The Service Provider Architecture (SPA) is a representative architectural solution that is completely aligned with the ODA concepts and practices, and it adopts the models and concepts defined in the TM Forum Frameworx. SPA is built from a number of loosely coupled components, each of them providing a well-defined set of functionalities exposed via specific APIs. The functionalities and granularity of the components are based on the functional application description provided in the TM Forum Application Framework (TAM). Similarly, the data model used in each component is based on the TM Forum Shared Information Data model (SID). To be able to implement service management processes, orchestration of the action is necessary. Orchestration in SPA is based on business processes which should be defined in line with the TM Forum Business Process Framework (BPF, also known as e-TOM). In addition to the three pillars of Frameworx (BPF, SID and TAM), the APIs exposed by each component are based on the TM Forum Open APIs specification
The SPA implementation is made using the concept of microservices, where the complete digital platform is seen as a collection of services. Each architectural component is implemented as a separate self-contained microservice that has its own separate life cycle starting from deployment, to maintainability and testability.
To promote the SPA platform and to facilitate testing the E-Line service (point-to-point L2 connections) using the OpenNSA application, it was decided to allow users to run test instances of the SPA platform on the NMaaS system. This system provides a virtual space for the applications, without having to own hardware resources and having the technical knowledge these require. One of the main requirements for adopting SPA in NMaaS was simplicity of use and configuration with default settings. This allows users to focus on familiarising themselves with SPA operation instead of having to install and configure all SPA components.
