Making Telcos Think In Packets

Abstract:

There are significant challenges being faced by Telcos in migrating to a full IP network (note the distinction between "ISP's" and "Telcos"). The challenges are not legacy infrastructure or budgets, but rather a serious disruption to the conventional decision-making cycle. This is a paradigm shift that has yet to occur successfully. The issue is not embracing IP, but rather, understanding that to deploy it, thinking needs to change significantly.
Being one of the few ISP's that has recently taken over a fixed line business, we understand these challenges, and our IP-centric approach is at complete odds with the planning, design, deployment and operations of a fixed line business. Managements do not know how and what to choose from a roadmap perspective - MPLS up to the edge? MPLS only in the core? Optical transport in between? Companies are confused and lack confidence in the process. Moreover, it is difficult enough that our "Top Managements" and "Boards" are comprised predominantly of the circuit-switched era.

The presentation will focus on what we, in the IP community, can and must do to bridge the gap.

• We need equipment vendors to be transparent, and not to experiment on the-fly.
• We need vendors to provide solid, proper roadmaps, and for them to invest their time, efforts and reputations in deploying full-scale networks as a POC (proof of concept) that can be used as a real-life example around the world.
• We need to stop drawing the damn "cloud" and start simplifying what it is we do and how we do it.

From a people perspective (the focus of my presentation), IP engineers are facing a tremendous opportunity. Unfortunately we (the IP engineers) have all matured technically far quicker than we have managerially and emotionally. How do we bridge that gap, such that we do not get caught in a dual career ladder, which works for some but limits others? How do we get our superiors to understand what we do, and to get their buy-in, when they lack basic understanding about the technologies? The problem here is that the legacy folks pick up their IP skills at conferences and seminars, on the back of snazzy presentations. We need to break that cycle, and in so doing, improve our value to our respective organisations. We need to shed our "cult" status, and conform in some ways so that the natural transition to IP technology (and thinking) can take place, and that companies will have the confidence to pass the baton.

Biography

Afzal Abdul Rahim was appointed as CEO of TIME dotCom in October 2008. A technology entrepreneur, he also serves as Chairman of Global Transit International and The AIMS Asia Group, entities he founded over the last 9 years.
Afzal, 31, holds a Degree in Mechanical Engineering with Electronics, specializing in Acoustic Wave Theory, and started his career in the Automotive industry culminating in a regional role with Group Lotus PLC.
He took a leap of faith and plunged into the communications industry in the aftermath of the dot-com burst, and together with a core management team steered The AIMS Asia Group to its position as the region's No. 1 network neutral data centre operator. The team then established Global Transit International in 2005, and the company's investments now include TIME dotCom Berhad, The Unity Trans-Pacific cable system, and Malaysia's No. 1 Wholesale IP Transit Provider.
Afzal is the founder of MyIX, the Malaysian Internet Exchange, which was established in 2006.