SS handles and manages all the different elements that are part of the cellular and broadband networks. The OSS standards have been designed to handle a multitude of interfaces, fixed and mobile networks, mixed vendor environment and rapid technological changes. After providing some introductory info on OSS, this section will introduce the different OSS standard bodies, Next Generation OSS (NGOSS) and OSS guidelines for 3GPP and WiMAX networks. 8.3.1 Background (History) In 2G networks, each network element had separate OSS to provide management capabilities. These distinct systems have unique interfaces and computing platforms, and are vendor dependent. The fast moving mobile wireless broadband world cannot afford such inefficient and vendor specific operations support systems. The traditional approach to network management is based on a master-slave relationship between operation systems and network elements. The network elements typically do not perform activities beyond call processing and transfer of information. The operation systems perform the vast majority of the OAM&P (Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning) tasks including, but not limited to, decision making, alarm generation, provisioning of each network element. This one-to-one mapping approach adds considerable time and complexity in managing rapid changes, introducing new services or technologies. 8.3.1.1 Current Network Management Approaches The two network management approaches that have been widely used in today's wireless networks are: one based on Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and the other based on Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) [3, 24]. These both have been designed to handle network management in a multi-vendor environment: IETF SNMP: SNMP is a network management tool for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP) environment and used in network management systems. It consists of a set of standards for network management, including an application layer protocol, a database schem