OSA-Parlay standardise two types of interface: the framework interfaces provide non specific access functions like authentication, service discovery, and monitoring.  The service interfaces give access to specific network functions, like call completion, messaging, mobile user location, or charging.

Figure 1 shows the OSA-Parlay architecture. The OSA-Parlay service interfaces provide access to service capability features, units of high level network functionality.  The service capability features encapsulate lower level network functions that are not normally accesible from outside the network, like determining a user's location or setting up a voice circuit.  These service capability features run on service capability servers, and there is a special server that offers the framework services.

Third party applications run in application servers and can make use of service capability features through the OSA-Parlay interface.  These application services can be anything from a large enterprise server to a PC in a garage based start-up company, and can connect to the OSA-Parlay interfaces through standard TCP/IP connections using CORBA, SOAP or any other distributed applications technology.

 Research