Test-Bed Pilot – An Interview with Jim Feenan, General Manager, Operational Readiness and Trials

What is your role in relation to 21CN?

As the General Manager, Experience Delivery Centre, Operational Readiness & Trials, I head a core team of around 40 people involved in four key functions. Firstly, what we term our ‘testing factory’ at Adastral Park, Martlesham, Suffolk, where with OneIT we’re carrying out 21CN network integration tests, validation and certification processes, in partnership with our Strategic Vendors and others including the offshore test experts.

Also at Martlesham is our Experience Delivery Centre (EDC). Here we are looking to re-create the closest possible simulation to real-life, we bring in representative Network Managers, Service Managers and Operational Managers and then we ‘war-game’: creating different scenarios, putting 21CN systems, processes, people and components through their paces, constantly asking “What if..?”.

Thirdly, I’m responsible for the 21CN Operational Readiness and Trials piece where we bring First Office Applications for network and service to life in a live environment.

And lastly I am the BT Wholesale Co-Chair for the Consult21 Conformance Testing Working Group which together with our 21CN Testing Database will introduce a CP test facility at Swansea where we encourage the UK’s Communication Providers to come along and run their own tests on their own CPE and systems to satisfy themselves that what we’re doing meets their requirements.

What is your career background and what experience do you bring to the 21CN programme?

During 1997 I was seconded to Albacom in Italy as part of a Joint Venture team looking to build a new PSTN from scratch. During my time in BT Ignite and Global Services I headed up the Country Engineering Management team in Europe and prior to joining BT Wholesale in 2004 I was responsible for a Commerical  Operations Unit. 

I’ve had a long career in engineering with BT, starting in 1970 as an apprentice and lucky enough to get some early promotions that resulted in me leading a number of Technical Support and Data Management and Configuration teams for the Scottish region. I had my first major experience of network transformation as BT’s exchanges were switched from analogue to digital. So I have a solid background in technology transformation programmes and a very clear, practical idea of what needs to be done with 21CN.

What does 21CN mean to you?

I welcome the return to my engineering roots – plus the opportunity to play such an influential part in shaping the whole future of communications in the UK in such a fundamental way. And in the knowledge that the eyes of the world are upon us, watching and learning from our experiences.

What is the biggest challenge of your role?

There are three in fact. The first is that we have 9 world-leading vendors involved in the supply and testing process and so my team is helping to facilitate what’s undoubtedly a unique collaboration experience for them and us. The second is that we’re using ‘bleeding edge’ technologies: absolutely brand new technologies that in most cases are having their first-ever practical application. And thirdly, there’s obviously the pressure of the timescales.

What are your priorities for the programme?

Our key priority is to take all the essential 21CN products, services and systems required for Pathfinder from test-bed status to ‘operational readiness’ and then hand them over with confidence to the service and Network Managers in November. Next our focus will be on PSTN delivery, broadband delivery and ethernet delivery as we deliver the 3 phases of Pathfinder. But I like to think that we have a far broader role than that.

The EDC concept pre-dates much of 21CN. Originally we saw it as a facilitator for BT process and Operational Model change. But in the past six-nine months, its whole mission has changed. We’ve created a centre where we can demonstrate our ability to be agile and innovative – and where anyone who is interested in 21CN can participate. Not just BT and BT Wholesale people but experts from the vendors and from universities as well. It’s very much a round table affair.

Our vision is to bring partners and key collaborators together in an environment where we can discuss new ideas and explore the possibilities of launching new products and services faster to market. The EDC together with the Service Assembly Environment, the Networks models in the NAL and OSS models will create a world class facility that will shorten development time and deliver products ready for mass deployment – truly a time, cost, quality model. So we would very much like people to take away from this the perception of BT as a ‘world-class leader and encouraging collaboration with the best of breed’. It’s all part of an atmosphere of growing trust, maturity and respect for each other.

What is the most exciting part of the programme for you?

There frankly isn’t one thing. The whole programme is exciting. How could it be anything else when it’s the most massive and most complex technology transformation scheme that’s ever been contemplated not just in UK’s telecommunications history but probably in the world?

What are your key milestones for 2006?

Apart from the formation of the testing factory and shared objective with OneIT the “strategic” EDC was opened in April 2006. We’ve successfully run PSTN trials for both trunk by-pass and connection to MSANs – the local exchange component. And we have recently launched a 21CN Test database where the test purposes, test cases and their results will be published and open to any CP to consult. We are also open to any CP’s suggestions and requests as to what we should be testing next to meet their own specific needs. But the critical milestone has to be the start of Pathfinder in November followed by its phases and meeting the broadband and Data Service delivery dates.

To consult the 21CN test database, go to 21CN Testing Database.