For network operators, our OSS and BSS touch most parts of the business. The network, and the services they carry, are core business so a majority of business units will be contributing to that core business. As such, our OSS and BSS provide many of the metrics used by those business units. This is a privileged position to be in. We get to see what indicators…
Read More »Vertel launches SD-WAN services from Nuage Networks to organizations across Australia. Vertel and Nuage Networks, Nokia's software defined network (SDN) venture, will work together to launch software defined WAN (SD-WAN) services for Vertel's government, enterprise and service provider customers in July this year. Once deployed, Vertel will be one of the first providers in Australia to offer seamless, cloud-connected WAN services, with its customers enjoying all…
Read More »"You cannot simply have your end users give some specifications then leave while you attempt to build your new system. They need to be involved throughout the process. Ultimately, it is their tool to use." José Manuel De Arce here. As an OSS consultant and implementer, I couldn't agree more with José's quote above. José, by the way is an OSS Manager at Telefónica, so he…
Read More »Tending to be a low-volume, high-customisation, high-uniqueness product, OSS has a significantly different selling proposition than most "box drop" products. Can you imagine if OSS salespeople used any of these "great deal" propositions (as described by Gary Halbert)? "I'm going out of business." "I just had a fire and I'm having a fire sale." "I'm crazy." (all used car dealers) "I owe taxes and I've got…
Read More »We all know the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears where Goldilocks chooses the option that's not too heavy, not too light, but just right. The same model applies to OSS - finding / building a solution that's not too heavy, not too light, but just right. To be honest, we probably tend to veer towards the too heavy, especially over time. We put more…
Read More »Netcracker Extends Billing and CRM Relationship With Charter. Netcracker Technology announced that Charter Communications has executed a long-term extension of its BSS and professional services relationship with Netcracker as part of its large-scale standardization program. Charter, the second largest cable service provider in the United States which operates under the Spectrum brand, provides services to more than 25 million business and residential customers across the country.…
Read More »One of the challenges facing OSS / BSS product designers is which platform/s to tie the roadmap to. Let's use a couple of examples. In the past, most outside plant (OSP) designs were done in AutoCAD, so it made sense to build OSP design tools around AutoCAD. However in making that choice, the OSP developer becomes locked into whatever product directions AutoCAD chooses in future. And…
Read More »"There are ratings and rankings that ostensibly exist to give us information (and we are supposed to use that information to change our behavior). But if we don't know what variables matter, how is it supposed to be useful? Just because it can be easily measured with two digits doesn't mean that it's accurate, important or useful. [Marketers learned a long time ago that people love…
Read More »SKT to provide blockchain-based asset management service Courtesy of the Korea Herald. SK Telecom will provide an asset management service by using blockchain technologies within this year, and build a platform that will help match blockchain startups with investors for growth of the techs and related industry, the mobile carrier’s blockchain unit head said Tuesday. Oh Se-hyeon, executive vice president of SKT’s blockchain business unit, said…
Read More »Did any of you read the Light Reading link in yesterday's post about Google creating automated network operations services? If you haven't, it's well worth a read. If you did, then you may've also noticed a reference to Finland's Elisa selling its automation smarts to other telcos. This is another interesting business model disruption for the OSS market, although I'll reserve judgement on how disruptive it…
Read More »Merkator acquires NetworkMining. Merkator nv/sa, a geospatial asset management solution provider, announced the acquisition of NetworkMining nv/sa, an independent supplier of IP & Optical Network Mediation Software for Communication Service Providers & Utilities. For more than a decade, NetworkMining has been recognized as a specialist in IP/optical mediation and inventory software and as such will bolster Merkator's expertise and portfolio of Telco & Utilities solutions. Merkator…
Read More »"Google has started applying its artificial intelligence (AI) expertise to network operations and expects to make its tools available to companies building virtual networks on its global cloud platform. That could be a troubling sign for network technology vendors such as Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), which now see AI in the network environment as a potential differentiator…
Read More »"The actions taken by the telecom industry have mostly been around cost cutting, both in terms of opex and capex, and that has not resulted in breaking the curve. Too few activities has been centered around revenue growth, such as focused activities in personalization, customer experience, segmentation, targeted offerings that become part of or drive ecosystems. These activities are essential if you want to break the…
Read More »Just wondering - do you think there would be any correlation between the number of fall-outs through an OSS/BSS stack and the level of security on a network? In theory, they are quite separate. NetOps and SecOps are usually completely separate units, use different thinking models, don't rely on common tools (apart from the network itself), etc. The reason I ask the question is because fall-out…
Read More »In a recent post, we described how changing conditions in networks (eg topologies, technologies, etc) cause us to reconsider our OSS. Networks always lead and OSS (or any form of network management including EMS/NMS) is always an afterthought. Often a distant afterthought. But what if we spun this around? What if OSS initiated change in our networks / services? After all, OSS is the platform that…
Read More »A few years ago, I read a book that had a big impact on the way I thought about OSS and OSS product development. Funnily enough, the book had nothing to do with OSS or product development. It was a book about marketing - a subject that I wasn't very familiar with at the time, but am now fascinated with. And the book? Purple Cow by…
Read More »Orange Luxembourg contracts Comarch for complete BSS overhaul. Comarch, announced that Orange Luxembourg selected Comarch BSS products to improve billing and customer management processes. The solution covers Orange mobile prepaid and postpaid services (voice and data), the “Orange Love” offer (internet, TV, VoIP, and mobile) as well as cloud and third party services in Luxembourg. These will be offered, charged, billed and managed using an array…
Read More »This is the second episode discussing the significant change to OSS thinking caused by modern network models. Yesterday's post discussed how there has been a paradigm shift from static networks (think PDH) to dynamic / transient networks (think SDN/NFV) and that OSS are faced with a similar paradigm shift in how they manage modern network models. We can either come up with adaptive / algorithmic mechanisms…
Read More »"There are three broad models of networking in use today. The first is the adaptive model where devices exchange peer information to discover routes and destinations. This is how IP networks, including the Internet, work. The second is the static model where destinations and pathways (routes) are explicitly defined in a tabular way, and the final is the central model where destinations and routes are centrally…
Read More »There's something I've noticed about OSS products - they are either designed to be abstract / flexible or they are designed to cater for specific technologies / topologies. When designed from the abstract perspective, the tools are built around generic core data models. For example, whether a virtual / logical device, a physical device, a customer premises device, a core network device, an access network device,…
Read More »"Even aside from the OSS impact, it illustrates the contrast between "bottom-up" planning of networks (new card X is cheaper/has more ports) and "top down" (what do we need to change to reduce our costs/increase capacity)." Robert Curran. Robert's quote above is in response to a post called "Trickle-down impact planning." Robert makes a really interesting point. Adding a new card type is a relatively common…
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