PLDT invests in MATRIXX
PLDT Capital invests in MATRIXX Software. PLDT through its investment arm, PLDT Capital, has invested US$5 million in California-based MATRIXX Software, provider of real-time, integrated infrastructure for the business of digital service providers. PLDT mobile subsidiary SMART Communications is also deploying MATRIXX Software’s real-time Digital Commerce platform for its mobile business. MATRIXX will enable SMART, […]
Are you noticing the shift too?
Are you noticing a slow, but just perceptible shift being driven by the most progressive CSPs towards the slimming down of their OSS? And not just the yo-yo dieting where there’s a brief period of reduction followed by increased bloat, but sustained reductionist thinking. Making do without some of the features being offered by vendors […]
Telefonica Germany adds more with Netcracker BSS
Telefónica Germany Delivers More Sophisticated Enterprise Services with Netcracker BSS. Netcracker Technology announced that Telefónica Germany has upgraded and extended its use of Netcracker’s Revenue Management solution. The new version of the solution and increased support will enable Telefónica Germany to simplify and accelerate its rating and billing processes for its B2B operations. With more […]
IT vs OT tensions
I’m currently working on an assignment where many of the client’s customers seem to have real power struggle going on between the IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technologies). Nothing unusual there. IP networks are already shifting the balance of power further towards IT. Network virtualisation is likely to tip the scales even further in […]
Room for creatives
“Lately being a creative/analytical hybrid can be tough in a world filled with mathematics everywhere. Math makes order out of chaos, but it rarely is correct if you still can’t measure everything meant to be measured. I think there was a quote from Albert Einstein about this topic. It went something like this, “Not everything […]
Doing things that don’t scale
We’re in tech right? Not just any tech, but O…S…S! Nah we’re in the people business. No matter where we sit in the org chart, we need to understand people to build solutions Paul Graham talks about doing the things that don’t scale. Does he have some great ideas or what? What doesn’t scale: Understanding […]
Bhutan Telecom selects Ericsson BSS
Bhutan Telecom selects Ericsson for BSS overhaul. Bhutan Telecom has contracted Ericsson to transform its billing systems into a single environment supporting mobile, fixed line and broadband services. The operator has signed a BSS transformation contract with Ericsson covering the provision of a convergent platform for all billing needs. Ericsson will be responsible for design, […]
Prescriptive vs declarative OSS
“TOSCA models are ‘declarative’ in that they describe WHAT it is you’re trying to provision (as opposed to ‘prescriptive’ models that describe HOW you’re going to get there). ONF uses the term ‘intent’ to describe the same concept, and yet others refer to these types of models as ‘desired-state’ models. While there are subtle nuances […]
SmarTone Upgrades Netcracker
SmarTone Upgrades Netcracker Revenue Management Solution to Simplify Billing Operations. Netcracker Technology announced that it has been selected to upgrade and extend its relationship with SmarTone. As part of the agreement, Netcracker will upgrade its leading-edge Revenue Management solution and extend its Systems Integration and Professional Services arrangement with SmarTone. SmarTone is a leading telecommunications […]
Cisco completes acquisition of Jasper
Cisco Completes Acquisition of Jasper to Accelerate Enterprise IoT. Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) has completed its $1.4B acquisition of Jasper, a privately held company based in Santa Clara, Calif. Jasper’s industry-leading cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) service platform enables companies of all sizes to rapidly and cost-effectively launch, manage and monetize IoT services on a global scale. […]
Looking to OSS’s flying cars
Earlier this week we discussed how Peter Thiel’s statement, “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters,” and how it related to the world of OSS. One of Peter’s ventures is the Founders Fund, a venture capital firm investing in smart people solving the world’s difficult problems. The Founders Fund Manifesto is an inspirational […]
Customer-facing roles
Last Friday I posted an article on “OSS resilience” that mentioned the need for resilience on OSS projects and how to measure it in your new hires. It highlighted the need for resilience in “customer-facing roles” in particular but I immediately realised the misrepresentation within this statement. I’m sitting here wracking my brain but can’t […]
We wanted flying cars
“We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” Peter Thiel. This meme speaks of the innovation occurring in the world of technology. It seems that we are making fewer major innovations (flying cars) compared with the world-changing innovations that are really only minor in terms of technological breakthroughs (like Twitter’s 140 characters). When reading, […]
OSS Resilience
“At the dinner before the Forward Partners board meeting in February we were talking about the characteristics we look for in entrepreneurs. I was going through my usual list – drive, discipline, charisma, intelligence, resilience etc. etc when one of our investors interrupted to ask how we assess resilience. He caught me out. We form […]
My six laws of data integrity
Data integrity law #1 – When being handled, the accuracy / integrity of a data set tends to degrade over time. Data integrity law #2 – To prevent rule #1 from making the data unusable, the data needs to be curated. Data integrity law #3 – Curating data always carries a cost. Data integrity law […]
Cost out, cost out, cost out
Those seem to be the three highest priorities for sponsors of OSS projects at the moment. In other words, that means improved efficiencies. Many translate this to requiring CAPEX projects that deliver new things (that in turn drive new efficiencies). This mindset is particularly true for the vendors who are trying to oust their competitors’s […]
It’s a fine line
This blog regularly discusses the need to simplify everything in OSS. However this runs contrary to the perspective of many integrators. From their perspective, the more complex, the more effort required, therefore the greater the income for them (albeit greater cost [and sometimes bitterness] from their customers). After all, services usually have higher margins than […]
Three enters into managed services contract with Amdocs
Three Ireland enters into five-year €65m managed services contract with Amdocs. Three announced that it has signed a contract worth €65m with Amdocs, the leading provider of customer experience solutions, for strategic services and solutions to support Three Ireland in its IT digital transformation, which includes the integration of former O2 IT systems, the elimination […]
Getting up to speed on OSS
“In five years a new employee is going to walk in for her first day, sit down in front of a screen (or HUD) and say, “Alexa, show me the org, how it’s changed in the last 6 months, how it works, and where I can help.” And then the screen (and her eyes) are going to […]
Open source OSS
“Last week, two new open source groups focusing on management and orchestration (MANO) of network functions virtualization (NFV) announced their existence: the Open Source Management (OSM) group hosted by ETSI, and Open-O hosted by the Linux Foundation. At the press conference announcing Open-O, Yang Zhiqiang, deputy general manager of the China Mobile Research Institute, said […]