The Electronic Bonding Option

Reston-based firm BizTelOne Inc works with the vision to be the leading
provider of operational support systems interconnection services to the
communications industry by streamlining the two-way automated interconnection
between trading partners. They aim to significantly reduce operating expenses
and capital investments, while increasing revenue and collapsing time-to-market
for their customers.

Scenario

One of the largest US-based investors in the high-growth global
Telecommunications market asked BizTelOne Inc to develop a system that provides
the foundation for an automated interconnection clearinghouse for the
Telecommunications industry. The system was expected to handle complex processes
and business rules, support trading between multiple partners and reduce
operational expenses associated with building, operating and maintaining a
gateway.

To build this pay-as-you-use clearinghouse, BizTelOne Inc decided to partner
with an IT solutions provider who would, provide complete Product Lifecycle
solutions from business requirements understanding to post implementation
support, quickly scale-up/scale-down project teams as per project requirements
and provide a cost effective solution.

Costs–A concern

The traditional mode of functioning between trading partners was through
gateway software, which was being provided by different vendors. It involved
huge capital investment and ongoing maintenance costs. The fact that one
competitive local exchange carrier did business with many incumbent local
exchange carriers necessitated many gateway applications since each ILEC has
different set of rules for different geographic locations. It was painfully
imperative for CLECs to change their business logic every time ILECs changed
rules.

Solution

The Infinite team arrived at framework specifications and using Infinite’s
signature ‘Hub and Spoke’ model, designed a B2B Exchange that provides a
messaging exchange between ILECs and CLECs. This electronic exchange is unique
because it is built to support either CLEC or ILEC functionalities or both. The
core function of the system enables the seamless and secure exchange of
pre-order inquiries, access service requests and local service requests. The
system provides requests validation and tracking, OSS integration,
datawarehousing and business intelligence front-ends.

Benefits

The finished product is a Web-enabled/XML-based clearinghouse that enables
service providers and their trading partners to electronically exchange ordering
and provisioning transactions. The clearinghouse provides a two-way, automated
interconnection, significantly reducing operating expenses and capital
investments, while increasing revenue and collapsing time-to-market. The product
provides trading partners a scalable and cost effective electronic bonding
alternative to the point-to-point gateway solutions. It easily accommodates the
addition of new trading partner relationships and transaction types and provides
the service providers with tools to do business with their trading partners
efficiently and effectively. The product also provides a solution for emerging
trading requirements such as CLEC to CLEC interconnection and new services such
as, wireless number portability.

The product uses multi-tier architecture on J2EE framework with WebLogic 6.1
as application server and Oracle8i as database. Red Hat Linux 7.2 is used as the
OS due to its advantages and cost consideration. ILOG rules engine was used for
validating rules. The product has some very complex modules, but armed with a
detailed SRS and good design the team finished the project within the given
timeframe. With reviews and tight control over requirement, deployment was on
time.

Defined Delivery

The project was executed in 10 Months time with an average team size of 40
engineers. Teams of engineers were also stationed at the client site to help
them train users and prepare user manuals. Infinite also provides second level
support and post deployment enhancement/ bug fixes as required. With the product
up and running, rules for all the ILECs are being managed at a single point.
Capital investment from CLEC is eliminated, as they now pay only for
transactions and not for idle time. CLECs conduct business with any ILEC and at
any location as all business rules and logic are managed by the Infinite system.

Team DQ

Inputs for this case study were provided by the company