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Etisalat, NEC and NetCracker complete vCPE Trial

Etisalat UAE, NEC and NetCracker Complete Highly Successful Virtual CPE Trial. NEC Corporation and NetCracker Technology have announced that Etisalat UAE, one of the world’s largest mobile communications service providers, has successfully completed a series of comprehensive virtual customer-premises equipment (vCPE) trials. The vCPE solution was provided through NEC’s and NetCracker’s joint business brand, NEC/NetCracker SDN/NFV Solutions, and demonstrated new ways to optimize customer experience through…

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01/10/2015 No Comments

du Telecom uses Aspect Software

Aspect Software Powers Derby Over Recovery Process Automation for du Telecom. Aspect Software, provider of fully-integrated consumer engagement, workforce optimization, and back-office solutions, announced solution partnership with Derby Group for the recovery automation process. UAE-based Derby Group, sought an outbound solution provider to deliver solution in debt recovery processes and automate processes for key client, du Telecom. "We at Derby had very specific requirements from our…

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01/10/2015 No Comments

Reaching more OSS customers

In recent weeks, we've followed a theme across many blogs here on PAOSS. We've looked at a new mode of design, delivery and approach for taking OSS to a much broader market base. The following diagrams demonstrate this new approach visually. Figure 1. above shows the current model, where an OSS vendor sells their tools to CSPs as their customers. There are three layers but negligible ecosystem…

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30/09/2015 No Comments

The OSS Christmas tree

"Digital platforms are worthless without content. They're shiny sacks with bells and whistles, but without content, they're empty sacks. It is not about pixels versus print. It is not about how you're reading. It is about what you're reading." Maureen Dowd In a recent post, we talked about the merits of vertical vs horizontal code branching. We've also recently discussed ecosystems as being a possible future…

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29/09/2015 No Comments

Are OSS RFPs really bad and ugly?

"Essentially, RFPs [Request for Proposal] by their very nature are already flawed. You have described the situation you are in today and you are trying to fit the new technology to that situation. Assuming you are trying to transform your business, this is a dead end before you even start." Paul Vedam in his article on Telco Professionals called "RFP technology selection: the good, the bad…

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28/09/2015 No Comments

The Engineering bias

"The engineering bias blinds people to this simple fact. The conventional thinking is that great products sell themselves; if you have great product, it will inevitably reach consumers. But nothing is further from the truth." Peter Thiel (actually a notes essay from Peter Thiel’s CS183: Startup - Class 9 lecture). Distribution is one of an OSS vendor's biggest challenges with current OSS customer-base thinking. Customers are…

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25/09/2015 No Comments

Dominant revenue streams

"Ask your friends what business Google is in and the answer you’ll most likely get is “search.” And they would be wrong. Google is, first and foremost, an advertising company. A full 97 percent of its revenue comes from advertising on its various properties, including YouTube, plus partner sites through its AdSense product. Sure, Google has Android and Chrome OS and everything else, but it doesn’t…

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24/09/2015 No Comments

MTN group selects Ericsson

MTN group selects Ericsson Order to Cash Suite. MTN, a leading telecommunications company with presence in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East, signed a multi-year agreement with Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to implement, support and manage Ericsson's Order to Cash suite. This solution enables MTN to standardize the customer experience of its products and services in all the markets it is operational. As part of…

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24/09/2015 No Comments

Sterlite acquires Elitecore

Sterlite Technologies announces acquisition of global telecom software company Elitecore Technologies. Sterlite Technologies Limited (“Sterlite”) has entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Elitecore Technologies Private Limited (“Elitecore”), a global telecom software product company. Elitecore is a leading provider of Operations Support Services / Business Support Services and is majority owned by First Carlyle Ventures Mauritius, whose affiliate is advised by The Carlyle Group.…

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24/09/2015 No Comments

Owning the OSS market

Another set of quotes from Peter Thiel below (actually a notes essay from Peter Thiel’s CS183: Startup - Class 4 lecture): "For a company to own its market, it must have some combination of brand, scale cost advantages, network effects, or proprietary technology" "Brand is a tricky concept for investors to understand and identify in advance. But what’s understood is that if you manage to build…

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23/09/2015 2 Comments

KPN signs with ZTE and TechM

ZTEsoft partners with KPN to realize OSS transformation. KPN and ZTEsoft (a subsidiary of ZTE Corporation) announced they have signed an IT framework agreement that extends their strategic partnership into the operational support systems (OSS) domain for KPN’s operations in the Netherlands. KPN and ZTE have been jointly preparing for this transformative programme with the goal to simplify KPN’s OSS processes and IT landscape, ultimately speeding…

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23/09/2015 No Comments

M1 transforms with Accenture

M1 Transforms its Billing and Customer Care System in Collaboration with Accenture. M1 Limited (M1), in collaboration with Accenture (NYSE:ACN), has completed a major upgrade of its billing and customer care system. The upgraded system enables M1 to meet the current and future needs of its growing customer base, and provides M1 with a comprehensive, unified view of all customers across its business lines. “Accenture helped…

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23/09/2015 No Comments

Last mover monopolies

"The PayPal network, as it’s been called, is a set of friendships built over the course of a decade. It has become a sort of franchise. But this isn’t unique; that kind of dynamic arguably characterizes all great tech companies, i.e. last mover monopolies. Last movers build non-commoditized businesses. They are relationship-driven. They create value. They last. And they make money." Peter Thiel (actually a notes…

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22/09/2015 No Comments

NFV data models

"I think the data modeling associated with NFV is absolutely critical for its success. Sadly, few of the players involved in NFV say much about their approach to the models..." Tom Nolle in another great blog called, "Comparing the NFV Data-Model Strategies of Key Vendors." Tom's blog above articulates something that I've always found slightly amusing. New networking technologies always seem to focus on the parts…

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21/09/2015 No Comments

Vertical or horizontal OSS branching?

"If you embrace special orders, you're doing something difficult, scarce and worth seeking out." Seth Godin here. Recent post, "Long Tail Dynamics in OSS," highlighted the different bands of customers that a CSP services and the different OSS that they use to service each band. The head (the top-X customers by revenue) tends to get customised OSS solutions, whilst the long tail (the other customers, many…

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18/09/2015 No Comments

Show me your bookcase…

"Show me your bookcase, the ideas that you've collected one by one over the years, the changes you've made in the way you see the world. Not your browser history, but the books you were willing to buy and hold and read and store and share. Every bookshelf tells a story. You can't build one in a day or even a week... it's a lifetime of…

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17/09/2015 No Comments

CableSouth Media3 extends with NetCracker

CableSouth Media3 Extends and Expands BSS Engagement with NetCracker. NetCracker Technology announced that it has extended and expanded its partnership with CableSouth Media3. NetCracker will continue to support CableSouth Media3’s use of the NetCracker Customer and Revenue Management solution through a hosted managed services model and implement a cutting-edge customer Web self-care application. CableSouth Media3 is a leading cable operator in the United States, delivering triple-play…

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17/09/2015 No Comments

Long tail dynamics in OSS

The diagram above shows the head and the long tail of OSS, but also the tale of two distinct ways of thinking at some Tier-1 CSPs. The yellow band represents the head, the top-X (eg Top 100) customers, generally the major corporates, government, etc that spend massive amounts on communication services and expect a corresponding amount of attention from the CSP, usually in the form of managed…

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16/09/2015 No Comments

Who has the last laugh?

When I was at uni, there was a stall that had graffiti on the wall that was quite similar to the diagram above - words to the effect of "Arts degree - please take one." It showed the disdain that some students obviously felt for the worth of an arts degree. Back then, this sentiment was reflected in hiring policies of tech companies. But this interesting…

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15/09/2015 1 Comment

Segmentation of one (continued)

"By now, most people know who Google is and what Google does. Google serves billions of online users in this country and around the world …  With little or no revenue from its users, Google still manages to turn a healthy profit by selling advertisements within its products that rely in substantial part on users’ personal identification information … in this model, the users are the…

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14/09/2015 No Comments

Liberty Global invests in Guavus

Liberty Global Makes Strategic Investment in Guavus. Leading international cable company Liberty Global plc has made a strategic investment in Guavus, Inc., a provider of real-time big data analytics applications for operational intelligence. Built on the Guavus Reflex ® operational intelligence platform, Guavus products allow cable operators to gain a holistic, cohesive view of network state and business context in real-time. It uniquely breaks down the…

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13/09/2015 No Comments