Ensemble-Emagazine

Ensemble

Table of content
1. Introducing Bid office E-Magazine
2. Message from the TOP
3. Quote
4. Let’s hear from our youngest team members
5. Fiber to the home
6. Money has won over the innovation
7. The deep Web and the dark web
8. Brain Teasers
9. Unlimited data plans – Boon or bane for wireless networks
10. Offline viewing for best online experience
11. Software assurance service in Ericsson portfolio
12. Aravind eye care: Learnings for ICT industry
13. Building value proposition
14. My journey at Ericsson
15. Answer to : Brain Teasers
Introducing Bid Office
E-Magazine
The month of January is named after the Roman god
Janus: a two-headed deity who thus had the ability to
look both forwards and backwards at the same time.
He was believed to be the guardian of gates, doors,
beginnings and endings.
Like Janus, we approach the start of the year by
reflecting on the previous year’s challenges, taking
positive cue from our failures or moments of idleness and
resolving to avoid past mistakes. We need resolutions:
they are promises we make to our better selves, and
February provides a perfect opportunity to make a
commitment to self-improvement.
As part of Continuous Learning and Improvement
program under our Full Pot umbrella initiatives, we bring
you Bid Office E-Magazine.
Bid Office E-Magazine is going to be published on
quarterly basis covering wide range of industry and
technical topics. It would also include some brain
teasers, interesting quotes and comic strip to have a
good balance of learning and fun. The articles would be
contributed by the team and it provides a platform to
showcase and share your knowledge with your friends
and colleagues.
We hope that you enjoy this magazine and look forward
to continued contribution from the team.
Prakash Kar, Pranab Tandon, Gaurav Sharma & Chiranjeev Singh
Continuous Learning and Improvement Program – Full Pot

Message from the TOP
2017 is the 5th year of operations for the Bid Office.
Over the last few years, we have focused on building our
competence, ways of working, establishing relationships
and of course delivering on our promises. This journey
has taught us many things - the most important one
being - competence is the fundamental enabler of
success.
Our role in the company is knowledge-centric and
customer-oriented. We are here to create success for
the company by enabling our sales force to win more
deals, at attractive price points that create value for our
customers. This is a tall order and not achieved easily.
The team that we’ve built is unique in its nature and
position within the company. With the ongoing integration
with the Business Units, our ability to serve as a global
knowledge hub has never been stronger.
Against this backdrop, successful execution of our
FullPot program is critical for our future success. The
program has been developed with maximum involvement
from all of you and hence has very strong roots. I’m very
hopeful that with this level of anchoring, and commitment
from the Leadership Team, FullPot will yield numerous
benefits for all of us.
Given that knowledge is at the center of what we do,
I’m truly excited about this e-magazine. This marks the
beginning of a new phase in our drive to expand our
knowledge base and will take us along on the digital
frontier as well.
quote
Though much is taken, much abides; we are
not now that strength which in old days moved
earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak
by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to
seek, to find, and not to yield.
Alfred Tennyson
Arun Bhikshesvaran

Let’s hear from our youngest
team members
During Placement Season, we were
very curious to know with which
company our name will be associated.
This company would be our entry into a
new place called the “corporate world”.
When Ericsson came to our campus,
we had a wonderful presentation which
made us eager to be a part of this
company.
As a result, we were excited and
nervous at the same time for the next
step. Fortunately, we were placed. But
even then, we had a bunch of questions
in our mind- how the office culture
would be, what our colleagues would
be like, what our location would be and
most importantly, when will we join?
And after waiting for a long time, when
we finally joined, all of those questions
were answered instantly.
After this two week training period,
we stepped into the Bid Office. We
met our managers, our respective
team members and our domain
specific training sessions were started.
Meanwhile, we were also made to
understand the nature of our work. We
were each assigned a buddy, who made
us comfortable in this new environment.
Through them, we got to know more
about Ericsson and its policies and
what exactly was expected of us. We
were given small tests by our training
mentors to check our understanding
from the training sessions. We also had
feedback sessions where we gave our
feedbacks regarding the sessions and
let our mentors know if we were facing
difficulties. After few weeks, we were
given small tasks where we got handson
experience of the theory that we had
studied till date.
While all this training and working
continued, we also had Fun Time
activities. There were birthday
celebrations, office parties and AEMs.
These activities eased our corporate
journey. A lot of major events occurred
during this time. A few of them include
Independence Day celebrations, 5
years of Bid Office celebrations, Diwali
celebrations and many more. These
events helped bond better with our
colleagues.
All in all, the journey till now has been
nothing but exciting, full of memorable
occasions and finding new friends.
There could have been no better
company than Ericsson for us to start
our professional journey. We are proud
to say that we are a part of this great
organization. It’s truly one of the best
places to work in India.
Nikhil Aggarwal, Saumya Gupta, Arindam Chugh, Neeraj Kumar, Editor –
Niharika Verma (BNES GSI S&M CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE & BNES GSI S&M
NTWK APP IMS)

Fiber to the Home
The total number of FTTH subscribers
worldwide as of November 2016 was
220 million with Asia being the leading
market for FTTH adoption worldwide.
There are more than 176 Million FTTH
subscribers in Asia accounting for
more than 80 percent of the worldwide
deployment. User wise, China (99
Million) and Japan (29 Million) tops
with the largest number worldwide
and is followed by South Korea. It is
interesting to note here that five of
the top 10 leading countries for FTTH
deployments are in Asia.
2014 was an important milestone for
the technology as the number of total
subscribers connected over FTTx
(FTTH, FTTB and FTTH) attained
second position in the global market.
DSL continues to enjoy the top status
being the legacy technology that has
been in use for over 20 years.
FTTH in India
India, like all other markets, should
benefit from all technology options to
provide universal broadband – wireless
and wireline.
Through FTTH, it was expected to
connect over 5 Million subscribers in
top 25 Indian cities by the end of 2016.
However, the actual numbers are way
lower than the projected figure. The total
number of Broadband subscribers in
India by end of November 2016 were
twenty one Million while those connected
over FTTH was less than a million.
While the state run organizations
ramp up their FTTH rollouts, a number
of Open Access Service Providers
have obtained IP1 license to deploy
infrastructure in the last mile. OASP
players like Sterlite, Radius and ACT
have opened their network to various
TSPs, allowing subscribers to choose
from their preferred service provider.
There are two major components of an
end to end FTTH network – Active and
Passive. While Active refers to Optical
Line Terminal (OLT) and Optical Network
Terminal (ONT), Passive refers to the
outside plant that is laid out between
the OLT and ONT.
Two major cost contributors to the
passive plant are that of Fiber and
Right of Way (ROW). The adoption too
has been slow and can be attributable
to two factors – challenges of getting
permissions from building owners
to rollout the fiber inside building
premises and convincing customers to
pay a premium to take up super fast
broadband.
NOFN
As per a study conducted by the WEF
and World Bank, every 10 percent
increase in broadband penetration will
result in an increase of 1.4 percent
GDP growth. To boost connectivity
and productivity, Government of India
is setting up a national fiber optic
backbone, including fiber that reaches
upto 250,000 gram panchayats. The
project once completed will make high
speed broadband connectivity to rural
areas.
NOFN is envisaged to facilitate
implementation of various
e-governance initiatives such as
e-health, e-banking and e-education,
ultimately driving inclusive growth and
fulfilling the prime drive of the current
government towards a digital economy.
It will also provide high-speed
connectivity for electronic delivery of
services to the rural citizens. This will
contribute in a big way to the Skill India
program of the current government.
In developing countries, broadband is
seen as essential for socio-economic
development and there is a strong
momentum with many government
initiatives. These countries typically
don’t have evolved legacy networks or
they need upgrade. Investing in new
copper plants does not make business
sense; it is more expensive to maintain.
Not future proof and will require new
investment cycle in few years. Fibre
networks therefore are the best options
as a long term investment.
The cost factor
About 70 percent of total ist for
deploying fiber networks is in the
outside plant (for laying cables in the
ground) and a big part of it is in the last
mile – buildings and in-house wiring.
The equipment price of OLT, ONT is
much smaller portion of it.
Here are some ways in which the costs
can be brought down:
> > Areal cabling (where allowed)
> > Combination of different FTTx
technologies (FTTH in green field
areas, evolution of legacy networks
where possible)
> > National legislation, which can make
it mandatory to install fiber cables
in all new buildings in order to avoid
costly in-building costs later
> > Lower the cost of Right of Way
> > Tiered pricing policies to attract
more users
Operators should deploy fiber to the
most economical point. Evolution of
copper is a mid-term solution, but is an
easier option for incumbent operators
to provide bigger bandwidth to their
end-users. However, for green field
networks, fiber is the only infrastructure
that adds value.
Conclusion
Fiber networks are better positioned to
provide business services since they
have higher upstream bandwidth, which
is important for business customers.
Bringing fiber deeper in the network
is beneficial for any type of networks.
Evolution of Wireless (with LTE) will
require deployment of small metro
cells. To backhaul these cells, operators
will need fiber. Similar is the situation
with legacy copper and cable. Even if
you adopt VDSL, Vectoring, Bonding,
DOCSIS, you need deeper fiber.
Naveen Sood
BNES GSI S&M NETWORK
APPLICATIONS

Money has won over
the innovation
There is famous saying “BAAP BADA
NA BHAIYA SABSE BADA RUPAIYA”.
To be true from bottom of my heart
I have never taken it seriously and
always thinking it’s just saying but in
current scenario it is well proven either
we take example of our normal family
life or corporate life or industries. Here I
am taking example of industries related
to FMCG, E-Commerce and Telecom
domain in this perspective.
Competition is growing day by day or
let me use other word like its “Throatcutting”
era where only thing matter is
“To prove your existence”.
Let me take you to history by giving
example like “How two industries
competition cum war end up in
acquisition on history pages”.
In 1970 Coca-Cola had made their
expansion in India and became the
most famous brand till 1977, due
to Indian government policies. At
that point of time, Thumps-up and
Campacola were launched by Chauhan
brothers (of Parle) and Chiranjeev Singh
(pure drinks). They had made there
mark in India with the advertisement
‘Happy days are back again’.
But after 16 years coca-cola again
made the entry and they had to face
tough competition against Thumpsup.
But since they were profitable in
other markets they had forced Thumsup
to sell their ventures to them by
saying either you sell to us or we will
burn your cash out by providing free
drinks in market. This was the Indian
venture which had provided the tough
competition to its foreign ones but had
been sold out due to lack of funds and
lack of fighting spirit.
In current industry scenario gossips of
Flipkart vs Amazon and RJIO vs other
Telcos showing similar signs.
Amazon made their entry in India with
the huge capital. Since Flipkart also
has the best brains in the industry to
innovate and beat the beast Amazon
is. But these best brains may lose
hope in the vision and may be lured by
amazon through hefty packages. So, it
boils down to capital game at the end.
I believe in the 90’s thumps up could
have done great if they had fought
till the end. But it is the capital and
sentiments of people towards foreign
companies made them quit.
I totally agree with Flipkart that they
have much innovation and larger
audience to impact upon but Amazon
lost against Alibaba in China so they
are on their toes to mark their presence
in India even at the cost of money.
Regarding RJIO as being a green
field operator they want to make their
market base at cost of money. In my
opinion RJIO have enough capital
base or we can say they already have
clear strategic plan like “By giving free
they will atleast able to make name in
market and in that way other Telcos
burn the cash to beat the competition”.
In current telecom market scenario
there is a huge chance of merger
between big Telcos so let’s see
How 2017 will change or make the
history in terms of earlier scenarios.
Let me end up my article on positive
note as per the famous saying ‘SATYA
PARESHAN HO SAKTA HAI PARAJIT
NAHI’, If Flipkart or other Telcos still
have true innovation and fighting spirit
left then these guys can easily beat up
rivals.
Gaurav Sharma
BNES GSI S&M NTWK
PROD RAN HW SW

The Deep Web and The Dark Web
What is the Deep Web? What is the
Dark Web? These are questions that
tend to arise when we hear the term
in many popular spy movies and TV
shows today. It is a term that is used
to describe a collection of websites
that are visible but are very masterfully
hidden from the general public. Most of
these websites hide their IP addresses,
which makes it impossible to identify
who is behind the screen. Technically
speaking, the sites which are not
indexed by search engines fall under
the Deep Web category.
“Deep Web is the privileged channel
used by governments to exchange
documents secretly, for journalists to
bypass censorship of several states
and also dissidents to avoid the control
of authoritarian regimes.”
But, how to access this deep web? And
what it contains?
You don’t need anything more than
your Chrome or Firefox to access these
sites. After all, you have been on deep
web several times! Yes! The money
transaction page that appears when
you are paying someone (like online
recharge etc.), the files which can be
obtained in government sites etc. all
come under deep web.
But.....
Wait...
Again, there is another small part of the
Deep web which, even your Chrome or
Firefox can’t reach.
This ‘small’ part of the deep web is
called the Dark Web!
Dark Web is a subset of Deep Web.
“The Dark Web is classified as a small
portion of the Deep Web that has been
intentionally hidden and is inaccessible
through standard web browsers.”
So, How can you access this Dark
Web?
There is a special browser called the
Tor browser which is used to access
this Dark Web. There are other similar
services like Freenet, I2P etc. but Tor is
more popular.
What is Tor? What is Tor browser?
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
sponsored the development of onion
routing in the 1990s, and Tor itself was
developed by Navy and independent
researchers in 2002.
TOR stands for ‘The Onion Routing’.
This is a network which hides your
location by encrypting your IP address
and routing it via several other
computers around the world.
‘Hiding your location’ actually means
changing your real location. For
example, if you visit Google via Tor
network and you are in India, but
instead of ‘Google India’, you will be
shown ‘Google France’ website. This is
because, Google will think that you are
accessing their website from France
(remember? your real location was
changed?). (But the changed location
depends of the location of exit node.
Tor browser is software (a web browser)
which is the combination of Tor, Firefox
ESR, Torbutton, TorLauncher, No Script
and HTTPS-Everywhere. Thus, Tor
browser is a power-packed browser
which anonymizes you to a satisfactory
extent.
You can browse your normal internet
(called surface web) but, it is also your
key to the dark web. Browsing your
normal internet on Tor browser can have
a certain level of risk. But, if you are
accessing Dark Web, your identity is
safe unless you give it away knowingly
or unknowingly.
You might have heard people saying
‘Dark’ things about Dark Web.
But before that, we have to learn about
how this Tor works! If you understand
it’s working, then you will get to know
the ‘Dark’ part.
Akash Phaniteja Nellutla
BNES GSI S&M NTWK
PROD RAN HW SW
Note: This article is just for ’need-to-know’ purpose. This article is not intended to make you
use Tor browser or the Dark web.

Brain Teasers
3 Heads & 5 Hats
Unlimited Data Plans – Boon or
bane for Wireless Networks
Abstract:
Broadband Providers:
In a small village in the middle of nowhere, three innocent prisoners are sitting in
a jail. One day, the cruel jailer takes them out and places them in a line on three
chairs, in such a way that man C can see both man A and man B, man B can see
only man A, and man A can see none of the other men. The jailer shows them 5
hats, 2 of which are black and 3 of which are white. After this, he blindfolds the
men, places one hat on each of their heads, and removes the blindfolds again.
The jailer tells his three prisoners that if one of them is able to determine the color
of his hat within one minute, all of them are released. Otherwise, they will all be
executed. None of the prisoners can see his hat, and all are intelligent. After 59
seconds, man A shouts out the (correct) color of his hat!
The Question: What is the color of man A’s hat, and how does he know?
Managing the network and customer
experience is becoming one of the
most important aspects for today’s
operators. This is becoming more
relevant for the telecom operators who
are functional in multiple countries.
With operations spanning across
multiple countries and each country
having its own infrastructure along
with people, process and tools, these
telecom operators are incurring a heavy
operational expenditure on managing
customer experience and service
uptime.
This case study is for data services
provided by such wireline and wireless
network operators. Although there is
a move from a network and resource,
to a service oriented monitoring,
and improve the overall customer
experience, however introduction of
unlimited data plans are causing some
unwarranted challenges for these
operators, which go beyond service
monitoring. The case study focuses
on how the unlimited data plans by
operator’s a boon for some while a
major customer experience issue for
others, and what operators are doing to
overcome it.
We all know the traditional modem
based data plans offering that have
been there by fixed line operators.
Today operators in India like those
of Airtel, BSNL, MTNL, Reliance are
all providing the telephony services
clubbed with broadband services.
Unlimited data plan offerings till
some time back on the broadband
networks has been the most sought
after and subscribed plan – till today
that is the case. However for these
fixed line operator’s these plans are
not so much of problem because
of the infrastructure in place – fiber
cables, physical connectivity, and more
common since issues such as channel
congestion and bandwidth capacity are
less problematic.
None the less it is not completely true
that there are no issues. If we look
at content providers like You tube,
Facebook, etc. there the problem
is, people are using these services
unwarranted also (without a need
– sometimes keeps running in the
background without being watched).
The sense of ‘responsibly using
the bandwidth’ does not prevail in
many such cases, and if we consider
bandwidth as a commodity, that this is
a waste of ‘digital resource’. With time
we may see an increase in such waste
of ‘digital resource’ as the infrastructure
becomes more capable of handling
more data and data plans become
more affordable.

Wireless providers:
Let’s consider the case for wireless
operators. There is long list of such
operators in almost every country and
with the technology advancing to 3G,
4G, LTE networks, video services are
coming more and more in demand.
Now unlimited data plans had not been
so common in the wireless networks,
however there are some offerings
around it. One of the biggest aspect is
the fact that it is very much in demand
and a potential candidate for higher
generation of revenue for both operator
and the content provider. The greatest
advantage compared to wireline
services is the fact that the subscriber
can be on the move always and have
access to data ‘anywhere’, ‘anytime’,
‘anyplace’. Now we can list down a
whole list of advantages around it but
the fact around wastage of ‘digital
resource’ remains here also as well as
all the problems associated with the
wireline networks.
One of the biggest challenge under the
scenario of unlimited data plan (which
can occur with limited data plan users
also) is the fact that the Cell Site (Trans
receiver to which the mobile handset
connects for data transmission) are
configured with limited data bandwidth
and if the subscriber is using very large
amount of data, it may impact the
overall performance as experienced by
other subscribers in the same cell site.
Solution & Summary:
There are multiple ways of resolving
this issue to some extent, though there
is no rule of thumb neither a fool proof
plan.
One of the key aspects that operators
employ today is the fact that unlimited
data plans are provided with a bundled
offering of some volume at high
bandwidth after which throttling is
applied on the rest of the duration.
This a common practice followed in
wireline also.
The Indian operators (and others) also
provide data packs where a certain
volume is provided as a bundled
offering for a fixed price after which
the data consumption is charge per
kb (kilo byte) and the rates are very
high for these extra bytes consumed.
This instills a sense of responsible data
consumption.
A short duration campaign plans can
be introduced and offered to give a
flavor of the same.
We believe operators once they
introduce the monitoring systems
to monitor the traffic usage pattern
of these subscribers, can take a
judicious call to understand what kind
of infrastructure is required to provide
such services, the cost associated
with putting up that infrastructure, the
back to back bandwidth requirement,
monitoring these high usage customers
and providing a custom plan to them,
etc.
Of the biggest question that the
operator’s today need to also
understand and take a call on is:
whether there is actually a need to
provide these plans or are they doing
it for competitive landscape (a need of
the few against the opex and capex of
providing such services)
Atul Narain,
DBS – Bid Office,
Offline Viewing for
Best Online Experience
Everyday some new handset gets
launched in already so crowded market
and main salability point is still the
cost, secondarily the design/style
quotient. Some handset may not be
good because it is costly but some
other handset sells in millions due to
its blend of cost and style. It clearly
indicates that cost is not the only
factor for products and services, a bit
costly product /services can sell with
additional values attached with it.
VoD is there since long now but it is
not as successful as it was projected,
subscribers want to access high quality
content on their handsets at a low cost
yet as an enhanced alternate to existing
options.
OTT video streaming services can be
free or subscription based but it burns
huge amount of data in the background
which imposes an indirect cost over
and above content subscription cost
Netflix Streaming – What subscriber Pays
Package USD 8
User Experience
Cost of first viewing 10 SD Assets of 1
hour each
Cost of subsequent viewing for
previously viewed contents within
subscription period
and it limits the viewing at high quality
because of bandwidth cost, unlimited
bandwidth at fixed locations like home,
kills the advantage of watching content
on the go.
Online Streaming is discriminatory
The user experience is limited by the
BW availability like one subscribers
with best of the handset and paying
capacity is still refrained from
continuing his subscription due to
erratic bandwidth, network issues
where either stream gets stuck and
goes into infinite buffering or adaptively
delivering the lowest available profile
due to its Adaptive Bit Rate(ABR)
delivery capability. Content is the king
no doubt, but quality is its kingdom,
better kingdom is essential for the king
to rule.
BW dependent based on BW due to
pure streaming nature of service
USD 8 + Data Charges for 600MBX10
= 6GB
Data Charges @ 600 MB / hour of
Content

Streaming only: Avoiding the threats
Content is a very tricky business not
only because it is costly to acquire, but
it also needed to be protected from
piracy and legal tangles. It was a myth
that streaming is the only safe option
as it is not saving anything on device
but piracy is always two steps ahead of
security. There is a need to enhance the
user experience without compromising
on security of the contents. Piracy is
a function of Price VS experience for
example, a not so good experience
delivered to a subscriber will cost USD
10 when same is available for USD
1. Good Experience with economical
packaging will draw more and more
people to the service.
Offline: To bring more subscribers
Online
Spotify, A music streaming service
started “download and Play” as a
premium subscription
Where subscriber needs to pay if he
wants to download his choice of music
in his device and play it anywhere
irrespective of connectivity or recurring
data usages. Spotify is using its
free basic streaming services as a
showcase to attract more and more
paid subscribers.
This model is being followed by other
players like Apple Music, Gaana etc
and it creates a real stickiness towards
the service
Offline VoD : its already around the
corner
Unlike the music, Videos are very
heavy on size and has its associated
price of acquisition. Where best music
quality can be achieved in 320 Kbps,
Acceptable low quality video starts
from 500 Kbps + and goes on till UHD
. Actually Offline viewing or “Download
and Play” is more relevant to Video
rather than music but its adaptation
was slow earlier. The biggies like
“Netflix” said a big NO to any plan
towards “Download and Play” but
YouTube has started offline play options
for User Generated contents, which
was easy from the content rights
perspective.
When Netflix crossed high bandwidth
markets and entered into highly
populated but bandwidth deprived
markets like India, Africa. It has
realized that anything purely based on
streaming will not work well and people
will use their catalogue to identify the
content to get it from pirated market.
Netflix has finally entered in to the
Offline Play world in late 2016 for
selected contents
Offline Play is secure
Offline contents mostly work in the
same way streaming works from
the technology perspective. Unlike
streaming it is a Burst traffic which
need not ne continuous and it may
be configured to pick-up high quality
profile irrespective of available
Bandwidth as it will take long time to
download but once downloaded, it can
be played in highest quality and any
number of times within the subscription
and content entitlements.
The content security is governed by
DRM (Digital Rights Managements)
and Entitlements. The DRM is making
sure that the encrypted contents can
be played back into the signed clients
and content should be insulated
from frauds. The Entitlement defines
subscription, License period, Geo
fencing, Quality and Device attributes
etc.
> > The content downloaded in the App
is not accessible as file to device
File system and cannot be accessed
outside of the client
> > The Client connects back to backend
at a defined frequency (Per
Hour, Day or Hour) to re-authorize
the subscribers and refresh his
downloaded contents based on
rights and entitlements
> > After subscription expiry or
termination/expiry of license of any
content the content(s) cannot be
played back
Conclusion
“Download and Play” is here to stay,
it will not only help subscribers to
consume high quality contents and help
to reduce piracy in turn. The mobile
devices are slowly taking over the “On
Couch Viewing” to “Anywhere Viewing”.
It will be an advantage for mobile
operators as well which are not getting
any benefit but stressing their networks
for OTT videos as the replays or the
same contents and intelligence related
to download patterns will enable them
to create better caching and availability
arrangements with OTT players.
India and Africa may take some time
to match the revenues coming from
US and Europe for Netflix but due to
Volume and demand for local contents
it has the capability to surpass it in near
future.
Alok Tripathi T
(BNES GSI S&M Services & Sol TVM)

Software Assurance service
in Ericsson Portfolio
Ericsson software assurance (SWAS) service
Tools capabilities SWAS Lenses
Network
Performance
Assurance
Business Impact
Analysis & Consulting
Technology
Transformation
Knowledge, Use cases
E2E Change Management
Business
Advisory
SWAS Commitments
> Consulting service tied to business objectives
and tightly coupled with network performance
and technology evolution requirements
> Derive business decisions overtimeliness of
events supported by cost-benefit analysis
between different possibilities
> Formulate rigorous KPIs and progress
milestones customized for each customer
> Early warning and workaround to guarantee
business continuity via focused approach
> Timely reporting to all stakeholders and
management
> End to end execution and management of
large scale change projects throughout the
lifecycle of SWAS contract
Service description
Ericsson has a proven track record
of working across major global telco
operators and executing projects on
network optimization, maintenance,
change management is a every day
task for Ericsson. SWAS introduces the
mandatory service element Business
Impact Analysis (BIA) which provides
an effective collaboration platform to
collate the combined knowledge of
Ericsson and the customer and create a
channel for business growth.
SWAS is a comprehensive consulting,
advisory and management service
covering all business critical software
evolution management aspects
across the Network for the customer,
ranging from Ericsson software to
full network software management
for solutions integrated by Ericsson
as well as Multivendor environment.
Network quality is increasing becoming
a factor in end user considerations
and Telco brand perception but often
inadvertently could not be met by
operators alone. SWAS provides an
effective partnering and consulting layer
over traditional vendor services with
focus on optimal network performance
and evolution requirements of today’s
complex networks.
Background
One of the key global challenges
which exists today is how to ensure
full satisfaction of our customers.
Other set of challenges includes
maintaining value relationship with
other portfolio products, and protect
value differentiators over a longer
run. As competition is increasing
and revenues are stalling for majority
of operators, and as innovation and
disruptive technologies are becoming
the new normal in telecom, a low
cost- high perfomance networks and
a differentiated customer experience
is increasingly gaining importance in
every CxO’s agend. We must work
with the customer to achieve optimum
performance levels and take into
account their end user expectations,
competetive environment, and overall
business strategies and ensure that
investments in their networks is
focussed in the right places.
Operators have to be analysed from
several perspectives around traffic
needs, network strategy objectives
encompassing coverage, quality,
capacity, efficiency, configuration sanity
and robust change managements in
timely manner. Ericsson’s Software
Assurance (SWAS) service brings a
holistic management approach of
the network evolution requirements
by using an intimate and continuous
consultative mindset encompassing the
entire telco business.

Business Impact Analysis aims to
provide the executive management of
the customer with a view of the critical
events either planned, as launches,
migrations and plans or events which
will impact the network through
technology or software route. Some
of the deliverbles from BIA based on
focussed approach towards customers
network and business analysis broadly
includes:
> > Business critical event horizon
> > Revenue security assessment
> > Software vulnerability analysis
> > Opex optimization advice
> > Business best practices input &
implementation
> > Network evolution advice
Benefits
Software Assurance service increases
network reliability and availability,
which in turn increase revenue and
end-user satisfaction which insulates
the brand and stabilizes and grows its
subscriber base, willing to spend more
on a service which exudes confidence.
Software Assurance Service is tailored
to provide business benefits ranging
from
SWAS
Protect
perfect
Prosper
> > Revenue protection
> > Network monetization,
> > Network Assurance
> > And, as a resultant of the above,
provide the customer brand with
a level of protection, so far not
available from vendor services.
Vibhor Sharan Gupta
(BNES GSI S&M NTWK SERVICES CS)
Aravind Eye Care: Learnings
for ICT Industry
Recently I read a book “Infinite Vision:
How Aravind become world’s greatest
business case for compassion” by
Pavithra K. Mehta and Suchitra Shenoy:
Story of Dr. Govindappa Venkatswamy
famously known as Dr. V who started
11 bed eye clinic in year 1976 which
went on to become largest eye care
institute in the world i.e. Aravind Eye
Care. What really struck to me is how
their doctors doing close to 5 times
more surgeries than national average
in India consistently over 30 years and
ratio is much higher if we compare
with international average. This is
also with maintaining quality as per
International standards. 60% of their
patients get service either free of cost
or ultra-subsidized, yet they have selfsustainable
model which constantly
generate operating surplus and do not
upon external funding. What Aravind is
doing to get such a high efficiency?
Aravind Eye Care is classic case in
business management and discussed
in most of the western universities for
more than 20 years. Hospital setup
is generally very complex, variable,
unpredictable and challenging. Variety
of people doctors, nurses, paramedics
etc. work together to get best clinical
results for the patient. Aravind works
with similar resources like any other
healthcare organization yet deliver
amplified output.
Core of the Aravind’ s success is
its very efficiently, neatly stitched
operational processes and strict
adherence to process. End to end
process of service delivery is divided
into discrete group of related tasks
which are easy to be championed. It
is worth noting that in Aravind, 80%
of the operating theater activities are
done by non-doctors compare to only
20%-40% in other institutions. Doctors
at Aravind do only thing which they
are supposed to do best i.e. diagnosis
and surgery, rest everything is done
by support staff. Dr. V was inspired
by McDonalds ways of working and
assembly line techniques. Since start of
this venture he emphasized on applying
these concepts and engineered
the operational and clinical (service
delivery) process to get best throughput
with top quality. The emphasis was to
get the treatment right first time so as
to avoid repeat patient complaints,
longer hospital stays and additional
cost. Aravind Eye Care provided that
quality does not require “an additional
cost” but if quality is improved, cost will
actually go down.
Aravind’ s all nurses and paramedic
are from different villages in Tamilnadu
with the average education of high
school and not even graduation. Now
the next question is how they are
getting 80% of critical operating theater
work done by not so qualified nurses
and paramedics. This can be again
answered by logic of dividing process
into group of tasks which can be easily
championed by practicing. What exactly
Aravind has done is division of work as
per labor force capabilities. With such
division they have minimized variability
in the process as each resource has
to perform one discreet group of task
again and again. Every employee knows
they have to do any given day when
they enter their workplace. This division
of work also does not restrict the
career of its employees to one group of
discrete tasks. They are given chance
to choose different group of task as per
their capabilities after certain time. He
kept the “sense of urgency” alive and
encouraged everyone to analysis and
find “Points of leverage” in the whole
system to improve.

Dr. V and its team was able to create
environment of “Creative Constraints”
to encourage innovative thinking
beyond “Obvious or easy to get”
solutions. There is also aptly designed
process to implement new Ideas.
Aravind always aspired for lofty
targets, but start is always small and
controlled. For any idea which is to be
pursued sustainable operating model
is created in detail is first created
and tested in controlled environment
doing thorough impact analysis. After
sufficiently passing the success, model
is replicated to get desired scale.
Now what we can do to apply learning
from Aravind Eye Care to telecom
and to be more specific to BID
office in Ericsson. Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT)
industry is in very challenging state.
Top-line (Revenue) is not improving and
on other side bottom line (profitability)
is diminishing gradually.
My opinions mentioned further in this
article may raise some eyebrows. In
our BID office in Ericsson, we have our
own set of challenges. Intense pressure
from region for improving quality,
improving on turnaround time *TAT”.
high employee attrition, orientation and
integration of Graduate Engineering
Trainees- GETs” in the production
system are among few. Are our
processes are aligned for handle these
challenges? Can we divide our process
to match employee pool capabilities in
a way to first achieve module expertise
then overall expertize? My opinion is
we are putting too much emphasis on
overall development so early in one’s
career when module level expertize is
not yet achieved. It can’t be so fast. It
has to be one step at a time and once
confidence level is reached then amplify
for magnificent success.
Another important aspect is “How we
are using over Champions/Experts or
Doctors in our department. Are our
processes are designed to utilized
their time for areas requiring critical
expertize or they are soaked into see
of other non-urgent non-value adding
work? Can we move from “Everybody
will do everything” to “Expertise level
task assignments”? Again this should
not be seen as demotivating for people
who are doing non-critical work. They
should be given opportunity to work
with expert guidance and should be
promoted when they prove sufficient
competence. You should keep listening
to our “Foot-Soldiers”
Other important process I learned
about in Healthcare is “Triage-
Segregating and assigning as per
priority and urgency” which is
put at entry point i.e. “Emergency
Department” in Hospitals. Only
responsibility of the person is to classify
patients and put them into right flow
and track their progress. If applied in
our BID office “As early as possible or
at the beginning” in service delivery
process, it will surely reduce reworks
and unnecessary delay. It is important
to build capability to effectively classify
work to involve right resources, giving
“near-correct” estimates to region
about time and efforts.
I want to keep my opinion open-ended
for debate. These are may not be only
things to do. This is only to start “Infinite
Vision” for BID office and Ericsson.
Desai Shirish Baburao
(BNES GSI S&M NTWK APP
PACKET CORE)
Building Value proposition
Defining the value proposition
This article aims to define a framework
for developing the “value proposition”
which could be helpful in positioning
the right set of solution benefits or
product features against customer
needs
The framework is developed by
professor Mohanbir Sawhney on
Kellog’s
But, before we take up the value
proposition frame work, it is important
to understand the basic meaning of
“value proposition”.
Value proposition, simply said is - “a
promise of value that customers can
expect from your product or company”
In more specific terms – “value
proposition is a set of promises you
make to a specific target audience, that
is differentiated from alternatives that
customer might consider and is backed
up evidence”
Promise mean that your product will
offer a set of benefits to the customer,
which could be either –
> > Functional benefits - i.e. features/
functionalities of the product
Or
> > Economic benefits – time or
monetary saving customer might get
> > But, the promise needs to
be compelling and should
be differentiated against the
alternatives available to customers.
Customer alternatives could be -
——
Choose competing company or
product
——
Continue using previous version of your
own product
——
Choose to do nothing - Status quo or
not making a decision
So your value proposition articulation
should be target the alternative
customer is most likely to choose.
Also value is always contextual, so it is
important to specify different situations
or scenarios for which the feature,
product or service is best designed for
or where it finds best application.
Outcome of value proposition is a
“Claim”. The claim needs to be backed
up by evidence – to generate enough
reason to believe in your promise.
Framework for articulating value
proposition
In order to build an effective value
argumentation following framework
could be very handy.
On a high level a value proposition
encompass the “Pain Relievers” and
“Gain Creators” for the customer
- addressed by the products and
services we offer to the customer
The first step in creating the relevant
value proposition is to identify and
articulate the following –
> > Pain - issues the customer is looking
to solve
> > Gain - lead customer is trying to
establish over its competition in the
market
This should be followed by the right
product fit and cost benefit analysis.
Benefits
Promise - What is your offering’s
promise to the customer? Articulating
this upfront will help customer identify
with the benefits of the proposal

Differentiation – Why is your
solution better? What differentiates
your solution / product or services
from competition or alternate
solution customer may have asked
for.
> > Support – Why should your
customer believe in what we say?
Supporting your arguments with
data, test results, deployment
references or other customer
testimonials is equally important.
This will re-assure the customer
about our promise and
differentiation
Costs
What does it cost – Cost should be
quantified in term basic product, feature
or service cost as base and other costs
like – implementing solution, changing
supplier relationship or even career risk
> > What might go wrong – Take some
time to consider what risks the
customer might incur by introducing
new solution. Beyond obvious
risks consider things like risk of
delayed deployments, delayed
feature availability, new competence
requirements or even internal
resistance.
> > What are the costs of making
it useful – Never forget your
customer’s implementation costs.
Training? reorganisation? . Consider
all potential cost for your customers
and see how your proposition
makes it simple to adopt for the
customer.
Finally, whatever you believe cost and
benefits to be, until you have definitive
data to prove it, you have just got
hypotheses.
As few customers say - In God we trust,
for everything else we need data!!!!
Bhupesh Thapar T
(BNES GSI S&M SOLUTIONS &
REGIONAL ENGAG)
My journey at Ericsson
I still vividly remember the day I got
to know that the next stop after my
graduation would be at Ericsson.
To say that I was happy and excited
would be an understatement. I felt that
I was extremely fortunate to have the
opportunity to start my career with a
globally established and renowned firm
like Ericsson. My stay here has only
made me realize that there is a lot more
to Ericsson than what meets the eye.
It has almost been six months since
I joined and it has been a great
experience. Each and every team
member has been very encouraging
and supportive not only to share his/her
knowledge but also to ensure that the
workplace is a conducive one. Initially,
the emphasis was on enhancing my
basic understanding regarding various
aspects of telecommunication and
then, training me on a variety of internal
tools which helps me till date. Ericsson
provides multiple opportunities to learn
as well as to showcase your skills. I
owe it to my manager to trust me and
offer me an opportunity to work for
different region and team just 3 months
post my joining.
Answer to : Brain Teasers
The answer: man A is wearing a white hat.
An explanation:
I sincerely hope that my relationship
with Ericsson grows with time and
I can fulfil the expectations of the
organization. I wish the process of
hiring fresh graduates at Bid Office
continues and a lot of them get the
opportunity to start their careers with
Ericsson.
Apaar Singhal
(BNES GSI S&M NTWK SERVICES CS)
From the fact that neither B nor C gives an answer, we conclude that both these
men have insufficient information to determine the color of their hats. Let us start
with man C. He must be seeing at least one white hat on the heads of A and B (if
he would see two black hats, he would know that he is wearing a white hat). Man
B therefore knows that he and/or A is wearing a white hat. Since he cannot give
an answer, he must be seeing a white hat on A’s head (if B would see A wearing
a black hat, he would know that he himself wears a white one). From the fact that
neither C nor B can give an answer to the jailer’s question, A finally concludes that
he is wearing a white hat!

Leading transformation through mobility
We are a world leader in the rapidly changing environment of communications
technology – providing equipment, software and services to enable transformation
through mobility.
Some 40 percent of global mobile traffic runs through networks we have supplied.
More than 1 billion subscribers around the world rely every day on networks that
we manage. With more than 37,000 granted patents, we have one of the industry’s
strongest intellectual property rights portfolios.
Our leadership in technology and services has been a driving force behind the
expansion and improvement of connectivity worldwide. We believe that through
mobility, our society can be transformed for the better. New innovations and forms
of expression are finding a greater audience, industries and hierarchies are being
revolutionized, and we are seeing a fundamental change in the way we communicate,
socialize and make decisions together.
These exciting changes represent the realization of our vision: a Networked Society,
where every person and every industry is empowered to reach their full potential.
The content of this document is subject to revision without
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manufacturing. Ericsson shall have no liability for any error or
damage of any kind resulting from the use of this document.