We need a new way to look at information technology, given the number of different things that are driving change. The categories like “hardware” and “software” don’t suit a virtual world where it’s actually rather difficult to tell what or where something is. Talking about “computing power” is complicated when the computer is virtual and…
What is “cloud computing?” There have been two implicit, competing, contradictory, definitions up to now. The first is that it’s “traditional computing hosted in the cloud”. That implies that the value the cloud brings is largely cost displacement. The other is that it’s “a computing paradigm designed to support virtual, dynamic, processes using a pool…
The headline Bloomberg published on Wednesday was “FCC Chief Sets Up Clash With Call to Repeal Net Neutrality”, certainly one to generate clicks. Most of the TV and online coverage of the current FCC action followed the same path. But is it the right path? You have to do a little history-dipping to decide. The…
One of the 5G features that gets lots of attention is network slicing. Most of the press on the topic has been at least positive if not gushing, but operators have some specific questions about the business case, and more about technology issues. The big question on the technology side is how network slicing might…
We are again seeing stories and comments around “what’s wrong with NFV”. That’s a good thing in that it at least shows awareness that NFV has not met the expectations of most who eagerly supported it four years ago. It’s a bad thing because most of the suggested ills, and therefore the explicit or implied…
Verizon certainly raised a ruckus in the industry with their views on consolidation. The sense of their CEO’s comments was that Verizon was open to a merger that offered them content ownership, and that says a lot about the industry overall. Here we have a giant telco saying that without content ownership their position is…
We are confronted now the need to talk about IBM, not for the first time. The company beat estimates on EPS slightly, with a set of one-time moves that the Street didn’t like much. They missed yet again on revenue, and their shares took a hit (again) as a result. Here is a company who…
There is no shortage of things we inherit from legacy telecom. An increasing number of them are millstones around the neck of transformation, and many of those that are drags are related to management and SLA practices. Those who hanker for the stringent days of TDM SLAs should consider going back in time, but remember…
Transformation, for the network operators, is a long-standing if somewhat vague goal. It means, to most, getting beyond the straight-jacket of revenue dependence on connection services and moving higher on the food chain. Yet, for all the aspirations, the fact is that operators are still looking more at somehow revitalizing connection services than transforming much…
We tend to think of transformation as something that network operators, particularly telcos, have to go through. In point of fact, transformation, meaning technology transformation, is going to happen to everyone, buyers and sellers, operators and enterprises. That truth leaves two questions—what kind of transformation will happen, and how will the players respond to the…