Talking Heads

22 July, 2019

Hansen Technologies and Sigma Systems combine to drive telecom business innovation and energy market expansion

The recent acquisition of Sigma Systems by Hansen Technologies (https://bit.ly/2HhekRI) took the telecom market by surprise, as the Australia-based IT vendor put US$117 million down in cash to acquire 100% of global software provider, Sigma. A few days later, the CEOs of both companies met VanillaPlus in London to talk candidly about reasons for the deal, what it means for customers, and where the business support systems (BSS) market is heading – and not just in telecoms. (more…)

19 February, 2018

CSPs’ systems focus moves from support to enablement as digital transformation takes hold

Communications service providers (CSPs) are increasingly engaging in digital transformation initiatives and companies across the business landscape transforming for the digital era. This means new services, new business models and new technological platforms. (more…)

22 November, 2017

5G transformations necessitate individualised approaches with integrated strategies

For many it may seem too early to be turning attention to 5G deployment but, even though standards aren’t set, the transformation is so complex and multi-layered that now is the time to get started if you haven’t already done so. Here, Helmut Schober, who leads the 5G Services programme at Nokia, and Vikas Dhingra, a consultant at Bell Labs Consulting, now part of Nokia, explain the processes communications service providers (CSPs) should go through in order to define their transformation journeys to 5G.

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11 October, 2017

Future innovation brings together natural language, machine learning and artificial intelligence

Becky Byrne is the head of product management at Brite:Bill. Here she tells George Malim, the managing editor of VanillaPlus, how the company is engaging in natural language, machine learning and artificial intelligence innovation to extend the capabilities of Brite:Bill to more parts of the customer journey. (more…)

12 September, 2017

Don’t wait for lightning to strike! Securing your digital transformation

They say lightening never strikes the same place twice. Tell that to poor old Roy Cleveland Sullivan, who was struck by lightning several times during his 30-years career as a U.S. park ranger. Sullivan was extremely lucky to survive. Few do.

The moral of Sullivan’s story is simple: When you see a threat, take action. Don’t just hope it doesn’t happen again. It’s true for communication service providers as much as it is for park rangers.

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21 March, 2017

Welcome to the era of the super (virtual) network operator

As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to mature organisations are looking for platforms that can provide them with the widest possible range of connectivity options and support services. Here, Jim Morrish, the chief research officer at Machina Research, interviews Nigel Chadwick, the chief executive of Stream Technologies to learn what companies want in the IoT and how they want to buy their services (more…)

03 March, 2017

Is your network smart enough to pass the virtualisation IQ test?

Philippe Morin of EXFO tells VanillaPlus that the industry is entering the critical automation phase of virtualisation, where CSPs will need smarter service assurance with real-time insights from all three dimensions: network, service and subscriber. (more…)

18 November, 2016

Testing and service assurance must be active and automated to enable real agility, efficiency and great customer experience in emerging networks

The industry’s move towards virtualisation requires new automated approaches to active testing and service assurance. Here Marcus Friman, the chief product officer and co-founder of Netrounds, a specialist provider of automated active test and service assurance platforms with more than 270 customers, explains why the correlation between active and passive test data added to a DevOps style approach to testing processes can enable communications service providers (CSPs) to achieve true agility (more…)

24 February, 2016

Virtualisation architecture with open interfaces and protocols will accelerate CSPs’ migration and integration

Swamy Vasudevan is the chief technology officer of strategy and business development for software defined networks (SDN), network functions virtualisation (NFV) and cloud at Ericsson North America. Here he tells VanillaPlus that, as virtualisation technologies are deployed, a framework architecture that encompasses analytics and policy management in addition orchestration and management is required. Such an architecture is vital to enable communications service providers to unleash the benefits of virtualisation regardless of whether they take a holistic, hybrid or step-by-step approach to their transformation.

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22 January, 2016

Pundits’ 2016 focus on m-payment, cloud, and CSPs in security

At this time every year VanillaPlus talks to key figures in the industry about what we can expect over the next 12 months. Tell us what you think on Twitter or below. (more…)