As communications service providers focus more on product differentiation as a core business strategy, the increased dynamism of products is resulting in a significant number of product management challenges. Successfully moving to an effective product-based business model and managing new product introductions and changes in a timely and efficient manner will require operators to modify their product management processes and adopt new operations support system (OSS) solutions. Operators increasingly require OSS solutions that provide an environment to collaboratively construct, manage and deploy a catalog of product offerings, and administer the cradle-to-grave lifecycle of products.

Other industries, such as, automotive manufacturing and aerospace have used PLM applications to manage complex design specifications, bills-of-material and work collaboration through the various lifecycle phases of their products. Although the PLM discipline in and of itself is not new, PLM software solutions in the communications service provider space will need to be designed to meet the special needs of operators. These PLM systems will have to incorporate domain knowledge in the modeling, OSS integration and overall solution approach. The TMF PLM technical program team will play an important role in providing clarity on the requirements and solutions for PLM within the service provider arena.