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Every OSS stack goes through periods and decisions that radically shape its direction and impacts for years to come. Whether an off-the-shelf product suite (like SunVizion), or an integrated OSS assembled by carriers, the same is true.
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There’s an old saying, “if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.”
We’ve found this to be true in the work we do. The people who are best at delivering will be asked by more people to deliver on more tasks. The jobs pile on up. The beneficial by-product of this is that the busy person tends to become even more efficient at using available time and resources. They become invaluable for the organisations they represent.
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Have you ever asked what is network orchestration? It’s a pretty fancy title. All it really is though is a technique to push commands down into a network to change its configuration. Sounds simple.
However, don’t let that description imply that it’s easy. In some cases, it can be relatively easy – if this happens, then do that (IFTTT). If a new customer order arrives in a queue, then push a command (and associated attributes) to the network to allow the order to be activated. If the performance of a given network link goes outside expected bounds, then apply some sort of traffic shaping policy.
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Network virtualisation has many benefits. It explains why network operators and vendors have invested so much in advancing this category of technology.
The primary benefit is the flexibility that virtualised networks allow. Unlike physical networks, it’s relatively fast and easy to change the configuration, topology, function and usage of virtual networks. Physical network changes tend to require human intervention, often with long planning cycles. By contrast, virtual networks can be changed almost instantaneously, not to mention being modifiable using algorithmic / automated techniques. This allows the networks to be optimised for usage patterns and performance targets in near real time.
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Since the earliest days of long-haul telecommunications, the global network has been one of the most complex machines in the world. And in OSS, we have a “controller” that’s responsible for monitoring and managing these interconnected network “machines.” OSS inherits complexity from them. Therefore, the tendency is for OSS to also be complex.
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There’s an interesting dilemma facing CSPs (Communication Service Providers) today.
If you’re selling a client’s data, then that typically doesn’t engender trust with that client. If you have access to client data, but treat it with the utmost regard for privacy and security, not seeking to monetise it, that does engender trust.
Why then, are some Internet companies assigned greater levels of trust than CSPs, even though their business models are based on selling client data? Recent examples have brought to light examples of how client data has been misappropriated.
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Something important dawned on me only recently. It’s fairly obvious that most of us who manage communications networks and their supporting solutions are information workers. As Daniel W. Rasmus declared, “An Information Worker is a person who uses information to assist in making decisions or taking actions or a person who creates information that informs the decisions or actions of others.”
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The hype of 5G has been around for a few years now. Given the amount of investment that carriers have made into uplifting their networks to 5G, the first phase of the hype has been successful. But we’re now deep enough into the global 5G network rollout that we have to start judging whether the second phase of the hype has been successful. That is, whether there’s going to be a valuable return on the initial investment in 5G.
