Passionate About OSS Blog | Passionate About OSS and BSS

Keys to the vault

"Think ahead. Don't let day-to-day operations drive out planning.." Donald Rumsfeld. When it comes to collecting data for making strategic decisions, your OSS and BSS hold the keys to the advanced planning vault: Number of customers and recent change Customer behaviours (at a macro level) Service usage trends Segments and share of market Service levels Capacity projections Depreciation on assets and related capital refresh plus any…

30/10/2013 No Comments

The more you know

"The more you know, the further you go." 50 cent on the Pranksta Rap episode of The Simpsons. A family member was watching The Simpsons recently and the aforementioned quote came up. Simple and profound. Not sure if it's attributable to 50 cent or a screenwriter for the show though. As we know, an organisation's B/OSS can touch almost all of their business units. Yet how…

29/10/2013 No Comments

You-niversal

"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." Lewis Carol. There is an almost you-niversal truth in business. It's not about you. One of my young mentees was surprised during a recent discussion about a job interview he was due to have. My message was that most interviewees make a fundamental mistake -…

28/10/2013 No Comments

Why was the question asked?

“Listening is not understanding the words of the question asked, listening is understanding why the question was asked in the first place.” Simon Sinek author of the book, "Start with Why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action." In his book, Simon Sinek presents the concept that individuals and organisations that start by asking "Why?" rather than "What?" tend to be more successful. He uses…

27/10/2013 No Comments

I have a dream

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." Oscar Wilde. As discussed yesterday, I have a dream when it comes to system interfaces. Interfaces will be able to be constructed by mere mortals, not only by that rare breed of gun system-level programmers. My dream goes something like this:…

26/10/2013 No Comments

Why do OSS projects fail?

"I think complexity is mostly sort of crummy stuff that is there because it's too expensive to change the interface." Jaron Lanier. In most cases, OSS projects fail because of complexity. Complexity in any number of layers - service complexity, network complexity, political complexity, operational complexity, etc. Or perhaps a combination of many. One of the most common forms of complexity is in the interfaces between…

25/10/2013 No Comments

Network Function Virtualisation (NFV)

"Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) aims to transform the way that network operators architect networks by evolving standard IT virtualisation technology to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume servers, switches and storage" ETSI document, "Network Function Virtualisation (NFV); Use Cases" The above document from ETSI describes nine use cases of interest for NFV. Further to yesterday's blog entry about SDN (Software Defined Networking),…

24/10/2013 No Comments

OSS Naming Convention Tool loaded

Passionate About OSS has just uploaded a new OSS Naming Convention tool for you.

24/10/2013 No Comments

Ericsson signs with Shandong Cable Network

Shandong Cable Network taps ericsson to deliver on-demand services to Chinese consumers An increasing number of provincial and municipal level Chinese cable TV operators are transforming their service into a two-way network in order to compete with new IPTV, over-the-top (OTT), online video and other interactive video business models emerging on the Chinese market. To compete in this new TV market, Shandong Cable Network, a tier-one…

23/10/2013 No Comments

Have you noticed this trend?

"I don't set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them." Dick Clark. There is an interesting trend brewing away. Have you noticed it? The hardware in your network is becoming increasingly virtualised, ie the trend is from hardware to software, fixed to customisable. Removing the control plane from a network device and placing it on separate compute infrastructure means that the B/OSS…

23/10/2013 No Comments

The Zorro Circle

"Positivity is such a high predicator of success rates.." Shawn Achor in his book, "The Happiness Advantage." In Principle 5 in Achor's book, he talks about the Zorro circle, stemming from the movie of the same name starring Antonio Banderas. In it, Zorro's mentor draws a line in the dirt, forcing Zorro to learn how to fight within the confines of the circle. In effect, Zorro…

22/10/2013 No Comments

Follow the bouncing ball

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit -…

21/10/2013 No Comments

Rapid prototyping

"I love taking an idea... to a prototype and then to a product that millions of people use." Susan Wojcicki. When it comes to starting with an OSS build, I'm a big believer in the benefits of building a rapid prototype in one of the customer's pre-production* environment. Most suppliers approach their OSS implementation projects with the production environment firmly entrenched in their thinking as first…

20/10/2013 2 Comments

The graph-data model

"Graph databases are based on graph theory. Graph databases employ nodes, properties, and edges. Nodes are very similar in nature to the objects that object-oriented programmers will be familiar with." Wikipedia entry on Graph Databases. I believe that Graph data models represent the likely future for OSS. And I've long held the belief that flexible object-oriented data structures are required for next-generation OSS. When looking for…

19/10/2013 No Comments

Study the behaviours, needs and frustrations of your customers

"It is my belief that it is not possible to invent truly original ideas if you absorb too much of that that you wish to differentiate yourself from. As I said, don’t overly study the competition. Study instead the behaviours, needs and frustrations belonging to your customers. Build a culture and environment that nurtures creativity and problem solving." Simon Devonshire. Over time, over budget, under delivered.…

18/10/2013 No Comments

Elitecore’s LTE-ready BSS

Elitecore Announces LTE-ready, Integrated BSS Platform Elitecore Technologies, a global provider of next-generation BSS solution announces future ready pre-integrated BSS platform comprising online charging, convergent billing, PCRF, DSC, 3GPP AAA and enhanced mediation for LTE networks. It supports gradual migration from existing networks to provide personalized LTE offerings such as shared wallet/family plans, a la carte plans and VoLTE support. The Elitecore BSS platform has Business…

17/10/2013 No Comments

The chess-board analogy

“Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. At the top of the following web link, I talk about the chess-board analogy. In a regular game of chess, each of the pieces are isolated from one another, meaning that if one piece moves, no others are impacted (except when an opponent's piece…

17/10/2013 1 Comment

Megafon signs with NetCracker / NEC

NetCracker and NEC to Enhance Operational Excellence for MegaFon NetCracker and NEC Corporation announced that Russian communications leader MegaFon has selected NetCracker and NEC Neva Communications Systems to implement comprehensive Operations Support Systems (OSS). The new OSS will enable MegaFon to centralize network resource management, accelerate service introduction, and improve service quality and customer experience for mass market services across all of its affiliates. NetCracker’s OSS…

16/10/2013 No Comments

Sacred cows

"I've always challenged myself and the people who work with me to take new approaches to traditional business challenges, to push the envelope and constantly ask whether our sacred cows are still producing great milk." Irene Rosenfeld. In an earlier blog, entitled Ruthless Simplification, the topic of being ruthless in your simplification was discussed. Further to that discussion, ruthlessness often has to extend to sacred cows.…

16/10/2013 No Comments

A common OSS problem

"A long apprenticeship is the most logical way to success. The only alternative is overnight stardom, but I can't give you a formula for that." Chet Atkins. Thanks to a recent comment from Laurence Smith regarding training (see here), I thought I'd elaborate on a theoretical approach I have mulled over previously for overcoming a common issue experienced by OSS implementation teams. I say it is a…

15/10/2013 No Comments

One-size-fits-all OSS consultancy model

"I have never believed in the Wizard of Oz theory of consulting, that I am all-knowing and all-seeing, and that everyone around me is kind of a backbencher." David Axelrod. Today I'll give away my model for delivering consultancy on any OSS project, no matter what shape or size. Promise not to tell anyone else, especially the naysayers who claim there is no such thing. Ok,…

14/10/2013 No Comments

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