"I’m sure I learned a great deal at University, and I can probably even recall an equation or two, but I will never forget Professor Collins’ 3 Principles of Engineering: 1. F = ma (The take-away is this: you can’t ignore physics) 2. You can’t push on a rope (You can’t ignore the reality of your experiences just because the math says so – chances are…
Read More »I'm pleased to announce the arrival of my latest publication, an eBook entitled, "Valuable OSS - Delivering a Return on Your Investment in Operational Support Systems (OSS)." You can grab it for free until 25 July 2015 via the link above or by clicking on the image below-right. Also keep your eye out for another free eBook that will be arriving shortly that will shine a…
Read More »"In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” Charles Darwin. An interesting thing happened when looking up the quote for this blog. The quote I was going to use was never actually spoken/written by Charles Darwin, even though it is perhaps the quote he is most famous for. Turns out that, "It Is Not…
Read More »"Why do we have to end up processing packets in four or five different locations for different functions? That doesn’t make any sense at all. Connectem consolidates packet gateway functions to process each packet just once, which is much more efficient. This is going to be important as the world moves toward IoT because the cost point of processing a packet has to be way, way…
Read More »"Braess's paradox is a proposed explanation for why a seeming improvement to a road network can impede traffic through it. It was exposed in 1968 by mathematician Dietrich Braess who noticed that adding a road to a congested road traffic network could increase overall journey time, and has been used to explain incidences of improved traffic flow when existing major roads are closed. The paradox may…
Read More »Huawei acquires SDN software technology from Amartus Huawei announced the acquisition from the Irish company Amartus, of its SDN software technology. Amartus is a Dublin based software developer and SDN service solutions provider. The acquisition of Amartus’ software assets will enable Huawei to accelerate its SDN roadmap and improve its competitiveness in SDN solutions and services by introducing fast business innovation and multi-vendor capability. Zha Jun,…
Read More »Robi Axiata Goes Live with NetCracker Integrated Revenue and Customer Management Solution. NetCracker Technology announced that Robi Axiata has gone live with the NetCracker Revenue and Customer Management solution to enable next-generation integrated rating, billing, care, settlement and credit control operations for subscribers as well as roaming and interconnect partners. The NetCracker Revenue and Customer Management solution will help Robi Axiata provide superior responsiveness and customer…
Read More »"The details are not the details. They make the design." Charles Eames. Gaining consensus on an OSS document across multiple stakeholders can be a painful exercise. As we all know, each reviewer will have their own biases, agenda, preferences, etc. This is great when the reviews are picking up vital points, but can be detrimental to a project when they're stuck in the minutiae that adds…
Read More »"Inspiration is one thing and you can't control it, but hard work is what keeps the ship moving. Good luck means, work hard. Keep up the good work." Kevin Eubanks. A younger member of an OSS team l once worked on asked for some advice. One of her colleagues had indicated that since she was only being paid for working from 9 to 5, she shouldn't…
Read More »"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." Henry Adams. Here on PAOSS, we've spoken before about the challenges of training (and retaining) a broadly talented, adaptable OSS workforce. Getting a resource up to productive speed on any given OSS requires an apprenticeship, not just a 2 day training course. But this process can be accelerated if you have a workforce that has…
Read More »Synchronoss is exploring a sale according to WSJ.com The tech company is working with Qatalyst Partners on a possible sale and could be valued at over $2 billion. Synchronoss Technologies Inc is exploring a sale in the latest indication of brisk takeover demand for many software companies. The Bridgewater NJ company is working with investment bank Qatalyst Partners on the possible sale according to people familiar…
Read More »Today's blog is all about you (actually they all have you in mind collectively, but this one encourages you to voice your specific obstacles to progress). In the world of OSS (or perhaps even beyond), what value can I add that goes beyond the generalities of a blog and will help you get what you want? Is there any specific challenge that is preventing you from…
Read More »"The CISO as a marketer and leader: The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO, or equivalent) will become less focused on technology and security tools, and become considerably more focused on marketing. This is not only focused ‘upwards’ to the Executive team and Board but also across the organisation to all staff and even involve end customers. The main challenge in this role is to engage the…
Read More »"Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” John Wesley. In the 1990's and early 2000's OSS were much more sexy than they are today. As such, they were easier to find funding for than they are today. Perhaps one reason for this is the imperceptible benefits that they provide, as opposed to the now common perception that OSS…
Read More »"I demolish my bridges behind me - then there is no choice but forward." Fridtjof Nansen. OSS are full of dilemmas aren't they? We've spoken about many of them in the past haven't we? Today we look at an interesting one in terms of product upgrades. For a vendor, their ideal situation is to have only one live version of their software in use at any…
Read More »Acquisition to Accelerate Cisco's Cloud Delivered Security Portfolio. Cisco announced its intent to acquire OpenDNS [for a report $635m], a privately held security company based in San Francisco. OpenDNS provides advanced threat protection for any device, anywhere, anytime. The acquisition will boost Cisco's Security Everywhere approach by adding broad visibility and threat intelligence from the OpenDNS cloud delivered platform. The burgeoning digital economy and the Internet…
Read More »Procera Networks Deployed on SoftBank's LTE Network. Procera Networks, announced that SoftBank has deployed Procera's PacketLogicTM solutions to enhance its LTE service offerings in Japan. Procera was selected to replace the existing traditional analytics and assurance vendors due to the enhanced Subscriber Experience visibility that Procera was able to provide for the operators on top of traditional mobile analytics. Softbank is committed to providing a superior…
Read More »"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.." H. L. Mencken. In yesterday's blog, we discussed the law of cascading problems where if we have data accuracy levels as follows: Locations are 90% Pits are 95% Ducts are 90% Cables are 90% Joints are 85% Patch panels are 85% Active devices are 95% Cards are 95% Ports are 90% Bearer…
Read More »"Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems." Scott Adams. As Scott Adams of Dilbert fame stated, us Engineers love to solve problems. In the world of OSS we don't NEED to create our own because there are already so many that are handily available (although we often do make more of our own anyway for…
Read More »Comptel has won a significant deal with leading Singaporean operator for FlowOne Fulfillment. Comptel has won a significant deal with leading Singaporean operator for FlowOne Fulfillment. The deal consists of FlowOne Fulfillment SoftBlade licenses and related services. The multi-year deal is valued over 2 million EUR.
Read More »"When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That's when you can get more creative in solving problems." Stephen Covey. OSS projects have been some of the most challenging projects I've worked on - with challenges of multiple layers coming at you from different attack angles. But from within these environments have also come unexpected, obscure life…
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