Nokia launches AVA
Nokia AVA, the new cloud-based cognitive platform for service delivery to operators. Nokia has created a new way to develop and deliver expert services to operators seeking near-perfect network performance and availability, improved operational efficiency and thus a superior customer experience. Nokia AVA is a cloud-based platform that combines big data storage, intelligent analytics and […]
The reverse release
“To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” Lao Tzu. There’s an interesting phenomenon in OSS, but probably software development in general, keep adding new features without giving a thought to removing any. This is fine if you’re in a growth phase in terms of resources, budgets / revenues, customers, […]
Bright House Networks deploys Netcracker CRM
Bright House Networks Deploys Netcracker CRM Solution to Enhance Customer Experience and Deliver Greater Personalization. Netcracker announced that Bright House Networks has deployed Netcracker’s eCommerce and CRM solutions to enhance the customer experience and deliver greater personalization through more effective and automated customer engagements. As the sixth-largest cable MSO in the United States, Bright House […]
Virtual satellites
Last Friday the post, “Managing satellites,” discussed how the satellite OSS concept provides core OSS to work on Telco networks / eTOM models, whereas ITIL / ITSM has become increasingly prevalent for the tools to help service managed service contracts. Does this concept resonate with you regarding management of virtualised networks in terms of satellites […]
The signal in the noise
In our life and our OSS we’re now bombarded with so much info that it can be overwhelming. We have to understand what really matters to know how to set up the right filters. Have you ever noticed how life in OSS, just like our email inboxes, is an endless stream of activities with a […]
Managing satellites
Douglas Stevenson made some great comments on a recent post called, “Managing managed services.” He rightly pointed out that a carrier that builds custom OSS to support each managed service contract is losing sight of what really matters – they’re delivering the tools rather than the services. Precisely! It made me consider this follow-up post […]
Courageous decisions
In many posts (including this one) I have talked about the need for us as an industry to look beyond the current catch-cries of “differentiation” in OSS proposals: Cost-out More functionality It’s easy to make such bold encouragement in a blog where there are no ramifications for stepping outside the norm. Much harder when actually […]
Microsoft Azure IoT Hub launched
Microsoft Azure IoT Hub launched. The highly anticipated Microsoft Azure IoT Hub will be generally available on February 4. Azure IoT Hub provides an easy and secure way to connect, provision and manage billions of IoT devices sending and receiving trillions of messages per month. IoT Hub is the bridge between customers’ devices and their […]
Amdocs makes five announcements
Amdocs has made the following five announcements in a day. TELUS Modernizes with Amdocs Billing and Charging Solution, Resulting in Optimized Processes and Greater Agility Crnogorski Telekom Deploys Amdocs Software for Pre- and Post-Paid Customer Management, Ordering and Billing Globe Telecom G-Xchange, Inc. Enhances GCash Services with Latest Amdocs Mobile Financial Services Solution Amdocs Solution […]
Managing managed services
Managed services contracts are a big source of revenue for many big telcos. There are many variants on what a managed service is but l’ll loosely define it here as a contract between a service provider and an organisation where the organisation delegates some responsibility for running their communication network to the CSP. It could […]
Winner takes all
“On Monday this week taxi app Lyft raising a new $1bn round which included $500m from General Motors. Twelve months ago the received wisdom was that Uber was on a tear and it’s competitors would fail and in response to this funding news LA Times wrote a piece questioning whether the ‘winner takes all phenomenon’ that […]
Root cause rule
Have you ever built a root-cause algorithm? Root cause is so dependent upon each individual network with all of its nuances so it’s difficult to find one-size-fits-all methods. Individuals can develop the experience and can learn to read the signs and understand the linkages. Machine learning can too. One technique that I find transfers across […]
Incident play forward
Earlier this week you may have read, “Incident playback,” a post about storing the context around incidents and being able to learn and refine responses using that context. Today I’d like to take the concept a little further. When talking about context, I wasn’t just referring to other live alarms, but also having data feeds […]
ETSI group for Next Generation Protocols
ETSI creates new standardization group to pave the way for Next Generation Protocols. ETSI has opened a new Industry Specification Group to commence work on Next Generation Protocols, looking at evolving communications and networking protocols to provide the scale, security, mobility and ease of deployment required for the connected society of the 21st century. The […]
Managing content
Do end customers buy bandwidth off CSPs because they really want a data service? No? To deliver entertainment services; to deliver communications with friends, family and customers; to deliver learnIng; to facilitate shopping; to spread an organisation’s selling messages across multiple channels and provide near-real-time response metrics on each; to build marketplaces; to deliver; to […]
CSG selected by Globalstar
CSG to Support Next Generation Satellite Services at Globalstar. CSG International (NASDAQ: CSGS) announced that Globalstar (NYSE MKT: GSAT), a leading international provider of mobile satellite voice and data services, has selected CSG as the revenue and customer management solution provider for its second-generation service launch in the first half of 2016. Globalstar’s advanced second-generation […]
The problem with virtual reality
In the past I’ve written about a cool tool called AugView that lets you augment what you see in front of you with a spatial representation of physical assets, such as conduits, cables, etc that are actually hidden underground. At the moment there are two limitations that restrict the usefulness of tools like AugView. The […]
Incident playback
There’s an interesting thing about incidents, once they’re resolved they no longer need attention, especially not attention on how they might be resolved better in future. But there’s something of the special snowflake about incidents – they’re all just a little bit different or unique and need their own special attention. [I’m not talking about […]
Vicious cycle
Let’s have a look at how OSS stands today in the eyes of the customers that invest in them: The pieces don’t work together well Too expensive Too risky Too time consuming Consume too many resources Compromised outcomes – Don’t give us what we need Then look at it from the perspective of vendors / […]
MTN chooses ItsOn
MTN Group chooses ItsOn. ItsOn announced that it has signed a group agreement with MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile operator with more than 230 million customers throughout Africa and the Middle East. MTN will use ItsOn’s cloud-based solution to increase subscribers and revenue by selling both enhanced mobile connection services and new digital content through […]