LAB IN THE SKY
Catalog Application
Product Definition — the NaaS Way
SELLERS
All Automated
Define & Offer Products
The Catalog Application equips telecom providers with purpose-built tools to define connectivity product offerings upfront and across all attributes—technical specifications, geographic serviceability, dynamic pricing, installation timelines—and to publish them in a privileged-access Product Catalog, enabling automation and scale of the entire customer-facing process.
BUYERS
All Self-Service
Pick & Assemble Products
Buyers, in turn, get everything they need to easily source connectivity through a fully self-service experience—from browsing product offerings and validating serviceability in real time to instantly generating pricing and ultimately assembling complete products with everything set, ready for order.
ENVIRONMENT
All Digital
Cloud & GUI-API
Everything runs in a modern, cloud-hosted environment operable via both GUI and API—used interchangeably—giving sellers and buyers the flexibility to interact through a graphical interface or programmatically, with a single API integration needed to reach any partner, enabling a gradual transition to a more scalable and automated NaaS-based model.
CATALOG APPLICATION
Seller-Defined Catalog
Define Upfront, Offer at Scale
Full Spectrum Product Catalog
It all starts with the Product Catalog, where the seller uses built-in tools to define its Ethernet and IP connectivity product offerings fully upfront and across all attributes—marketing, technical, geographical, operational, and commercial—systematizing, streamlining, and scaling how products are brought to market.
Inter-Carrier
Ethernet Products
- Access E-Line
- Transit E-Line
Enterprise
Ethernet Products
- E-Line
- E-LAN
- E-Tree
Enterprise
IP Products
- Internet Access
Specified Across All Attributes
MARKETING
Product naming and branding
TECHNICAL
Product technical specification
GEOGRAPHICAL
Product geographic availability
OPERATIONAL
Product installation intervals
COMMERCIAL
Product terms and pricing
Defining Product Technical Specifications
Services are broken down into modular products—separating Interface products (where customers connect) from Connectivity products (which span the network between interfaces)—enabling flexible, granular, and incremental construction and sourcing of products
Each modular product must be fully technically specified—with most attributes and parameters defined and fixed upfront, certain ones defined as selectable options, and others left open to be set during fulfillment
Each modular product is governed by compatibility rules that define which Interface and Connectivity components can be assembled together without mismatch—ensuring technically sound configurations and enabling the generation of valid product combos
Defining Product Geographic Availability
Seller-defined geographic regions in which a product is offered
Seller-defined rules that determine product availability based on specific locations and network capabilities
Seller-defined settings—like language, address format—to guide buyers in performing Serviceability Operations accurately
A real-time operation for sellers to validate buyer-requested locations
Defining Product Deployment Scenarios
Seller-defined product installation timelines based on deployment scenarios like on-net, near-net, or off-net
Defining Product Commercial Options
Seller-defined product term durations, ranging from hours to years
Seller-defined pricing variations combining product specs, buyer-selected options, commercial terms, and geographic deployment
CATALOG APPLICATION
Seller-Granted Access
Controlled-Access, Business-Driven
Sellers control 'who' can access 'what' per their business preferences
Choose Who You Do Business With
With everything defined upfront, sellers then simply grant privileges to any buyer of their choice—whether a service providers, enterprises or organizations—at any time and in line with their business preferences—controlling exactly which product offerings can be accessed.
Select Buyers
Per business strategy
on-board BUyers
At any time, the seller can onboard a buyer to initiate a business relationship
off-board buyers
At any time, the seller can offboard a buyer to terminate the business relationship
BUyer Types
Buyers can be service providers, enterprises or organizations
Manage Privileges
On a per buyer basis
grant Privileges
At any time, the seller can grant a buyer access to a product offering—whether to initiate or expand the business relationship, or because a new product offering is available.
revoke privileges
At any time, the seller can revoke a buyer’s access to a product offering—whether for business reasons or because the product offering is being discontinued or retired.
CATALOG APPLICATION
Buyer-Driven Experience
All You Need, All Self-Service
Explore accessible product offerings with all possible values—predefined and bounded by the seller
Combine compatible Interface and Connectivity products based on predefined rules
Instantly check serviceability and confirm product availability and installation timelines at specific locations
Choose from available attributes such as interface types, bandwidth tiers, and commercial terms
Generate real-time pricing for the selected configuration, commercial terms, and validated installation location(s)
Build a complete product with every attribute—product, location, timeline, term, and price—fully set, ready to be ordered
From Generic Product Offering to Real Product Instance
Once granted privileges, buyers can browse a set of product offerings—still in their generic form but with all possible technical, commercial, geographical and operational configurations and values predefined by sellers—and, through a well-guided process, clearly defined steps, transform them into real product instances with everything set—product, location, timeline, term, and price—making them order-ready and network-fulfillable, all through a fully self-service experience.
With everything defined upfront by sellers, buyers can finalize products entirely on their own—fully self-service.
Hosted in Cloud, Available in Web & JSON Formats
The Catalog Application provides a cloud-hosted shared environment, with all data natively available, at the source, in both a web-based, human-readable format and a JSON-based, machine-readable format. This enables real-time access to all data from anywhere and instant visibility of updates across parties, and gives each partner the flexibility to operate via GUI or API based on their level of automation—with a single API integration needed to reach all partners—and provides for seamless cross-mode interaction between automated (API) and non-automated (GUI) partners.
Cloud Design
- Built-in Power: Runs natively in the cloud with integrated security, elastic compute, and scalable processing
Cloud Experience
- Multi-Party Access: Shared environment accessible from anywhere by all parties
- Real-Time Updates: Instant visibility of changes and updates by all parties
GUI-API Modes
- Dual-Mode: Each partner can operate via GUI or API, based on level of automation
- Cross-Mode: Automated (API) and non-automated (GUI) partners can seamlessly interact
One API
- Partner-Wide API: A single API integration connects with all partners
CATALOG APPLICATION
Cloud, GUI & API
One Environment, Two Access Modes
Cross-mode interoperability lets non-automated (GUI) and fully automated (API) partners communicate seamlessly.
CATALOG APPLICATION
Kickstarting Automation
Where End-to-End Automation Begins
The Catalog Application lays the foundational digital data structure for seamless end-to-end automation across all functions and systems.
End-to-End Automation Starts Here
As the first link in the chain, the Catalog Application is the starting point of end-to-end automation across domains (Business to Network) and layers (Front-End to Back-End). Its comprehensive, JSON-based data structure drives all downstream customer-facing functions and feeds all back-end processing systems—laying the digital data foundation for seamless end-to-end automation.
Across Domains Automation
Business to Network
Business domain
Product Catalog { API }
Product Ordering { API }
network domain
Service Delivery { API }
Service Testing { API }
Service Assurance { API }
Across Layers Automation
Front-End to Backend
customer front-end
Product Catalog { API }
business backend
BSS { API }
network backend
OSS { API }
CATALOG APPLICATION
Off-the-Shelf Solution
Rooted in Standards, Applied to the Real World
Bringing Standards to Life
The Catalog Application brings together the authority of industry standards with the usability of a full-fledged product—transforming often abstract, theoretical specifications that leave implementation and usability unaddressed into a fully productized, off-the-shelf solution that’s intuitive to use, easy to deploy, and proven in the field—so you get the best of both worlds.
The result: a standards-aligned, field-proven application that’s technically sound, practically usable, and operationally viable.
It's All Based on Standards
- Mplify Alliance (MEF): Ethernet & IP product models, LSO architecture, NaaS federation
- TM Forum: Product Catalog, product modeling
It's All Ready to Go
- SaaS: Cloud-native delivery, always available.
- UX: Intuitive interface, accelerates every step of testing.
- Ops: Operationally viable, work under real-world conditions.
CATALOG APPLICATION
Sister Applications
Where End-to-End Automation Begins
The Testing-Catalog Duo
The Catalog Application works alongside the Testing Application to form a bridge between what’s validated in the network (Testing) and what’s offered in the market (Catalog)—seamlessly turning network-validated services into market-ready products.
testing application
Tests Customer-Like Services in Production Network Setting
Testing validates—directly on the network—the very services intended for customer delivery, establishing the technical foundation on which every product offering is built.
catalog application
Turns Tested Services into Market-Ready Products
Catalog builds on that foundation—adding marketing, commercial, geographic, and operational dimensions to create complete offerings, then makes them available to customers in the Product Catalog through privilege-based access.
Testing and Catalog form a powerful duo—ensuring every product offering is not only well-described, but grounded in real-world, test-proven service behavior.
The Catalog-Ordering Duo
The Catalog Application works alongside the Ordering Application to form a handoff between the act of defining a product (Catalog) and the act of ordering it (Ordering)—seamlessly transitioning from product definition to its commercial execution and actionable delivery.
Catalog application
Defines Product Instances Ready for Order
Catalog turns generic product offerings into fully-configured product instances—technical, commercial, and operational—tailored to buyer needs and ready for immediate order.
ordering application
Processes the Commercials for the Product
Ordering handles the commercials and takes the fully-defined product instance from the Catalog as-is—ensuring accurate, seamless delivery and eliminating order fallout.
Catalog and Ordering form a powerful duo—ensuring products are not only fully defined but also instantly and seamlessly orderable.
CATALOG APPLICATION
Sister Applications
One Ecosystem, Every Step Covered
Next Steps
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