Do you know what the word ossify means? If not, can you guess? No, it's not another of my made-up words to describe OSS in an obscure way. For those of you who didn't already know that it's a real word and what it means, wait for it... it means to cease developing; to stagnate. It's more commonly used in medical circles - to turn into…
Read More »We've recently talked about the two service provider business model extremes - OTT / DSP (Over the Top or DSP) versus REIT / TaaU (Telco as a Utility) are affecting OSS. The fast-twitch OSS that services the OTT / DSP model is bringing about some fascinating changes in the way service providers procure "assets." They're no longer buying equipment (or software) outright, but buying as a…
Read More »Yesterday's blog discussed innovation at the speed of data being even faster than innovation at the speed of software. But not all aspects of OSS need to evolve at the sames speeds. In the Olympics, sprinters need fast-twitch muscles and training to hone for speed, whilst marathon runners need slow-twitch muscles and appropriate training for endurance. The same appears to be true in OSS, with the…
Read More »Marc Andreessen famously wrote an essay entitled, "Why software is eating the world," in the WSJ in 2011, which has proven to be an accurate insight. I thought he was also responsible for the term, "innovation at the speed of software," but a search only reveals PAOSS and a few other references, so perhaps I've mangled a quote somewhere along the line. I like it nonetheless…
Read More »Does this clip from Big Bang Theory remind you of any of your OSS colleagues? It does remind me of many colleagues and customers from over the years, but it also unfortunately reminds me of myself sometimes. I've been guilty of prescribing the aircraft-grade aluminium when the cheap Swedish media centre would've done the job. I have to try hard not to slip into this mode.…
Read More »"Once upon a time I used to think that entrepreneurs had to be smart enough to develop a niche strategy. A nice smart strategy which will keep them hidden from the big ugly and powerful incumbents and other startups. A strategy to extract sneaky revenue. I learned how wrong I was the hard way... Turns out niche strategies limit the number of doors we can knock…
Read More »Windstream Automates Provisioning of Wavelength Services Across Nationwide, Multi-Vendor Network Using Ciena Blue Planet. Windstream is deploying Ciena’s Blue Planet orchestration software to automate the delivery of managed wavelength services across the company’s multi-vendor optical network. By leveraging the open orchestration capabilities of Blue Planet, Windstream is able to utilize its optical network as a programmable resource and accelerate the delivery of managed 1 GbE, 10…
Read More »Yesterday's blog covered how exponential growth in ICT industries has been (and will continue to be) a challenge for all of us in OSS-land. We've already seen some fundamental changes in OSS in recent years to be able to cope with the massive growth in device counts, bandwidth demands, etc. We've seen hyper-scaled hardware/software platforms becoming much more common as well as the load-balanced interfaces that…
Read More »We've all heard of Moore's Law, which predicts the semiconductor industry's ability to exponentially increase transistor density in an integrated circuit. "Moore's prediction proved accurate for several decades, and has been used in the semiconductor industry to guide long-term planning and to set targets for research and development. Advancements in digital electronics are strongly linked to Moore's law: quality-adjusted microprocessor prices, memory capacity, sensors and even the…
Read More »"In the first quarter of 2016, more cars were registered for phone numbers in the US than were personal cell phones." From an article named, "Five technologies for the next ten years" The article starts, "Over the next decade, mobile, the Internet of Things, machine learning, robotics, and blockchain technologies will change a great deal..." The report talks about how these technologies will change the oil…
Read More »One of the interesting parts of starting a new OSS project or new customer is figuring out their mode of operation. For example, some architects want high-level requirements to design their own solution against. Others want you to document the requirements so tightly that you're effectively designing the solution for them (eg field mappings, data structures, interface designs, etc). I'm comfortable operating in either mode (and…
Read More »Apttus and Comptel Collaborate to Deliver B2C Customer Journey Solution Built on the Salesforce Communications Industry Framework. Apttus, the category-defining Quote-to-Cash solution provider, and Comptel Corporation, today announced the launch of a new end-to-end offering for the consumer communications segment. As CSPs (Communications Service Providers) evolve to meet the demands of modern business, they’ve turned to leading cloud solutions to complete their customer-centric transformations. This joint…
Read More »GWI Adopts VETRO FiberMap™ SaaS Platform for Broadband Network Mapping & Fiber Management. VETRO FiberMap™ announced that GWI, a rapidly growing internet service provider (ISP), has adopted VETRO FiberMap™ as a core business platform. Through the power of APIs and a user-friendly open architecture that is unique in the industry, VETRO FiberMap™ provides GWI with a secure, flexible, cloud-based platform. This solution helps GWI plan, design,…
Read More »Redknee Successfully Implements Multi-Play Monetization for Omantel. Redknee Solutions Inc. announced the successful implementation of Redknee Unified, a converged multi-play billing, charging and customer care platform at Omantel, a leading communication service provider (CSP) in the Middle East. The successful implementation of Redknee Unified transformed Omantel’s IT infrastructure across multiple lines of business including mobile, fixed, IPTV, Internet, and cable. Redknee Unified reduces time to market…
Read More »Five nines is a catch-cry in the telco industry. There's a view that we should measure the up-time of all the devices in our network and they should all reach the gold standard of 99.999% (ie downtime is less than five and a half minutes per year). But how many times have you seen an ops team quoting their five nines KPIs, whereas the users are…
Read More »A recent blog discussed the concept of running fire drills on your OSS to see how your organisation would handle outages. In Monday's blog, we discussed where OSS customers are going to be and what their requirements are going to look like. The "Telcos as OTT players" model will be hyperscaled and more "transient by nature - services, contracts, capacity, etc. will be spun up and…
Read More »General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It seems to be gaining momentum as a framework for personal data protection. Various governments have been releasing data protection Acts of their own lately too. At the moment the focus appears to be on data privacy within public bodies, but big business is sure to be required to meet similar demands too. It hadn't really dawned on me just how…
Read More »"Don't build where they are. Build where they're going to be." Sam Walton. Sounds like a persuasive argument and not dissimilar to Wayne Gretzky's famous quote about skating to where the ice hockey puck is going to be. Sam Walton had plenty of proof to back up this claim (as did Gretzky). Walton was after all one of the most successful retailers of the 20th century.…
Read More »Google to Hire 1,000 People to Boost Its Cloud Business. Google wants to change how it relates to enterprise customers, and it’s going to use Google Cloud to do so. Today at an event in San Francisco, it made announcements about machine learning, Kubernetes, and expansion of its Google Cloud Platform presence. But the bigger-picture news is that cloud will be taking a leading role at…
Read More »O2 Extends Strategic Billing Partnership with Netcracker. Netcracker Technology announced that Telefónica UK, which operates as O2, has extended and expanded its relationship with Netcracker by signing a multiyear renewal, including an enterprise license for its Revenue Management solution. O2 supports 20 million subscribers in its retail and wholesale business lines using Netcracker software and services. The continued Support & Maintenance services will allow O2 to…
Read More »I'm currently working on an assignment that is slightly left-field for the typical OSS consultant, but is giving me a different angle on OSS than I've had before. I'm working on a predominantly IVR-based project, but considers journeys through multiple customer contact channels. In theory, it has nothing to do with OSS, but I'm finding that it has more relevance than I expected. Let's say that…
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