trongly recommend that Preface service providers who are considering purchasing an OSS system closely research the companies mentioned in this book, in addition to the other OSS vendors which we did not have time to mention or discuss. We hope to cover more products and technologies in future editions. Acknowledgements The editors of two publishing companies drove this book by providing encourage- ment, support and the occasional gentle prodding to the author. I heartily thank both Helen Callaghan and Jenny Wolkowicki of Springer. It has been a lot of fun working with both of you and I hope that we can do it again. Thank you Marjorie Spencer and Jessica Hornick for your smarts and energy! I had the inspiration for this book while gazing at a contract law textbook belong- ing to Elizabeth Dobbin, which was written by one of Australia's pre-eminent law firms. I thought, "What an achievement! Could we do the same thing for OSS?" Elizabeth encouraged me and soon I had a contract for the book the first of two. I was introduced to OSS in a trial by fire at Clarity International, where I met many hardworking and switched-on people who continue to make a big impact on the telecom industry through OSS software: Angela Dickensen, Peter Georgopoulos, Kon Georgopoulos, Amanda Stevens, Katie McGeachie, Steve Parry, Bruce Creswell, Kylie Palmer, Nick Lochrin and many others but, above all, the inimitable Tony Kalcina, CEO - a brilliant communicator and a great leader. Many other companies and people at those companies played a big role in the writing of this book: first of all, AdventNet, especially Sridhar Vembu, CEO. Sridhar's company provided massive help. Special thanks to Ashutosh Agarwal and Dev Anand for your efficiency and enthusiasm. I list the following in alphabetical order, as so many people were forthcoming with their knowledge and creativity: ADC, especially Trish Christo and Amy Ward BoldTech Systems CDMA Development Group, especially Khevin Curry Cisco, especially Olivier Dahon Comnitel Technologies Cramer Syst