"The race is on for the carriage standard for the IoT’s (Internet of Things). WiFi, 3G, LTE, Weightless are all candidates. Then there’s the short range stuff like Bluetooth LE, NFC, the list goes on. Interesting to see some of the alternates emerging to WiFi. A company Nuel in the UK have just released an ‘industrial’ carriage network solution that operates over any licensed or unlicensed…
Read More »"A strategic inflection point is a time in the life of business when its fundamentals are about to change. That change can mean an opportunity to rise to new heights. But it may just as likely signal the beginning of the end." Andrew S. Grove, Only the Paranoid Survive. Let me start today by asking you this question - How is it that the search engine giants…
Read More »POST Telecom Signs Three-Year Application Management Agreement with Amdocs Amdocs announced the signing of a three-year application management deal with POST Telecom, the largest service provider in Luxembourg, formerly known as P&T LUXGSM. Under the agreement, Amdocs will provide application management services to support, operate and enhance the Amdocs charging, billing and customer management solutions deployed as part of POST Telecom's business support systems (BSS) modernization…
Read More »Sprint Selects BroadSoft to Deliver Next-Generation IMS and Voice Over LTE Services. BroadSoft today announced that Sprint has selected BroadSoft's BroadWorks® platform to enhance VoIP services made available by Sprint to both its consumer and business customers. BroadWorks, which is IR.92 and IR.94 compliant, is architected to easily integrate with 2G, 3G, and 4G IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based networks. BroadWorks' Service Centralization and Continuity application server…
Read More »"Identifying which data is best used 'fresh' and which is best 'frozen' and retained for post analysis is a technique operators need to master. Effective exploitation of fresh and frozen data opens up opportunities for innovation and differentiation. Personalized experiences based on each individual customer's own interests, behaviour, geography and unique circumstances should drive loyalty." Peter Briscoe. What Peter Briscoe describes above is analogous to streaming…
Read More »Leading European Operator Chooses CSG Interconnect for Integrated Partner Management CSG Systems International announced that one of the largest European telecom operators has chosen CSG Interconnect to manage its current TV broadcasting and video-on-demand partner ecosystem. CSG Interconnect offers robust multiparty settlement capabilities that provide operators the foundation to build and nurture relationships with all types of third-party service and content partners. Increased investments in state-of-the-art…
Read More »"You need to understand what you are buying, and why, how it will affect your business, and what the potential risks are. That detailed understanding may be beyond the scope of a procurement department." Owen Williams. It is standard practice for an OSS to have in-built resiliency, meaning that if there is a failure in one device or even one whole site then there are failover…
Read More »TVCable in Ecuador chooses Comarch for Field Service Automation. Comarch announced that the most important triple-play service provider from Ecuador, GRUPO TVCABLE, will implement the Comarch Field Service Management (FSM) system. Thanks to the solution, TVCable subscribers will benefit from faster delivery of services and enjoy technicians’ visits set exactly according to their preferences. Comarch has been cooperating with TVCable for over eight years as a…
Read More »"Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. By WHY I mean your purpose, cause or belief - WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?" Simon Sinek. In earlier posts (eg Selling the Why?), I've discussed the importance of identifying benefits rather than functionality for the users of…
Read More »“By approaching my problems with "What might make things a little better?" rather than "What is the solution?" I avoid setting myself up for certain frustration. My experience has shown me that I am not going to solve anything in one stroke; at best I am only going to chip away at it.” Hugh Prather. The following are the first three steps along the path to…
Read More »"The iCub is the humanoid robot developed at IIT as part of the EU project RobotCub and subsequently adopted by more than 20 laboratories worldwide. It has 53 motors that move the head, arms & hands, waist, and legs. It can see and hear, it has the sense of proprioception (body configuration) and movement (using accelerometers and gyroscopes)." iCUB.org. The exciting thing about the iCUB project…
Read More »Subex bags 5 global customer deals worth USD $10 mln Subex Ltd announced that it has won five new customer deals, worth USD $10 million, across key emerging markets. Subex participated and won these highly competitive bids against competition to provide its industry-leading Revenue Assurance, Fraud Management and Credit Risk Management solutions, few of them as Managed Services. Two of the wins are from APAC, two…
Read More »"Many connection providers use outdated manual procedures for design, sizing, costing and build rather than embrace new technology. Few companies have so far adopted a GIS-driven (Geographic Information System) approach to design and build that allows more accurate designs more quickly and can inform other processes such as sizing, costing and overall customer service." Davis Langdon. In yesterday's blog we discussed the Everything of Internet (EoI)…
Read More »Redknee Signs $5 Million Converged Charging Order with EMEA Multi-Play Provider Redknee Solutions Inc. announced that it has signed a support and services contract renewal worth $5 million with a leading EMEA multi-play service provider. The renewal, which supports the multi-play provider’s 20 million customers, reflects Redknee’s focus and commitment to support the growth strategies of its combined customer base with highly scalable and flexible billing,…
Read More »"We have a good shot at becoming the number one IT company in the world. That's clearly our goal." John Chambers, CEO of Cisco. Cisco is certainly getting word out about how an IoE (Internet of Everything) is going to change the IT / networking world with its massive growth in networked sensors. But I wonder whether our future of B/OSS could also be framed not…
Read More »C Spire Fiber Accelerates Broadband Service Delivery with NetCracker NetCracker Technology announced that it is accelerating broadband service delivery for C Spire Fiber, a “carrier’s carrier” offering full-service provider transport, Internet, and broadband network services. By leveraging NetCracker’s Outside Plant Management solution and data migration services, as well as implementing NetCracker’s Service Order Management solution, C Spire Fiber is accelerating service delivery, enhancing order fulfilment accuracy,…
Read More »“We deceive ourselves when we fancy that only weakness needs support. Strength needs it far more.” Anne Sophie Swetchine. We've been extolling the virtues of SDN for some time now. But how about possible weaknesses? In an earlier post entitled Carrier SDN we discussed the potential reduction in time to market (TTM) in a software definable network. Innovation at the speed of software as it were.…
Read More »"Market leadership can translate directly to higher revenue, higher profitability, greater capital velocity, and correspondingly stronger returns on invested capital." Jeff Bezos. In yesterday's blog, we cited a report indicating that CSPs across the globe could lose up to $172 Billion in revenues from voice and messaging services. The implication is that OTT (Over the Top) providers are responsible for this decrease. The OTT players are…
Read More »"According to a research report published by Telco 2.0, telecom companies across the globe could lose up to $172 Billion in revenues from voice and messaging services [on a $375 billion base over the next five years]." Digital Service Cloud. In a nutshell, that's $172B that won't be available to be invested in big-budget transformational projects like OSS/BSS. Are the days of the mega-OSS over? If…
Read More »"The difference between extracting simplicity and mastering complexity is largely whether we focus on defining the right abstractions or creating new mechanisms." Scott Shenker. The diagram below provides a slide taken from a speech by Scott Shenker on the principles behind SDN (Software Defined Networking). You can listen to the words surrounding this slide roughly 14 minutes into the video. Shenker speaks of the concept of…
Read More »"Carriers could have a couple of different viewpoints [on SDN]. One is we've gotta do something on our equipment costs because they're not going down as fast as traffic is going up. Others say I want to compete with the data centre operators, the cloud providers. Others say I just want greater service velocity. I want to be able to create my own services and not…
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