Blogs

Filter by Date Period

Select Date
Filter by Date Range
Filter by Date Range

Filter by Category

Filter by Category

Vast Broadband Phase 1 with NetCracker

Vast Broadband Completes Phase 1 of Multi-Year BSS Managed Services Deal. NetCracker Technology announced that Vast Broadband, formerly known as Clarity Telecom, has gone live with the NetCracker Revenue Management solution, which it will use through a multi-year hosted managed services arrangement. Vast Broadband, which was recently rebranded from Clarity Telecom, is a cable operator providing high-speed Internet, television and digital voice services to residential and…

Read More »

Left to right… or right to left?

"Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!" Dr. Seuss. As OSS architects, we often find ourselves drawing network diagrams and customer service diagrams don't we? When you draw such drawings, do you tend to draw the customer infrastructure on the left and the core network on the right, or vice versa?…

Read More »

Schurz Communications deploys NetCracker

Schurz Communications Deploys NetCracker Platform to Standardize Billing and Rating Operations Across Properties. NetCracker Technology announced that Schurz Communications has agreed to expand its relationship with NetCracker by establishing a standardized business process across all of its properties through a single NetCracker Billing and Revenue Management solution. Schurz Communications is a full-service communications provider based out of Indiana, offering cable services across Arizona, Florida, Indiana and…

Read More »

Everyone has a plan until….

"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth." Mike Tyson. The great thing about Engineers is the solution is always black and white. It has to be perfect or it's not complete. Well, I'm a qualified Engineer, but I'm not qualified to be an Engineer by these generalisations. You're probably sick of hearing me talk about the Pareto Principle in OSS - where…

Read More »

Over-the-horizon view of OSS

"There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after." J.R.R. Tolkien. As reported last week, my latest publication (The Changing Landscape of OSS) was launched. When approached about writing a report about next generation OSS concepts many months ago, I was excited by the idea…

Read More »

What data resolution fits best?

"If you were able to shrink the Earth to the size of a billiard ball, it would be the smoothest sphere ever created. Hard to believe this if you live near the edge of the Grand Canyon." Seth Godin here. Great analogy above from Seth. The same goes for data. We're constantly hearing about Big Data, but in a recent article entitled, "Minimum Viable Data (MVD),"…

Read More »

Busy OSS

"If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do." Lucille Ball. The first sentence above comes from Benjamin Franklin, whilst the complete statement is attributed to Lucille Ball. The first sentence is arguably the more famous, but it's the second sentence that best fits the sentiments of today's blog. Have you ever noticed…

Read More »

EcoMobile selects Redknee

Redknee Announces New Cloud-Based Converged Billing Win in US. Redknee Solutions announced another customer to subscribe to Redknee’s cloud-based converged billing and customer care solution. Redknee will support EcoMobile, operating on the Sprint network, with its fully managed, software-as-a-service offering. The new deal adds to the growing number of operators who have selected Redknee’s solution in order to achieve the benefits of its flexible, scalable offering,…

Read More »

The Changing Landscape of OSS

The Changing Landscape of Operational Support Systems (OSS): Technologies, Solutions, and Organizational Impacts I'm proud to announce that my latest publication has been released today. Click on the image (or here) to find out more about the document published in conjunction with Mind Commerce. Operational Support Systems (OSS) are the essential set of tools required for a Communications Service Provider (CSP) to design, deploy, monitor and…

Read More »

Turkcell selects NEC and NetCracker

Turkcell Selects NEC and NetCracker’s OSS to Improve Business Agility. NEC Corporation and NetCracker Technology announced that Turkcell Superonline, a leading data, voice and video service provider in Turkey, has opted to use NetCracker solutions to improve and optimize B2B and B2C service fulfillment and assurance and drive operational and business agility. Turkcell Superonline is the only provider in Turkey to offer high-speed, ultra-broadband services to…

Read More »

VIVACOM Goes Live with NetCracker

VIVACOM Goes Live with NetCracker Convergent Revenue Management Solution. NetCracker Technology announced that VIVACOM, a leading quad-play communications service provider in Bulgaria, has gone live with an upgrade to the NetCracker Revenue Management solution. The NetCracker platform enables convergence of VIVACOM’s rating, billing and charging operations across all lines of business. VIVACOM is the largest communications service provider in Bulgaria, providing fixed-line, mobile, broadband and pay-TV…

Read More »

Andorra Telecom goes live with NetCracker

NetCracker’s Visionary Transformation Goes Into Production at Andorra Telecom. NetCracker Technology announced that Andorra Telecom, the national telecommunications operator for the Principality of Andorra, has deployed NetCracker’s end-to-end, fully integrated solutions as part of a massive BSS/OSS transformation. Andorra Telecom has been a longtime NetCracker billing customer, and selected to update and expand its existing NetCracker platform to the entire NetCracker BSS/OSS suite. Andorra Telecom provides…

Read More »

Minimum Viable Data (MVD)

"A core component of Lean Startup methodology is the build-measure-learn feedback loop. The first step is figuring out the problem that needs to be solved and then developing a minimum viable product (MVP) to begin the process of learning as quickly as possible. Once the MVP is established, a startup can work on tuning the engine. This will involve measurement and learning and must include actionable…

Read More »

OSS vendor selection dilemmas

"Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better." Sydney J. Harris. There are many dilemmas facing the organisation that is attempting to select a new OSS vendor, including: The need to change vs the difficulties in changing [the devil you know or the devil you don't??]…

Read More »

IoT equals lower ARPU?

"Surprisingly though, wireless providers themselves are one of the largest hurdles for advancing IoT, with many resisting adding connectivity to new devices due to fears of lower APRU metrics. CSPs must band together and embrace future innovation before competition edges them out. Perhaps creating an IoT MVNO is the transition necessary for addressing lower ARPU, while still fostering the innovation necessary to drive these new revenues."…

Read More »

TM Forum Live begins today

"Your opportunity to connect with the ‘who’s who’ of the digital ecosystem and take away actionable best practices that will inspire and shape your professional and personal success!" www.tmforumlive.org @tmforumorg Today marks the start of TM Forum Live 2015 in Nice, France. Leave us a comment if you're going to be there and let us know what you're most looking forward to seeing.

Read More »

CA Technologies to acquire Rally Software

CA Technologies Agrees to Acquire Rally Software, Accelerates Ability for Businesses to Build Transformative Applications Quickly. CA Technologies announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rally Software Development Corp., a leading provider of Agile development software and services, for $19.50 per share, which equates to approximately $480 million, net of cash acquired. The transaction has been unanimously approved by both Boards of Directors, and…

Read More »

Bridging the OSS chasm

"You don't need to be better. You need to be different." Chase Jarvis. PassionateAboutOSS.com and my book came into existence due to a distinct gap in the OSS market that I'd noticed again and again whilst on customer assignments. As represented in the diagram below, there was a major disconnect between the Technology Context and the Business Context as it related to OSS people, projects, processes,…

Read More »

15 Predictive analytics campaigns

"Ideally, analytics-driven telcos must have predictive analytics embedded in all their business processes, thereby moving away from decisions based on gut feeling or intuition. [The Figure below] illustrates the four phases of a telco customer life cycle - Acquisition, Relationship, Retention and Win-back. Each phase can have several embedded analytical models, which can enhance operations considerably and provide a strategic advantage." Mahendran K from a white paper on TCS.com This…

Read More »

EMC buys Virtustream

EMC expands cloud push with $1.2 billion buy of Virtustream (including Cloud Management Platform [CMP] xStream). Source: Fortune.com. Joe Tucci is at it again. The longtime EMC chief executive and chairman has made another purchase, buying Virtustream, an enterprise-oriented cloud computing company, for $1.2 billion in cash. This move follows EMC’s late 2014 acquisition of Cloudscaling and its OpenStack-based private cloud expertise. Virtustream is focused on…

Read More »

Is the innovation engine broken?

"Consider as a marker the speed of travel. It improved dramatically through the late 19th and early 20th centuries with major innovations such as trains, automobiles, airplanes, jet engines and rockets. But the big advances came to an end in the 1970s. Movement by car now is no faster than it was then – indeed it is often slower. We can fly from London to New…

Read More »