Blog post author – Grant Lenahan I’ve been working closely with ETSI/MANO, TMForum and TMF ZOOM and several thought-leading carriers implementing virtualization, and I’m observing a disturbing trend: a focus on the virtualization technology itself that seems to be omitting the broader challenges of management systems and processes that are absolutely critical to making it work. The business value of Virtualization, although delivered by new technology, is that it enables new flexibility, new business models, and infinite product packages, all at low incremental cost. Let’s set out some examples: Services can be scaled infinitlely, matching price-point and capacity to need and willingness to pay Services can be turned on and off for any arbitrary time period Bundles can be easily created, likely based on each buyer’s needs Flows and network functions can be placed where capacity exists or where they can be delivered at the lowest cost consistent with SLA needs … And many more But these benefits do not occur magically; each is dependent on various management functions, implemented in OSS/BSS. Poor support; limited value. No one is explicitly ignoring OSS/BSS of course; it’s subtler. In ETSI the focus is on user stories and the technology that closely surrounds […]