There's nothing hot in OSS this year--and that's cool. Except for the software catch phrase of 2005, "customer-centric," operation support systems vendors will be talking this year in straightforward terms how they are addressing straightforward problems, many of which are perennial.

Even the phrase "customer-centric" lacks the panache to qualify as a hot button for OSS development, mainly because people use their own little turn of phrase: customer-aware, end user point-of-view, service-centric, etc. But no matter what they call it, it does represent a shift in the way software providers think about and engineer their products.

To that end, there are certainly major themes this year, and it is around these that vendors will try to position their products: convergence, transformation, standardization, openness (if not open source).

These themes are not hot, either, and that's cool, too. They have been around much too long to qualify as a hot new trend in telecom--the one thing everyone looks for at a super tradeshow like Supercomm. However, that they are not sizzling does not mean they are unimportant. It's quite to the contrary.

Convergence, in particular, is not new, said David Sharpley, vice president of marketing for MetaSolv Software. "But is it important."

This year, many OSS vendors will converge themselves--at least on the show floor--and will be talking their talk in groups. Several have chosen to huddle with their counterparts in the neutral confines of their respective fora. In the OSS space, companies such as Agilent Technologies, Amdocs, CEON, Cramer, Nakina Systems, NetCracker and Syndesis have thrown in with the TeleManagement Forum and will exhibit in its pavilion.

The TMF took its first tentative steps into Supercomm last year with a dinky booth that wound up in a far corner of some lonesome hall. But next week, the TMF will help vendors present a contingent approach to OSS much the same as groups from certain geographies do, such as Asia and the U.K. Of course, the TMF will be talking about its own initiatives as well, such as progress on its New Generation Operations Systems and Software framework, and its shared information and data model. But exhibiting under the common umbrella of the TMF allows vendors to talk not so much about product introductions as about how those products fit into any of the given themes.

And vendors won't be the only ones talking. When it comes to the theme of convergence, transformation and standardization, OSS/BSS vendors are getting serious, but some service providers are even more so.

BT has been opening up about the progress, and in some cases the lack of progress, in its 21 Century Network initiative, which will transform its network to an all-IP architecture by 2008.

"Convergence is gaining momentum, and we are at a tipping point," said Matthew Bross, chief technology officer at BT.

The carrier has come along way since announcing its timetable for transformation back in June 2004. However, when it comes to getting its system working seamlessly together, there is a long road ahead. Bross said standardization is the key to making it to the end.

"We have 35 major OSS/BSS systems in placed today, and they are not all linked," Bross said. "We are looking for solutions that are compatible with the [standard] frameworks of the TMF, particularly NGOSS and SID."

Bross said that without the system integration capabilities of these standards, his project would be challenged.

"Buying technology is easy," Bross said. "It's the disfiguration it goes through [afterward] that is the challenge."

As bold as BT's vision is, and as much as vendors at Supercomm will be schmoozing the carrier to be a part of its 21CN, the project is not without risks.

"Despite the [lire] 1 billion cost savings--gained through convergence and consolidating systems--we think BT is taking a big gamble on 21CN," said a recent report from analysts at OSS Observer.

It's a gamble that most people hope pays off. If not, it could bring similar transformation projects to a screeching halt, and those projects are providing the fuel for solution development and investment.

As you will hear at the show, and as you have been hearing for a while, much of that development is in enabling the creation, delivery and billing of new services.

The days of the 18- to 24-month product introduction cycle is over, said Mark Nicholson, chief technology officer at Syndesis. "In the new world, it is less than three months. And you have to get it right the first time."

Syndesis will be talking about its recent Tier 1 customer wins, including Telus in Canada and a large Italian operator. It also will demonstrate its all-IP, content-based provisioning and activation solutions for access, transport and content services.

The new capabilities Syndesis has introduced into its products are indicative of the market's move toward customer-aware and service-aware solutions.

"The entire network has shifted from a build-to-order phase to the triple play, which is much more on-demand. The only way to make that real is to become service aware," said Chris Swan, senior vice president of worldwide sales and strategic alliances at Syndesis.

In addition to shopping for new software features and watching product demonstrations, you also may want to be on the lookout for another trend in the OSS/BSS and test and measurement markets, or any other market segment for that matter: consolidation.

Merger and acquisition activity has been increasing at a fast clip, particularly in the service assurance and test and measurement markets. A number of companies admitted they are in an acquisitive mode, including Syndesis. Amdocs, it seems, is always in an acquisitive mood. And analysts have said that as the market continues to recover, interest in growth through acquisition accelerates.

E-mail me at tmcelligott@primediabusiness.com.