Passionate About OSS Blog | Passionate About OSS and BSS

Is your OSS squeaking like an un-oiled bearing?

Network operators spend huge amounts on building and maintaining their OSS/BSS every year. There are many reasons they invest so heavily, but in most cases it can be distilled back to one thing - improving operational efficiency. And our OSS/BSS definitely do improve operational efficiency, but there are still so many sources of friction. They're squeaking like un-oiled bearings. Here are just a few of the…

08/05/2019 No Comments

Fast and slow OSS, where uCPE and network virtualisation fits in

Yesterday's post talked about one of the many dichotomies in OSS - fast and slow data / processes. One of the longer lead-time items in relation to OSS data and processes is in network build and customer connections. From the time when capacity planning or a customer order creates the signal to build, it can be many weeks or months before the physical infrastructure work is…

07/05/2019 2 Comments

Give me a fast OSS and I might ask you to slooooow doooown

The traditional telco (and OSS) ran at different speeds. Some tasks had to happen immediately (eg customers calling one another) while others took time (eg getting a connection to a customer's home, which included designs, approvals, builds, etc), often weeks. Our OSS have processes that must happen sequentially and expediently. They also have processes that must wait for dependencies, conditional events and time delays. Some roles…

06/05/2019 No Comments

Hansen acquires Sigma Systems

Acquisition of Sigma Systems. Hansen Technologies Limited announced the signing of definitive agreements for the acquisition of Sigma Systems (“Sigma”). The acquisition is expected to close on 31 May 2019. Key Points: Founded in 1996, Sigma is a leading global provider of catalog-driven software products for telecommunications, media, and high-tech companies. Its software is designed to streamline complex product and service offerings and provide a faster…

02/05/2019 No Comments

About the OSS that transmits on radio station WIIFM

Nobody is interested in you, your brand or your OSS. Well, that's a big negative and confrontational statement isn't it? You're probably thinking I got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning and took a big handful of emo pills. The reality is, all of our customers and colleagues are walking around tuned into radio station WIIFM (What's in it for me?), so…

01/05/2019 No Comments

Elon Musk’s SpaceX gets FCC approval to beam broadband from space

FCC AUTHORIZES SPACEX TO PROVIDE BROADBAND SERVICES VIA SATELLITE CONSTELLATION. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved an application by Space Exploration Holdings, doing business as SpaceX, to provide broadband services using satellite technology in the United States and around the world. With this action, the Commission takes another step to increase high-speed broadband availability and competition in the United States. This is the first approval of…

30/04/2019 No Comments

Would you hire a furniture maker as an OSS CEO?

Well, would you hire a furniture maker as CEO of an OSS vendor? At face value, it would seem to be an odd selection right? There doesn't seem to be much commonality between furniture and OSS does there? It seems as likely as hiring a furniture maker to be CEO of a car maker? Oh wait. That did happen. Ford Motor Company made just such a…

30/04/2019 No Comments

Do you wish more people fell in love with your OSS?

I'd hazard a guess that everyone reading this would admit to being a techie at some level. And being a techie, I'd also imagine that you have blatant tech-love for certain products - gadgets, apps, sites, whatever. But, let me ask you, are there any OSS products on your love-interest list? If yes, leave me a comment of "yes" and name of the product below. If…

29/04/2019 No Comments

The no accounts receivable OSS model

Unfortunately for OSS vendors / integrators, their business models have a dependency (and major risk) on accounts receivable. Investopedia states, "Accounts receivable are amounts of money owed by customers to another entity for goods or services delivered or used on credit but not yet paid for by clients." One of the earliest OSS projects I worked on was worth in excess of $30m for the vendor.…

23/04/2019 No Comments

Another 150 suppliers added

We've just added another 150 suppliers to the Passionate About OSS list of OSS / BSS suppliers. There are now well over 350 suppliers listed for your comparison. Let us know if yours isn't listed there yet.

22/04/2019 No Comments

Ooops. The 3GPP network management omission

A recent discussion with a learned and respected OSS colleague reminded me that there had been a major omission from the PAOSS History / Standards page. With the buzz developing around 5G, not to mention some of the advanced features like network slicing and radio infrastructure virtualisation, the oversight was a big one. We'd forgotten to include radio network management standards. We've filled that gap now…

18/04/2019 No Comments

Gartner OSS Magic Quadrant 2019

Gartner's OSS Magic Quadrant report for 2019 can be downloaded courtesy of Ericsson here.

17/04/2019 1 Comment

What are OSS “platform wrapper” roadblocks?

OSS can be cumbersome at times. Making change can be difficult. We tend to build layers of protections around them and the networks we manage. I get that. Change can be risky (although the protections are often implemented because the OSS and/or network platforms might not be as robust as they could be). Contrast this with the OSS we want to create. We want to create…

16/04/2019 No Comments

Only do the OSS that only you can do

A friend of mine has a great saying, "only do what only you can do." Do you think that this holds true for the companies undergoing digital transformation? Banks are now IT companies. Insurers are IT companies. Car manufacturers are now IT companies. Telcos are, well, some are IT companies. We've spoken before about the skill transformations that need to happen within telcos if they're to…

15/04/2019 No Comments

Solarwinds acquires Samanage for $350m

https://passionateaboutoss.com/solarwinds-acquires-samanage-for-350m/SolarWinds Sets Its Sights on the ITSM Market through Acquisition of Samanage and Introduction of a SolarWinds Service Desk Product. SolarWinds announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Samanage, an IT service desk solution company based in Cary, NC. Over the past 7 years, Samanage has built a strong, well-respected product guided by a customer-centricity that aligns well with SolarWinds’ mission and commitment to…

13/04/2019 No Comments

A single glass of pain or single pane of glass??

Is your OSS a single pane of glass, or a single glass of pain? You can tell I'm being a little flippant here. People often (perhaps idealistically) talk about OSS as being the single pane of glass (SPOG) to manage a network. I say "idealistically" for a couple of reasons: There are usually many personas who interact with an OSS, each with vastly different user interface…

11/04/2019 No Comments

Unleashing the chaos monkeys on your OSS

I like to compare OSS projects with chaos theory. A single butterfly flapping it's wings (eg a conversation with the client) can have unintended consequences that cause a tornado (eg the client's users refusing to use a new OSS). The day-to-day operation of a network and its management tools can be similarly sensitive to seemingly minor inputs. We can never predict or test for every combination…

10/04/2019 No Comments

An OSS without the shackles of topology

It's been nearly two decades since I designed my first root-cause analysis (RCA) rule. It was completely reliant on network topology - more specifically, it relied on a network hierarchy to determine which alarms could be suppressed. I had a really interesting discussion today with some colleagues who are using much more modern RCA techniques. I was somewhat surprised, but not surprised at all in hindsight,…

09/04/2019 No Comments

I sent you an OSS helicopter

"There’s a fable of a man stuck in a flood. Convinced that God is going to save him, he says no to a passing canoe, boat, and helicopter that offer to help. He dies, and in heaven asks God why He didn’t save him. God says, “I sent you a canoe, a boat, and a helicopter!” We all have vivid imaginations. We get a goal in…

08/04/2019 No Comments

Mythical OSS beasts – feature removal releases

"Life can be improved by adding, or by subtracting. The world pushes us to add, because that benefits them. But the secret is to focus on subtracting... No amount of adding will get me where I want to be. The adding mindset is deeply ingrained. It’s easy to think I need something else. It’s hard to look instead at what to remove. The least successful people…

04/04/2019 No Comments

The humbling experience of OSS superstars

"Years ago, I was so confident, and so naive. I was so sure that I was right and everyone else was wrong. Unfortunately I was lucky and got successful, so that kept me ignorant of my shortcomings. I sold my company, felt ready to do something new, and started to learn. But the more I learned, the more I realized how little I knew, and how…

02/04/2019 No Comments

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