Zero Touch Assurance – ZTA (part 3)

This is the third in a series on ZTA, following on from yesterday’s post that suggested intentionally triggering events to allow the accumulation of a much larger library of historical network data. Today we’ll look at the impact of data collection on our ability to achieve ZTA and refer back to part 1 in the […]

Zero Touch Assurance – ZTA (part 2)

Yesterday we described the three steps on the path to Zero Touch Assurance: Monitoring – Monitoring the events that happen in the network and responding manually Post-cognition – Monitoring events / trends that happen in the network, comparing them to past situations (using analytics to identify repeating patterns), using the past to recommend (or automate) […]

Zero Touch Assurance – ZTA (part 1)

A couple of years ago, we published a series on pre-cognitive OSS based on the following quote by Ben Evans about three classes of search/discovery: There is giving you what you already know you want (Amazon, Google) There is working out what you want (Amazon and Google’s aspiration) And then there is suggesting what you might […]

Becoming the Microsoft of the OSS industry

On Tuesday we pondered, “Would an OSS duopoly be a good thing?” It cited two examples of operating systems amongst other famous duopolies: Microsoft / Apple (PC operating systems) Google / Apple (smartphone operating systems) Yesterday we provided an example of why consolidation is so much more challenging for OSS companies than say for Coke […]

A sad example of the challenges facing OSS supplier consolidation

Yesterday’s post, “Would an OSS duopoly be a good thing?” talked about the benefits and challenges of consolidation of the number of suppliers in the OSS market. I also promised that today I’ll share an example of the types of challenge that can be faced. An existing OSS supplier (Company A) had developed a significant […]

Accenture to offer ONAP-aaS

Accenture Extends Collaboration with ONAP to Help Communications Industry Accelerate Transformation to Software-Based Networks. Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has extended its collaboration with LF Networking (LFN) — which facilitates collaboration and operational excellence across open networking projects, including the Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) — upgrading its membership to Gold level status as part of its […]

Would an OSS duopoly be a good thing?

The products/vendors page here on PAOSS has a couple of hundred entries currently. We’re currently working on an extended list that will almost double the number on it. More news on that shortly. The level of fragmentation fascinates me, but if I’m completely honest, it probably disappoints me too. It’s great that it’s providing the […]

Do you have a nagging OSS problem you cannot solve?

On Friday, we published a post entitled, “Think for a moment…” which posed the question of whether we might be better-served looking back at our most important existing features and streamlining them rather than inventing new features to solve that have little impact. Over the weekend, a promotional email landed in my inbox from Nightingale […]

Juniper signs $325m deal with IBM

IBM Services Strikes Agreement with Juniper Networks to Speed its Journey to the Cloud. IBM Services announced a $325 million agreement with Juniper Networks in which IBM will assist the network technology giant in managing its existing infrastructure, applications and IT services to help reduce costs and enhance their journey to the cloud. According to […]

Think for a moment…

“Many of the most important new companies, including Google, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Snapchat, Uber, Airbnb and more are winning not by giving good-enough solutions…, but rather by delivering a superior experience….” Ben Thompson, stratechery.com Think for a moment about the millions of developer hours that have gone into creating today’s OSS tools. Think also for […]

Nobody dabbles at dentistry

“There are some jobs that are only done by accredited professionals. And then there are most jobs, jobs that some people do for fun, now and then, perhaps in front of the bathroom mirror. It’s difficult to find your footing when you’re a logo designer, a comedian or a project manager. Because these are gigs […]

To link or not to link your OSS. That is the question

The first OSS project I worked on had a full-suite, single vendor solution. All products within the suite were integrated into a single database and that allowed their product developers to introduce a lot of cross-linking. That has its strengths and weaknesses. The second OSS suite I worked with came from one of the world’s […]

Am I being an OSShole?

““Am I being an asshole?” In other words, am I pointing out problems or am I finding solutions?” Ramit Sethi. One of the things I’ve noticed working on large and small OSS teams is that people who excel at finding solutions thrive in both. The ones who thrive on only identifying problems seemingly only function […]

IBM Unveils World’s First Quantum Computing System

IBM Unveils World’s First Integrated Quantum Computing System for Commercial Use. At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled IBM Q System One™, the world’s first integrated universal approximate quantum computing system designed for scientific and commercial use. IBM also announced plans to open its first IBM Q Quantum Computation Center […]

Treating your OSS/BSS suite like a share portfolio

Like most readers, I’m sure your OSS/BSS suite consists of many components. What if you were to look at each of those components as assets? In a share portfolio, you analyse your stocks to see which assets are truly worth keeping and which should be divested. We don’t tend to take such a long-term analytical […]

TM Forum’s Open API links

Those of you familiar with TM Forum are already quite familiar with the Frameworx enterprise architecture model. It’s as close as we get to a standard used across the OSS industry. Frameworx consists of four main modules, with eTOM, TAM and SID being the most widely referred to: Application Framework (previously known as, but still […]

The bird’s wings analogy for OSS RFPs

“A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because her trust is not on the branch but on it’s own wings.” Unknown. Last month, we posted a series entitled “How to kill the RFP.” The RFP is a common mechanism for reaching a purchasing agreement between OSS provider and network […]

2019 predictions for OSS

Well, this is the time of year when people make big predictions for the coming year. But let me start by saying the headline is something of a misnomer. I’m not clever enough to have any predictions for 2019 for a couple of reasons: There are far too many clever people working across the myriad […]

My favourite OSS saying

My favourite OSS saying – “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” OSS are amazing things. They’re designed to gather, process and compile all sorts of information from all sorts of sources. I like to claim that OSS/BSS are the puppet masters of any significant network operator because they assist in every corner of […]

OSS come in all shapes and sizes

As the OSS vendors / suppliers page here on PAOSS shows, there are a LOT of different OSS options, making it an extremely fragmented market. But there’s something of a reason for that fragmentation – customer requirements for OSS come in all shapes and sizes. Here are four of the major categories that I’ve been […]