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Open Telecom Platform
open-in-new
<h2 id="history">History</h2> <h3>Early days</h3> <p>Originally named Open System, it was started by <a href="/facts/Ericsson/yJ4oMMp7">Ericsson</a> in late 1995 as a <a href="/facts/Software_prototyping/cLqGURoM">prototype system</a> that aimed to select from a range of appropriate programming technologies and <a href="/facts/Component-based_software_engineering/eW5wvSHC">system components</a>, including computers, <a href="/facts/Programming_language/cWTYbgWa">languages</a>, <a href="/facts/Databases/VYcpkevb">databases</a> and management systems, to support a remote access system being developed at Ericsson.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> In the same year, following the collapse of another gigantic <a href="/facts/C%252B%252B/Et0F2qn9">C++</a>-based project, Open System was ordered to provide support when it restarted from scratch using <a href="/facts/Erlang_programming_language/2PuxmzT3">Erlang</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> The result was the highly successful AXD301 system, a new <a href="/facts/Asynchronous_Transfer_Mode/SzA8ewFL">ATM switch</a>, announced in 1998. Open System was later named Open Telecom Platform (OTP) when the first prototype was delivered in May 1996. OTP has also become a specific product unit within <a href="/facts/Ericsson/yJ4oMMp7">Ericsson</a> since then, providing management, support and further development. </p><p>The early OTP system components in 1998:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p> <ul><li>Distributed application management</li> <li>SASL - error logging, release handling</li> <li>OS resource monitoring</li> <li>EVA - protocol independent event/alarm handling</li> <li><a href="/facts/Mnesia/d3eUjhs8">Mnesia</a> - real-time active data replication</li> <li>SNMP - operations and maintenance interface</li> <li>INETS - simple HTTP support</li></ul> <p>A key subsystem in OTP is the System Architecture Support Libraries (SASL), which gave a framework for writing applications. The early version of SASL provided:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> <ul><li>Start-up scripts</li> <li>An application concept</li> <li>Behaviours (design patterns)</li> <li>Error handling</li> <li>Debugging</li> <li>High-level software upgrade in runtime without shutdown</li></ul> <p>The behaviours provide programmers with yet higher abstractions for efficient program design. The early version included:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> </p> <ul><li>Supervision</li> <li>Servers</li> <li>Event handling</li> <li><a href="/facts/Finite-state_machine/GMusWd0a">Finite-state machines</a></li></ul> <h2 id="otp-components">OTP Components</h2> <p>The OTP components can be divided into six categories:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> </p> <ul><li>Basic Applications - Basic Erlang/OTP functionality. <ul><li>Compiler - A compiler for Erlang modules.</li> <li>Kernel - Functionality necessary to run Erlang/OTP itself.</li> <li>SASL (System Architecture Support Libraries) - A set of tools for code replacement and alarm handling etc.</li> <li>Stdlib - The standard library.</li></ul></li> <li>Operations and Maintenance - OAM both of the system developed by the user and of Erlang/OTP itself. <ul><li>EVA - A multi-featured event and alarm handler.</li> <li>OS_Mon - A monitor which allows inspection of the underlying operating system.</li> <li>SNMP - SNMP support including a MIB compiler and tools for creating SNMP agents.</li></ul></li> <li>Interface and Communication - Interoperability and protocols support. <ul><li>Asn1 - Support for ASN.1.</li> <li>Comet - A library that enables Erlang/OTP to call COM objects on windows</li> <li>Crypto - Cryptographical support</li> <li>Erl_Interface - Low level interface to C.</li> <li>GS - A graphics system used to write platform independent user interfaces.</li> <li>Inets - A set of services such as a web server and a FTP client.</li> <li>Jinterface - Low level interface to Java.</li> <li>SSL - Secure Socket Layer (SSL), interface to UNIX BSD sockets</li></ul></li> <li>Database Management. <ul><li>QLC - Query language support for Mnesia DBMS.</li> <li>Mnesia - A heavy duty real-time distributed database.</li> <li>ODBC - ODBC database interface.</li></ul></li> <li>CORBA services and IDL compiler. <ul><li>cosEvent - Orber OMG Event Service.</li> <li>cosNotification - Orber OMG Notification Service.</li> <li>cosTime - Orber OMG Timer and TimerEvent Services.</li> <li>cosTransactions - Orber OMG Transaction Service.</li> <li>IC - IDL compiler</li> <li>Orber - A CORBA object request broker.</li></ul></li> <li>Tools. <ul><li>Appmon - A utility used to view OTP applications.</li> <li>Debugger - For debugging and testing of Erlang programs.</li> <li>Parsetools - A set of parsing and lexical analysis tools.</li> <li>Pman - A process manager used to inspect the state of an Erlang/OTP system.</li> <li>Runtime_Tools - Tools to include in a production system.</li> <li>Toolbar - A tool bar simplifying access to the Erlang/OTP tools.</li> <li>Tools - A set of programming tools including a coverage analyzer etc.</li> <li>TV - An ETS and Mnesia graphical table visualizer.</li></ul></li></ul> <h3>Applications in OTP</h3> <p>As of OTP 18.2, the following applications are included in the Erlang/OTP distribution:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> </p> <ul><li>asn1</li> <li>common_test</li> <li>compiler</li> <li>cosEvent</li> <li>cosEventDomain</li> <li>cosFileTransfer</li> <li>cosNotification</li> <li>cosProperty</li> <li>cosTime</li> <li>cosTransactions</li> <li>crypto</li> <li>debugger</li> <li>dialyzer</li> <li>diameter</li> <li>edoc</li> <li>eldap</li> <li>erl_docgen</li> <li>erl_interface</li> <li>erts</li> <li>et</li> <li>eunit</li> <li>gs</li> <li>hipe</li> <li>ic</li> <li>inets</li></ul> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/RabbitMQ/oL8BUYy0">RabbitMQ</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Couchbase_Server/zJA7EJMQ">Couchbase Server</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Riak/zhRLQHh8">Riak</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"M. Logan, E. Merritt, and R. Carlsson (2010) Erlang and OTP in Action" (PDF). <a href="https://synrc.com/publications/cat/Functional%20Languages/Erlang/M.%20Logan,%20E.%20Merritt,%20R.%20Carlsson.%20Erlang%20OTP%20in%20Action.pdf" target="_blank">https://synrc.com/publications/cat/Functional%20Languages/Erlang/M.%20Logan,%20E.%20Merritt,%20R.%20Carlsson.%20Erlang%20OTP%20in%20Action.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Erlang Solutions (1 March 2013). "OTP, the Middleware for Concurrent Distributed Scalable Architectures". Archived from the original on 2021-12-20 – via YouTube. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NpQ414ePwE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NpQ414ePwE</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"Erlang -- Compilation and Code Loading". erlang.org. Retrieved 2017-12-21. <a href="http://erlang.org/doc/reference_manual/code_loading.html#id90080" target="_blank">http://erlang.org/doc/reference_manual/code_loading.html#id90080</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>B. Däcker (2000) Concurrent Functional Programming for Telecommunications: A Case Study of Technology Introduction <a href="http://www.erlang.se/publications/bjarnelic.ps" target="_blank">http://www.erlang.se/publications/bjarnelic.ps</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"M. Logan, E. Merritt, and R. Carlsson (2010) Erlang and OTP in Action" (PDF). <a href="https://synrc.com/publications/cat/Functional%20Languages/Erlang/M.%20Logan,%20E.%20Merritt,%20R.%20Carlsson.%20Erlang%20OTP%20in%20Action.pdf" target="_blank">https://synrc.com/publications/cat/Functional%20Languages/Erlang/M.%20Logan,%20E.%20Merritt,%20R.%20Carlsson.%20Erlang%20OTP%20in%20Action.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>B. Däcker (2000) Concurrent Functional Programming for Telecommunications: A Case Study of Technology Introduction <a href="http://www.erlang.se/publications/bjarnelic.ps" target="_blank">http://www.erlang.se/publications/bjarnelic.ps</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>B. Däcker (2000) Concurrent Functional Programming for Telecommunications: A Case Study of Technology Introduction <a href="http://www.erlang.se/publications/bjarnelic.ps" target="_blank">http://www.erlang.se/publications/bjarnelic.ps</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>B. Däcker (2000) Concurrent Functional Programming for Telecommunications: A Case Study of Technology Introduction <a href="http://www.erlang.se/publications/bjarnelic.ps" target="_blank">http://www.erlang.se/publications/bjarnelic.ps</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>"Erlang -- Introduction". erlang.org. <a href="http://erlang.org/doc/system_architecture_intro/sys_arch_intro.html" target="_blank">http://erlang.org/doc/system_architecture_intro/sys_arch_intro.html</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>"Erlang Programming Language". www.erlang.org. <a href="http://www.erlang.org/download.html" target="_blank">http://www.erlang.org/download.html</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>