Passionate About OSS Blog | Passionate About OSS and BSS

The IoT Security threat

"There is currently no reliable method for IoT system security managers to detect and garner timely, dynamic, valid and comprehensive awareness of all components connected to and/or affecting their infrastructure." Michael Cooney in his article, "DHS says IoT security vulnerabilities are critical and need to be addressed." The link above provides fascinating reading from a few perspectives. lt outlines the challenges of securing sensor networks, so…

15/12/2015 No Comments

Anite licenses Huawei OSS interfaces

Anite licenses Huawei OSS interfaces – will integrate with Anite’s Nemo products. Anite announced that it has signed an agreement with Huawei for access to their OSS interfaces. The contract was signed under the Operations Support Systems interoperability initiative (OSSii). Access to Huawei product interfaces ensures that Anite’s Nemo products can accurately integrate with operators’ wireless network OSS infrastructure. “We are excited about having signed an…

13/12/2015 No Comments

How does blockchain assist OSS?

Your first answer to the headline question today will probably relate to Bitcoin transactions. That would indeed be a clever answer but there is more potential in blockchain for OSS / BSS than just crypto-currencies. I figure that it could be applicable for the following use cases and probably many more: Obviously billing reconciliation (and disputes) becomes superseded by the public ledger of the blockchain Data…

11/12/2015 2 Comments

Who’s your boss?

"If you are a product company and you only have one customer, then you effectively have a boss." Given that even the biggest OSS product companies only have a few customers, there is a tendency for the customers to be matrix bosses. To be in more control of your own destiny, you need to have a large number of customers, with no reliance on any one…

10/12/2015 No Comments

I need automations now!

"...our research suggests that as many as 45 percent of the activities individuals are paid to perform can be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technologies. In the United States, these activities represent about $2 trillion in annual wages. Although we often think of automation primarily affecting low-skill, low-wage roles, we discovered that even the highest-paid occupations in the economy, such as financial managers, physicians, and senior…

09/12/2015 No Comments

OSS user interface designs

As someone who is afforded the privilege of seeing many OSS when evaluating vendors, it strikes me that most OSS are designed by Engineers. It seems to me that if a developer hits on a user interface (UI) that can perform the required function then that interface layout will do. After all, Engineers in the OSS industry tend to have too many other tasks in their…

08/12/2015 No Comments

The weakest link

What does your OSS mean to your business (or your customer's business if you're a vendor / installer)? In the upper echelons of the business, OSS are often seen as being a significant financial burden but a necessary evil, a means to an end (or any other negative cliché you'd like to throw in). But how do you start to change that perception? How do you turn your…

07/12/2015 No Comments

10 ideas – New technologies needed

"Which 10 technologies do we need that haven't been invented yet?" In no particular order: Automated checking and correlation of outside plant (and any other data source that doesn't have programmable interfaces) Order to cash tools for customers of CSPs, not just for the CSPs in the usual use of this metric Knowledge transfer between individuals that is faster than years of training and experience No-reconciliation…

04/12/2015 2 Comments

10 ideas – nascent technologies

"Which 10 nascent technologies will impact and be impacted by OSS in the future?" Cloud delivery and related services models that allow carriers to reduce their OSS CAPEX load and outsource aspects of operations. The other important aspect of cloud delivery is web-scaling of infrastructure for efficient, but resilient OSS platform architectures Network virtualization for on-demand resource allocation and associated reductions in power use by CSPs,…

03/12/2015 No Comments

10 ideas – simplifying

"3.Our thinking is often constrained by the complexity of the challenges, so which 10 complexities would you like to snap your fingers and remove?" Here are ten ideas: Don't let Engineers define the requirements :) (I have an Engineering degree, so perhaps I'm included in this list). Just because you CAN deliver a feature doesn't mean it is effective to deliver it. If in doubt, leave…

02/12/2015 No Comments

10 ideas – getting better

James Altucher's Idea Machine concept will form the basis of a series of upcoming posts. An earlier post, "Just 10 ideas" posed 10 questions, one being "What are the 10 things that you’d like to get better at?" From that question, and each of the other questions, I'll attempt to generate 10 ideas. So, the 10 things I'd like to get better at are: Inspiring others…

01/12/2015 No Comments

Simplicity index

Ruthless simplification is a common theme here on PAOSS. Here's a concept for you to try - a "simplification index" or "subtraction index" to classify how much simpler your OSS projects make your operations. The concept forces business cases to have subtraction projects built in.

27/11/2015 No Comments

OSS Olympics

Yesterday I posed 10 questions, including the following, "What should be the first 10 events scheduled at an OSS Olympics?" This is a concept I've pondered for years - who are the best of the best in the world of OSS? It's a tough one to determine though because one operator may be brilliant on one platform, but a mere amateur when given an unfamiliar platform to…

26/11/2015 No Comments

Another 10 ideas

In yesterday's post, "Just 10 ideas", I talked about James Altucher's "Idea Machine," of coming up with 10 ideas every day, regardless of whether they're good or not. I took a slightly different twist on the concept and posed a series of 10 questions, which in turn will probably have at least 10 idea responses. That's 100 OSS ideas. Today's post lists another 10 questions to…

25/11/2015 No Comments

Suddenlink Communications expands with NetCracker

Suddenlink Communications Leverages NetCracker’s Managed Services to Improve Business Agility. NetCracker Technology announced that Suddenlink Communications, one of the largest cable broadband services providers in the United States, has expanded its partnership with NetCracker by engaging in a multi-year managed services program. As part of this initiative, NetCracker will deliver its cutting-edge CRM solution to Suddenlink via a fully hosted managed service model with industry-leading SLAs.…

25/11/2015 No Comments

Just 10 ideas

"You can’t trust the old style of thinking anymore. You have to come up with a new way of thinking. A new way of having ideas. A new way of interacting with the outside universe." James Altucher. I'm currently reading James Altucher's latest book. It has nothing to do with OSS but it has a myriad of ideas to ponder for OSS exponents. He speaks about…

24/11/2015 No Comments

This industry won and lost

"This Industry Will Be Won & Lost In the Next Three Years" John Chambers on Light Reading. Many of you will have noticed the recent partnership between Ericsson and Cisco. You will probably have noticed that they're talking of partnership rather than merger due to the speed in which they can move. As they rightly point out, a merger could take years to play out, years…

23/11/2015 2 Comments

Cisco packages Moogsoft with VMS

Cisco Packages Moogsoft's Incident.MOOG With Its Virtual Managed Services (VMS) Software for Service Providers and Adds Incident.MOOG to the Cisco General Price List. Moogsoft, announced that Cisco's Cloud and Virtualization Group will offer its Incident.MOOG service quality and productivity improvement software to MSPs, telco service providers, and cloud-driven enterprises. The global agreement allows Cisco to resell Incident.MOOG generally, as well as package it specifically for its…

20/11/2015 No Comments

How big is loT?

"With an ecosystem of more than 1,000 channel partners and revenue from its IoT and telematics solutions totaling $495 million year-to-date, Verizon is generating one of the largest amounts of revenue from the Internet of Things of any company in the U.S." This issue of Pipeline. Noting that telcos have been offering telemetry services for years and have long-standing contracts that I'm sure Verizon is including…

19/11/2015 No Comments

CSG selected by Angola Telecom

CSG Selected for BSS Transformation at Angola Telecom. CSG International (NASDAQ: CSGS) announced that CSG’s partner, Satec, will deploy the company’s award-winning Revenue Management solutions at Angola Telecom. The contract comes on the heels of the successful pilot deployment of CSG Interconnect for Angola Telecom’s wholesale operations. The integrated solution will include CSG Singleview® Convergent Rating & Billing, Singleview Customer Management, and Intermediate™, as well as…