" solutions, are mostly large network equipment companies growing their OSS businesses through development and acquisition. They have tended to focus on integrating variations of customer care, billing, ordering, provisioning, network management and activation systems - all core OSS functions. This is a market that has not gained a lot of attention yet, but it may in the next 12 to 18 months as more products emerge and mature. For the most part, IICs still would rather deal with multiple vendors and systems to get the best OSS platform than sacrifice application quality and functionality by committing to just one. In short, the "best-of-breed" approach still rules. EVALUATING OSS SOLUTIONS AND VENDORS As we have seen, an OSS platform is a major investment built on many detailed, complex decisions. Perhaps the biggest decisions IICs face come when selecting the applications and vendors that will bring it to market. Chapter 5 - The Enterprise OSS Platform Making these decisions should involve an extremely focused, analytical evaluation process looking both at the application in question and the vendor that offers it. IICs tend to analyze nine key areas when evaluating and selecting applications: Functionality Supported. The logical first question is whether or not the application meets the IIC's functional requirements - in other words, can it do what the IIC needs? Can it support the IIC's core business model? Can it adapt to new product offerings, network technologies and market demands? As we have discussed, it is important that an application's capabilities are able to support the IIC's business model and value proposition. Later, we will look at specific application areas and review the kinds of functionality for which IICs should look and ask. Ease of Integration. An IIC must evaluate any application software for suitability in an integrated environment. How easily will it integrate with other systems? How capable are the APIs, bridges, or connectors? Do any of its components overlap with other installed appl