Let us suppose that the goal of next-gen infrastructure (for operator services, cloud providers, or applications) is full virtualization of both application/service elements and hosting and connection resources. Most would agree that this is at least a fair statement of the end-game. The question, then, is what steps should be followed to achieve that goal. …
This blog is going to start what will likely be a long-running series of blogs spread over several months, and digging into the details of next-generation applications, services, and network infrastructures. There are many dimensions to that problem, and as is often the case, the industry has attacked it from the bottom. As is also…
You can always learn a lot from Cisco earnings calls. Not everything that’s said is meaningful, of course. For example, they always attribute anything good in revenue or earnings to their latest initiative (intent-based networking, in this case), and if they fall short it’s because that initiative hasn’t had time to percolate through the market. …
With MWC just around the corner and a flood of 5G stuff inevitable, this is the time to ask two questions. First, what is really happening in the 5G space? Second, when can we expect to see a complete 5G story deploy? Those aren’t easy questions to answer in MWC discussions, particularly when the emphasis…
The SD-WAN space is a unique combination of risk and opportunity. It’s clearly a risk to the traditional VPN and VLAN service models, the operator services that are based on the models, and the vendors whose equipment is used to deliver the services. It’s an opportunity for startups to rake in some money, for enterprises…
Service modeling is important for zero-touch automation, as I said in an earlier blog. Service modeling, in terms of just how the model is constructed, is also important for operations, service, and network management. In fact, it sets up a very important management boundary point that could have a lot to do with how we…
Streaming video that includes live TV is the biggest threat to the traditional linear model of television. Depending on just what the operator does with it, that makes it the biggest threat to the cable TV and telco TV franchises, or the biggest opportunity. I’ve blogged about the overall issues of streaming live TV already,…
Service modeling has been a recurring topic for my blogs, in part because of its critical importance in what I’ve called “service lifecycle automation” and the industry now calls “zero-touch automation”. Another reason it’s recurring is that I keep getting requests from people to cover another angle of the topic. The most recent one relates…
On the ever-popular topic of zero-touch automation, Light Reading has an interesting piece that opens what might well be the big question of the whole topic—“What about the TMF?” The TMF is the baseline reference for OSS/BSS, a body that at least the CIO portions of operator organizations tend to trust. The TMF has also…
In my last blog, I talked about the need to plan strategically and implement tactically. The logic behind that recommendation is that it’s all too easy to take short-term measures you think will lead somewhere, and then go nowhere beyond the short term. Looking at operators’ actions in 2017 and their plans in 2018, I…