The 5G network evolution has opened up an abundance of new business opportunities for communication service providers (CSPs) in verticals such as industrial automation, security, health care and automotive. In order to successfully capitalize on them, CSPs must have business support systems (BSS) that are evolved to manage complex value chains and support new business models. Optimized information models and a high degree of automation are required to handle huge numbers of devices through open interfaces. This Ericsson Technology Review article explains how 5G-evolved BSS can help CSPs transform themselves from traditional network developers to service enablers for 5G and the Internet of Things, and ultimately to service creators with the ability to collaborate beyond telecoms and establish lucrative digital value systems.

1. Customer and partner interaction
BSS exposure layer
Order capture and fulfillmentCatalog
Charging Mediation BillingBilling
Party
management
Intelligence
management
= Decoupling and integration
THE ROLE OF BSS
IN 5G EVOLUTION
ERICSSON
TECHNOLOGY
C H A R T I N G T H E F U T U R E O F I N N O V A T I O N | # 0 3 ∙ 2 0 2 0

2. 5G offers communication service providers an unprecedented opportunity
to enhance their position in the value chain and tap into new revenue
streams in a variety of industry verticals. A successful transition will require
business support systems (BSS) that are evolved to fit the 5G economy.
JAN FRIMAN,
MICHAEL NILSSON,
ELISABETH MUELLER
The rapidly expanding Internet of Things
(IoT) and all the new capabilities available
in 5G have opened up a wealth of opportunities
for communication service providers (CSPs)
beyond their traditional markets, particularly
in verticals such as automotive, health care,
agriculture, energy and manufacturing.
To monetize them, CSPs will need to meet
the expectations of a broader range
of stakeholders and be able to handle
complex ecosystems.
■ One of the primary roles of business support
systems (BSS) is to manage a CSP’s relationships
with its stakeholders by keeping track of
agreements, handling orders, generating reports,
sending invoices and so on. In the past, these
stakeholders were generally limited to consumers,
resellers, partners and suppliers. In the 5G/IoT
business context, though, more complex
ecosystems are arising that BSS must evolve to
support. To do so, the requirements of a larger,
more diverse group of stakeholders must be taken
5G BSS:
EvolvingBSS
tofitthe
5Geconomy
✱ BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY
2 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MARCH 26, 2020

3. into account, and mechanisms must be established
to manage the relationships between them.
Examplesofnewstakeholdergroupsthatneed
tobeconsideredinthe5G/IoTbusinesscontext
include:
❭ Enterprises and industry verticals that require
solutions beyond telecoms
❭ New types of suppliers such as IoT device
providers and suppliers of eSIM (embedded
SIM) and related technologies
❭ Platform providers that specialize in specific IoT
or edge clusters or groups of use cases such as
massive and broadband IoT platforms, industrial
IoT platforms and content data networks
❭ Integrators that specialize in specific verticals
such as asset management, mission-critical
services or automotive that combine
capabilities from multiple stakeholders to
address consumer needs.
Networkdeveloper,serviceenabler
orservicecreator?
Lookingahead,thecapabilitiesthataCSPneeds
initsBSSsolutionwilldependontheroleitplays
–oraimstoplay–intheIoTecosystem.Figure1
illustratesthethreeroletypes:networkdeveloper,
serviceenablerandservicecreator.
Inthetraditionalnetworkdeveloperrole,aCSP
actssolelyasacellularconnectivityproviderby
offeringsolutionssuchasradio,corenetworkand
communicationservices.Inthisrole,theCSP’s
businessmodelsareconsumerfocused.Itsrolein
theIoTecosystemislimited.
Intheserviceenablerrole,theCSPextendsits
servicesbyincorporatingadditionalcapabilities
suchascloud/edgeandIoTenablementandshifts
focustobusinesscustomersandindustryverticals.
TheCSPbecomesaserviceenablerfor5Gandthe
IoT,actingasasupplierofconnectivityandplatform
services.Asaserviceenabler,theCSP’sbusiness
Figure 1 The evolving role of the CSP in the IoT ecosystem
A) Network developer
Customer Customer Customer
CSP
IoT
provider
IoT
providerCSP
SIM
manufacturer
SIM
manufacturer
Device
manufacturer
Device
manufacturer
Device
manufacturerCSP CSP
B) Service enabler C) Service creator
BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY ✱
3MARCH 26, 2020 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

4. modelsareextendedtobusiness-customerfocused
withrespectto5GIoT.
Intheservicecreatorrole,theCSPtransitions
frombeingaconnectivityandplatformproviderto
creatingnewdigitalservicesandcollaborating
beyondtelecomstoestablishdigitalvaluesystems.
Asaservicecreator,theCSPpartnerswithsuppliers
todelivernewservicesallthewayuptofullIoT
solutions,takingontherolesofintegrator,
distributororco-seller.
BSSforallthreeCSProles
TraditionalBSSsupporttheCSPinthenetwork
developerrole,inwhichtheCSPchargesforvoice,
textanddataservicesbasedonconsumptionor
subscriptionlevel.Themainrequirementsfor
theseBSSare:
❭ Customer management, traditional partner
business (roaming partners), charging and
billing, and finance modules
❭ Order capture and order execution for new
telco subscriptions and/or add-on offerings
❭ Charging and balance/quota management
in BSS, as well as mediation
❭ Interaction with operations support systems
(OSS) for network provisioning.
EvolvingBSStosupportaCSPinaserviceenabler
rolerequiresashiftinfocustotheneedsof
enterprisecustomersandIoTusecases.TheBSS
mustbetransformedintoasystemthatisableto
monetizeIoT/5Gplatformsandedgedeployments,
whichrequiressignificantchangesinboththe
functionalandnon-functionalspace.Inthenon-
functionalspace,thismainlyinvolvesscalability
–thatis,enablingtheBSStohandletrafficand
alargenumberofdevicesatIoTscale.
Intermsoffunctionality,theBSSenhancements
requiredbyserviceenablersinclude:
❭ Automation of full life-cycle management for
devices/IoT resources supported by flexible
orchestration, including exposure of services
for managing relationships with business
customers
❭ Support for batch orchestration, flexible supply
agreements and contracts for non-telco
services with associated charging models
❭ Service exposure of network capabilities, so
that IoT providers can bundle their offerings
with connectivity and sell them on to their
customers
❭ Service exposure of BSS and OSS capabilities
to enable efficient ordering processes,
especially with regard to the management of
mass subscriptions.
SupportingaCSPintheservicecreatorrole,where
thefulllifecycleofpartnersmustbetakeninto
account,requiresBSSwithfurtherfunctional
extensions.Thestakeholderecosystemofservice
creatorsissignificantlymorecomplex,asthe
customerbasebroadenstoincludeverticalsandthe
CSPstartsofferingfullsolutionsbeyondtelecoms.
Asaresult,BSSforservicecreatorsmustinclude
extensiveandflexiblepartnerrelationship
management.Supplychainmanagementis
especiallyimportant.
Thecapacitytoexposenetworkcapabilityaswell
asBSSandOSScapabilitiesiscriticallyimportantto
aCSP’sabilitytodeliveronservicecreationbeyond
Terms and abbreviations
API – Application Programming Interface | BSS – Business Support Systems | CSP – Communication
Service Provider | IoT – Internet of Things | ODA – Open Digital Architecture | OSS – Operations Support
Systems | SBI – Service-Based Interface | SDK – Software Development Kit | SLA – Service Level Agreement
✱ BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY
4 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MARCH 26, 2020

5. telecoms,sothatpartnerscandeveloptailored
applicationsanddeploythemontheoperator’s
infrastructure.
Finally,thenewbusinessmodelsavailableto
CSPsasservicecreatorsrequirenewmonetization
modelsforchargingandbilling.Forexample,
multipartycharging,revenuesharingandprofit
sharingallrequireextendedbillingand
reconciliationfunctionality.
BSSsolutionlevelsandkeycapabilities
Table1organizesandsequenceskeyBSS
capabilitiesbasedontechnicaldependenciesand/or
levelofcomplexity.Onebyone,thesecapabilities
BSS solution level Capabilities
5G enabled • 5Gservice-basedinterface(SBI)support(chargingfunction)
• NetworkslicingsupportinBSSandOSS
• Classicroamingpartners
• Containerizationandmicroservices
• Commontechnologystack
IOT and edge
monetization
•IDmanagementandcorrelation
• Life-cyclemanagementforIoTdevices
• Businesscustomerand5G/IoTenterprisemanagement
• Charginginmultilevelhierarchies
• Supplyagreements
• Flexibleorchestrationoforderingprocesses
• Serviceexposurefordevicemanagement
• OpenAPIexposure
• Continuousintegration/continuousdelivery(CI/CD)forserviceexposure
• Enterpriseself-care
• Multipartychargingandbest-effortcharging
• Privatenetworks
• Platformpartnerships
• Contractfornon-telcoservices(IoT/edgeenabled)
• Chargingmodelsfornon-telcoservices
• Multi-tenancy
• Chargingandbillingonbehalfof
• Location-awareservices
• Blockchainforsmartcontracting
• ServiceLevelAgreement(SLA)management
Full 5G ecosystem • Partnerrelationshipmanagement
• Partnercatalog
• Partnerrevenuesharing
• Reconciliationandsettlement
• Flexiblebilling
• Platformasaserviceanddistributedcloud
• Edgeplatformservices
• Multi-accessedgecomputing(MEC)
• BSSasaservice
• Continuousmonitoring
• Artificialintelligenceandmachine-learningautomation
• CI/CD
Table 1 Key capabilities of the three BSS solution levels
BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY ✱
5MARCH 26, 2020 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

6. addontoeachother,continuouslyincreasingBSS
maturityandtransformingtheBSSintoasystem
capableofsupportingallthenewusecasesand
businessmodelsthatcharacterizethe5G/IoT
ecosystem.
Thefirstevolutionstep–‘5Genabled’inTable1
–providessupportfornew5Gstandardsand
concepts,whichenablesadrasticincreaseindata
transmissionthroughputwhilemaintainingfocuson
traditionalconsumers.Applyingcontainerization
andacommontechnologystackwillassurethe
scalabilityoftheBSSsolutiontomeettheincreased
throughputdemandsofthenetwork.
Atthenextsolutionlevel,IoTandedgemonetization,
thefocusshiftstobusinesscustomers.Thesenew
capabilitiesenabletheCSPtoprovideextended
supportforenterpriseswhenitcomesto5GandIoT
usecasesbycoveringIoTdevicemanagement,
supportfornon-telcoservicechargingandmulti-
partychargingaswellasIoTand/oredge-platform
monetization.Inaddition,serviceexposureenables
self-serviceforenterprisesalongwithapplication
developmentfortheoptimizationofIoTdevices.
Thenumberof5G/IoTusecasesthattheCSPisable
tosupportincreasesdrasticallyatthisstage.
Theadditionofpartnercapabilitiesatthefull
5GecosystemlevelallowstheCSPtoaddresstotally
newcustomersegmentsbeyondtelecomsand
provideindustry-specificsolutionstoverticals.
ACSPcancreatenewservices(evendeliverBSS
asaservice),andoffertheseservicesonamarketplace
toreachnewsegmentsofbusinesscustomers.
Themultitudeofpartnershipsrequiresupportfor
newbusinessmodelsthatallowflexiblecharging,
revenuesharingandbilling.
5GreferencearchitectureforBSS
Fromahigh-levelarchitecturalviewpoint,BSSin
the5G/IoTecosystemcloselyresembletraditional
BSS,withsimilarinterfacestosurroundingsystems.
TheBSSarchitectureinFigure2ispresentedinthe
OpenDigitalArchitectureformat[1].Itisdivided
intopartymanagement,corecommerce
management,intelligencemanagement,production
andengagementmanagement.Productionincludes
thesouthboundapplicationprogramminginterface
(API)layertothenetworkinfrastructure,IoT
platforms,cloud/edgeandOSS,whileengagement
managementincludesthenorthboundAPIlayerto
customersandpartners.
5GandtheIoTplaceseveralchallenging
requirementsonnewcapabilitiesintheBSS
architecturethatarenotdirectlyvisibleatahigh
level.Allfunctionalareasareaffectedbythe5G
evolutionandareextendedtosupportthenew
requirementsandpossibilities,mostnotablyinthe
areasofmass-devicemanagement,deviceand
resourcelife-cyclemanagement,subscription
management,chargingmodelsfornon-telco
servicesandmultipartycharging.
IoT-scalemass-devicemanagement
Thesheernumberofconnecteddevicesinthe5G/
IoTworldisamajorchallengeforBSStomanage.
WhilecurrentBSSarchitecturesarescalable,they
willbetoocostlyforIoTusecasesduetothelarge
datafootprintandprocessingneedofeachdevice.
Scalabilityaloneisnotenoughtohandlemassive
amountsofdevices.Toaddressthis,5G-evolved
BSSmusthaveapersistenceandmanagement
modelthatislightweightenoughtoallowalarge
numberofdevicestousethesamefootprintasone
traditionaldevice.Thiscanbeaddressedusing
conceptssuchasherding,whereeachindividual
deviceonlyrequiresaminimaldatafootprint.
Thebehaviorofeachindividualdeviceis
determinedbytheherdconfiguration,whichis
asinglespecificationperherd.
Life-cyclemanagementof
IoTdevicesandresources
ManagingthelifecyclesofIoTdevicesand
resourcesisanothersignificantchallengeforBSS.In
manyemergingIoTapplications,theabilityto
SCALABILITYALONEISNOT
ENOUGHTOHANDLEMASSIVE
AMOUNTSOFDEVICES
✱ BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY
6 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MARCH 26, 2020

7. monitorthestateofthedevicethroughoutits
lifecycleisnotsufficient.Forexample,contracts
thatcoverlargeherdsofdevicesarelikelytobe
basedonrecurringchargesperactivedevice.
Inthesescenarios,theaggregatednumbersof
devicesperstatebecomekeyparametersinthe
calculationofcharges.
ThecalculationofchargesrelatedtoIoTdevices
isalsocomplicatedbythefactthatthestateofthe
devicecaninfluencethechargedparty.Oneexample
ofthischallengeisIoTdevicesthataremountedin
vehiclesatafactory.Thefactorypersonnelwilllikely
wanttotestthatthedeviceisworkingbefore
shippingthevehicletothereseller.Theresellermay
Figure 2 5G reference architecture for BSS
Intelligence
management
Party management
Production
Southbound API
Core commerce management
Social
media
Mediation
= Decoupling and integration
Policies IoT
Cloud/
edge
OSS
Comm.
services
EPC/
5G Core
Customers Business
customers
Developers Apps
Engagement
management
Northbound API
BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY ✱
7MARCH 26, 2020 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

8. thenwanttodemonstratetheservicethedevice
providestoprospectivebuyers,beforeaconsumer
ultimatelybuysthevehicleandstartsusingthe
service.Ateachofthesestages,thechargedparty
andchargingmodelmaybedifferentdependingon
thestateofthedevice.Overcomingsuchchallenges
requiresaBSSarchitecturethatcanprovideup-to-
datestateinformationperindividualdeviceor
resourceaswellasaggregatedinformationtothe
rating,chargingandbillingfunctions.
SubscriptionmanagementforIoTdevices
Subscriptionmanagementisanotherareathatmust
evolvetofitthenew5G/IoTbusinesscontext.
TraditionalBSSarebuilttomanageconsumer
subscriptions.Theyarenotcapableofhandlingthe
massivenumberofdevicesinIoTusecasesinacost-
efficientmanner.Subscriptionmanagementin
5G-evolvedBSSrequiresahighlevelofautomation
andsolutionsthatreducetheprocessingfootprintto
onboardandmanagedevices,servicesandproducts.
OneeffectiveapproachistoexposeAPIsandtools
thatallowpartnersorevenconsumerstoonboard
andmanagedevices.
Togainefficiencyandminimizemanagement,
poolsofservicesandproductscanbelinkedtoherds
ofdevices,insteadofapplyingindividualservicesto
devicerelationships,whichisthecommonpractice
inBSStoday.Theserviceinstanceslinkedtoherds
arekepttoaminimalfootprintandthemajorityof
theparametersneededforprocessingcanbekepton
specificationlevel.Thischangewillenablemore
efficientprocessinginBSSandreducethenumber
ofscenariosthatrequiremassprovisioning.
UnliketraditionalBSS,5G-evolvedBSSmustbe
abletocaptureandcreatethenetworkchargingdata
records(chargingfunction).Thistaskprovidesthe
BSSwithauniqueopportunitytodeterminewhich
charging,balancemanagementandaggregation
functionsmustbeperformed,andusethis
knowledgetomonetizetheusageofthe5Gnetwork.
Forinstance,theBSScanmonitorallowancesand
balancesinrealtime,ifsorequiredbyapartner
agreement,ordecidetopostponetheratingand
balancemanagementtoanearreal-time
asynchronousflow.
AllowingtheBSStodecidetheimportanceand
risklevelofeacheventbasedonagreements,Service
LevelAgreements(SLAs)andoperatorbusiness
rulesmakesitpossibletoaccommodatemultiple
chargingmodelssimultaneously.Amongother
things,thisapproachenablesreal-timemonitoring
ofindividualdeviceherds,whileatthesametime
providingpartnerratingsforoneormultiple
involvedpartnersinacontinuous,nearreal-time,
flowforindividualdevicesessions.
Chargingmodelsfornon-telcoservices
5G-evolvedBSSmustalsosupportthemanagement
andmonetizationofservicesthatarenottraditional
telcoservices,suchasthosefortheIoTplatformor
applicationhostingattheedge.Inthepast,BSS
havetraditionallyreliedonawell-definedsetof
parametersprovidedthroughstandardized
protocols,butthisapproachwillnotbesufficient
whenenteringthenon-telcoservicearena.
Tomonetizeonnon-telcoservices,the5G-evolved
BSSmusthavetheflexibilitytousepreviously
unknownidentifiersandparameters,especially
inthechargingandbillingsystems.
Theusageofanon-telcoservicecanbemonetized
usingsomethingassimpleasanetworkslice
identifiertodeterminehowtoaggregateandcharge
foraservice.Inotherinstances,amuchmore
complexmodelmustbeused,involvingmultiple
inputparametersforeacheventtodeterminewhich
partyorpartiesshouldbechargedandwhich
chargingmodelshouldbeapplied.Consequently,
thechargingandbillingsolutionin5G-evolved
BSSmustprovidetheflexibilitytomapandevaluate
non-telcoidentifiersandotherparametersat
configurationtime.
ONE EFFECTIVE
APPROACH IS TO EXPOSE
APIs AND TOOLS THAT ALLOW
PARTNERS ... TO ONBOARD
AND MANAGE DEVICES
✱ BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY
8 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MARCH 26, 2020

9. Multipartycharging
WhiletraditionalBSSareabletohandleroaming
partnersandwholesaleagreements,theyarenot
equippedtohandlethedramaticincreasein
differenttypesofpartneragreementsinthe5G/IoT
ecosystem.Theabilitytohandleawidevarietyof
partneragreementsandsupporttheonboardingof
partnersandrelatedchargingmodelswillbecrucial
toCSPs’abilitytomonetizeonexpectedIoTgrowth
andavoidbecomingbit-pipewholesalers.
Inthe5G/IoTecosystem,asingleeventthatBSS
receivefromthe5Gcorenetworkcantriggera
complexvaluechainthatrequiresmultiplepartiesto
bechargedorsharerevenue.ACSPcannotrelyon
traditionaltechniquestohandlethiscomplexity–
doingsowouldmeanpostponingchargingor
revenuesharedistributionuntilthebillrun.
Todeliverup-to-dateinformationtotherelevant
partners,theCSPneedsBSSthatcanprocessthe
entirevaluechainassoonasanyactivityoccursthat
impactsthem.Thisdoesnotmeanthateverything
mustbeprocessedinrealtime,butratherthatevents
mustbehandledinanonlineasynchronousprocess.
Forexample,whenBSSgrantconsumerstherightto
accessspecificservices,theeventisfollowedupbya
post-sessionprocesstocalculateanddistributethe
charges/revenuesharefortheinvolvedpartners.
Asaresult,therelevantpartnershaveaccessto
up-to-dateinformationwithinseconds,ratherthan
attheendofthedayoratthebillrunastheywould
intraditionalBSS.
In5G-evolvedBSS,differenteventsforthesame
servicecanhavedifferentchargeorrevenueshare
distribution.One-timefees,recurringchargesor
usagefeescanallhavedifferentdistributionrules
andincludeoneormorepartners.Forexample,itis
possibleforanoperatortochargeaone-timefee
toaconsumerandkeepalloftherevenue,whilealso
chargingarecurringfeetothesameconsumerand
splittingthatrevenuewithapartnerthatprovides
theconsumerdeviceonarentalbasis.
DigitalBSSarchitecturefor5GandtheIoT
Figure3showsthekeycomponentsofEricsson’s
digitalBSSarchitecture.Thecolorschemeindicates
therelationshipbetweenthecomponentsinthis
architectureandthefunctionalODAarchitecture
showninFigure2.
Figure 3 Ericsson’s digital BSS implementation architecture
Customer and partner interaction
BSS exposure layer
Order capture and fulfillmentCatalog
Charging Mediation BillingBilling
Party
management
Intelligence
management
= Decoupling and integration
BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY ✱
9MARCH 26, 2020 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

10. Thefront-endchannelsinthecustomerandpartner
interactionlayerandtheBSSexposurelayerare
deployedasamicroservicearchitecturetofacilitate
businessagility,scalingandtheintroductionof
customizedsolutionsasperoperatorneeds.
Furtherdowninthestack,thearchitectureisbased
onminiservices,primarilytooptimizefootprint,
performanceandlatency.
Table2mapsoutthe5GevolutionareasinBSS
tothemainfunctionalblocksinourdigitalBSS
BSS functional block 5G evolution areas
Customer and partner
interaction
•Catalogdriven,omnichannel
•B2CandB2Bdigitalfrontend:customer/partnerjourneys
•B2CandB2BCPQ(configure,priceandquote),framecontracts
•B2B2Xmarketplace
BSS exposure layer •OpenAPIexposure
•Looselycoupledprinciple
•SDKtosupportAPIaggregation
Catalog • Exposureforpartnerproductcreation
•Enhancedbundlingwithpartnerproducts
•Productmodelsfornetworkresources
•Productmodelsforenterpriseproducts
•Partnercatalog
•Multi-deviceofferings
Order capture
and fulfillment
• Ecosystemorchestration
•Newbusinessmodelsupport
Charging • Supportfornewchargingtriggerpoints
•ManagecommunicationservicesatIoTscale
•Charginglife-cyclemanagementasapartofmassIoTdevice
andmasssubscriptionlife-cyclemanagement
•Multipartycharging
•Charginginhierarchies
•Chargingonbehalfof
•Non-telcoservicecharge
Mediation • Calldetailrecordgenerationfor5G
•OnlinemediationSBI-diameter
Party management • ExtendedB2B(supplyagreements,non-telcocontracts)
•Digitalpartnermanagement
Intelligence management • SLAmanagement
•Datalake
Billing • Life-cyclemanagementasapartofmassIoTdeviceand
masssubscriptionlife-cyclemanagement
•Multipartybilling
•Billingonbehalfof
•Revenuesharing
•IoTpartnersettlements
Table 2 Prioritized 5G evolution areas in the main BSS functional blocks
✱ BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY
10 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MARCH 26, 2020

11. Further reading
❭ EricssonTechnologyReview,BSSandartificialintelligence–timetogonative,January2019,availableat:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/ericsson-technology-review/articles/bss-and-artificial-
intelligence-time-to-go-native
❭ Ericsson blog, Impacts of monetizing 5G and IoT on Digital BSS, October 29, 2019, Michael Fireman,
available at: https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2019/10/impacts-of-monetizing-5g-and-iot-on-digital-bss
❭ Ericsson blog, Monetize 5G and IoT business models, October 7, 2019, Michael Fireman, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2019/10/monetize-5g-and-iot-business-models
❭ Ericsson, Telecom BSS, available at: https://www.ericsson.com/en/portfolio/digital-services/digital-bss
❭ Ericsson, Digital BSS, available at: https://www.ericsson.com/en/digital-services/offerings/digital-bss
References
1. TMA, Open Digital Architecture Project, available at: https://www.tmforum.org/collaboration/open-digital-
architecture-oda-project/
architecture.Containerization,microservicesanda
commontechnologystackarecommontoallblocks.
Conclusion
The5Gnetworkevolutionpresentscommunication
serviceproviderswiththeopportunitytotransform
themselvesfromtraditionalnetworkdevelopersto
serviceenablersfor5GandtheInternetof Things,
andultimatelytoservicecreatorswiththeabilityto
collaboratebeyondtelecomsandestablishlucrative
digitalvaluesystems.Alongtheway,thisjourney
opensupsubstantialnewrevenuestreamsin
verticalssuchasindustrialautomation,security,
healthcareandautomotive.Tosuccessfully
capitalizeonthisopportunity,CSPsneedBSS
thatareevolvedtomanagecomplexvaluechains
andsupportnewbusinessmodels.
5G-evolvedBSSenablesmoothcollaboration
betweenconnectivityproviders,servicecreators,
partners,suppliersandothersthatresultsinthe
efficientcreationofattractiveandcost-effective
services.Optimizedinformationmodelsandahigh
degreeofautomationarerequiredtohandlehuge
numbersofdevicesthroughopeninterfaces.
Deploymentinacloud-nativearchitectureensures
flexibilityandscalability.Itisimportanttokeepthe
businesslogic,interfacesandinformationmodels
of5G-evolvedBSSflexible,sotheycanbeadjusted
tosuitthevaluechainsandbusinessmodelsofthe
differentindustryverticals.
AtEricsson,wewillcontinuetoevolveourBSS
offeringtosupportourcustomersontheirjourneys
fromnetworkdeveloperstoserviceenablers,from
serviceenablerstoservicecreatorsandbeyond.
Aspartofthiswork,wearealsofirmlycommitted
todrivingandcontributingtorelevantstandards
intheBSSareaandparticipatinginopensource
anddevelopercommunitiestopromoteopenness
andinteroperability.
CSPs NEED BSS THAT
ARE EVOLVED TO MANAGE
COMPLEX VALUE CHAINS
BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY ✱
11MARCH 26, 2020 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

12. theauthors
Jan Friman
◆ is an OSS/BSS expert
in the architecture and
technology team within
Business Area Digital
Services. Since joining
Ericsson in 1997, he has held
various OSS/BSS-related
positions within the
company’s RD, system
management and strategic
product management
organizations. Friman holds
anM.Sc.incomputerscience
from Linköping University,
Sweden.
Michael Nilsson
◆ is a BSS expert in the
solution architecture team
within Business Area Digital
Services. Nilsson joined
Ericsson in 1990 and has
extensive experience from
the telecommunications
area in support and
verification, radio, core and
transmission network design
and BSS product
development. Since 2012, he
has held the position of chief
architect for next generation
BSS development.
Elisabeth Mueller
◆ is an expert in BSS
end-to-end systems whose
current work focuses on
5G/IoT BSS architecture.
She joined Ericsson in 2006
when LHS in Frankfurt was
acquired to complement the
Ericsson BSS offerings with a
billingsystem. Since then she
has taken on many different
roles within the company,
including system design,
system management and
solution architecture in all
BSS areas. Mueller holds an
M.Sc. in mathematics from
Johannes Gutenberg
University in Mainz,
Germany, along with several
patents in the BSS area.
✱ BSS IN THE 5G ECONOMY
12 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ MARCH 26, 2020

13. ISSN 0014-0171
284 23-3342 | Uen
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