Telecom underestimating need for IP training

"It's a much different network – you are not going to have red lights flashing, saying ‘change me,'" Mansell said. "You can't fix software problems by changing a board. In a software-defined network, you are going to have a lot of troubles related to [quality of service (QoS)], the interaction of applications, or changes to the provisioning or transport systems or WANs that create a negative impact."

Technicians who aren't adequately trained will waste time, money, resources and customer good will trying to pinpoint a problem, Mansell warned.

Canadian service provider Telus discovered that this was happening with its IPTV installations and underwent a six-month intensive restructuring of its processes, which included much more intensive training of technicians.

Mansell said he has talked with IPTV installers at a major LEC and was dismayed by how little they understand of what is actually going on in the network to deliver that service.

"I spent a year and a half writing a course on IPTV," Mansell said. "But when I talk to the techs, they tell me, ‘It's like it's always been – we know what we are supposed to do to put it in, what it looks like when it is right, and sometimes what it looks like when it is not right. But we don't know how it works.'"

Mansell said one way his company, Watershed, tries to address the issue is by giving anyone who takes a training course one year of additional access to the training materials so they can brush up on any part they choose to, online.  Typically, he said, Watershed sells a site license to its materials, and technicians can choose to take whatever class they want. Most do it on evenings and weekends, Mansell said, on their own time.

"We are trying to elevate the level of discussion among the technicians themselves, over the lunch table or at the workplace, to get them thinking about this," Mansell said. "If I had a company that offered this training, and I had someone who had gone through and done every module, I'd think that's a person I want to keep – someone who has energy and is intellectually curious."

Mansell believes, however, that too many telecom companies aren't taking the need for training in IP seriously enough. "They are like tourists on the beach when they know a tsunami is coming," he said.