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Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016 1
COORDINATES
Cartesian Newsletter Summer 2016
The Networks Issue
FEATURING:
• Guide to Network Transformation
• Preparing for DOCSIS 3.1
• Migrating with SDN, NFV and LSO
2 Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016
Opening remarks
This Summer edition of Coordinates focuses on insights and developments in communications networks.
Networks have been central to Cartesian since it was founded to deliver management and advisory services to network operators. From that start in 1991, we have supported operators through continuous technological progress from PSTN to VoIP, copper to fiber and from 2G to LTE. So for this Summer edition of Coordinates, we’ve decided to focus on insights and developments on the network side of our business.
In this edition’s expert interview, Rick Gasloli discusses the next wave of technology evolution for cable operators. Drawing on his experience in helping operators through numerous network transformation projects, Dr. Ron Angner shares his advice on best practices to ensure a successful transformation. And addressing a client challenge, Vito Morawetz introduces what is needed to retain customers through a complex SDH/SONET platform transition.
Finally, since our beginnings in network consulting, we have grown to offer strategy and technology consulting, and managed services to the wider telecoms and media sector. Last year, we expanded to serve the digital TV and broadcast sector as well, and added testing, auditing and security capabilities to our breadth of services. To communicate our wide capabilities to customers more clearly, we’ve categorized our services into nine ‘Where We Help’ areas that reflect your business challenges. We introduce the areas in our ‘Company News’ section.
As always, we welcome your feedback and hope you enjoy this edition of Coordinates.
Peter Woodward CEO, Cartesian
www.cartesian.com facebook/cartesian twitter/cartesiantweets linkedin.com/company/cartesian
Contents
Opening Remarks
Expert Interview
• Rick Gasloli and the Next Evolution in
Cable: Preparing for DOCSIS 3.1
Insights • Industry Analysis:
2016 Predictions Update
• Featured: Network Transformation -
Best Practices for Success
Company News
• Areas Where We Help
Client Challenges
• Client Challenge: Retaining Customers
through SDH Network Platform
Transition
• Industry Challenge: Enabling Agile
Service Delivery
Conferences & Events
2
3
4
5
9
9
10
11
Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016 3
EXPERT INTERVIEW: Rick Gasloli, SVP, Strategic Development Next Evolution in Cable: Preparing for DOCSIS 3.1
Rick, thank you for taking the time to speak to us today. Could you tell us about your role at Cartesian?
I joined Cartesian this year, to lead the strategy for identifying and developing business and partnership opportunities with North American MSOs, as well, as the capabilities to support them. We have a number of exciting projects
underway that leverage Cartesian’s expertise in strategic consulting, data analytics and cleansing, and network life cycle management. I am also working with our EMEA team to bring to the United States some great capabilities that we have been providing to European MSOs. Most notably, Wi-Fi design and testing, digital video engineering and implementation, and content security services.
Your background is in cable. What was one of your earliest experiences in the field?
I joined Comcast’s Online group in 1997, as Director of Online Engineering, to help launch high-speed data. This involved upgrading the HFC (hybrid-fiber coax) plant for two-way operation, coordinating market launches with our partner, the @Home Network, and making sure our technicians were prepared with the knowledge and tools to connect customer’s personal computers to the network. While we take it for granted today, it was not a trivial task to connect a computer to the Internet in the late nineties. The other thing I remember is launching an entire market with four T-1s (1.5Mbps) to the Internet. Today, the home of every cable customer has more than that!
How has the cable industry evolved?
Wow! How hasn’t it? The cable industry has evolved from its humble beginnings of connecting a few homes to a community antenna so they could receive a better television picture to one that is operating some of the highest-performance broadband networks on the planet serving many millions of customers and billions of interactions every day. As long as we are talking about evolving, I think a special call-out to the HFC network is in order; after all it, is what makes cable, cable. Twenty years ago the average HFC network was delivering approximately 80 channels of television and a 1.5Mbps Internet service. Today that same network architecture is delivering hundreds of channels of HD, On-Demand video, Internet speeds in access of 100Mbps, telephone services, and more. This is in large part due to innovations like digital video, advanced video multiplexing, and DOCSIS. With new technologies like DOCSIS 3.1, Remote PHY and passive, fiber-deep nodes, the HFC network will be providing new and enhanced services for many, many years to come.
What are you most excited about for the future of cable?
I think I am most excited about cable’s opportunity to become the aggregator for all experiences in the home. In addition to voice, video, and data services, cable is perfectly positioned to facilitate the access to services like energy management, medical monitoring, and connected-home services. Cable will be an engine for the Internet of Things.
What new technologies will be coming in the next few years?
As mentioned earlier, DOCSIS 3.1 will be on all the MSOs’ upgrade plans. DOCSIS 3.1 will provide Internet speeds of 1Gbps or more. This capability will not only be needed to address the ever growing demand for Internet bandwidth, but will also facilitate the transition from QAM to IP-delivered video, 4K content, and virtual-reality gaming and programming. DOCSIS 3.1 “Full-Duplex” will allow Cable operators to offer ultra-high-speed symmetrical data services. The deployment of virtual, cloud services will grow as the MSOs move from hardware- to software-based services. We are already seeing this in video with the movement of DVR and search functions from the set top box into the cloud. Being able to understand big data has and will be critical to the North American MSO’s success. Customer experience measurement/prediction and advertising are top priorities. The usage statistics alone from hundreds of millions of devices is generating massive amounts data on a daily basis. I see Cable adopting artificial intelligence technologies to help them manage and understand all this data.
How can Cartesian help MSOs with the adoption of these new technologies?
Being focused on the telecommunications industry we have the experts that can help our customers from strategy through to deployment. They understand all the latest technologies and have years of successful deployments under their belts. We are helping our customers prioritize the deployment of technologies using advanced data analytics. By correlating network, operations, business, and customer data, we identify areas that will make the most impact on customer experience and the bottom line.<>
Are you prepared for DOCSIS 3.1? Ask us to assess.
“Twenty years ago the average HFC network was delivering approximately 80 channels of television and a 1.5Mbps internet service. Today, that same network architecture is delivering hundreds of channels of HD, On-Demand video, Internet speeds in access of 100Mbps, telephone services, and more.”
4 Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016
At the end of 2015, we made predictions on the ten events and themes that will shape the communications industry over the next 12 months. Here we give a mid-2016 update on developments relating to a few of these predictions.
Prediction: SDN will continue to gain traction with more enterprise services being developed around the technology.
In 2016, we have seen further launches of software-defined WAN services (SD-WAN) by network operators serving the enterprise market. In June, CenturyLink joined others – such as AT&T and Level 3 – with the launch of a new SD-WAN service for multi-site enterprises, offering IT managers the ability to monitor and control WAN performance themselves. These solutions typically ship with software-based CPE, enabling greater flexibility than traditional solutions have offered.
The other side of the enterprise-SDN coin is internal consumption of SDN by IT departments. Here we are also seeing progress, although less widespread than with the telcos. In a recent industry survey by ZDnet, 13% of respondents said they had implemented SDN while 32% were planning to do so. Meanwhile, the Open Network User Group of IT business leaders launched a set of industry initiatives in May to support the transition to open software-defined infrastructure.
Prediction: Following the successes of industry frontrunners, more network operators get serious about decommissioning their legacy voice switches and moving to IP.
In the US, operators are continuing to make progress in migrating customers to next-generation platforms, whereas other countries appear to be moving more slowly. After a year of migrating legacy voice customers to fiber, Verizon petitioned the FCC in January to permit the termination of postpaid calling cards and personal 800 services.
In April, AT&T requested permission to retire 13 legacy bridging and multiplexing services, stating that it aims to have less than 10% of its wireline customers on TDM-based voice services by the
Industry Analysis: 2016 Predictions Update
end of 2016.
In June, Level 3 asked the FCC for permission to shift legacy voice customers in Portland, Oregon to an IP-based cloud service, which it aims to implement in the Fall. Also, in France, Arcep has launched a public consultation on copper access rates, seeking to encourage and incentivize the transition from legacy copper services to fiber.
Prediction: Global interest in the shutdown of 2G (GSM) networks grows as we approach the end of 2016 when the first networks are due to close
So far, we have seen major operators such as Telstra and AT&T target GSM network closure by the end of the year. Similarly, major operators in Asia-Pacific (e.g. Optus, M1, Singtel) have announced 2G closures for 2017 as a result of license expirations and government action to reassign 2G spectrum for LTE. In the US, the FCC will consider this July whether to repurpose large amounts of higher-frequency spectrum for 5G, driving operators to abandon legacy networks.
Many operators have continued to face a dilemma over network closure, with revenue from M2M and GSM roaming still running strong. Instead, operators have begun discussing the potential for 3G closure prior to 2G, in light of 3G data services migrating to 4G and a recent report by Ericsson finding that 78% of 3G terminals rely on 2G for voice carriage. In April, the three major Turkish operators (Turkcell, Vodafone and Turk Telecom) facilitated the rapid migration of six million 3G customers onto the newly-launched LTE-Advanced Pro services, also known as 4.5G, within one week of launch. Such successes may drive 3G closure ahead of 2G. Also quickly gaining traction is the deployment of single RAN networks to allow operators to maintain GSM service with less spectrum and without sacrificing 2G revenue streams. One recent example is Airtel India’s network initiative “Project Leap” which has been upgrading base stations to a single RAN network since 2015.<>
> Get our industry predictions for 2016 in our Winter Coordinates
by Adam Fraser
Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016 5
Network transformation has always been happening. The pace
and scale of change is now increasing as operators face big
technology changes. There are corollary questions that must be
answered as the network transformation plan is developed:
• What to do with the old legacy network and all the
associated support systems?
• What is the appropriate payback for monies spent to
decommission legacy networks?
• Is it really worth it to migrate “every single customer”
off legacy equipment, both switch and transport, to
Featured: NETWORK TRANSFORMATION
decommission the assets?
• What is the risk that churn will increase and revenue will
decrease in a decommission or migration effort?
Every operator is faced with these questions and more. Each
situation is as unique as the operator’s network and customer
base. The best way for operators to answer these questions
is to have the best industry information available and make
decisions based on realities versus myths. This article will explore
some major operator issues and provide insights and share
our experiences for developing a “best practices” approach to
network transformation. (Continues on page 6...)
All communications infrastructure has a life span, and restructuring and migrating networks are activities that need to be done. This “network transformation” – changes that include decommissioning and customer migration – is a complex process that has many phases and requires participation and support by most departments in the network operator. It is an exacting, time-consuming and expensive undertaking. It often takes staff away from their business-as-usual (BAU) revenue-generating jobs. No matter the amount of effort, nor the pains and gains along the way, the transformation gets done. But what are the true measures of success of a network transformation? Is it OPEX, power and real estate savings associated with turning down an old legacy network? Churn reduction or revenue growth? Increases in customer satisfaction? The answer is that all of these are important and must be addressed as operators develop their network transformation plan.
Best Practices for Success
by Ron Angner, PhD
6 Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016
Network Transformation: Best Practices for Success
Start with a business case
One of the common problems we encounter is network
transformation starting without a good business case. A good
business case is a critical first step in the decommissioning
process. It forces discipline in the approach and provides an
overall view of the program. The business case will help determine
which assets should be decommissioned and in what timeframe.
It should take into account not only the cost savings associated
with removing assets from the network, but also should look at
the revenue and customer impacts.
Cost savings are more straightforward and include items such
as savings associated with network (maintenance), technical
sites (property, facilities, power and cooling) and personnel
(operations).
Revenue impacts should include the revenue carried by the
network elements – access, switch, SDH (Synchronous Digital
Hierarchy). This analysis typically includes an examination of
the profitability of the impacted services as well as where in the
product lifecycle they are. For example, at what point will T1/E1
circuits (multi-channel carrier lines) no longer be supported? Is
dedicated trunking going to be supported in the future? Having a
clear product strategy is critical.
Finally, operators must consider the customer impacts.
How much revenue will be lost through churn during
decommissioning? What are the opportunities for revenue upsell
associated with new service offerings available in the transformed
network? For top customers, the impact that migrating their
service to a new platform has on day-to-day operations should be
considered, and any costs associated with updating or modifying
their CPE (customer premises equipment).
A well-structured business case will examine all the elements
above to determine which network elements to decommission as
well as the associated timing.
Approach network transformation as a full time job
Another issue with potentially demoralizing consequences
is adding the transformation workload onto existing staff
and expecting them to pick it up alongside their existing
responsibilities. Transformation is complicated. It requires detailed
planning, network engineering and customer hand-holding –
all of which leads to a full-time job. Experience shows that staff
members cannot effectively support a decommissioning program
while continuing to do their BAU, revenue-generating/supporting
jobs. A dozen internal departments are typically involved in a
network transformation activity, and resources from all business
units must be assigned to support the activity. Some departments
such as legal, regulatory and PR may not require full-time
resources, but will require dedicated resources.
How big of a team do you need? The team size will vary
depending on the number of network elements being
transformed as well as the number and complexity of customers
and circuits that are being migrated. For example, a typical team
would require more than 15 full-time workers to decommission
a dozen switches and associated customers and trunks over an
18-to-24-month period.
Consider churn mitigation, revenue retention and customer satisfaction
Many business cases and comparisons are made against a BAU or
“do nothing” approach with the customers and revenue carried by
the legacy infrastructure. A common misbelief is that the passive
Figure 1: Benefits of a proactive approach to network transformation
Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016 7
Network Transformation: Best Practices for Success
(Continues on page 8...)
wait-and-replace approach is best: “We will just wait 8 years and
the revenue and customers will attrite away and then we will
remove the assets.” Based on our experience, taking a proactive
approach to network decommissioning will not only minimize
BAU churn because customers are being offered new and
improved services, but also has the potential to increase revenue
by upselling customers services that are not available to them in
the current environment.
This is achievable when a very proactive approach, driven by
marketing and sales, is developed and implemented to focus on
customer satisfaction; an approach that provides regular updates
on the network transformation and the advantages it brings to
them. In our experience, a transformation purely driven by cost
savings and legacy technology replacement is typically far less
successful than the customer-driven approach.
Figure 1 shows how taking a customer-centric approach can
minimize churn, provide stable and uplifted revenue, and also
increase the speed of transformation. Increasing the speed of
transformation brings Opex savings and Revenue uplift quicker
than the traditional technology-driven approach.
Designate a focused management team
A management team focused and rewarded on the success of
the network transformation program is key to the success of
the program. Many operators are putting units in place such
as Migration Control Centers or Migration Operation Centers
whose sole purpose is to manage the end-to-end transformation:
from business case approval to engineering and construction, to
customer migration, and finally, asset removal. These units are
established by the chief executives and typically report directly to
them.
The Migration Center (MC) is responsible for planning, executing,
tracking and dashboarding the entire program. One of the key
responsibilities is developing and managing the budget and
ensuring that the program is resourced with the appropriate full-
time and/or dedicated personnel from across all organizations
– Sales, Marketing, IT, Legal, Regulatory, PR, Engineering and
Construction, Real Estate, Finance and Revenue Assurance as a
minimum.
The MC is the nerve center of the transition program – from both
a business and operational perspective. It keeps the rest of the
business updated on progress and ensures that the entire team
has access to the information they need. Dashboards for business
metrics would include items such as revenue by customer and
product, churn by customer and product, ARPU, and costs.
Customer and sales operations would include contact center
metrics related to customers that are being migrated, outbound
Figure 2. Dashboards for measuring business metrics for transformation projects
8 Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016
Network Transformation: Best Practices for Success
marketing and calling, account executive performance in
dealing with their customer accounts that are migrating,
including agreement on customer migration plans and having
new contracts signed. Network and technical operations would
include dashboards measuring planning and construction
intervals, provisioning intervals premises install intervals, reworks
and revisits. In essence, the business and operational dashboards
provide detailed information that allows executives, directors
and managers to manage the program to the metrics and
service level agreements (SLAs) established in the business case.
Typical dashboards measuring business metrics are shown in
Figure 2.
A focused management team operating in a migration center
environment is one of the most critical factors in executing the
transformation plan on time, within budget and of the highest
quality. This focus has reduced the execution time by about 25%.
Ensure that customer migration is a well-planned and well-orchestrated process
Customer migration is one of the most critical ingredients for
a successful network transformation. If customer migration is
done correctly – with a meticulous or “white glove” approach
- objectives such as minimizing churn and maximizing revenue
retention can be readily accomplished. If not done properly,
a network transformation activity can easily have significant
business impact.
Effective customer migration, starts with an understanding
of which customers are connected to each switch, and which
services each customer has on those switches. A rationalization
of information in billing, provisioning and network systems,
and associated cleansing activity, is the critical first step to
successful customer migration. This information can then be
used to develop migration plans for customers. For customers
such as residential and SMBs (small and medium businesses)
who have similar sets of services, a handful of generic migration
plans typically address 90% of the customers can be developed,
In most cases, operators do not have staff readily available to focus on a network transition/decommissioning program. Obtaining external support and leadership with the skills and hands-on experience in planning and executing a network transformation can be invaluable. From planning to execution and everything in-between, we have helped operators be successful and achieve not only their technical objectives but also their business objectives, such as churn mitigation, revenue retention and growth and increased customer satisfaction. At Cartesian, we have the skills, experience and tools to lead and to support highly complex network migration programs and have led our clients to decommissioning success. Contact us to find out how we can help you.
Planning or in the middle of a network transformation project and need support?
with the remaining 10% needing special treatment. Enterprise
customers present a completely different challenge. Because
of their size and complexity, no two customers are the same. In
these instances, a migration plan for each customer may have to
be developed.
The other critical aspect of customer migration is
communication. When communicating with customers, inform
them that transformation will happen, why it is being done and,
most importantly, how it will benefit them. If not communicated
properly, and the customer base perceives that the transition is
all about cost savings for the operator, the business objectives of
minimal churn and revenue retention will be severely threatened.
One-on-one, “white glove” handling of the top 20% of customers
is the key to success. Communication to this group should be
personal and frequent and should support them through the
entire transition – from communication, to service selection, to
contracting, to service migration and testing.
This type of “white glove” approach has resulted in our clients
reducing churn due to migration by about 50%, gaining higher
levels of customer satisfaction, and increasing revenue by around
3% for enterprise and over 20% for residential customers.
In Conclusion
Developing the business case to confirm the value of the
program, planning the program, prioritizing the activities, and
developing the budget and staffing requirements are critical to
the successful execution of the program – especially given the
number of different departments that need to participate and
the diverse skill sets needed. Establishing the plan for a multi-
year complex program and setting the groundwork for successful
execution are the essential ingredients for a successful network
transformation project.<>
Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016 9
COMPANY NEWS: Areas Where We Help You
This year, Cartesian celebrates its 25th anniversary. As specialists in the telecoms, media and technology sector we have witnessed enormous change in this period. As our clients have grown and transformed their businesses, we too have expanded our portfolio to meet their needs and reflect changes in the industry. Last year, with the acquisition of Farncombe, we further expanded into digital TV and broadcast, adding testing, auditing and security capabilities to our portfolio.
We now offer a diverse range of services that address specific challenges in our sector. To simplify and clarify where we help our
The past five years have seen a dramatic transformation in how business and enterprise customers meet their network access requirements. Until a few years ago, the default access technology for B2B customers was based on Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
(“SDH” or “SONET” for Synchronous Optical Networking), ensuring dedicated, stable, resilient transmission bearers to support most business critical applications. However, the development of Ethernet standards has meant that the same quality parameters and business critical applications can be supported on Ethernet bearers at much higher bandwidth and lower cost per Mbps compared to SDH lines.
As a consequence, carriers are witnessing high churn rate and declining revenues for SDH services of up to 40% p.a. while at the same time they are still required to maintain ubiquitous and costly platforms in support of a rapidly shrinking customer base.
A holistic approach to SDH/SONET platform retirement
While carriers would prefer to deploy scarce resources in support of fast-growing Ethernet-based services, they find that tackling the challenge of SDH obsolescence and transitioning to new platforms is riddled with uncertainty and complexity:
• Is the data used to identify the SDH access services and network components available and accurate?
• Will customers faced with platform transition stay loyal to their existing carrier, or take the opportunity to move?
• What would replacement product propositions look like? Would they emulate services previously available on SDH or provide new capabilities and features?
• What is the impact of transitioning from SDH to Ethernet platforms on access and interconnect facilities? What is the cost of leased lines supporting replacement services? Is the existing Ethernet interconnect footprint optimized to support increased Ethernet volumes?
• What is the overall business case, i.e. the revenue,
cost and savings impacts of platform migration and decommissioning? And how can such a complex transition be efficiently managed?
At Cartesian, we have been helping carriers through this complex technology transition. In our experience, the best approach is a holistic one, which involves:
• Data reconciliation that cleanses and transforms billing, provisioning and network inventory data to deliver a comprehensive and multi-faceted view of your legacy platform estate;
• Advanced analytics for an end-to-end approach to churn management, looking at customer characteristics and segmentation, as well as customer behaviors and impacting events to develop strategies to proactively increase customer retention during platform transition;
• Product lifecycle management to retire legacy products and migrate customers to new offers, including mapping legacy products to appropriate substitutes while minimizing impact on customers;
• Access and interconnect planning to support clients as they acquire new access services, including managing supplier carriers during transition and evaluating the optimal “future state” interconnect footprint, and;
• Customer migration strategy to build and manage comprehensive plans to migrate customers away from legacy infrastructure, with minimal disruption to customers and operations. This includes cost, benefit and timeline evaluation and all aspects of the implementation, from customer notification arrangements to replacement agreements, network rationalization and legacy assets decommissioning.
With this comprehensive approach, we have helped clients reduce OPEX by recognizing where, when, and how to decommission assets and migrate from legacy platforms.
Contact us to discuss your network transition plan. We can help you realize the transition benefits sooner while taking the pain out of transformation.<>
CLIENT CHALLENGE: Retaining Customers through SDH Network Platform Transition
clients, we have categorized our services into nine focus areas. These are: Customer Acquisition & Retention; Product Management; Network Transformation; Video Services Delivery & Security; Business Strategy & Planning; Assurance & Cost Optimization; Investment Advisory; and, Regulatory Services & Expert Witness.
You’ll find these service areas on Cartesian.com and in our newest presentations. Contact us or your client director and we can tell you more about where we help.<>
Where We Help: Areas where Cartesian
supports businesses and organizations operating in
the telecoms, media and technology sector
by Vito Morawetz
10 Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016
Introducing: SDN, NFV and LSO
The industry initiatives of Software Defined Networking, Network Function Virtualization and Lifecycle Service Orchestration aim to address these problems, primarily by leveraging and evolving standard IT virtualization technology.
Software-Defined Networks (SDN) is an approach to designing, building and managing networks that separates the network control plane and the network data plane enabling networks to run with greater agility and efficiency.
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is an approach to designing networks where traditional appliance hardware and software are decoupled. Functions such as switching, routing, firewalling, load-balancers etc are carried out in software that is run on off-the-shelf hardware, typically X86 based servers.
NFV is highly complementary to SDN. They are mutually beneficial but are not dependent on each other. Network functions can be virtualized and deployed without an SDN being required and vice-versa.
Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) can be thought of as the glue that binds together NFV ecosystems, SDN infrastructures, legacy OSS/ BSS, and traditional telecom hardware infrastructure.
Network Operator Vision
The industry aspires to move to a more agile world of service delivery – analogous to what is available to consumers in cloud services such as AWS and MS Azure. It is a vision of a telco world in which services can be instantiated, monitored, controlled, billed, and managed on demand, regardless of the network or the service provider.
Migration to SDN/NFV Infrastructures with LSO
Service Providers will not rip and replace. There is a significant installed base of network infrastructure and OSS/BSS systems and from both a technology and a business process perspective it is unrealistic to replace all existing infrastructure. The evolution is likely to start in individual network domains, network geographies or for individual service types, domains such as Edge, Access Network, Aggregation Network and services such as IP-VPN, EPC and IMS are likely candidates.
The new capability will initially be deployed where it brings the most value or where the legacy network already requires an upgrade anyway. Today’s architecture (Figure 1) of physical network functions will migrate to a hybrid architecture (Figure 2) where there will be a mix of legacy and new SDN/NFV infrastructures.
Hybrid services bridging physical and virtual domains are likely to exist for many years. A hybrid scenario getting a lot of airtime could be SDN, based on OpenFlow for intra-data center connectivity to support NFV, with traditional WAN interconnects between data centers based on existing IP/MPLS core networks. Once SDN is mature in the WAN it will be possible to migrate to the full target architecture (Figure 3). A recent SDxCentral LSO market overview even suggested that “in 10 years, people should be asking what a carrier network is, because there will be no difference between a carrier network and a data centre.”
Figure 1: Today’s architecture
Figure 2: Hybrid architecture
Figure 3: Target architecture
The Network Operator’s Dilemma: In today’s network-centric world, services are having an increasingly shorter lifespan, increasing their overall cost. New network services often require expensive proprietary appliances to be purchased and deployed. Adding to this investment, to enable new services, these appliances needs to be racked, powered, and connected individually. As a result of these needed changes, network services are becoming increasingly more complex to deploy and manage.
Industry Challenge: Enabling Agile Service Delivery
Graphic Source: Impact of SDN and NFV on OSS/BSS by Open Networking Foundation
Migrating to SDN/NFV with LSO
Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016 11
Conferences & Events
INTX
In May, we were at The Internet & Television Expo (INTX) in Boston. Held over three days, INTX is one of the largest and most important events for the US cable industry. We met with industry executives and discussed our services on customer experience including using churn and behavioral analytics; launching video services and OTT/TV strategies and implementation support; and, network planning and transformation. Among the group who went were Bill Hill, Rick Gasloli, Rochelle Roberts, Jim Erickson, Julie Mendenhall and PK Ramani.
RECENT EVENTS
SPEAKER FOR YOUR EVENTWe are regularly invited to present at industry events. Contact us if you would like us to speak at yours.
Cable Congress
Cartesian is a sponsor at this year’s Cable Congress which is the leading dedicated event for the cable and media industries in Europe. Taking place in Warsaw at the end of June, our team is meeting with operators to discuss how we can help with improving customer experience and lifetime value; enabling cross-platform video delivery and launching multi-play services; and, protecting against piracy and assuring technology meets security standards. James Clark, Matthew Griffiths and Paul Rusby are attending the conference.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Risk & Assurance Group (RAG) Summer Conference London, 7-8 July
The Risk & Assurance Group (RAG) brings together professionals in revenue assurance, fraud, risk, and finance from the communications and utilities industries. RAG membership continues to grow and the Summer Conference is their biggest event yet and takes place at the BT Centre in London. Cartesian is proud to be a sponsor.
Rob Chapman will chair the event which includes expert speakers from BT, Sky, TalkTalk, EE, and many others. Andy Harper will moderate the panel on “Cloud-based Risk Assurance Services”. The discussion will cover: the evolution of OSS/BSS to the Cloud, revenue assurance in the Cloud, the business case, and technical challenges.
Our team will also meet with industry executives to discuss our services in revenue and business assurance including the use of our advanced analytics capabilities and tools.
Where to find us in Q3:
• MVNOs Africa Industry Summit Johannesburg, 6-7 July
• RAG Summer Conference London, 7-8 July
• Super Mobility Week Las Vegas, 7-9 September
• IBC Amsterdam, 8-12 September
• WICT Leadership Conference New York, 19-20 September
• Cable-Tec Expo Philadelphia, 26-29 September
Planning to go too? See you there. Book your meeting with us today.
12 Cartesian Coordinates Newsletter - Summer 2016
Cartesian(R) is a specialist provider of consulting services and managed solutions to leaders in the global telecoms, media and technology industries. For 25 years,
we have advised clients worldwide in strategy development and assisted them in execution against their goals. Our unique portfolio of consulting services and
managed solutions are tailored to the specific challenges faced by executives in these fast-moving industries. Combining strategic thinking, robust analytics, and
practical experience, Cartesian delivers superior results.
Copyright 2016
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Our world is transforming. Every day, communications technology creates new opportunities to connect. Always on the move, this world is as complex as it is exciting - just keeping up is a full-time job. To truly succeed, you need to go further. By making this world simpler and smarter, Cartesian can make this happen.
We are passionate about problem solving, figuring things out, seeing things from a different angle and cutting through the complexities of the industry. We not only provide the right solutions, but also the answers that push our clients forward. And by doing this we help organizations transform - themselves, the industry and the wider world.
Ours is a world of opportunity. Combining analytics, technology and industry experience, we can help you succeed in it - faster.
Cartesian. Transformation. Accelerated.