Comms Alliance publishes B2B specs for NBN service providers

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 22 December 2010 14:00

Business IT - Networking

Communications Alliance has published a document detailing how the systems of retail service providers should interact and communicate with those of wholesale providers and NBN Co in order to enable the provisioning, activation and ongoing delivery of retail services to end users over the NBN.

The document, NBN B2B Interaction Process Requirements has been developed by the operational working group of the Communications Alliance NBN Project, chaired by Greg Tilton of NBN Co.

It outlines the business transactions requirements between service provider and acquirer (retail service provider or end customer) using business-to-business (B2B) interfaces that will be needed to enable a retail service provider to deliver a working service to an end user.

The transaction models proposed in the specification are based on the NICC B2B and ITU M.3340 standards. The current document is release 1 and some sections are being further developed.

NICC, the UK's Network Interoperability Consultative Committee is a technical forum for the UK communications sector that develops interoperability standards for public communications networks and services in the UK. It is an independent organisation owned and run by its members.

ITU Recommendation M.3340 is a framework for next generation service fulfilment and assurance management across the business to business and customer to business interfaces.

According to the ITU web site, it contains the business to business/customer to business (B2B/C2B) interface framework for NGN service fulfilment and assurance management in the NGN management view, provided using the telecommunications management network (TMN) interface specification methodology described in ITU-T Recommendation M.3020, the NGN management architecture described in ITU-T Recommendation M.3060/Y.2401, the public B2B business operations map described in ITU-T Recommendation M.3050 Supplement 2.

Communications Alliance CEO, John Stanton, said: The B2B specification is one more important building block toward creating a National Broadband Network that can deliver on the promise of high-speed connectivity and rich applications that will change the communications experience of all Australians."