"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…
Read More »"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,…
Read More »"The Ericsson Mobility Report found that mobile data traffic is expected to grow by 12 times between 2012 and 2018." The quote is a sub-set of yesterday's but I thought I'd drill down on one important prediction - that mobile data traffic will grow by twelve times in six years. This indicates that as individuals, we are surrounded by so much information that our brains need…
Read More »"Data – there sure is a lot of it and looking forward there is going to be increasingly more. The Ericsson Mobility Report found that mobile data traffic is expected to grow by 12 times between 2012 and 2018. That’s huge! So what makes data fresh? It’s the ability to use it in real time, to look at the different data sources, correlate them, analyze the…
Read More »"Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there is so much data." John Naisbitt. Yesterday we spoke of a couple of acronyms that aren't so common in traditional B/OSS, namely NFV and SDN. Today, I have five more for you that aren't so common but have roles to play in B/OSS being a revenue centre rather than a cost centre. They are…
Read More »"One has to passionately believe it is possible to change the industry, to turn it on its head, to make sure that it will never be the same again." Richard Branson. Have you heard of these two TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) - NFV and SDN? If you haven't, it might be time to do some research because these two concepts - Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network…
Read More »"Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins." Charles Stanley. When implementing an OSS, or most projects for that matter, it seems that there are four types of activities: Thinking Talking Documenting Doing It seems that every OSS…
Read More »"Advertising is legalized lying." H.G. Wells. My hat goes off for the persistence shown in securing an OSS implementation contract. The sales cycle tends to be lengthy (nine months plus plus). During that time, many promises tend to be made that the implementation team will find difficult to deliver. Unfortunately this often sets unrealistic expectations within the CSP that need to be re-set by the implementers.…
Read More »"The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery." Plato When do most OSS vendors/integrators deliver training to their customers? At the end of the project right? When SHOULD the OSS vendors/integrators deliver training to their customers? At the start.... and then throughout the implementation... and then after they've finished. Have you ever noticed that most vendors spend a great deal of time…
Read More »NSN takes mobile broadband network operations into the cloud With NetAct 8, Nokia Solutions and Networks is virtualizing and modernizing its long-established Operations Support System (OSS) to make network operations simpler and nimbler. NetAct 8’s single, end-to-end view of multi-technology, multi-domain and multi-vendor networks helps operators to run these networks more efficiently and with lower costs. Also new are an off-the-shelf integration of Customer Experience Management…
Read More »"There is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws. There is only the way of intuition, which is helped by a feeling for the order lying behind the appearance." Albert Einstein. Further to yesterday's blog about network modelling, I had a task back in 2001-ish to help a vendor develop their first-ever auto-discovery tool. It was such a thrill when we got it…
Read More »"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust. A new friend over in the Philippines suggested that I write a blog entry about network modelling. Now I'm going to sound like the ultimate nerd here but mapping network devices into OSS is probably the most challenging but interesting tasks I've done in OSS. I love the…
Read More »"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." Winston Churchill. Did that title grab your attention? I'm not some crazy who's advocating the death of democracy by the way, but I do have an interesting question to pose today. Interesting to me at least... Given that there is a race to the bottom underway around the world with many countries seeking to…
Read More »"The Delphi method is a structured communication technique, originally developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of experts. The experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds. After each round, a facilitator provides an anonymous summary of the experts’ forecasts from the previous round as well as the reasons they provided for their judgments. Thus, experts are encouraged to revise their…
Read More »"In 1900, Smithsonian Institution curator John Elfreth Watkins wrote an article for The Ladies' Home Journal, entitled "What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years," filled with predictions that many of his readers probably scoffed at as ridiculously improbable... But what's more impressive is the extent to which Watkins' vision of the future actually has come to pass -- wireless phone networks on which a person…
Read More »“...the greatest shortage in our society is an instinct to produce. To create solutions and hustle them out the door. To touch the humanity inside and connect to the humans in the marketplace.” Seth Godin, in his book "Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?" Let's say that the best in the business, what Seth Godin calls Linchpins, cost 20% more than other lesser mortals but based on the…
Read More »Opmantek wins Knowledge Management & IT award in the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards Opmantek’s network management products are used by over 45,000 organisations globally including some of the world’s largest Telecommunications organisations. Over 13 years Opmantek has shared knowledge and vision within the network management industry, coordinating innovative ideas worldwide through a commercial open source business model led by the world’s top experts, based at…
Read More »"..you’ve got to challenge yourself to produce. Produce more ideas than you need for yourself so you can share and give your ideas away. That is called fruitfulness and abundance." Jim Rohn. The more ideas you share, the more you have to develop, forcing you to produce and grow. This site exists to share ideas with those who have an interest in OSS and to push…
Read More »Virgin Mobile Australia Partners with CSG to Improve the Customer Experience with CSG Singleview Virgin Mobile Australia, one of the country's most popular mobile operators, and CSG Systems International, Inc., a global provider of interactive transaction-driven solutions and services, today announced that Virgin Mobile has expanded its use of CSG Singleview to improve the customer experience and meet changing regulatory standards. CSG's partnership with Virgin Mobile…
Read More »"The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it." Carl Rogers. If everyone is standardised, then nobody is exceptional. Nobody stands out. Everyone is consistent. Everyone is commoditised since there are no differentiating features. Not sure about you, but I want to differentiate. I want to be unique. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big…
Read More »Hawthorn Football Club are AFL premiers for 2013! Go the mighty Hawks! Image borrowed from News Ltd's story that can be seen here.
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