Welcome to Automation: An Overview on MEF 55 LSO

MEF 55 LSO defines a reference architecture and framework for lifecycle service orchestration (LSO) following the architecture allows interoperable management of Third Network Connectivity Services. Managing the services through the LSO architecture spares implementers the complexity of dealing with the services’ details.

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The document isn’t a byte-by-byte description of structures and APIs. Instead, it provides a conceptual framework for implementations to follow. Specific APIs will be available in the documentation of the reference points and their interface profiles.

Third Network Service Management

The Third Network concept allows services to run on physical ports or virtual systems. The user sees a virtual network and can create, modify, and delete functions on demand. The underlying concept is Network as a Service (NaaS), where the scope of the virtual network can change as needed. Service management is agile, with rapid deployment and configuration of services. In most cases, no human intervention from the service provider is required. The time requirements are reduced, and the reliability of service goes up.

The LSO environment provides three general management views:

• The product view concerns interactions between the customer and a service provider’s products.
• The service view represents a service within a product, as it appears to the customer.
• Resource views cover physical and logical resources, such as network elements and devices.
• Management interface reference points

The architecture defines seven reference points, each of which has a musical name (fitting with the idea of orchestration) and an API. The following reference points operate within the customer’s and service provider’s domain.

• Cantata lets the customer manage the service provider’s business applications at a business rather than technical level, e.g., ordering and billing.
• Allegro lets the customer configure LSO services through the Service Orchestrator.
• Legato enables the management of LSO connectivity services. Business applications can, for example, request a connectivity service through Legato.
• Presto enables management of the network infrastructure and topology.
• Adagio allows management of network resources and element view management functions.

These reference points may also interact with partner domains:

• Sonata supports interactions between network providers on the level of ordering and billing. A business application can use Sonata to request an access service from a partner provider.
• Interlude allows coordination of LSO services in a partner domain. Requests for changes to configuration settings on a partner domain go through Interlude.
• An interface profile describes the structure and behavior associated with a reference point and provides enough information to implement the API. However, the MEF 55 document doesn’t include this level of detail.

Operational Threads

Typical use cases in LSO are described as operational threads. Each one goes with a sequence of automated actions and is mapped to the reference architecture. In a thread, LSO receives a request, determines if it is permitted, takes actions, and sends the results back to the originator. The thread may entail interaction with the customer to get more information about the request.

Business process flows describe functional activity within an operational thread. A process flow covers all the actions to deliver a result and may span more than one organization.

An operational thread may start from a customer or a service provider. Some operational threads which the customer initiates include:

• Product ordering and service activation
• Controlling a service
• Viewing performance and error reports
• The service provider can initiate these threads and others:
• Launching a product offering
• On-boarding a partner provider
• Assessing service quality

The Advantage of the LSO Reference Architecture

By providing a standard architecture, MEF 55 LSO lets service providers on a network communicate consistently. Automation would be difficult if each service partner used a different architecture and APIs. With the broad adoption of this framework, customers will be able to add and configure services without having to wait for a service representative.

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