A service bureau is a delivery channel that provides outsourced applications such as WNP. In this arrangement, WNP services are hosted and operated by a third party and made available to wireless carriers of any size. A service bureau is particularly attractive to smaller carriers that tend to have limited infrastructures and resources.

A suite of core WNP services offered by a service bureau are similar to those offered by a product solution:

• ICP interfaces to support electronic exchange of information for processing the request and response for port authorization between wireless carriers and their trading partners (wireless-to-wireless ports in accordance with the CTIA and wireline-to-wireless ports based on OBF guidelines)
• SOA functionality for communication with the NPACs
• Communication links with trading partners, both wireless and wireline
• A port-management center deployed at the wireless provider's site
• Measurement data collection and reporting
• Data-center operations and management
• 24/7 help-desk support

In the service-bureau scenario, various managed services could also be provided to large carriers. One example is a centralized processing center to receive fax transmissions from smaller carriers and convert the messages into electronic format for processing. Management of fax receptions must include manual processing of fallout when the characters on received faxes cannot be correctly detected. A centralized processing center removes the need and associated costs of having to provide fax operations in each of the large carriers.

Porting from wireline to wireless carriers could become an important means for wireless carriers to grow market-share. Today, interconnection clearinghouses support interaction among a variety of wireline carriers. Establishing an interface between a service bureau and a clearinghouse service to process requests from wireless to wireline providers could provide an economical solution for managing the complexity of the changing SLAs of wireline carriers.

For wireless providers, a service-bureau solution could provide significant benefits that include the following:

Capital and resource savings by eliminating the need for hardware and software platforms and the technical staff to support them

Improved operational efficiencies by reducing staff requirements to support WNP

Improved time to market and convenience—having a single entity establish all connectivity arrangements between trading partners