Reference Architecture for the Telecommunications Industry

This book reflects the tremendous changes in the telecommunications industry in the course of the past few decades - shorter innovation cycles, stiffer competition and new communication products. It analyzes the transformation of processes, applications and network technologies that are now expected to take place under enormous time pressure.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the TM Forum have provided reference solutions that are broadly recognized and used throughout the value chain of the telecommunications industry, and which can be considered the de facto standard. The book describes how these reference solutions can be used in a practical context: it presents the latest insights into their development, highlights lessons learned from numerous international projects and combines them with well-founded research results in enterprise architecture management and reference modeling. The complete architectural transformation is explained, from the planning and set-up stage to the implementation. Featuring a wealth of examples and illustrations, the book offers a valuable resource for telecommunication professionals, enterprise architects and project managers alike.

Both authors have extensive experience in the telecommunications industry. They have been involved in more than 50 transformation projects of telecommunications operators worldwide.

Prof. Dr. Christian Czarnecki works as a professor at the University of Applied Sciences, which is part of the Deutsche Telekom Group (Hochschule für Telekommunikation Leipzig, Germany). His lectures and research focus on information systems and the telecommunications industry. He has a broad practical experience in different consulting companies and has managed numerous transformation projects of telecommunications operators in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. In the TM Forum he is involved in the further development of the enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM). He received a doctorate of engineering from the University of Magdeburg for his research in the field of enterprise architecture and reference models.

Christian Dietze is based in Abu Dhabi and works as regional director in the international telecommunications industry. He has held various leading positions in the telecommunications industry and has been responsible for the management and quality assurance of significant restructuring projects in the Middle East/North Africa, Central Africa/South Africa, Europe and Asia for more than a decade. Most recently he has been supporting several chief executives of leading international telecommunications operators to successfully establish their digital business units. In the TM Forum he has a leading position in the further development of eTOM. He received his Master´s in Computer Science from the University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany.