Technical skills for managing a telephony network?

December 10, 2008 11:50 AM

Technical skills for managing a telephony network?

If someone asked me the minimum technical skills (not knowledge) necessary to manage a large IP network, I would say "Cisco CLI, and some experience with SNMP". Oh, and maybe the ability to configure a Radius server.

Is there a similar base skill set for telephony? Any vendor who's UI has become so ingrained that everything else is basically just a variant? What's the 70% solution for telephony management?

posted by tkolar to technology (9 comments total)

Skills: troubleshooting. Problem Finding, Problem solving.

As for knowledge, now a days telephony networks vary greatly in the technology
they deploy. They might be plain Analog networks, in which relevant switch (vendor) experience is needed. Signalling. They might be a mix of Analog plus digital, or even digital.
Again, experience relevant to the technology is desired. You'd probably need to clarify more on what does "telephony network" actually consists of to get a more accurate answer.
posted by theKik at 12:41 PM on December 10, 2008

I have a (limited, non-tech) background in comms and think it would be necessary to more closely define "manage" in this context, as it can means different things to different people.

What are the functions of the person's role? Are they setting strategy, designing the network, implementing it, undertaking change, fixing things, maintaining the number ranges ... etc etc. Are they purely a technologist, or do they need service management skills also? Are they working with vendors or subcontractors in certain areas? (certainly this will include the local telco otherwise no-one will be able to dial in/out)

To add to what theKik said... i'd throw VoIP out there too.
posted by saintsguy at 12:51 PM on December 10, 2008

You'd probably need to clarify more on what does "telephony network" actually consists of to get a more accurate answer.

Fair enough. Let's say I want to deploy a modern cellular network. There's a certain amount of IP underpinning that I fully understand, but then there's an array of devices that are all just alphabet soup: RNCs, MSCs, SGSNs, CBCs....

Are there any (even unofficial) standards to managing those, or is it all vendor specific?
posted by tkolar at 12:57 PM on December 10, 2008

What are the functions of the person's role?

Very flatly just to configure and debug the installation. Strategy, network planning, etc. are assumed to be at a higher level. This is the person who has to get the actual equipment to work.

(as you may have noticed I'm a bit out of my depth here, so the leading questions are quite appreciated :-) )
posted by tkolar at 1:01 PM on December 10, 2008

Wow. Deploying a cellular network is definitely not a single person's task.
This is a huge undertaking. You'd need project managers, and subject matter experts in radio and wireless communications, etc. You just cannot "configure and debug" the installation
by yourself. You need a TEAM of people to do so.
Typically the vendor must be related to a VAR (value added reseller) that would
probably present a turn-key project which includes installation....
posted by theKik at 4:56 PM on December 10, 2008

to be more precise, deploying a cellular network is something that a Carrier
or Mobile telephony operator would do. So I'd still say that your question lacks the proper scope.
posted by theKik at 5:02 PM on December 10, 2008

I agree with theKik. You want someone who has done this before, and that person will probably come from one of the Chinese telecoms. In the last twenty years, China has gone from having tens of millions of phone lines to hundreds of millions of phone lines. There are probably dozens of people that have managed the exact project you are proposing and the same or larger scale.

Very flatly just to configure and debug the installation. Strategy, network planning, etc. are assumed to be at a higher level. This is the person who has to get the actual equipment to work.

You really need to be working with that "at a higher level" person to define the requirements for this role. It is just silly to try to guess what sort of people you will need. That you came to AskMe for help should be a big red flag for you :)
posted by b1tr0t at 7:29 PM on December 10, 2008

You want someone who has done this before,

I agree. And perhaps my question would be better phrased as: What skills would I expect to see on their resume?

Perhaps an example would help: TR-069 appears to be an emerging technology in managing some types of cell network gear. From my superficial reading it appears to serve the same purpose as SNMP. Would a putative expert in the configuration of cellular networking gear be expected to list this on their resume?

And if not, then what?
posted by tkolar at 9:45 AM on December 11, 2008

BTW, I appreciate the comments on scope. I'm not trying to be obtuse, I'm just not in a position to say flat out why I need the information. I apologize for that; it's not making my life any easier either.

Now that I think of it, perhaps I should go find a stack of resumes for cellular network configuration experts.
posted by tkolar at 9:50 AM on December 11, 2008