TM Forum

TM Forum
Predecessor OSI/Network Management Forum
TeleManagement Forum
IPsphere Forum
Formation 1988
Type Non-profit
Website www.tmforum.org

The TM Forum (formerly TeleManagement Forum and the Network Management Forum) is a non-profit industry association, for service providers and their suppliers in the telecommunications and entertainment industries. It acquired the IPsphere Forum group in 2008.

Members include telephone companies, cable operators, network operators, software suppliers, equipment suppliers and systems integrators. As of December 2012, the Forum had over 900 member companies in different countries.[1]

Description

TM Forum provides information and support to help its members with creating and delivering profitable services. These include industry research and benchmarks, technology roadmaps, best-practice guidebooks, software standards and interfaces, as well as certified training, conferences and publications.[2] The Forum also provides its member community with marketing and networking opportunities.

OSI/Network Management Forum

The OSI/Network Management Forum was founded in 1988 by eight companies to collaboratively solve systems and operational management issues with the OSI protocols.[3] In 1998 the name was changed to the TeleManagement Forum.[4]

IPsphere

A group called the Infranet Initiative Council was created by Juniper Networks in April 2004.[5] The group said it was concerned with quality, reliability and security interfaces between telecommunications service providers that were providing services for the Internet.[6] Pradeep Sindhu used the term "infranet" to compare the public Internet to more traditional physical infrastructure.[7] Juniper was joined by British Telecom, China Unicom, Ericsson, France Télécom, Hewlett-Packard, KT Corporation, Siemens, Telenor, and Tellabs. The IPsphere Forum was founded in June 2005 at the Supercomm 2005 trade show in Chicago with those members.[8] Cisco Systems and Alcatel were added when it adopted the IPsphere name.[9] Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) joined in 2007,[10] and it established a liaison with the Tele-Management Forum later that year.[11] IPsphere was mentioned by executives in a trade show during 2007.[12] By September 2008 IPsphere Forum merged with the TM Forum.[13][14]

Activities

The TM Forum held marketing events called "Content Encounters" at the Management World trade shows in 2007 through 2009.[15] TM Forum's work includes Frameworx, Business Process Framework (eTOM), Frameworx Shared Information/Data Model (SID) and Telecom Application Map (TAM).

The Object Management Group endorsed some of the TM Forum's specifications in a telecommunications special interest group by 2004.[16] As the term "cloud computing" became popular, in 2009 TM Forum joined a group called the Cloud Standards Coordination Working Group.[17]

References

  1. "Rapid Growth of Digital Services Reflected in TM Forum's Board Member Appointments". Press release. December 3, 2012. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  2. "TM Forum Solution Frameworks (NGOSS) overview". Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  3. J. Embry P. Manson and D. Milham (July 1990). "An open network management architecture: OSI/NM Forum architecture and concepts". IEEE Network. IEEE Communications Society. 4 (4): 14–22. doi:10.1109/65.56547.
  4. "About the TM Forum: History". Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  5. Jim Duffy (April 21, 2004). "Juniper unveils 'infranet' council". Network World. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  6. "Frequently Asked Questions". Infranet Initiative Council web site. Archived from the original on April 11, 2005. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  7. Beth Schultz (September 27, 2004). "What the heck's an inFRAnet?". Network World. Archived from the original on April 25, 2005. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  8. "Open Forum Developing Architecture for Federated Service Infrastructure". News release. June 8, 2005. Archived from the original on December 27, 2005. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  9. Jim Duffy (June 9, 2005). "New 'open standards-based forum' to focus on business of IP". Network World. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  10. "Next IPsphere Specs to Focus on Hollywood Partners". ScreenPlays. October 31, 2007. Archived from the original on November 10, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  11. Peter Lambert (December 2007). "IPsphere Forum Expands Spec Reach to Include Content, Hosting Interests". ScreenPlays. Archived from the original on February 16, 2008. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  12. Bob Wallace (June 19, 2007). "CTOs Tackle State of Industry". XChange Magazine. Archived from the original on November 23, 2007. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  13. Doug Mohney (September 19, 2008). "TM Forum acquires IPSphere Forum". Fierce Telecom. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  14. "TM Forum merges with IPSphere - bolsters business-level convergence credentials". Press release. Tekecom TV web site. September 9, 2008. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  15. "Key Hollywood and Service Provider Industry Consortia Advance Formal Digital Media Standards Collaboration". ScreenPlays. May 4, 2009. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  16. "Telecom PSIG Roadmap". Web site. Object Management Group. February 13, 2004. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  17. J. Nicholas Hoover (July 15, 2009). "Groups Seek Cloud Computing Standards". Information Week. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
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