Isn’t it incredible how quickly time seems to pass us by?
With each passing year, the excitement circulating within the broadband industry seems to grow exponentially. This excitement has a wonderful way of invigorating change and inspiring the many different players within the communications space: from telco and cable providers to leading industry organizations to software solution providers that constantly shift the communications landscape with next-gen technology.
Here are some highlights from the year:
Virtual Customer Premises Equipment (vCPE)
Virtualization of network functions and customer premises equipment (CPE) was at the forefront of nearly every industry trade show this year. People are excited, and they have good reason to be. The simple idea of abstracting network functions from a piece of hardware and giving complete control through an operator’s service cloud has extraordinary implications for providers throughout the world. The goal is to develop and implement robust vCPE solutions that capture this concept that not only reduce operational expenses on the provider but to enable a better end-user experience for subscribers. Stay tuned for more updates about this stirring trend that we’re sure to hear a lot more about in 2016.
Enabling Emerging Access Technologies
The subscriber demand for faster speeds and better service experiences has brought on a new wave of access technologies within the industry. Gigabit-per-second fiber optics has proliferated in both major and minor markets due to its numerous benefits and relatively inexpensive deployment costs. But with new access technology, comes new system requirements. Operators must consider best practices for every aspect of service activation and fulfillment, and they can’t forget about the operational savings potential gained by automated B/OSS integration (and the inevitable transition to an IPv6 world). With the right software at their disposal, service providers can ensure that their subscribers redeem the full advantages of the speed and quality that these new network access technologies bring — while continuing to reduce the costs required to enable them.
Constantly Improving Subscriber QoE
As usual, enhancing subscriber quality of experience (QoE) remains as one of the single most important topics within the industry. It’s what keeps revenues high for every single communication service provider around the world. This is why so much of our time is spent researching, developing, and deploying solutions that make sure every subscriber receives the best end-to-end service experience possible. This means ensuring rapid automatic activation and fulfillment of services, reliable service speed and quality, fast issue resolution, minimal service interruption during device and system updates, and most importantly, a personalized service experience for every one of the unique users on a provider’s network.
All in all, it’s been a fantastic and fast-paced year. I’m certain 2016 is set to bring us many new exciting and interesting industry developments.
Stephane Bourque is the technological inspiration behind Incognito Software Systems provisioning solutions. As CEO, Stephane has built an elite team of dedicated engineers and championed Incognito’s development of high performance, multi-platform IP and DNS software. Originally from Montreal, Canada, educated at Concordia University, Stephane applied his computer engineering background at Banyan Systems to design enterprise network management systems for Fortune 1000 companies like Bell Canada.