Why Telcos desperately need an 8th Layer in the OSI Model

Telco appears to be an increasingly tough industry. Demand for connectivity continues to soar, yet profitability and differentiation are becoming ever more difficult to achieve. The traditional telco playbook – built on infrastructure, scale, and one-size-fits-all services – is collapsing under the weight of commoditisation and digital disruption. Telco services have never been more essential, […]

What got your OSS there will keep your OSS there… Unless…

Your OSS is either a catalyst for innovation or a roadblock to progress for your business. The same strategies that built your OSS might now be the reason it’s slowing you down. If your OSS was built for yesterday’s challenges, the question is – will it be ready for tomorrow’s opportunities? Is it time to […]

For 50 years, we’ve been building better calculators… and OSS. Now it all changes!

For decades, OSS has followed the same pattern: design, then keep adding lots more “baked-in” capabilities into a complex OSS UI, process inputs, generate outputs. At incredible scale. We made them faster, (somewhat) more automated, and vastly more scalable. But we never made them think. Until now… If… (we’ll come back to the if shortly). […]

Telcos Missed the Cloud Boom – 5 Steps to Ensure They Don’t Miss the AI Wave

In 2010, Cloud was a $24 Billion market. Today, it’s $600 Billion. AI is guaranteed to be even bigger. The AI infrastructure boom is building—and telcos must decide if they’re buyers or sellers. Cloud giants built their fortunes by leveraging infrastructure that telcos helped create. Yet, telcos saw only a fraction of the profits. Now, […]

Starting your own OSS Company? Is there an Alternative to the Startup Path?

Most entrepreneurs are wired to build from scratch. The idea of founding something original, of bringing a vision to life from the ground up, is deeply embedded in startup culture. But what if this isn’t the smartest way to scratch your entrepreneurial OSS-builder itch? The obsession with starting anew often overlooks a powerful alternative: acquiring […]

Could vendor financing help to solve an OSS buyer/seller chasm conundrum? (part 11)

We recently discussed how the “Ultimate Game,” a study in behavioural psychology, might help to explain why there tends to be less initial animosity between carriers and open-source OSS vendors compared with proprietary / paid vendors. And like the rest of the buyer/seller chasm series, we also discussed the three main reasons for the lengthy “match-making […]

Applying Elon Musk’s “Idiot Index” to OSS

I’ve just finished reading the book, “Elon Musk,” by Walter Isaacson. It’s a fascinating study of a fascinating, and highly polarising engineer. Polarising, but also inspiring (inspiring what to avoid as much as inspiring what one could/should/can do). Musk’s biography cites example after example of his ability to think big, but also think very small […]

OSS Procurement Events: Buyers do Judge the Book by the Cover

One of the things I love about my job is all the vendor demos I get to see. Product demos are one of the four important steps in the “inverted pyramid” vendor selection process we follow with our carrier and utility clients as we go about finding a best-fit new OSS and/or BSS solution for […]

Will the Age of AI and Automation cause a rethink in OSS Licensing Models?

Over the years, we’ve been involved in many OSS procurement events and have seen a variety of different pricing models proposed by vendors. Being software, most vendors have quite a lot of pricing flexibility (others, not so much!). Naturally, pricing models can significantly influence a company’s decision to select one vendor over another so I’m […]

When it comes to OSS, are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?

I was listening to a group of telco experts on a podcast the other day. As they were talking, I kept picturing the image of Eeyore – you know, the donkey from A.A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh” stories with an overly pessimistic outlook on life. Sources: https://getwallpapers.com The podcast was just soooo gloomy. Channeling Eeyore, I’ll paraphrase: […]

Can OSS manage comms networks, data centres and renewable energy sources?

Have you noticed that just a few people are writing about AI lately? No? None? Never seen an article about AI? Almost every article I read these days has strong undertones (or overtones) about AI. It’s almost as impossible to miss as when Sam Altman was abruptly ousted from his position by OpenAI’s board of […]

From Telco to HellCo to HellNoCo

Late last week we published an article, “From Telco to HellCo: I’m the CEO of a large telco. I want to destroy it as fast as I can.” Based on all the feedback, you could say that it seemed to resonate! Using Charlie Munger’s Inversion Technique, we suggested 21 ways to kill off a large […]