Logo_white_on_blue-min

Blogs

Filter by Date Period

Select Date
Filter by Date Range
Filter by Date Range

Filter by Category

Filter by Category

Huawei signs OSSii with NETSCOUT

Huawei Signs MOU under OSSii with NETSCOUT. Huawei announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NETSCOUT. The MOU allows NETSCOUT’s TrueCall® geoanalytics platform to access Huawei OSS interfaces under Operations Support Systems interoperability initiative (OSSii). Huawei has previously signed MOUs with several independent service vendors within OSS field. This MOU is based on principles specified by OSSii (Operations Support Systems interoperability initiative).…

Read More »
17/04/2016 No Comments

Huawei’s strategic open source play

"The knee-jerk reaction to open source is… well, it’s free. But it’s not that simple. Companies can craft strategic open source projects that complement and enhance and build momentum behind its own products. Huawei has been clear that this is part of its strategy." Scott Raynovich here on SDx Central. Scott's report goes on to highlight, "that the Chinese company is currently the largest contributor to…

Read More »
15/04/2016 3 Comments

Huawei’s investment in five IoT solutions

Huawei's Heavy Investment in Five IoT Solutions. At the Huawei Global Analyst Summit (HAS) 2016, Huawei announced the Internet of Things (IoT) as one of its strategic priorities. Drawing on its long-term investment and expertise in ICT, Huawei has made impressive breakthroughs with its five IoT solutions. The company is also committed to building a robust IoT ecosystem and jointly driving industry innovation with its partners.…

Read More »
14/04/2016 No Comments

What else is going missing?

Yesterday we discussed how all the abstraction and interpolation done in the layers of your OSS stack can allow many things to slip through the cracks. Dougie Stevenson suggested that this is one of the reasons why Engineers prefer to work from a command line. Evan Linwood suggested that we could apply the principle to the Enterprise network / application stack, "This thought process is relevant for…

Read More »
14/04/2016 No Comments

SkyLine deploys Centina Systems

SkyLine Membership Corporation Deploys Centina Systems for Fault, Performance and Network Management. Centina Systems announced that SkyLine Membership Corporation has deployed its NetOmnia™ suite of solutions for fault, performance and network management. Headquartered in West Jefferson, North Carolina, SkyLine Membership Corporation is a full-service provider of telecommunications and network services for business and residential customers. Today, SkyLine is the second-largest of eight telephone cooperatives in North…

Read More »
14/04/2016 No Comments

Do you know what you’re missing?

Each subsequent step northbound in the conceptual diagram below does the same thing: It abstracts (vertical) - it only performs a sub-set of the lower layer's functionality It connects (horizontal) - it performs the task of connecting and managing a larger number of network elements than the lower layer So an OSS, will never (almost never?) replace the functionality of the NMS or EMS. But in return it should increase the…

Read More »
13/04/2016 No Comments

Test harnesses

"With everything going towards continuous delivery, ironic how you don’t see any unit test apparatus in the products. Even the new stuff. Asking for a Unit test harness is like asking for an Audi engine in a Chevy truck." Douglas Stevenson. Great call-out here from Dougie in a comment about why Network Engineers don't trust software. DevOps / continuous delivery is all about providing a constantly…

Read More »
12/04/2016 No Comments

Vivo upgrades Netcracker

Vivo Accelerates Service Delivery Capabilities by Upgrading Netcracker Solution. Netcracker Technology announced that Vivo, the largest telecommunications service provider in Brazil, is upgrading Netcracker’s Activation Manager solution to streamline the process of bringing innovative new services to market. The upgraded solution’s newer features will support Vivo’s long-term business growth strategies and reduce total cost of ownership. Vivo is the leading telecommunications service provider in Brazil, offering…

Read More »
08/04/2016 No Comments

Sometimes you just need a new teacher

I was walking along a city street between meetings recently and overheard the tiniest snippet of a conversation between a couple walking in the opposite direction - "sometimes you just need a new teacher." What a great, random insight. One of the great things about being an OSS consultant and assisting many clients and their customers with their OSS is the ever-changing array of teachers to…

Read More »
08/04/2016 No Comments

Network Engineers don’t trust software…

A very clever colleague of mine, Keith, recently stated, "The failing of network engineers is that they don't trust software (ie OSS, NMS, etc)." Do you agree with Keith? Do you feel that most network engineers prefer to work from the command line rather than the GUI? If so, why is that? Lack of confidence in tools based on past failures or functionality gaps? Speed /…

Read More »
07/04/2016 4 Comments

Augmented Reality meets Decision Support

In yesterday's post we discussed how Virtual Reality (VR) can be utilised in OSS. Today we look at how OSS and Augmented Reality (AR) to be further augmented with decision support systems to help OSS operators. As a starting point for this exercise, we have to think about what OSS situations have a spatial reality so it seems logical to start at genba, the real place.…

Read More »
06/04/2016 No Comments

Virtual Reality meets Decision Support

Have you noticed that Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality seem to be the next big thing lately? Whilst the concept has been around for years, it seems to be trending strongly this year, perhaps because applications are starting to make use of recent technology advances. So where do these technologies fit into the future of OSS? Virtual Reality is exactly that - it's all simulated /…

Read More »
05/04/2016 No Comments

Statistical Exception Detection System (SEDS)

One of the many features of OSS is that they're great at monitoring network performance and alerting operators of any threshold breaches. Initially these thresholds were static. For example if the CPU utilisation on a router goes above x% then an alert gets raised. But this technique has flaws in that there might be recurring peaks (such as 9am on Monday morning when everyone is synching…

Read More »
04/04/2016 No Comments

PLDT invests in MATRIXX

PLDT Capital invests in MATRIXX Software. PLDT through its investment arm, PLDT Capital, has invested US$5 million in California-based MATRIXX Software, provider of real-time, integrated infrastructure for the business of digital service providers. PLDT mobile subsidiary SMART Communications is also deploying MATRIXX Software’s real-time Digital Commerce platform for its mobile business. MATRIXX will enable SMART, the country’s largest mobile network, to deliver an array of lifestyle…

Read More »
02/04/2016 No Comments

Are you noticing the shift too?

Are you noticing a slow, but just perceptible shift being driven by the most progressive CSPs towards the slimming down of their OSS? And not just the yo-yo dieting where there's a brief period of reduction followed by increased bloat, but sustained reductionist thinking. Making do without some of the features being offered by vendors on the basis of it adding complexity but not adding value…

Read More »
01/04/2016 No Comments

Telefonica Germany adds more with Netcracker BSS

Telefónica Germany Delivers More Sophisticated Enterprise Services with Netcracker BSS. Netcracker Technology announced that Telefónica Germany has upgraded and extended its use of Netcracker’s Revenue Management solution. The new version of the solution and increased support will enable Telefónica Germany to simplify and accelerate its rating and billing processes for its B2B operations. With more than 48 million customer accesses, Telefónica Germany is one of the…

Read More »
31/03/2016 No Comments

IT vs OT tensions

I'm currently working on an assignment where many of the client's customers seem to have real power struggle going on between the IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technologies). Nothing unusual there. IP networks are already shifting the balance of power further towards IT. Network virtualisation is likely to tip the scales even further in the favour of IT. That means that OT is looking for…

Read More »
31/03/2016 No Comments

Room for creatives

"Lately being a creative/analytical hybrid can be tough in a world filled with mathematics everywhere. Math makes order out of chaos, but it rarely is correct if you still can't measure everything meant to be measured. I think there was a quote from Albert Einstein about this topic. It went something like this, "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can…

Read More »
30/03/2016 1 Comment

Doing things that don’t scale

We're in tech right? Not just any tech, but O...S...S! Nah we're in the people business. No matter where we sit in the org chart, we need to understand people to build solutions Paul Graham talks about doing the things that don't scale. Does he have some great ideas or what? What doesn't scale: Understanding customers rather than assuming. Building relationships. So many of us fail…

Read More »
29/03/2016 No Comments

Bhutan Telecom selects Ericsson BSS

Bhutan Telecom selects Ericsson for BSS overhaul. Bhutan Telecom has contracted Ericsson to transform its billing systems into a single environment supporting mobile, fixed line and broadband services. The operator has signed a BSS transformation contract with Ericsson covering the provision of a convergent platform for all billing needs. Ericsson will be responsible for design, deployment and systems integration of the platform, which the companies aim…

Read More »
25/03/2016 No Comments

Prescriptive vs declarative OSS

"TOSCA models are 'declarative' in that they describe WHAT it is you’re trying to provision (as opposed to 'prescriptive' models that describe HOW you’re going to get there). ONF uses the term 'intent' to describe the same concept, and yet others refer to these types of models as 'desired-state' models. While there are subtle nuances between these terms, they all effectively describe the same idea. As…

Read More »
25/03/2016 No Comments