Ericsson extended its OSS (operations support systems) agreement with Huawei and Nokia, first struck in 2013, designed to simplify network operations, reduce integration cost and shorten time to market for new services.

The companies said in a statement they had signed an extended memorandum of understanding (MoU) building on the initial OSSii agreement from three years ago, when the trio agreed to cross-licence their OSS interfaces, as well as committing to bilateral cross licensing agreements for multi-vendor management.

The new MoU extends the scope of the agreement, adding Management and Orchestration (MANO) interfaces, described as a framework for the management of resources in a cloud data centre, and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) domains – a network solution delivering real time communications services – to the original agreement.

Martin Sillen, head of network analytics, product line network management, business unit cloud and IP at Ericsson, said the extension “demonstrates the strength of Ericsson’s support for multi-vendor interoperability”.

“We are committed to building on the success that the initiative has already achieved to help operators optimise their network operations and meet the demands of the Networked Society,” he said.

Ericsson also reiterated that the agreement continues to promote interoperability between the initiating parties and other companies in the industry.