Page 373 - Handbook of Modern Telecommunications

3-164 CRC Handbook of Modern Telecommunications, Second Edition

with contact and support, and bill the customer for the products supplied. The service provider can
deliver some or all of a service product to the customer itself, or it might subcontract out provision of
parts, or even all, of the product to other service providers while maintaining the customer-facing role
of the one-stop shop. The service provider is responsible for acting on behalf of the value network it
represents in relationships with intermediaries as well as with the customer.
The complementary provider extends the product provided by the service provider and offers addi-
tional capability that the service provider is not offering to the customer; that is, it complements the
product being provided by the service provider and adds value to it, but is not essential for provision of
the product itself. The complementary provider is in a partnership with the service provider and can
enhance the service provider’s product with its own products, thus making interactions with the service
provider more attractive and convenient for the customer.
The intermediary supplies a service for a fee. For example, a localized selling function in a market where
the service provider has a limited presence or understanding, is a typical service provided by an intermedi-
ary. The service provided could be an information service enabling customers to locate service providers
most appropriate to their specific needs, or the provision of an environment in which providers can make
their products known to customers in an electronic marketplace or trading exchange (infomediary).
The supplier interacts with the service provider in providing hardware, software, solutions, and ser-
vices, which are assembled by the service provider in order to deliver its solutions or services to the
customer. The service provider is bounded by its suppliers’ ability to deliver.

3.6.10 IT Management Frameworks and the Information
Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

Information technology is not only a critical element of business for the telecommunications industry,
but also for many other industries as well. The convergence of telecommunication to IT-originated tech-
nologies (characterized by the widespread use of the Ethernet and IP protocols, traditional computer
architectures serving traffic-switching functions) has made issues faced by telecom technology manage-
ment similar to that of enterprise networks.
The last two decades has brought the formation and evolution of numerous IT service management
frameworks that all target the comprehensive and systematic categorization and description of con-
cepts, methodologies, and best practices to be followed by modern and responsible IT management.
From among initiatives like BS15000 (ISO/IEC 20000), AS8018, COBIT, or MOF (Microsoft Operations
Framework), another related British government initiative for establishing an Information Technology
Infrastructure Library (ITIL) has emerged as the most well-known and widely referenced standard.
ITIL as a trademark is owned by the UK Office of Government Commerce, but the IT Service
Management Forum (itSMF), an international nonprofit organization for IT service management pro-
fessionals, contributed to its content and had a key role in making it accepted worldwide. (Unfortunately
there have recently been frictions between these two “parents.”) IT management materials published
originally by IBM during the early 1980s are also significantly incorporated in the library.
As of today, ITIL is the de facto reference point for IT service management and governance. This is
especially true in Europe, while America seems to be less enthusiastic, and probably following less thor-
oughly documented but more pragmatic forms of IT management and operations guidance in practice.
ITIL has seen three versions so far (v1: 1987, v2: 2001, v3: 2007), each differing significantly both in
content and in structure.
ITIL version 2 is structured in eight books called sets. Two of these sets, “Service Delivery” and
“Service Support,” form the core of ITIL by describing the key requirements for processes to be fol-
lowed by IT departments. The rest of the documents link IT service management to related areas like
technology (“ICT Infrastructure Management” and “Security Management”), business (“The Business
Perspective” and “Application Management,” “Software Asset Management”) and provide guidance for
implementing ITIL at an organization (“Planning to Implement Service Management”).