The Case for Using an ASP by Michael A. Kret, Vice President of Interconnection, Telcordia Technologies Interconnection, as both a technical challenge and a business expense, is an 800-pound gorilla that unfortunately communication providers must deal with.
Companies have no choice.
CLECs must interconnect with the OSSs of ILECs in order to get into the telecom game. ILECs are required by law to grant access to that data. The initial solution to interconnection was to have every CLEC build an electronic gateway to each of its incumbent trading partners. It quickly became apparent to every CLEC that building or acquiring a gateway and installing the necessary circuits to their trading partners were the least of their problems. It is the hidden, escalating life-cycle costs of a gateway that can quickly dismantle a business case for interconnection.