Network virtualisation is going to continue to have a major influence on the evolution of OSS. It’s going to be exciting to watch it all unfold.
Yesterday we discussed how all the abstraction and interpolation done in the layers of your OSS stack can allow many things to slip through the cracks. Dougie Stevenson suggested that this is one of the reasons why Engineers prefer to work from a command line. Evan Linwood suggested that we could apply the principle to the […]
Each subsequent step northbound in the conceptual diagram below does the same thing: It abstracts (vertical) – it only performs a sub-set of the lower layer’s functionality It connects (horizontal) – it performs the task of connecting and managing a larger number of network elements than the lower layer So an OSS, will never (almost never?) replace the […]
In yesterday’s post we discussed how Virtual Reality (VR) can be utilised in OSS. Today we look at how OSS and Augmented Reality (AR) to be further augmented with decision support systems to help OSS operators. As a starting point for this exercise, we have to think about what OSS situations have a spatial reality […]
Are you noticing a slow, but just perceptible shift being driven by the most progressive CSPs towards the slimming down of their OSS? And not just the yo-yo dieting where there’s a brief period of reduction followed by increased bloat, but sustained reductionist thinking. Making do without some of the features being offered by vendors […]
I’m currently working on an assignment where many of the client’s customers seem to have real power struggle going on between the IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technologies). Nothing unusual there. IP networks are already shifting the balance of power further towards IT. Network virtualisation is likely to tip the scales even further in […]
“TOSCA models are ‘declarative’ in that they describe WHAT it is you’re trying to provision (as opposed to ‘prescriptive’ models that describe HOW you’re going to get there). ONF uses the term ‘intent’ to describe the same concept, and yet others refer to these types of models as ‘desired-state’ models. While there are subtle nuances […]
“We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.” Peter Thiel. This meme speaks of the innovation occurring in the world of technology. It seems that we are making fewer major innovations (flying cars) compared with the world-changing innovations that are really only minor in terms of technological breakthroughs (like Twitter’s 140 characters). When reading, […]
“Last week, two new open source groups focusing on management and orchestration (MANO) of network functions virtualization (NFV) announced their existence: the Open Source Management (OSM) group hosted by ETSI, and Open-O hosted by the Linux Foundation. At the press conference announcing Open-O, Yang Zhiqiang, deputy general manager of the China Mobile Research Institute, said […]
“Steam engine time is a period of time when many inventors all over the world, despite isolation from each other, and with no contact with each other in any way, begin inventing a similar technology with a coincidental commonality of ideas.” Urban Dictionary. Another perspective on steam engine time is a period where there are […]
We’ve all seen and/or heard about the subtle (or unsubtle) war that goes on between operations (OT) and IT within many organisations. The “balance of power” often shifts depending on the relative skills (technical, persuasion, etc) within each of the teams. Convergence to IP (Internet Protocol) and concepts such as IoT (Internet of Things) are […]
Last Friday the post, “Managing satellites,” discussed how the satellite OSS concept provides core OSS to work on Telco networks / eTOM models, whereas ITIL / ITSM has become increasingly prevalent for the tools to help service managed service contracts. Does this concept resonate with you regarding management of virtualised networks in terms of satellites […]
“China Mobile, Tata, NTT, and Telefónica are creating open source groups to work on their own versions of management and orchestration (MANO) within ETSI’s network functions virtualization (NFV) framework.” SDX Central. Interesting news from SDX Central that these four organisations are breaking away from the theoretical development of MANO and looking to push things along […]
ETSI Seeks Harmonization of NFV Information Modelling. ETSI’s Industry Specification Group for Network Functions Virtualisation (ETSI NFV) convened a ground-breaking industry workshop to align cloud-centric initiatives and network-centric initiatives to ensure successful realization of NFV through automation. The workshop brought together the leading Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) and Open Source communities in an ‘NFV Village’. […]
Your first answer to the headline question today will probably relate to Bitcoin transactions. That would indeed be a clever answer but there is more potential in blockchain for OSS / BSS than just crypto-currencies. I figure that it could be applicable for the following use cases and probably many more: Obviously billing reconciliation (and […]
“Which 10 technologies do we need that haven’t been invented yet?” In no particular order: Automated checking and correlation of outside plant (and any other data source that doesn’t have programmable interfaces) Order to cash tools for customers of CSPs, not just for the CSPs in the usual use of this metric Knowledge transfer between […]
“Which 10 nascent technologies will impact and be impacted by OSS in the future?” Cloud delivery and related services models that allow carriers to reduce their OSS CAPEX load and outsource aspects of operations. The other important aspect of cloud delivery is web-scaling of infrastructure for efficient, but resilient OSS platform architectures Network virtualization for […]
Yesterday I posed 10 questions, including the following, “What should be the first 10 events scheduled at an OSS Olympics?” This is a concept I’ve pondered for years – who are the best of the best in the world of OSS? It’s a tough one to determine though because one operator may be brilliant on one […]
In yesterday’s post, “Just 10 ideas“, I talked about James Altucher’s “Idea Machine,” of coming up with 10 ideas every day, regardless of whether they’re good or not. I took a slightly different twist on the concept and posed a series of 10 questions, which in turn will probably have at least 10 idea responses. […]
“You can’t trust the old style of thinking anymore. You have to come up with a new way of thinking. A new way of having ideas. A new way of interacting with the outside universe.” James Altucher. I’m currently reading James Altucher’s latest book. It has nothing to do with OSS but it has a […]
“This Industry Will Be Won & Lost In the Next Three Years” John Chambers on Light Reading. Many of you will have noticed the recent partnership between Ericsson and Cisco. You will probably have noticed that they’re talking of partnership rather than merger due to the speed in which they can move. As they rightly […]
