he adds.
"Vitria comes with a lot of prebuilt connectors for MetaSolv, Siebel, Portal and various other OSS applications," says Tim Culver, Vitria's director of professional services for telecom vertical. "It's probably the most robust offering."
Rob Rich, an analyst with consulting firm The Yankee Group, says he finds Microsoft's development environment for web services "very impressive," but adds it looks best for companies that want to go "100 percent homogenous web services."
"These applications are only as good as their ability to access legacy, especially if you're going to do Tier 1," Rich says.
"While this does provide faster development, Microsoft needs to [develop] web services total cost of ownership studies," Rich continues. "We don't have a good model for that. It seems you should be able to save money and flexibility [by using BizTalk Server], but a real telco is unsure at this time."
