Automated design

“…with big data techniques we can start to find out where the clusters of [revenue generating businesses] and where the clusters of bad coverage are so you can be far more selective of where you rollout to.” Kevin Noonan. In yesterday’s blog, we discussed the likelihood of more OSS vendor suites containing large-scale network design […]

The first law of holes

“It is a good thing to follow the first law of holes; if you are in one, stop digging.” Denis Healey. Unfortunately it’s far too easy to find yourself in a hole on an OSS project. I have to admit that I’ve ended up in a few OSS holes myself. Even sadder, I have to […]

OSS – the stuff of nightmares?

“For the CEO of a Telco the development of major OSS/BSS capability can be the stuff of nightmares. It was these large IT systems that I most feared would be the bottleneck in rolling out services on the NBN.” Mike Quigley , in a presentation to TelSoc. Mike was the founding CEO of NBN Co, […]

Is loss aversion alive in OSS?

“Turns out that most of us don’t like losing. In fact, it’s what the academics call loss aversion. We feel the pain of loss more acutely than we feel the pleasure of gain. In other words, we may like to win, but we hate to lose.” Carl Richards here on NYTimes. If you’ve ever worked […]

The demise of OSS

“Doesn’t this [NFV] pose a problem for organizations whose communications skill sets are all tied up in maintaining OSS? The two technologies are not compatible; NFV is designed to replace traditional OSS, not provide a comfortable transition path.” Scott M. Fulton, III on Fierce Enterprise Communications. I’d like to throw this over to you dear […]

Our profound OSS questions

“I first met him… at a dinner my mother had put together. On my way there, I thought, ‘Why would I want to meet this guy who picks stocks?’ I thought he just used various market-related things—like volume, or how the price had changed over time—to make his decisions. But when we started talking that […]

Failing without being a failure

“Never walk away from failure. On the contrary, study it carefully and imaginatively for its hidden assets.” Michael Korda. Working on OctopOSS projects can be a humbling experience. There are so many tentacles that can whack you and your colleagues over the back of the head. Every project seems to have its own tentacles. Sometimes […]

Productising your interfaces

“In the struggle between capital and labor, more often than not capital has won, because the real source of value for most companies has historically been the hard assets that they owned and controlled.” James Surowiecki. Yesterday we spoke of the different types of interface “objects” such as probes, robots, MDDs (Mediation Device Drivers), etc […]

Ring-fencing a sandpit

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan. Regular readers of this blog will have recollections of previous discussions about setting up a sandpit environment for customers. A couple of examples are here (building sandcastles) and here (lose your fear in a sandpit). There a few different […]

Disadvantages of exposing your API

“Just like any product, an open API needs a business justification, user personas, clear use cases, a roadmap, a revenue model, a pre- and post-launch plan, and specific needs in the areas of marketing, sales, support, documentation, and security. These needs are completely separate from those of your core product, though they should be strategically […]

Advantages of exposing your API

“In today’s cloud computing world, many Product Managers will be faced with the decision of whether to open an API to their users. Open APIs have many advantages, but they also bring significant business challenges. In this post, I describe key benefits and challenges of open APIs, and why Product Managers should treat an open […]

Network and system regression testing

“Regression testing means re-testing an application after its code has been modified to verify that it still functions correctly. Regression testing consists of re-running existing test cases and checking that code changes did not break any previously working functions, inadvertently introduce errors or cause earlier fixed issues to reappear. These test cases should be run […]

Reconciling automations

“We are made out of oppositions; we live between two poles. There is a philistine and an aesthete in all of us, and a murderer and a saint. You don’t reconcile the poles. You just recognize them.” Orson Welles. One of the holy grails of OSS – automation – has many forms. Whether it is […]

Do you need a Solutions Integrator

“When integrators bid on a deal, deployment [using an ALF] tool will be easier because you’re not tied to any proprietary standard..” Kevin Parker. Mikey, a reader of PAOSS, recently asked a great set of questions, as follows: “What do you think are the biggest challenges in a multi-vendor OSS. More importantly, did you see […]

Product and Service Lifecycle Management

“Life is full of surprises and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns.” Condoleeza Rice. Product and Service Lifecycle Management (PSLM) can be a key differentiator* for competing CSPs. In turn, the […]

Workflow engines

“While humans are not good at processing systems models, we are much better at analysing and designing them. This leads to a natural human-computer partnership.” Mark Zangari. In yesterday’s blog we discussed a lecture by Mark Zangari about Decision Support Systems (DSS). Mark’s quote above is a really interesting one in the context of CSP […]

Management link cutover

“I’ve always believed there are moments in our lives which can be defined as a transition between the before and after, between the cause and the effect.” Benjamin X. Wretlind. Many of you will be familiar with the after-hours or overnight cutovers where you make changes to your organisation’s infrastructure (eg applications, servers, networks, etc) […]

How to make your APIs better

“APIs are everywhere today and can be a great building block of modern applications. But all too often APIs are not truly great. Rather than love your API, developers curse it.” John Musser in relation to this slide deck. Yesterday’s post was about the importance of having an API that’s easy to integrate with for […]

The components of SDN, NFV, MANO & OSS

When you curate a website / blog called PassionateAboutOSS, it’s pretty obvious that you would see the world through OSS-tinted glasses. The tech-world at least. And so it has been for me when evaluating new comms network / service concepts like SDN / NFV. It’s been a case of, “that all sounds really exciting and […]

What got you here…

“When times get confusing, it’s easy to revert to the habits that got you here. More often than not, that’s precisely the wrong approach. The very thing that got you here is the thing that everyone who’s here is doing, and if that’s what it took to get to the next level, no one would […]