While we hear numerous examples of how SDN, NFV and virtualization are changing service providers' networks at a rapid pace, we don't always hear about the growing pains.
During Wednesday's MPLS/SDN/NFV World Congress in Paris, Michele Gamberini, head of core network and infrastructure for Telecom Italia, said his company was currently unprepared for the transformation to more software and virtualization in its network. (See Telecom Italia Not Ready to Transform, Admits Exec.)
Gamberini said that Telecom Italia was investing in open access NFV technologies to support automation and on-demand services, but the technical hurdles were easier to overcome than the organizational and business issues.
Gamberini said his company needed to review new skill sets, internal processes and its culture in order to better enable its digital transformation. In regards to service providers' digital transformations, changing company culture was tops in a recent Telco Transformation poll. (See Poll: Company Culture Is King for Digital Transformations.)
Telecom Italia (TIM) will keep implementing SDN and NFV technologies, but it also plans to conduct a series of training programs this year that address both engineering and operational needs based on DevOps models.
The fact that Gamberini was willing to discuss the pain points of his company's virtualization efforts was refreshing, especially since his plan includes additional training for employees.
— Mike Robuck, editor, Telco Transformation