Fast and slow OSS, where uCPE and network virtualisation fits in

Yesterday’s post talked about one of the many dichotomies in OSS – fast and slow data / processes.

One of the longer lead-time items in relation to OSS data and processes is in network build and customer connections. From the time when capacity planning or a customer order creates the signal to build, it can be many weeks or months before the physical infrastructure work is complete and appearing in the OSS.

There are two financial downsides to this. Firstly, it tends to be CAPEX-heavy with equipment, construction, truck-rolls, government approvals, etc burning through money. Meanwhile, it’s also a period where there is no money coming in because the services aren’t turned on yet. The time-to-cash cycle of new build (or augmentation) is the bane of all telcos.

This is one of the exciting aspects of network virtualisation for telcos. In a time where connectivity is nearly ubiquitous in most countries, often with high-speed broadband access, physical build becomes less essential (except over-builds). Technologies such as uCPE (Universal Customer Premises Equipment), NFV (Network Function Virtualisation), SD WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Networks), SDN (Software Defined Networks) and others mean that we can remotely upgrade and reconfigure the network without field work.

Network virtualisation gives the potential to speed up many of the slowest, and costliest processes that run through our OSS… but only if our OSS can support efficient orchestration of virtualised networks. And that means having an OSS with the flexibility to easily change out slow processes to replace them with fast ones without massive overhauls.