Provisioning - Follow up

Sunny Agarwal: no thanks boss.. I would like to have a discussion
tushar Jain: sure
tushar Jain: any time
Sunny Agarwal: in fact, just wrote the comment
Sunny Agarwal: but, forgot to ask one thing
tushar Jain: which
Sunny Agarwal: in which scope r u trying to explore provisioning
Sunny Agarwal: provisioning is a generic term.
tushar Jain: agree provisioning is generic terms
tushar Jain: but in SOA parlance we always talk provisioning of services
tushar Jain: but most of people do not understand meaning of this term
tushar Jain: and most of the information available on net talks provisioning in terms of Telecommunication
tushar Jain: and little bit of identity management
tushar Jain: Even Tivoli provisioning manager does not explain what is provisioning
Sunny Agarwal: u said u r writing in context of Telcos
Sunny Agarwal: if u wishes to explore provisioning in a larger scope then may be i can give u some points
tushar Jain: sure
Sunny Agarwal: Cloud computing and utility computing r emerging areas
Sunny Agarwal: where these provisioning concepts will come
tushar Jain: I love to know
Sunny Agarwal: Ok, so there are 3 pillars:
Sunny Agarwal: 1. Grid Computing
Sunny Agarwal: 2. Utility Computing
Sunny Agarwal: 3. Cloud Computing
Sunny Agarwal: where service provider is agnostic to service requester
Sunny Agarwal: typical SOA arena
tushar Jain: ok
Sunny Agarwal: but at the same, time we need light governance in order to facilitate transactions
tushar Jain: ok
tushar Jain: so here u have to provision a service for an entity
Sunny Agarwal: one interesting area is scalable provisioning
Sunny Agarwal: where u scale up systems dynamically
tushar Jain: what is that
Sunny Agarwal: to provide dynamic service levels
Sunny Agarwal: here virtual systems and virtualized hardware systems also come in picture
Sunny Agarwal: again, I am just talking to u... what I have read across and seen...
Sunny Agarwal: trying to know, how u want to move ahead on this topic now
Sunny Agarwal: u wants to lay out a framework for delivery, solution, or a business process...
Sunny Agarwal: or an Infrastructure setup
tushar Jain: wait
tushar Jain: I see provisioning as subset of SOA because Cloud, Utility and Grid and SOA at different level and extension of SOA
tushar Jain: the essential feature of all these three pillars is service
tushar Jain: so service should be provisioned in respective environment
tushar Jain: which need some sort of provisioning engine
Sunny Agarwal: ok
Sunny Agarwal: so would it be something like a BPM engine, where this engine would maintain identity or service instance details
tushar Jain: I see provisioning engine will be an be an essential part of SOA stack just like ESB and UDDI
Sunny Agarwal: ok, then how does u differentiate Service Registry products from provisioning
Sunny Agarwal: engine
Sunny Agarwal: something like Active Matrix Service grid
Sunny Agarwal: which provides all this?
tushar Jain: I see service registry as mere listing of available service which may also indicate QoS. But not essentially as tool which can make service available to an entity - human & m/c.
tushar Jain: This thought encompasses identity management systems into provisioning system
tushar Jain: provisioning engine and registry in conjunction will lay down the governance system.
Sunny Agarwal: hmm.. Seems I need to read on this then. Identity management is a new word to me
tushar Jain: sure
Sunny Agarwal: so, this Provisioning system will come in between any service requester and service grid
Sunny Agarwal: as a receptionist
tushar Jain: perfect
Sunny Agarwal: and yet, I have a flexibility to call the office boy or grid directly
tushar Jain: once you are introduced to office boy
Sunny Agarwal: yeah.. So that would be something like
Sunny Agarwal: one enterprise service grid
Sunny Agarwal: internal business domains can call office boy directly
Sunny Agarwal: and external entities who wish to use these services better come thru receptionist
Sunny Agarwal: hmmmm..... Here we can have a relation of telco's..... N/W bulk providers and Virtual Service providers...
tushar Jain: it should be true but trusted partners can call office boy directly, if system is desined in this way to enhance performance and reduce overhead
Sunny Agarwal: yep
Sunny Agarwal: so , what r the business drivers for this concept
tushar Jain: Ant just be clear, I have tried to define provisioning g in dependent of domain - Telco or ISP
Sunny Agarwal: like for SOA, main driver is reuse
Sunny Agarwal: and inter opp
Sunny Agarwal: what is for provisioning?
tushar Jain: I have used mention of these domain to just start the conversation
Sunny Agarwal: yeah... i got that... and it’s new to me too... something broader
tushar Jain: main driver is governance
Sunny Agarwal: broader
Sunny Agarwal: I will talk abt it with my mentors in wipro also
tushar Jain: sure any time
tushar Jain: and I am available on mail and messenger
Sunny Agarwal: hmm...interesting
Sunny Agarwal: i hope u r on my linked in
Sunny Agarwal: and ur blog is there now..
tushar Jain: my bog is there in my profile
tushar Jain: and I have started a group on linkedin
Sunny Agarwal: gr8 gr8
tushar Jain: Now I need a favor
Sunny Agarwal: bolo sir
tushar Jain: can I publish this conversation as blog entry
tushar Jain: if you permit
Sunny Agarwal: why not.
Sunny Agarwal: would only make me feel better.
tushar Jain: thanks
Sunny Agarwal: my objective is to have authentic info and understanding
tushar Jain: me too
Sunny Agarwal: and especially in SOA world, it’s very deceptive
Sunny Agarwal: terms r so misused
Sunny Agarwal: OK, Tell me where does provisioning fits in OSS /BSS solutions
Sunny Agarwal: at what level
tushar Jain: ok, first you tell me what do u understand by BSS and OSS
Sunny Agarwal: well, OSS is operational support system and BSS is business support systems..
Sunny Agarwal: if u forgets about backend n/w infra
Sunny Agarwal: u r left with services and products plus all management around it
Sunny Agarwal: BSS would be more centric to business systems...
tushar Jain: ok
Sunny Agarwal: and OSS for operational.. Following the basic FAB stack
Sunny Agarwal: levels would be customer / internal / backend n/w
Sunny Agarwal: yes, there is a point.
tushar Jain: what
Sunny Agarwal: if u looking at unified OSS solution, then not much integration and services....
Sunny Agarwal: if u follow best of breed COTS prods and then integrate them for OSS
Sunny Agarwal: then SOA would also come in
Sunny Agarwal: ab u punch in
tushar Jain: so what BSS and OSS are doing
Sunny Agarwal: nothing...
tushar Jain: with integrated approach or as compartments
tushar Jain: they are just offering services
Sunny Agarwal: that’s it
tushar Jain: Suuny I have to go in meeting
tushar Jain: we will again chat on Monday