In last week's Friday Feature, Tekelec's Steve French considered whether rolling out an IMS network was similar to the Big Dig in Boston. The piece triggered a few letters to the editor, so I thought I would include one today:
Steve French compares the IMS deployment challenge to the Boston Big Dig, which is probably a fair analogy for the challenges of deploying a new system architecture within an operational environment.
However, I'm curious whether Steve is aware of the recent challenges the Big Dig has faced, when he makes the assertion, "Despite the many obstacles and issues surrounding the Big Dig, it was in many ways a spectacular engineering accomplishment." It turns out that the ceiling of the Big Dig tunnel was poorly constructed, and has started to collapse, killing Boston motorists. For those that have to drive through the Big Dig every day, whether the tunnel has been a 'spectacular accomplishment' is probably a debatable point. Let's hope that IMS roll outs are more successful. - Jason Warren, Motorola
I'd also like to call your attention to a webinar I'll be moderating this Thursday, November 2nd. The webinar is called, "Mobile Messaging Mania: Myths and Money Makers." Speakers include John Delaney, principal analyst of Ovum's Consumer Group and Vincent Kadar, CTO of Airwide Solutions. We will be offering two live broadcasts of the webinar at 9 a.m. EST and 1 p.m. EST. If you'd like to listen in and participate in the Q&A session, register here.
Finally... Just a note that the Fierce Favorites blog competition ends at midnight tonight. We will be tallying up the votes and compiling the list of Fierce Favorites as an online resource at FierceWireless.com. One last chance to vote! Make it count. -Brian