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VimpelCom engages Nokia

Nokia and VimpelCom sign major five-year managed services contract for management of fixed, mobile and transport networks. Nokia and the Russian communications and technology company "VimpelCom" (brand "Beeline") have signed a five-year agreement under which Nokia will become the major supplier of managed services for VimpelCom's fixed, mobile and transport network operations. Nokia, which has been managing services for VimpelCom's network in central Russia, will extend…

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09/03/2017 No Comments

Treating telco like electricity

Whenever I look at telco provisioning projects, I can't help but think at the complexity involved. Processes are lengthy, with multiple manual steps, mappings, data gathering, sequencing activities, approvals, settings and options. It's no wonder that OSS evolutions and transformations are a nightmare for operators from the perspectives of effort, risk, cost, etc. If we look at residential customer services, the 80% in Pareto's 80:20 rule…

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06/03/2017 No Comments

EXFO buys Ontology Systems

EXFO Acquires Ontology Systems. EXFO Inc. announced it has acquired privately held Ontology Systems, technology leader in real-time network topology discovery and service-chain mapping, for a total consideration of US$7.6 million, net of cash. UK-based Ontology Systems uses graph-data and semantic searches to build real-time views of network services and related network elements. Network functions virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN) technologies render communications infrastructures…

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04/03/2017 No Comments

Unleashed selects Comarch

Unleashed Selects Comarch as a preferred BSS Supplier in its IT Overhaul. Comarch will help Unleashed, part of the Belgian multimedia company MEDIALAAN, to lead its BSS transformation and become a fully Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). Comarch’s solutions will manage customers, products and billing for the three brands managed by Unleashed: Mobile Vikings, JIM Mobile and Stievie. The contract was signed at the end of…

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04/03/2017 No Comments

OSS vendor websites – are they helping their customers?

Amongst other consultancy activities, I help clients find the best OSS solution for their needs. This means I'm constantly analysing vendor offerings to cross-reference against client needs. Based on this perspective, there's a question I would like to pose to vendors - Why are potential customers coming to your site? [Note: for the purpose of this blog we'll disregard existing customer visits] Can we assume that…

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03/03/2017 No Comments

Ericsson deploys fulfillment for Jio

Ericsson successfully deploys OSS fulfillment suite for Jio in India. Ericsson has deployed an end-to-end OSS fulfillment suite for Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited ("Jio"), the world's fastest-growing operator. This OSS deployment includes order management, inventory management and activation solutions. The deployment has helped Jio achieve faster onboarding and provide quality service to its 100 million users. Jyotindra Thacker, President, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, says: "At Jio,…

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03/03/2017 No Comments

OSS / BSS to replace cash in the twenty-first century?

"When the dollar was the currency in the twentieth century, banks made a fortune by selling trust. If data is the new currency, who’s going to sell trust in the twenty-first century?" Anthony Behan on TM Forum's Inform. Anthony also states in his blockchain-centric article, "The telco has a trusted position – even more trusted than government and banks — in most economies. There is an…

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02/03/2017 No Comments

Globe Telecom selects Netcracker

Globe Telecom Selects NEC and Netcracker to Accelerate Digital Transformation and Infrastructure Virtualization. NEC Corporation and Netcracker Technology announced that Globe Telecom has selected them to support its digital transformation initiative and lay the foundation for next-generation infrastructure, including virtualization. Globe will use Netcracker's sophisticated OSS suite and comprehensive Service Orchestration solution, a component of NEC/Netcracker's Hybrid Operations Management solution and Agile Virtualization Platform and Practice.…

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01/03/2017 No Comments

Learning about your OSS customers from the extremes

The first step of the Design Thinking methodology is emphathising (aka getting to know your customers). For some OSS vendors, they overlook this step assuming that they know what the customers want. Similarly for an internal project, the project team will act as the proxy on behalf of a large group of OSS users without really knowing what that group wants / needs. We all have…

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01/03/2017 No Comments

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Ericsson sign smart city partnership

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Ericsson sign smart city partnership. Having transformed Istanbul into a 'city brand', Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) has signed a cooperation agreement for a smart city consultancy project with Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC). Under the umbrella of the Istanbul Informatics and Smart City Technologies (ISBAK AS) company, the IMM and Ericsson will work together to achieve Istanbul's smart city vision and 2024 targets. In…

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01/03/2017 No Comments

Verizon implements CENX

Verizon boosts NFV service assurance with end-to-end visibility - CENX to provide closed-loop intelligence across multiple platforms. Continuing to advance its network virtualization strategy, Verizon has implemented an orchestrated real-time analysis engine that aggregates IP and optical network data to successfully provide service assurance for NFV deployments. Verizon has chosen CENX to provide the tools that deliver a unified view of the state of physical and…

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01/03/2017 No Comments

Tightening the loop between back office and the field

In the past, there has tended to be a chasm between the back office (eg network design) team and the field work force. The back office team prepared design packs and A0 prints. The field workforce marked up these design drawings with as-built versions. Feedback tended to be paper-based (ie needing transcribing) and was often delayed until the field worker returned to base to lodge their…

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28/02/2017 2 Comments

The big and the bold needs catalyst thinking

"My role is that of a catalyst. I try to create an environment in which others make decisions." Ricardo Semler, in his book, "Maverick." Creating something big and bold that's never been done before (within a company, if not an industry) seems to scare most people in OSS. I think that this comes about partly because most people in the tech industry seem to be details…

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27/02/2017 No Comments

Standardising the southbound interface

This recent news brief relating to the AT&T ICE program reminded me to write an article on the standardisation of southbound interfaces. As Chris Rice SVP of AT&T Labs’ Domain 2.0 Architecture and Design stated in reference to certification of VNFs, "Unfortunately, you can get a lot of snowflakes — VNFs that are totally unique — when what you really want is Lego blocks." In the…

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24/02/2017 No Comments

Open-O and ECOMP combined to create ONAP

Linux Foundation announces Open-O and ECOMP Combine to Create ONAP. The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit advancing professional open source management for mass collaboration, announced the merger of open source ECOMP and Open Orchestrator Project (OPEN-O) to create the new Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) Project. ONAP will allow end users to automate, design, orchestrate, and manage services and virtual functions. AT&T, China Mobile and the world’s…

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24/02/2017 No Comments

Verizon selects Ericsson VNFs

Ericsson tapped by Verizon Enterprise Solutions to provide enabling support for NFV services. Verizon Enterprise Solutions has selected Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) to provide enabling technologies for its virtualized global Managed Network Services offerings, including Software Defined Wide Area Networking (SD WAN) services. The enabling technologies will allow Verizon customers to take advantage of self-service ordering and configuration, end-to-end automation and flexible payment models resulting in more efficient…

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23/02/2017 No Comments

Driving your OSS like a racing-car team

The best race car drivers are not only the ones who can drive well but can also communicate clearly with the pit crew on how to set up the car (eg tyre pressures, suspension settings, etc). They understand the adjacent fields and are able to communicate with them. They're not mechanics. They leave the task of setting up the car to the experts, but they do…

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23/02/2017 No Comments

Be the light

"You're the example that can create light. Don't try to talk people into the light. Be the light." James Altucher. One of the things I love about OSS is that there are so many opportunities for improvement. Tools, techniques and models are all jumping forward in leaps and bounds but there is still so much more of the OSS wild-west to stake a claim on. Is…

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22/02/2017 No Comments

AT&T ICEs Vendors of Virtual Network Functions

AT&T ICEs Vendors of Virtual Network Functions. AT&T revealed two new aspects of its virtualization strategy, both related to virtual network function (VNF) requirements. The first is a process the service provider is calling ICE. Vendors must use it to introduce and certify their virtual network functions for AT&T’s network. “The vendor side has improved,” said Chris Rice, SVP of AT&T Labs’ Domain 2.0 Architecture and…

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22/02/2017 No Comments

OPNFV Tests its Software on OCP Hardware

OPNFV Tests its Software on OCP Hardware. The OPNFV open source group has released the report for its second plugfest, conducted in December. The plugfest was notable for testing OPNFV software on Open Compute Project (OCP) hardware designs. Lenovo and Nokia provided the OCP hardware, including servers and switches, for the tests. “It was exciting bringing open source software and hardware together,” said Heather Kirksey, the…

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22/02/2017 No Comments

Is there an omni-channel opportunity here?

Digitisation spawned a new word - omnichannel. It's a brilliant concept as it taps into the fact that different customers like to reach you (or be reached by you )via different channels, be that email, social, online, livechat, apps, SMS, podcasts, etc. It's gives them the choice to connect via the method they're most comfortable with. Think of the old days when a customer would connect…

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21/02/2017 No Comments