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

What is provisioning?

Currently, I am engaged in architecting a provisioning engine which will primarily cater to ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and TELCOs. While discussing architectural options and details, I realized lot of persons does not understand:

What is PROVISIONING?

Persons who do not understand provisioning include both technical and business.

To know what are experts are saying about my question, I googled but not able to get any satisfactory answer.

To understand provisioning, I have developed a small story.

Let’s assume Mr. X has applied for a job and reaches to an office for an interview. So now he is sitting on nice sofa and waiting for interview. Now he feels thirsty and requires a glass of water. He asks receptionist for water since there is no water cooler around. She asks Mr. X to relax and wait. She calls an office boy to serve water to Mr X. Office boy brings a glass of water and serves to Mr. X. Mr. X drinks water and thanks him.

In this story, Mr. X is a client who is asking for a service to be delivered to him. He is not talking to service provider but to provisioning engine (Receptionist) which in turn asks service provider (Office boy) to provide service (a glass of water) to client. Service provider provides service to client.

To further this example, assume Mr. X needs one more glass of water. Now will he ask again to receptionist or directly to office boy? There is no definite answer. If Mr. X wants water immediately after first glass, he can ask office boy for second one. But if Mr. X wants second glass after office boy has left the scene, he may ask receptionist again or may approach Office boy directly for glass of water.

So in real life systems, serving a service depends upon lot of factors:

1. Timings of first and subsequent service demands
2. Infrastructure and system capabilities
3. Conventions followed in particular domain/vertical

So what is provisioning:

Provisioning is a mechanism by which an intermediary system facilitates delivery of service to a client. So that client can maintain its ignorance about service provider in terms of how to register for delivery of service.

Some links to understand provisioning:

1. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-provisioning.htm
2. http://www.answers.com/topic/provisioning
3. JSR 124: J2EETM Client Provisioning Specification
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisioning
5. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/provisioning.html
6. http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci333804,00.html
7. Tivoli Provisioning Manager