Watershed Networks, Inc.

Network Experts

15 December 2009 14:36:00 -0400

It's no secret that some companies in our industry think that product training is all that's required for their techs and engineers. These companies are in for a rude awakening. The next generation network is a software oriented network. To be sure bridges, routers and switches have a role to play, they must be configured to support traffic that transits the unit. The real knowledge and eventual experience will be gained by those with knowledge of the network elements and a detailed understanding of the entire network as a whole system. Suppliers will support issues related to individual units but will not accept responsibility for the entire network which may be populated with a variety of components, from various manufacturers, all of whom react to possible scenarios in different ways. Incompatibility always tends to surface at the most inopportune time and in the most unlikely of situations. When this happens swat teams are deployed, fingers are pointed and vendor/customer relations are strained or destroyed. But when the dust settles there is one certainty, a very unhappy customer. It's like that old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me." but in this case it reads "Take me down once, shame on you. Take me down twice shame on me."

When things are purring along everyone's happy. When trouble and network outages appear, customers pull back the curtain on your company. What do they see? Do they see a competent support organization capable of understanding the issues and taking steps to minimize the damage and restore the network quickly? Or do they see an organization diving for the phone to point fingers and assign blame? It's your company. It's your business. It's your responsibility. No one ever got fired for providing the best possible service. But people have paid the price for providing much less.

Competition Makes Us Better

20 November 2009 14:45:15 -0400

Everyone likes a good fight, and it's even better if you know you're going to win. We like our professional sports fair. We get upset when athletes take performance-enhancing drugs. But in real-life, your chances improve with a competitive edge, with an ace up your sleeve while you're counting the cards.

What? Isn't that cheating? Cross-training your entire company gives you a real advantage, but it's not against the law. The more you know, the more prepared you are to address every eventuality presented by your competition and by the market. We're talking about training and much more. We're talking about having the knowledge and experience to identify opportunities more quickly than the competition and to provide a solution that is spot-on what the market requires. We're talking about making smart decisions.

Even with an ace up your sleeve, you still need to know how to play. Task-oriented training is still important, but having organization-wide fundamental knowledge is an insurance policy to cash in when you need it. It gives you the extra advantage that can put you over the top. When every member of your team understands your mission, technology, your products and the market, your company becomes the kind of dynamic, adaptive organization that moves with the market and has a firm grasp of your customer's needs. Companies thrive on slight changes in consumer demand and fail by missing small shifts in market conditions. Miscalculation can deliver your customers into the hands of a competitor.

Business is tough. Save the "fair " fights for on the playing field. Watershed Networks can help you stack the deck.

What's Your Plan?

What's your plan?

15 October 2009 13:00:15 -0400

I was thinking about a client company the other day and our discussion about their intent to compete and not only sustain their company but to grow the business as well.

So, we examined what such a plan means: It is not enough to simply protect your turf. Such a defensive posture puts your entire workforce in jeopardy. Simply stated, the new business model can not sustain the numbers of employees required in the legacy telecom network. Downsizing is the only option without expansionary plans. It does not necessarily mean taking over the customers of local rivals, but it does mean enticing new customers by offering innovative services and features otherwise unavailable.

Expanding your product offering accompanied by lights out customer service. All of this is easy to say but another thing to gear up to face the challenge. To start you need to make sure you have the expertise. Over the next couple of years we all will have to face some tough decisions that have to be made. The bottom line is that the business has to be profitable and stable for all of those still with the company. Some people will adapt and some will not. You are not doing anyone any favors by delaying the obvious.

Companies should be upfront with everyone, explaining the roadmap and skill requirements going forward. It's not fun, it's painful. But it's nothing that everyone else, in many other businesses are going through these days. Unlike large multinational banks none of our businesses are critical to the success of our local economy.

The Right Place at the Right Time

15 September 2009 13:00:15 -0400

Sometimes you make a lucky shot. Sometimes you hit the bulls-eye. But most of the time, there's more than luck involved.

A well-to-do friend of mine, involved with several very successful start-ups, likes to play down his success and often says, "I was at the right place at the right time" when talking about exactly what made him succeed when so many of his peers failed to reach the same heights.

What he often forgets to add is that he had the foresight to prepare himself for that moment. He recognized opportunity when it knocked and had the skills to take advantage of it. That one break led him down a path to wealth and security. He wasn't the only one in his circle who had that chance; he didn't win the lottery, didn't inherit a company. But, of those who had the same opportunity, he alone was ready to capitalize on it. Would you say he was lucky? Or would you say that he made his own luck?

For those of us in the communications industry, now is a moment of opportunity. Consumers are watching TV on their phones and making calls on their cable lines. Google, a search provider, and Apple, a computer company, have just publicly resolved conflicts arising from the fact that they're both competing in the telephone business. New technologies are changing human communications as radically as the telephone did. Someone is going to come out ahead when the dust settles. The question we all have to ask ourselves is, "Am I doing everything I can to take advantage of what's going on?" You can't count on making a lucky shot, but you can work to improve your aim.

Opportunity isn't always an easy road, but you have the inside track. You know your employer. Your employer knows that you are a valued employee with the energy, commitment and drive to learn the new technologies and contribute over the next many years.

The economy is in a downturn but recovery is expected to be slow and steady. Colleges and training programs are doing well as people prepare themselves for better times. If you focus on legacy telecom, look at the facts; your career has maybe another two or three years. Then what? What are you doing to stay competitive with fresh-out-of-school new-hires or your own colleagues who are training themselves in IP communications? What about all of the IT talent out there who realize that their skill set transfers to your job? You need some luck, and to improve your odds, to learn and understand what you need to know.

Watershed Networks develops learning environments which let you study on-the-job. Our courses are designed to teach you the latest technologies and help you retain that information using a variety of advanced learning techniques. Studies published by the US Department of Education show that online training outperforms classroom instruction. You learn at your own pace and you have access to training materials wherever you are and whenever you are ready to learn.

Promote Collaboration and Teamwork

11 August 2009 13:00:15 -0400

Picture this: You're at the ballpark before the game as everyone is led in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner". It's a difficult song, with a range of well over an octave and a lot of words that many of us might occasionally forget. There are a few singers among us but mostly we are average folks with, probably, a less than average ability to sing. But what happens? We all join in. Some hit the high notes, some the low. For everyone who forgets a line, there is someone who remembers that line and forgets another. The larger the crowd, the better the singing, so long as it's a crowd that is familiar with the song. A crowd probably wouldn't render "The Star-Spangled Banner" too well in, say, Lithuania.

This scenario is a metaphor for where we are today as an industry. If everyone is at least somewhat familiar with a subject, and many have narrow expertise within it, a group can solve problems and innovate solutions that no individual in that group could achieve. A company is much stronger when the whole workforce understands the fundamental concepts behind its products. The problem solving capability becomes a characteristic of the company, not simply the province of a handful of experts. Besides, experts can leave the company. General corporate knowledge has much more staying power.

The next generation telecom network operators will work in an environment where personalization and collaboration are the keys to success. Personalization means that individuals will have the tools to optimize their time and customize their approach to gathering information, compartmentalizing it, and contributing to the team.

Collaboration involves two processes. You must identify your role on the team and participate in discussion. Provide insight and move the team in the right direction using on your knowledge and experience.

The skillset required in next-generation companies is very different from that of the legacy network days. Technologies evolve rapidly. Companies need to develop strong technical teams and these teams must consist of intellectually aggressive members who each value team membership and their role as a contributor.

No one individual can know everything. There is a set of tools collectively called Web 2.0. These enable companies to share information, collaborate and learn from one another. Successful companies use these tools to develop their own unique approach to the market. Web 2.0 tools also have the ability to bring your customers and suppliers into the conversation and exchange information to benefit the entire business ecosystem.

Watershed Networks provides clients with learning environments using technical training and a number of web-based tools to foster a dynamic team-oriented collaborative environment to engage your entire company in the process. And did we mention that it's much less expensive than what you are doing now?

Is This Clear Enough?

23 July 2009 13:00:15 -0400

There are three very interesting and telling events taking place which are harbingers of things to come. The first is the announcement of a personnel change at British Telecom. Matt Bross, the CTO at BT has left the company. As the CTO, Matt had oversight over telecom technology and the direction of BT's telecom infrastructure. Matt's CTO position will not be filled. Al-Noor Ramji, who is the current CIO, and therefore has oversight over BT's IT technology will assume these responsibilities as well. The move indicates the convergence of telecom and IT technology.

The second and equally telling event is the decision by Cox's new senior vice president of technology operations, Mark Kaish to realign and converge two IT operations and a telecom operation into one organization. The move is cost cutting but it is also designed to address the new realities of the emerging telecom network. The next generation network is a complex software driven network where traditional telecom roles must be re-engineered to address the new realities of the public communications network.

We have been saying for some time that companies have to either step up and take action, sell while the company still has value (customers), or get run over. An option that many companies are reviewing is to outsource their network operations, as Sprint did just last week. This action begs the question, "What is a service provider without a network?" Who calls the shots on new products and services offered on the network? Who decides the components to be installed and maintained to provide services? Sprint will be transitioning all 6,000 techs and engineers over to Nokia-Siemens. But isn't the network a big part of their intellectual property? Isn't that what makes Sprint unique, the differentiator? When this transition is complete what then is Sprint? In my mind Sprint becomes a marketing and sales organization for Nokia-Siemens.

This is no time for timid decisions. Players left standing three years from now will have earned their spot in the next generation network.

Focus on the Basics

15 July 2009 13:00:15 -0400

The other day we were having a discussion about where this is all going. It was so much easier in the telecom days; we provided the best wireline telephone service with the most features and calling plans. You know, the other day someone actually tried to sell me a leased T1 line with an extended calling plan. Are you serious? $800/month? This is clearly a company in touch with its market... NOT. We have a virtual PBX, IP phones and a 20 megabit Internet connection for less than $200/month.

For years the industry has been searching for the killer application and now we know what it is: Personalization. What you want, when you want it, where you want it. And what is it? It's anything you want to do, any application you want to use or any content you want to watch. This sounds like a crazy business. How do you offer that to the market?

No matter how complex the technology or how confused the market or the industry is, it still comes down to the same things:

* Focus on the customer; * What does the customer want? * What does the customer need? * What is the problem you're trying to solve? * Can you do it at a price the market can support? * How do you differentiate your approach from that of your competitors?

Ever hear, "500 channels and nothing on"? It's hard to be all things to all people. You have to know your customer. What is the mix of services, options, features and content that makes sense for your business? The product mix is very different in St. Petersburg, Fl than it is in Cambridge, MA. There is such a wide selection of capabilities.

Now back up for a minute. One of the problems is that the basic delivery platform for network operators is in transition from legacy TDM to IP networks. A prerequisite for anyone with a future in the communications industry is an understanding of the IP network. No matter what the mix of services, features, options and content, all of it will be delivered over the IP network. You have to know how sessions are established. You don't have to know what "random early detection" or "tail dropping" is but you do need to know that there are quality of service techniques used to establish connections and monitor performance. So, what's my point?

Focus on the basics. Know your customer. Understand what your customer wants and needs and develop products and services at a value your customer can understand and is willing to pay for. And, finally, learn the basics of your new delivery platform.

Watershed networks can help.

Outsourcing your Talent

7 July 2009 13:00:15 -0400

The latest news is that Sprint is outsourcing their network operations to Ericsson. We could see this coming as we have relayed to anyone who would listen. In the next several years we anticipate much more of this in the industry, particularly in the smaller telecom companies. As companies come to understand the complexities of operating in the converged IP network and the expertise required to hold your own in a contentious market, more and more companies will at least consolidate and those with the resources will outsource the administration and maintenance of their networks.

Think of what a blow this must be to the techs and engineers at Spring who are now Ericsson employees. What happened to the loyalty of the corporation for those who built and maintained the network over these years?

What now becomes of Sprint? It is no longer a network operating company but rather a marketing and sales organization for Ericsson.

The next generation IP oriented network offers a platform to support an unlimited array of new products, services and features. To those who work to understand and be technically involved in communications there is opportunity. The hand writing is on the wall for those who choose not to learn the new ways. If you don't understand IP networks. If you don't know the difference between TCP and UDP. If you never heard of MPLS or DiffServ. Your career is in jeopardy. And if you think your company will take care of you then ask yourself how the folks over at Sprint feel right now.

Take Control of Your Career

5 June 2009 13:00:15 -0400

A couple weeks ago there was a story about the need to educate the telecom work force to prepare for the next generation network. One of the comments made to the article questioned why a company should spend it's money to train a tech or engineer. Once trained this person may then seek a new position with another company. The inference is that techs and engineers should pay for their own certifications and training. This brought back to me an incident I had over 30 years ago at New England telephone. I was working in a telephone central office with a crossbar switch I had picked up a trouble condition that I was unfamiliar with. I was reading circuit descriptions and schematic diagrams to understand and resolve the trouble. My supervisor came over to me and asked me what did I think I was doing? So I told him. His reply was that the company was not going to pay for me to learn on the job. I should take the books home tonight and read them, but in the mean time I was to give the trouble to someone else who knew how to fix it. That was the mentality back then. It certainly is not the same now.

If you are a telecom professional who makes a living by understanding the technical details of the communications network and maintaining reliability and quality of service to users of that network, you know the technology is changing. As someone who understands both the legacy telecom and IP network, I can tell you the IP network is much more complex and has a lot less tools to help identify and resolve troubles. The IP network has a software orientation and changing hardware components will not resolve anything. Throwing bandwidth at a problem does little to relieve the service issues. There is no substitute for understanding the concepts and functions and gaining experience to visualize the problem and be able to take steps to fix the trouble.

Each of us has to determine for ourselves what our position is. Does our company have a vision of where this is all going? Is there a plan for you to upgrade your skills to meet the challenge? Last week there was a story in the Wall Street Journal on how companies find it less expensive to fire skills they no longer need and at the same time hire the new skills for the next generation network. One of the sources was AT&T. In this economy who do you trust? If you are not on a path to understanding the next generation network you need to re-examine where you are. In this world of unlimited access to whatever it is you need to know you should understand risks and rewards of your actions and inaction. Do you trust your employer to have your best interest at heart? If you had training would you become part of a team energized and ready to assume your role as a technical leader for your company? Or would you see that they just don't get it and decide to move on to someone who does get it?

Learn New Things On Line

3 June 2009 15:30:00 -0400

Watershed Networks, Now playing on youTube! Click here to watch.

The Company We Keep

20 May 2009 15:12:15 -0400

My iPhone broke the other day. After working well for nine months, it started making calls on its own, sometimes at awkward and inconvenient hours! In a month our wireless bill had more than doubled. This was an Apple product, but we'd bought it from the service provider, so I took it first to the service provider's store.

There I was told that they don't fix or work on these phones and that I had to go to an Apple store. Instead of taking the opportunity to create a positive customer experience by solving my problem, they placed the burden back on their customer. It was a different story at Apple, where someone immediately attended to the problem. The well-trained staff there quickly determined that the device was defective and offered to replace it immediately. While this seemed positive, there was a lot of data that would have to be ported to a new device. I was referred to an expert, on-site, who was very knowledgeable. He provided a new device, transferred the information and showed me that the information was deleted from the old device. I left with a positive feeling about Apple, and with a sense of a direct relationship to them as a customer, even though the whole incident began with an Apple product malfunctioning and I had originally bought that product from the service provider, not from Apple.

This incident is an excellent example of why Watershed Networks is an Apple shop. We use Apple products because we have work to do. Their products are well engineered and have intuitive user interfaces; the hardware is reliable and the software works. When we consider the total cost of ownership, it's cost effective to use reliable equipment. Apple has the well-trained technical staff to resolve any problems quickly, and in that way they become our partner in helping us bring our products to market.

At Watershed Networks we like to say we work with companies that "Get it". Companies that get it offer quality products, world class service, and do the right thing the first time. Our partners and clients examine the market and understand that a well-trained team is essential in the service business.

This incident highlights the benefits of being a good partner. My wireless provider offers lousy service and they lost an opportunity to build customer loyalty. Apple saved my relationship with my service provider, and took the opportunity to strengthen my relationship with them. It would be easier to imagine switching providers, if Apple offered the iPhone elsewhere, than switching to another manufacturer's phone.

What about you? Do you do business like Apple, or like the other guy?

Do you Twitter?

14 May 2009 12:52:10 -0400

Do you Twitter? How many times have you heard that question lately? I'll bet you remember the days before social media when the closest thing to Twitter was sitting at the counter of your local diner over a cup of coffee. Maybe you'd run into a friend or a customer, or maybe your waitress would mention something she'd heard that she thought would interest you. Maybe you'd just overhear something in someone else's conversation. Breakfast at the diner, friendly chats with customers, friends and family in the community; these are some of the ways that a small business gets to know its market.

At my local coffee shop this morning the TV played an ad for Magic Jack. "Never pay a phone bill again, only $19.95 a year", it said. Meanwhile, at the next table, four people were trying to solve the technological problem of downloading photos from a digital camera. It had them stumped. These consumers might have been very interested if they had been listening to the television. They might have been very frustrated if they had bought Magic Jack and found it at least as difficult to understand as a digital camera.

What makes your business special? What distinguishes your offerings from the competition? Is it your customer service? Is it your in-depth knowledge of the local market? Is it the quality and reliability of your service? Whatever your answer to that question, your future lies in developing products that are spot-on for your market.

The telephone industry came of age in an era when there were no alternatives. Now we need to adapt to being in a market where the customer has many options, and it's a tough road trying to compete on price alone. Can you offer telephone service for $19.95 a year? Keeping an edge in an evolving industry means constantly educating every member of your company and giving every employee the tools to stay in touch with trends in your market and in your industry.

With this in mind, we've added the 'conversations' feature to our Waterworks 3 learning platform. In addition to using our library of courses, your employees can share their questions and ideas with colleagues in the telecom industry. You can search their entries and the entries created by all of our customers at the same time that you search our course library. As your team uses these tools, taking courses, leaving notes on each page for their co-workers, fielding difficult questions on the 'conversations' board, using the secure internal message system to discuss technical issues and filling out their personal profiles, you develop a customized, searchable store of knowledge that you can tap into as you build on your company's core strengths and expand your range of offerings.

Watershed Networks will develop the internal structure you need to engage your entire team to be a market leader for others to follow.

Learn to Teach Yourself

30 Apr 2009 08:58:07 -0400

Ever wonder why the school systems have computers in the classroom for young children? Is it that our teachers need the help of something to distract kids in a larger class size?

If you look closely they're onto something. In the early years of learning the focus is not on specific subjects of ever increasing detail and complexity, but on the basic principles of learning. How do we learn? What are some of the techniques that work best? Do we all learn the same way? The foundation established in our early years is what we build on for the future. As we advance from grade to grade there is more to learn, and we are left to ourselves to determine the best techniques we can employ to learn the subject matter. Some of us develop the skills we need quickly enabling us to "do well". Then others struggle and thrash about trying this or that and even is some cases giving up. So what about the early class room experience? What is the goal of providing young people with access to computers? The answer is that these kids are learning a very important skill. The ability to research material and teach themselves.

The communications industry is under going a radical shift in technology and I would argue a cultural shift as well. The legacy telecom network is a hardware big-systems, strictly controlled, standards-oriented network. When it comes to suppliers it's their way or the highway. Think about the Internet or in the terms of a network service provider, IP networks. The Internet is software-oriented, commodity hardware, open source dominated, and loosely defined network. Where the telecom network is rigid and structured, the Internet is amorphous and very unstructured. Services and functions on the Internet are developed and implemented long before standards are ratified. Why? Time to market. By the time standards are documented and "accepted" the key players are off to the next adventure.

In the legacy telecom model it made sense to develop technical training centered on standards and system capabilities. It was common to send people off to training courses once or twice a year. Things didn't change all that quickly. Training was more of an scheduled event.

Think about the IP network. Think about those adjectives again, amorphous, loosely defined? How do you get your arms around such a thing? First of all you have to scrap the old ways. Companies don't have the luxury of time or money to wait for someone to develop instructor led courses for people to attend. Even if you could bring someone in to talk about the latest stuff, what would be their retention two weeks, two months, or six months down the road? Can you schedule such events for the exact moment when the new skills would be applied? The answer is to provide the means for employees to access information and and teach themselves. Training is not an event but an ongoing process.

It's a new economy and things are different. For telecom companies it's a double whammy because it comes in the midst of a migration from one network and one business model to a radically different technology and completely reversed business model. The challenge for leaders is to understand what's different, and in one word, everything. Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

The key to survival is embarking on a course of action to bring your network and your people up to speed. Time is of the essence. IP networks are very complex. Attending one or two classes a year is not going to get it done. How do you find qualified people and what do you do with the people you have? Can your technical leaders on the legacy network lead the way on the new network? The answer is no. Technical leaders on the IP network require a much different skill set and right now you probably don't know who they are. They may or may not already be part of your organization. How do you find them? What are the key attributes of the new leaders? Some of the same general requirements, commitment, desire to perform at a high level, and intelligence. The differences are, the ability to work in an unstructured environment, energy, and being intellectually aggressive. Things are changing so rapidly only the technically astute can decipher the way forward and learn to keep pace with the leaders. The key is to have people who know how to research information and teach themselves.

Stimulus Promises Warmer Weather, and More Sun!

22 Apr 2009 08:56:04 -0400

Life imitates nature in many ways. Here in the Northeast winter brings harsh weather and freezing air. Some plants go dormant through the long, cold months. Others die off, leaving seeds that will hopefully take root in the spring. Winter always seems long, but experience tells us that the frost will always break, the rains will always come and bright green shoots of new growth always appear out of fertile soil.

Experience tells us too that our economy grows and contracts in cycles. But every once in awhile forces combine to change the economic landscape and a new model arises. In this economic winter, we all must remember that spring will come eventually. Some companies, dormant through these tough times, will start to grow again. Others will succumb, but leave seeds of opportunity that will grow into the businesses of tomorrow.

What we seldom see in nature is a plant spreading its seeds in the springtime. Winter is quiet, but through the dark months, life prepares to emerge. The businesses that spend these months preparing will grow rapidly at the first sign of recovery and will spread out across their markets to gather nourishment, customer base, and as much profit as possible.

Our industry faces another challenge: the emergence of radical new communications technologies which are transforming the entire market. Like a hearty seedling huddled in the melting snow, like American manufacturing exploding out of the Great Depression into the strongest economy in history, telecom will become communications and be a greater part of daily life than ever before. Communications will be, more than ever, the backbone of the world economy.

Take advantage of the spring by preparing now. You can emerge from these lean times like the old tree, extending roots and unveiling leaves, renewing itself each year, or like the thriving weed, finding opportunity in new places. Educate your company, train your workforce and execute your plan. Don't end up like last year's fallen leaves, dried out and swept away.

More training? You can't afford not to do it. Consider a subscription plan with Watershed Networks Learning Environments to incorporate learning as an ongoing process in your daily routine at a very affordable price.

It's What You Know

2 April 2009 14:22:25 -0400

Years ago I ran the telecom network at MIT. After I had been there for a couple of weeks, this person called me to ask if I was the new guy from Bellcore. He wanted to get together to ask me a few questions. I agreed, and a half hour later I was in a small classroom at MIT explaining the basics of telecom networks to these two older fellows. The discussion continued for two hours while we covered the basic functions and principles behind the telecom network. When the discussion was concluding they asked me where I did my graduate work. I confessed that "all" I had was a BS and MBA. I said that I had always wanted to get an advanced degree but family and other commitments got in the way. They told me that it was not your degree or honors achieved in academia but what you know and how you put it to use.

When I got back to my office I found that my boss had been looking for me. I guess that's a dead giveaway that this incident was pre-cell phone. I reached into my pocket to produce the two business cards for my boss. He was startled and asked me if I knew who these people were. I did not. It turns out that both had won Nobel prizes in their field. This struck me because they questioned me and asked very basic questions. I thought to myself, "How could these two individuals with extraordinary intelligence not know this?".

I learned a very important thing from this lesson, and I'll use statements I've heard before to sum up the information nugget: "The smartest people I know , know what they don't know and aren't afraid to ask questions." Though this incident happened 15 years ago I use this lesson all the time. If I'm trying to learn something complex I'll work at it, again and again until I get it. I think this is important advice to anyone in these times of rapid change and complex systems. The difference between people who get it and those that don't is not the native intelligence that we all have but the standards you set for yourself. You have the ability to learn. So what do you do? Do you throw up your hands and say this is way too complicated for me or do you say I am an intelligent person and will work until it's understood? Those in the second group, prepare for the new workspace in the next generation network. It will push us all but it will be a lot of fun.

Convergence

1 April 2009 14:22:25 -0400

Convergence, is it about technology or ideas? There is lots of information out there describing convergence in terms of circuit switched vs packet, wireline vs wireless, all optical vs optical/electronic/optical, and network management systems. There is however another area which also needs to be considered and that is, do you have the staff to make this work?

The IP network is a very complex environment and there is no substitute for knowledge and experience. For the technical staff, training is required to bring folks up to speed quickly and then a sustained approach is needed to maintain a high level of understanding IP networks. The IP network is a software-defined network. As such, you can not resolve software troubles, and most of the problems will be software oriented, by changing hardware components. Techs and engineers working in the new network require a different skill set than in the past. Workers need to possess the energy, drive and intellectual curiosity to work in this new environment where hardware components are commodity items who derive their function from a software load.

Think of training and educating your work force not as a specific event but rather as an ongoing process. Convergence is a technical change but as important as it is, it is also a cultural change as well. Baby Boomers retire and others step in to take their place, but in the near future there are new challenges. Each company has to decide if they have what it takes to prosper.

One thing is for sure. When customers pick up the phone or send an email or perhaps even a text with a trouble report, they know that they pay the service provider for service and if there's a problem they don't care if it's this group or that group, so long as they just fix the problem.

As said on a TV commercial. "Do you have what it takes to pay the toll?"