LAB IN THE SKY
Catalog Application
Transforming How Network Connectivity is Productized
Sellers: Define & Offer Products, All Automated
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: Pick & Assemble Products, All Self-Service
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: Cloud & GUI-API, All Digital
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.
All Product Offering Types
Inter-Carrier Ethernet
- Service: Access E-Line
- Interface Product: UNI
- Connectivity Product: OVC
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Interconnect Interface: ENNI
Enterprise Ethernet
- Service: E-Line
- Interface Product: UNI
- Connectivity Product: EVC
Enterprise IP
- Service: Internet Access
- Interface Product: UNI
- Connectivity Product: IPVC
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Cloud Interface: Internet
CATALOG APPLICATION
Seller-Defined Catalog
Define Upfront, Offer at Scale
Full-Spectrum 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.
All Product Offering Attributes
- Marketing: How the product is named, branded, and positioned
- Technical: How the product is defined technically, across all attributes and parameters
- Geographical: Where the product is available and can be delivered
- Operational: How long it takes to install the product across deployment scenarios
- Commercial: Under what terms and pricing variations the product is offered
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 Commercials 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
Choose Who You Do Business With
With everything defined upfront, sellers then simply grant privileges to any buyer of their choice—whether a service provider or enterprise—at any time and in line with their business preferences—controlling exactly which product offerings can be accessed.
Select Buyers—per business strategy
- Service Providers: Sourcing connectivity from partners to extend network footprint
- Enterprises: Acquiring network services to connect sites, users, and cloud applications
- Organizations: Securing connectivity for public and institutional services
Manage Privileges—on a per buyer-basis
- Grant Access: To all or specific product offerings
- Revoke Access: When discontinuing or retiring product offerings
- 1. Browse Offerings: Explore accessible product offerings with all possible technical, commercial, geographical and operational configurations and values—predefined and bounded by the seller
- 2. Assemble Products: Combine compatible Interface and Connectivity products based on predefined rules
- 3. Validate Serviceability: Instantly check serviceability and confirm product availability and installation timelines at specific locations
- 4. Select Options: Choose from available attributes such as interface types, bandwidth tiers, and commercial terms
- 5. Compute Pricing: Generate complete, real-time pricing for the selected configuration, commercial terms, and validated installation location(s)
- 6. Finalize Product: Build a complete product with every attribute—product, location, timeline, term, and price—fully set, ready to be ordered
CATALOG APPLICATION
Buyer-Driven Experience
All You Need, All Self-Service
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.
CATALOG APPLICATION
Cloud, GUI & API
One Environment, Two Access Modes
Cross-mode interoperability lets non-automated (GUI) and fully automated (API) partners communicate seamlessly, allowing each partner to start with the GUI and evolve to API automation at their own pace
All Data Natively Available—in the Cloud, as Web and JSON Formats
The Catalog Application provides a cloud-hosted shared environment, with all content 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
- Built-in Power: Runs natively in the cloud with integrated security, elastic compute, and scalable processing
- 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
- Dual-Mode Choice: Each partner can operate through the GUI or API, depending on their level of automation
- Cross-Mode Interaction: Automated (API) and non-automated (GUI) partners can seamlessly interact—no alignment needed on interface or tooling
- Partner-Wide API: One API integration connects with all partners—no duplication, no operational overhead
Automation Spanning Every Domain & Layer
As the first link in the chain, the Catalog Application is the starting point for end-to-end automation across domains and layers. By defining products in full—across all attributes and in a machine-readable JSON format—it provides the foundational data structure that drives all downstream customer-facing functions—product ordering, service delivery, testing, and assurance—bridging the Business and Network domains, and feeds all backend processing systems—BSS, OSS, and SoF—bridging the Frontend and Backend layers.
Across Domains Automation—from Product (Business) to Service (Network)
- As the first link in the chain, the product must be precisely defined as a structured, exhaustive JSON object—to drive downstream fulfillment functions from ordering to delivery, testing, and assurance—triggering end-to-end automation across domains.
Across Layers Automation—from Front-End (Customer) to Backend (Systems)
- As the first link in the chain, the product must be precisely defined as a structured, exhaustive JSON object—to feed downstream backend operations from BSS to OSS and SoF—triggering end-to-end automation across layers.
CATALOG APPLICATION
A to Z Automation
Where End-to-End Automation Begins
Catalog Application kickstarts end-to-end automation by providing the foundational data structure feeding all subsequent functions (business, network) and operations (front-end, backend).
The result: a standards-aligned, field-proven application that’s technically sound, practically usable, and operationally viable.
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.
It's All Standards-Based
- 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.
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.
Services: Validated by Testing, Productized by Catalog
Testing Validates Services on Network: 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 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.
Together, Bridging the Gap from Network to Market: 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, bridging what’s delivered on the network (Testing) with what’s offered to the market (Catalog).
CATALOG APPLICATION
Sister Applications
One Ecosystem, Every Step Covered
CATALOG APPLICATION
Sister Applications
One Ecosystem, Every Step Covered
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 bridging product definitions with commercial execution and actionable delivery.
Products: Defined in Catalog, Acquired in Ordering
Catalog Defines Product Instances Ready for Order: Testing validates—directly on the network—the very services intended for customer delivery, establishing the technical foundation on which every product offering is built.
Ordering Processes the Commercial Transaction Turning Specified Products into Actionable Product Delivery: 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.
Together, bridging Product Definition and Commercial Execution: 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, bridging what’s delivered on the network (Testing) with what’s offered to the market (Catalog).
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