Amartus Launches nBrace 3.0 to Automate Inter-Provider Services

New software builds on MEF LSO Sonata APIs and TM Forum Industry Standards to enable providers to partner for rapid negotiation of end-to-end services that span multiple providers; Company collaborates with leading providers on MEF PoC to demonstrate rapid partner on-boarding and interoperability test solution using nBrace.

Amartus Limited, a provider of industry standard inter-provider automation software solutions and expert services, has announced nBrace™ 3.0, with new features that make it significantly easier for wholesale and retail service providers to adopt a standards-based approach for negotiating network and cloud services with ecosystem partners.

As enterprise adoption of SD-WAN, SASE, cloud and 5G services increase, so do the expectations for seamless, on-demand delivery of those services. No single provider can offer all the components (e.g., network overlay/underlay, cloud, security, etc.) needed for these complex multi-faceted services - they must partner with others.

Amartus nBrace™ enables providers to negotiate services with suppliers and customers in near real-time. Using nBrace™, providers can extend and evolve their existing business support systems and processes with the latest industry standards (MEF LSO Sonata APIs and TM Forum) compliant API-driven automation support.

New Features in nBrace™ 3.0

The nBrace™ 3.0 release, which is now generally available, adds support for automated end-to-end routing and orchestration of all necessary business communication with third-party suppliers to fulfil end customer services orders successfully.

The solution automatically decomposes customer orders into those components that can be served by the provider itself and those for which they need to engage third-party suppliers. It orchestrates all pre-order and order negotiations with the providers' internal system and the matching third-party suppliers to complete the service request. Communication with suppliers is conducted via industry-standard APIs from MEF (LSO Sonata) and TM Forum (open APIs).

nBrace™ 3.0 is fully customizable and allows for a precise adaptation of the decomposition process to each service provider’s specific product types or business needs. The overarching goal is to improve customer responsiveness with a seamless end-to-end experience where third-party suppliers are involved.

“Amartus has been a leading contributor to MEF LSO Sonata-based inter-provider API development and promotion since the beginning,” said Daniel Bar-Lev, VP Strategic Programs, MEF. “More recently, the company led a key project as part of the MEF Proof of Concept Program to define an LSO Sonata partner onboarding and interoperability solution aimed at accelerating adoption among providers. It is great to see the close alignment of MEF LSO standardized APIs with the Amartus release.”

Amartus Augments nBrace™ with Rapid Partner Onboarding and Interoperability Testing

Support for rapid, efficient onboarding and interoperability for tens and even hundreds of partners in a typical providers ecosystem is critical for the success of industry standard inter-provider automation adoption. Amartus, through its work at MEF, collaborated with a group of leading service providers to define and develop a configurable solution for portable buyer and seller MEF LSO Sonata compliant reference emulators using nBrace™.

The emulators aim to enable faster time to market with standards-compliant LSO Sonata implementation(s), allowing onboarding of many partners in parallel, and deliver a significant reduction in partner onboarding and interoperability time and cost. The solution was successfully demonstrated in a recent MEF Proof of Concept (PoC 137), which Amartus undertook in collaboration with two leading providers.

"The MEF 137 Proof of Concept aimed at developing a test platform to facilitate service providers in developing and on-boarding standardized MEF LSO Sonata APIs for inter-provider automation,” said Divesh Gupta, Co-Chair – MEF Test & Certification Committee. “The buyer and seller emulators setup under this POC not only helped in reducing the time required to develop and test these APIs; they also help improve the scalability so a large number of partners can be on-boarded in parallel.”

Partner Onboarding and Interop - MEF

Expert Services for Inter-Provider Automation Acceleration

In addition, in recognition that inter-provider automation is a journey, and each provider has different needs and means, Amartus has broadened its services offering to include inter-provider automation expert services designed to assist providers at each stage of their journey, regardless of how they choose to implement LSO Sonata.

With these services, Amartus applies its deep expertise, experience, and working knowledge of the standards to help providers develop their business and technical strategy for adoption. The services leverage a range of tools and processes that have been developed along the way to save significant time and money.

“Automating negotiation of products and services with customers and suppliers is at the heart of a provider’s digital transformation; it’s a major undertaking that goes well beyond exposing APIs. Interoperability with customers and suppliers must be guaranteed on a continuous basis. Only broadly accepted, standards-based APIs, such as MEF LSO Sonata, can offer plug-and-play interoperability and, as such, improve time to market and cost-efficiency of partner ecosystem automation,” says Michael Kearns, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Amartus. “It is not something that can be easily built without the advanced software, tools, and expertise to achieve the level of efficiency, predictability, and scalability to manage such an ecosystem. We are leaders in that respect; we have built the software and expertise over recent years and are working with leading providers to support them on their transformation journey.”