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When low OSS performance is actually high performance

"It's not unusual for something to be positioned as the high performance alternative. The car that can go 0 to 60 in three seconds, the corkscrew that's five times faster, the punch press that's incredibly efficient... The thing is, though, that the high performance vs. low performance debate misses something. High at what? That corkscrew that's optimized for speed is more expensive, more difficult to operate…

10/01/2018 No Comments

The 10 minute / 1 minute / 10 second Agile OSS challenge

Check out the video below, which gives an example of the 10 minute / 1 minute / 10 second challenge (you can check out more of them here). When given 10 minutes to sketch Spiderman, the result is far richer than when the artist is given only 10 seconds... well obviously!! But let me pose a question. If Sketch B was compiled from 60 sequential 10s…

09/01/2018 No Comments

The double-edged sword of OSS/BSS integrations

"...good argument for a merged OSS/BSS, wouldn't you say?" John Malecki. The question above was posed in relation to Friday's post about the currency and relevance of OSS compared with research reports, analyses and strategic plans as well as how to extend OSS longevity. This is a brilliant, multi-faceted question from John. My belief is that it is a double-edged sword. Out of my experiences with…

08/01/2018 No Comments

Keeping the OSS executioner away

"With the increasing pace of change, the moment a research report, competitive analysis, or strategic plan is delivered to a client, its currency and relevance rapidly diminishes as new trends, issues, and unforeseen disrupters arise." Soren Kaplan. By the same token as the quote above, does it follow that the currency and relevance of an OSS rapidly diminishes as soon as it is delivered to a…

05/01/2018 No Comments

The future of telco / service provider consulting

"Change happens when YOU and I DO things. Not when we argue." James Altucher. We recently discussed how ego can cause stagnation in OSS delivery. The same post also indicated how smart contracts potentially streamline OSS delivery and change management. Along similar analytical lines, there's a structural shift underway in traditional business consulting, as described in a recent post contrasting "clean" and "dirty" consulting. There's an…

04/01/2018 No Comments

I found a way to save ten million dollars

Yesterday's post about egos in OSS contained the following Dilbert cartoon: . It reminded me of a story from many years ago. I was working in a developing country, advising the board of a tier-one telco on the implementation of their first-ever OSS (they'd only ever operated their networks at NMS level previously). During the analysis phase I came across some data that showed an interesting…

03/01/2018 No Comments

Bad OSS ego decisions

"A long, long time ago Dennis Haslinger told me that most of the most serious mistakes I would make in life would be bad ego decisions. I have found that to be true." Gary Halbert. OSS is an industry filled with highly intelligent people. In every country I've visited to work on OSS assignments, perhaps excluding Vietnam, my colleagues have been predominantly male. Dare I say…

02/01/2018 No Comments

A deeper level of OSS connection,

Yesterday we talked about the cuckoo-bird analogy and how it was preventing telcos from building more valuable platforms on top of their capital-intensive network platforms. Thanks to Dean Bubley, it gave examples of how the most successful platform plays were platforms on platforms (eg Microsoft Office on Windows, iTunes on iOS, phones on physical networks, etc). The telcos have found it difficult to build the second…

22/12/2017 No Comments

OSS that keep the cuckoos out of the nest

"The cuckoo bird is infamous for laying its eggs in other birds' nests. The young cuckoos grow much faster than the rightful occupants, forcing the other chicks out - if they haven't already physically knocked the other eggs overboard. (See "brood parasitism", here). Analogies exist quite widely in technology - a faster-growing "tenant" sometimes pushes out the offspring of the host. Arguably Microsoft's original Windows OS…

21/12/2017 No Comments

To reduce OSS dark data (or not)?

Dark data is the name for data that is collected but never used. lt's said that 96-98% of all data is dark data (not that I can confirm or deny those claims). Dark data forms the bottom layer in the DIKW hierarchy below (image sourced from here). What would the dark data percentage be within OSS do you think? Or more specifically, your OSS? If you're…

20/12/2017 No Comments

Zain Saudi Arabia delivers during Hajj with Nokia SON software

Zain Saudi Arabia delivers a superior experience during Hajj and Ramadan with Nokia software. Using Nokia's EdenNet SON software, Zain Saudi Arabia effectively managed the surge in data and voice traffic in Makkah and Medina during the Hajj and Ramadan, allowing pilgrims to remain connected and share their journey with loved ones. Large public events or gatherings generate significant pressure on mobile networks, challenging service providers…

20/12/2017 No Comments

Raising the OSS horizon

With the holiday period looming for many of us, we will have the head-space to reflect - on the year(s) gone and to ponder the one(s) upcoming. I'd like to pose the rhetorical question, "What do you expect to reflect on?" It's probably safe to say that a majority of OSS experts are engaged in delivery roles. Delivery roles tend to require great problem-solving skills. That's…

19/12/2017 No Comments

Can you re-skill fast enough to justify microservices?

"There's some things that I've challenged my team to do. We have to be faster than the web scale players and that sounds audacious. I tell them you can't you can't go to the bus station and catch a bus that's already left the station by getting on a bus. We have to be faster than the people that we want to get to. And that…

18/12/2017 No Comments

HTC Upgrades to Netcracker 12 OSS

Enhanced OSS Suite Will Help HTC Roll Out Digital Services Faster and Support Increasing Diversity of Devices. Netcracker Technology announced that Horry Telephone Cooperative (HTC) will extend and upgrade its use of Netcracker's OSS to the latest Netcracker 12 suite. Leveraging Netcracker 12 will enable HTC to roll out digital services more quickly and utilize a future-proof platform to support long-term growth. As a large-scale U.S.-based…

16/12/2017 No Comments

Micro-strangulation vs COTS customisation

Over the last couple of posts, we've referred to the following diagram and its ability to create a glass ceiling on OSS feature releases: Yesterday's post indicated that the current proliferation of microservices has the potential to amplify the strangulation. So how does that compare with the previous approach that was built around COTS (Commercial off-the-shelf) OSS packages? With COTS, the same time-series chart exists, just that…

15/12/2017 No Comments

Openet selected by Tier 1 North American operator

Openet’s Digital as a Service solution selected by Tier 1 North American operator to power Digital First Sub-brand. Openet announced that it has entered a partnership with a Tier 1 North American operator to provide its Digital as a Service solution. This solution comprises integrated best of breed solutions that will combine to deliver an AI driven end to end Digital Business Platform that will be…

15/12/2017 No Comments

Group Vivendi Africa deploys Netcracker OSS

Netcracker's OSS Suite to Support GVA's Rapid Network Expansion, Market Growth and Service Diversity. Netcracker Technology announced that its OSS suite was selected and deployed to support the long-term growth strategy of Group Vivendi Africa (GVA). GVA is a newly formed affiliate of the French-based multinational conglomerate Vivendi with the goal to deploy and operate a fiber network across Africa. Netcracker's OSS will be used as…

14/12/2017 No Comments

Is micro-strangulation underway within OSS?

Yesterday's post spoke of how the accumulation of features was limiting us to small, incremental change. The diagram below re-tells that story: You've probably noticed that microservices are the big buzz in our industry. They're perceived as being the big white hope for our future. I have my reservations though. If you're at t0 in the chart above, microservices allow for rapid rollout of features, whole…

14/12/2017 2 Comments

The strangulation of OSS feature releases

The diagram below provides a time-sequence view of how tech-debt accumulation eventually strangles new OSS feature releases unless the drastic measures described are taken. At start-up (t0), the system is brand new and has no legacy to maintain, so all effort can be dedicated to delivering new features (or products) as well as testing to ensure control of quality. But over time (t0 + 10, where…

13/12/2017 6 Comments

A career without OSS

Have you ever noticed that the biographies of almost every successful person contains the chapter(s) where everything goes disastrously? It seems inevitable that there are periods in our careers where things don't go right, no matter how successful you are. Interestingly my least successful project was also one that had only a very small OSS component to it. It was one of the triggers to starting…

12/12/2017 5 Comments

Can the OSS mammoths survive extinction?

"Startups win with data. Mammoths go extinct with products." Jay Sharma. Interesting phraseology. I love the play on words with the term mammoths. There are some telcos that are mammoth in size but are threatened with extinction though changes in environment and new competitors appearing. I tend to agree with the intent of the quote, but also have some reservations. For example, products are still a…

11/12/2017 No Comments

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