The following is the result of a survey question posed by TM Forum: I'm not sure how the numbers tally, but conceptually the graph above paints an interesting perspective of why orchestration is important. The graph indicates the why. But in this case, for me, the why is the by-product of the how. The main attraction of orchestration models is in how we can achieve modularity.…
Read More »Many years ago, I was lucky enough to lead a team responsible for designing a complex inside and outside plant network in a massive oil and gas precinct. It had over 120 buildings and more than 30 networked systems. We were tasked with using CAD (Computer Aided Design) and Office tools to design the comms and security solution for the precinct. And when I say security,…
Read More »In 1998 Berkshire Hathaway acquired a reinsurance company called General Re. "The only significant staff change that followed the merger was the elimination of General Re's investment unit. Some 150 people had been in charge of deciding where to invest the company's funds; they were replaced with just one individual - Warren Buffett." Robert G. Hagstrom in, "The Warren Buffett Way." Buffett was able to replace…
Read More »I'd like to get your opinion on this question - are OSS business tools or technical tools? We can say that BSS are as the name implies - business support systems. We can say that NMS / EMS / NEMS are network management tools - technical tools. The OSS layer fits between those two layers . It's where the business and technology worlds combine (collide??). If…
Read More »How many OSS business cases have you seen that are built around cost reduction? Most of them?? Now let me ask the same question, but with one extra word included and see whether it completely inverts your answer. How many OSS business cases have you seen that are built on capital cost reduction? None of them?? Almost every "cost-out" business case is built on operational cost…
Read More »Yesterday's post talked about using customer contacts as a real-time proxy metric for friction in the business, which could also be a directional indicator for customer experience. That got me wondering what other proxy metrics might be used by to provide predictive indicators of what's happening in your network, OSS and/or BSS. Apparently, "Colt aims to enhance its service assurance capabilities by taking non-traditional data (signal…
Read More »NPS, or Net Promoter Score, has become commonly used in the telecoms industry in recent years. In effect, it is a metric that measures friction in the business. If NPS is high, the business runs more smoothly. Customers are happy with the service and want to buy more of it. They're happy with the service so they don't need to contact the business. If NPS is…
Read More »Irby Announces Partnership with Biarri Networks. Irby, a subsidiary of Sonepar, announced an innovative partnership with Biarri Networks, global provider of OSP fiber optic network design software and services. Irby named Biarri Networks as its fiber optic design and engineering partner following an extensive selection process, with the key criteria being cultural fit, contribution to the industry, and a proven history of innovation in the telecom…
Read More »OSS are there to do just that - support operations. So as OSS implementers we have to do just that too. But as the old saying goes, you get back what you put in. In the case of OSS I've seen it time and again that operations need to contribute significantly to the implementation to ensure they get a solution that fits their needs. Just one…
Read More »Weirdest. Acquisition. Ever. Broadcom buys CA Technologies. Broadcom to Acquire CA Technologies for $18.9 Billion in Cash. Broadcom Inc., a semiconductor device supplier to the wired, wireless, enterprise storage, and industrial end markets, and CA Technologies, [a] provider of information technology (IT) management software and solutions, announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Broadcom has agreed to acquire CA to build…
Read More »OSS tend to be very good at presenting a current moment in time - the current configuration of the network, the health of the network, the activities underway. Some (but not all) tend to struggle to cope with other moments in time - past and future. Most have tools that project into the future for the purpose of capacity planning, such as link saturation estimation (based…
Read More »Yesterday's post discussed the merits of front-loading effort on knowledge transfer of new starters and automated testing, whilst acknowledging the challenges that often prevent that from happening. Today we look at the front-loading benefits of building OSS / network auto-discovery tools. We all know that OSS are only as good as the data we seed them with. As the old saying goes, garbage in, garbage out.…
Read More »Can you guess what automated OSS testing and OSS new starters have in common? Both are best front-loaded. As a consultant, I've been a new starter on many occasions, as well as being assigned new starters on probably even more occasions. From both sides of that fence, it's far more effective to front-load the new starter with training / knowledge to bring them up to speed…
Read More »"To paraphrase the great Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, resisting change is like trying to hold your breath – even if you’re successful, it won’t end well." Michael McQueen here. OSS is an interesting dichotomy. At one end of the scale, you have the breath holders - those who want the status quo to remain so that they can bring their OSS (and/or network) under control. At…
Read More »Subex wins multi-million-dollar contract from Optus To deploy its ROC Network Asset Management solution. Subex, a telecom analytics solution provider, has won a multi-million-dollar contract with Optus, Australia to implement its ROC Network Asset Management solution. Optus is one of the largest telecom operators in Australia and a fully owned subsidiary of Singtel. They offer mobile, enterprise and wholesale services and home entertainment, exclusive content including…
Read More »"CSPs’ needs in orchestration are evolving in parallel on several dimensions. These can be considered hierarchically. At the highest level is software that has an end-to-end service role, as is the case in the ONAP project. This software generally supports a service life-cycle perspective, containing functions from design and service creation, to provisioning and activation, to operations management, analysis, upgrade and evolution. Beneath this tier, in…
Read More »"Insurer IAG has modelled the financial cost that a data breach or ransomware attack would have on its business, in part to understand how much proposed infosec investments might offset its losses. Head of cybersecurity and governance Ian Cameron told IBM Think 2018 in Sydney that the “value-at-risk modelling” project called upon the company’s actuarial expertise to put numbers on different types and levels of security…
Read More »“Very often, what is meant to be a stepping stone turns out to be a slab of wet cement that will harden around your foot if you do not take the next step soon enough.” Richelle E. Goodrich. Not sure about your parts of the world, but I've noticed the terms "tactical" (ie stepping stone solution) and "strategic" (ie long-term solution) entering the architectural vernacular here…
Read More »On Friday, we talked about how making compromises on OSS can actually be a method for reducing risk. We used the OSS vendor selection process to discuss the point, where many stakeholders contribute to the list of requirements that help to select the best-fit product for the organisation. To continue with this same theme, I'd like to introduce you to a way of prioritising requirements that…
Read More »"When you've got multiple powerful parties involved in a decision, compromise is unavoidable. The point is not that compromise is a necessary evil. Rather, compromise can be valuable in itself, because it demonstrates that you've made use of diverse opinions, which is a way of limiting risk." Chip and Dan Heath in their book, Decisive. This risk perspective on compromise (ie diversity of thought), is a…
Read More »There's a particular carrier that I know quite well that appears to despise a particular OSS vendor... but keeps coming back to them... and keeps getting let down by them... but keeps coming back to them. And I'm not just talking about support of their existing OSS, but whole new tools. It never made sense to me... until reading Seth Godin's blog today. In it, he…
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