A lot is happening in the industry in the US at the moment – The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program provides $42.45 billion to expand high-speed internet access and to bridge the Digital Divide, and our US team is growing. To be at the right place at the right time, our CEO Mikael Philipsson has moved from Sweden to Florida and below you find a short interview with him where he tells us about his plans for the coming months:
Good morning Mikael, you moved from Sweden to Florida a couple of weeks ago – can you tell us a little bit about your background and your move to the US?
Good morning! Well, first of all, it is very exciting to be here in the States as it makes it much easier to drive our expansion in the US and Canada. We moved here at the beginning of August, so we have had some time to get used to the nice and sunny Florida summer weather. We already feel at home, and being closer to our US team is amazing.
My background is within the telecom industry, where I’ve spent a good 20 years. My main experience is from the operator side, as I was the CEO of a fiber operator that built fiber infrastructure across the Nordic region, addressing large enterprises and offering wholesale fiber to large carriers. About ten years ago, the company made a strategic decision to move into the residential market, and since then, has addressed millions of homes with it’s fiber-to-the-home offering.
With this background, having personally faced all the challenges you meet when scaling an FTTH business, I got very attracted to what COS had developed, and that quickly made me take the step from my initial position on the board of directors to taking on the role as CEO a little over two years ago.
COS’s software was built during the crazy fiber race that started in Sweden in the early 2000s when there was a need for solutions like COS Business Engine that enable extremely fast growth through automation and optimization of both the revenue side and the network operations. This combination is unique and what operators, who are the same situation as we were 10 years ago, are dreaming of.
The fiber race is taking off here in North America now, so this is really the place to be. We have been active in the US since 2013, and we have an amazing team here. We are expanding as we see a strong demand from fiber operators in the need for software to support their growth and optimize the KPIs driving their business.
What are your plans for the coming months?
I will focus on growing the team here, meeting up with customers/partners, and attending several conferences: in mid-October, I will attend INCOMPAS in Tampa and Calix ConneXions in Vegas at the end of October.
Finally, I am really looking forward to using my and the team’s joint experienc and software suite to help operators in this market to excel in the fiber race and to avoid the mistakes we made. Fiber infrastructure is a game-changer and hugely impacts all aspects of our society as exactly everything is digitized. COS Systems has an active role to play in this fiber race. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I and the team don’t want to miss!
Don’t hesitate to connect with me!
What is an ONT?
ONT stands for Optical Network Terminal. An ONT also called “fiber box” or “modem” is an outlet to the Internet for fiber technology, just like a cable modem is an outlet for a coaxial cable Internet connection. In your fiber network, the ONT communicates with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and converts the signal from optical to electrical and vice versa. With the fiber router in your house or apartment, you can then get and distribute a Wi-Fi signal to all your devices.
#5 COS Christmas Calendar — Meet Marcus Kitchens out New Senior Sales Executive
#5 is a special day, as it is Marcus’ birthday! We won’t reveal how many candles are on his birthday cake, but he’ll probably tell you if you reach out to him. Below, you find a short interview with Marcus to get to know our latest addition to the team and our new Senior Sales Executive a bit better.
Tell us a little bit about yourself – who are you, and what is your background?
Hi! I’m Marcus Kitchens. I started my career as a GIS Analyst for a Houston, TX based firm after graduating college and interning @ Esri. After working in Houston for two years, I joined NISC as a MapWise Support Specialist. At NISC, I helped their members solve any mapping questions/concerns that they had. While @ NISC, I focused on the Telecom side of things. I spent three years @ NISC before I had the opportunity to work for Esri as an Account Manager for Local Government out of the St. Louis Regional Office. In this role @ Esri, I helped cities/counties (under 50k in population) in Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Kentucky modernize their ArcGIS platform. I worked in this role @ Esri for (almost) 5 years before joining COS Systems as a Senior Sales Executive. I’m ecstatic to be a part of this great team @ COS Systems and can’t wait to see what the future holds.
What caught your interest in COS Systems?
COS’ end-to-end-automation approach is what ‘caught my interest.’ I’m a big fan of automation when it comes to helping people with their work. The GREAT team spirit and the dedication to customers at COS Systems piqued my curiosity, too. I love working with a fun team dedicated to helping their customers. So – COS Systems was a no-brainer. The chance of participating in Fika may have played a role, too 😉
What are your goals for the coming months?
To learn as much as possible about how our software works and how our software can help deliver services to the community! Also, I look forward to meeting my COS Systems colleagues and getting to know them.
Why should people contact you and press the “connect with Marcus” button?
We want to connect as many people as possible to fast and reliable internet. However, building, running, and operating fiber networks that can offer just that is extremely complex, and we have made it our goal to make it as automated, effective, and viable as possible. As part of the Sales Team, I would love to have a conversation about how COS Systems can make your job easier. No matter if you are a traditional operator who wants to offer your subscribers a better customer experience or if you own an Open Access Wholesale Network and want to increase take-rates and extend the number of services on your network – we can help automate your processes from beginning to end; from broadband survey and demand aggregation to zero-touch provisioning and automated, (wholesale) billing.
Tell us fun facts about yourself.
I can play the piano! I have 2 long-haired dachshunds that are a bundle of cuteness, but both of them keep me busy with their shenanigans. I LOVE riding bikes whether it’s mountain biking, gravel biking, road biking, or even an exercise bike! I love it all when it comes to biking. One of my dreams is to follow the Tour de France in person. I’ve been watching it on TV for 20+ years with my dad. I would love to see it in real life one day.
#4 COS Christmas Calendar — Whitepaper Investing in Fiber Infrastructure
#4 Is our latest whitepaper, “The difference between hitting a home run and striking out in your fiber investments”.
Investing in fiber infrastructure has gained popularity among investors, resulting in many closed deals in recent years. The trend shows that there will be even more investments in renewable energy and digital infrastructure areas next year!
The whitepaper presents three critical considerations for a successful fiber infrastructure investment:
#2 COS Christmas Calendar — Take Your Chance and Win
Who doesn’t want (another) nice hat? If you would like to win one of these – let us know here what you like about COS
CEO Mikael Philipsson relocated to the States
A lot is happening in the industry in the US at the moment – The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program provides $42.45 billion to expand high-speed internet access and to bridge the Digital Divide, and our US team is growing. To be at the right place at the right time, our CEO Mikael Philipsson has moved from Sweden to Florida and below you find a short interview with him where he tells us about his plans for the coming months:
Good morning Mikael, you moved from Sweden to Florida a couple of weeks ago – can you tell us a little bit about your background and your move to the US?
Good morning! Well, first of all, it is very exciting to be here in the States as it makes it much easier to drive our expansion in the US and Canada. We moved here at the beginning of August, so we have had some time to get used to the nice and sunny Florida summer weather. We already feel at home, and being closer to our US team is amazing.
My background is within the telecom industry, where I’ve spent a good 20 years. My main experience is from the operator side, as I was the CEO of a fiber operator that built fiber infrastructure across the Nordic region, addressing large enterprises and offering wholesale fiber to large carriers. About ten years ago, the company made a strategic decision to move into the residential market, and since then, has addressed millions of homes with it’s fiber-to-the-home offering.
With this background, having personally faced all the challenges you meet when scaling an FTTH business, I got very attracted to what COS had developed, and that quickly made me take the step from my initial position on the board of directors to taking on the role as CEO a little over two years ago.
COS’s software was built during the crazy fiber race that started in Sweden in the early 2000s when there was a need for solutions like COS Business Engine that enable extremely fast growth through automation and optimization of both the revenue side and the network operations. This combination is unique and what operators, who are the same situation as we were 10 years ago, are dreaming of.
The fiber race is taking off here in North America now, so this is really the place to be. We have been active in the US since 2013, and we have an amazing team here. We are expanding as we see a strong demand from fiber operators in the need for software to support their growth and optimize the KPIs driving their business.
What are your plans for the coming months?
I will focus on growing the team here, meeting up with customers/partners, and attending several conferences: in mid-October, I will attend INCOMPAS in Tampa and Calix ConneXions in Vegas at the end of October.
Finally, I am really looking forward to using my and the team’s joint experienc and software suite to help operators in this market to excel in the fiber race and to avoid the mistakes we made. Fiber infrastructure is a game-changer and hugely impacts all aspects of our society as exactly everything is digitized. COS Systems has an active role to play in this fiber race. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I and the team don’t want to miss!
Don’t hesitate to connect with me!
#1 COS Christmas Calendar — Improved Area Functionality
#1 is a really cool feature update! We have significantly extended the Area functionality in Business Engine. When expanding your network, you can use the demand aggregation features to allow potential subscribers to take surveys or pre-signup, making sure you build where you have committed subscribers. The Areas’s, often called “Fiberhoods” or “Service Zones”, status determines what the potential subscriber will be presented with when they search for their address in the Marketplace, and you can now define these yourself! Perhaps your fiberhoods go through the statuses show interest, signup, installation, connected? This update makes it even easier to tailor service offerings and promotions to these unique areas, even after build-out. As a bonus, we have made it possible for you to choose your own colors to indicate the status of the areas on the admin maps, and creating them is even easier with improved import and editing functionality.
Product Improvement of the Month
OBJECT HIERARCHIES
Our latest feature update lets you establish hierarchies for serviceable locations that have dependencies on each other.
For example, if you want to collect signups from potential customers in a multi-dwelling unit (MDU), you can create a parent-child relationship and hierarchy in COS Business Engine:
In this case, the “Parent Object” is the MDU, and the apartments are set up as “Children”.
After establishing these levels, individual apartments/customers can pre-sign up for services but will have to wait for the “Parent,” the associated MDU, to be connected and ready before these signups can proceed to actual orders.
A typical use case would be to sell to customers in MDUs where you don’t have the property owner’s permission to come into the building without overpromising.
Of course, this works in conjunction with Work Orders, which means that you can create installation workflows specific to MDU buildings to streamline that installation process.
We keep expanding our fantastic (US) team – Meet Marcus Kitchens
Tell us a little bit about yourself – who are you, and what is your background?
Hi! I’m Marcus Kitchens. I started my career as a GIS Analyst for a Houston, TX based firm after graduating college and interning @ Esri. After working in Houston for two years, I joined NISC as a MapWise Support Specialist. At NISC, I helped their members solve any mapping questions/concerns that they had. While @ NISC, I focused on the Telecom side of things. I spent three years @ NISC before I had the opportunity to work for Esri as an Account Manager for Local Government out of the St. Louis Regional Office. In this role @ Esri, I helped cities/counties (under 50k in population) in Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Kentucky modernize their ArcGIS platform. I worked in this role @ Esri for (almost) 5 years before joining COS Systems as a Senior Sales Executive. I’m ecstatic to be a part of this great team @ COS Systems and can’t wait to see what the future holds.
What caught your interest in COS Systems?
COS’ end-to-end-automation approach is what ‘caught my interest.’ I’m a big fan of automation when it comes to helping people with their work. The GREAT team spirit and the dedication to customers at COS Systems piqued my curiosity, too. I love working with a fun team dedicated to helping their customers. So – COS Systems was a no-brainer. The chance of participating in Fika may have played a role, too 😉
What are your goals for the coming months?
To learn as much as possible about how our software works and how our software can help deliver services to the community! Also, I look forward to meeting my COS Systems colleagues and getting to know them.
Why should people contact you and press the “connect with Marcus” button?
We want to connect as many people as possible to fast and reliable internet. However, building, running, and operating fiber networks that can offer just that is extremely complex, and we have made it our goal to make it as automated, effective, and viable as possible. As part of the Sales Team, I would love to have a conversation about how COS Systems can make your job easier. No matter if you are a traditional operator who wants to offer your subscribers a better customer experience or if you own an Open Access Wholesale Network and want to increase take-rates and extend the number of services on your network – we can help automate your processes from beginning to end; from broadband survey and demand aggregation to zero-touch provisioning and automated, (wholesale) billing.
Tell us fun facts about yourself.
I can play the piano! I have 2 long-haired dachshunds that are a bundle of cuteness, but both of them keep me busy with their shenanigans. I LOVE riding bikes whether it’s mountain biking, gravel biking, road biking, or even an exercise bike! I love it all when it comes to biking. One of my dreams is to follow the Tour de France in person. I’ve been watching it on TV for 20+ years with my dad. I would love to see it in real life one day.
Press Release Joint White Paper by SNG, VALO and COS Systems
COS Systems, SNG, and Valo Publish Joint White Paper on Options to Bridge Broadband Gaps
November 9th, 2023, Umeå Sweden — Strategic Networks Group (SNG), Valo, and COS Systems today announced that they have published a white paper exploring the challenges that bridging broadband gaps in unserved and underserved areas entails, as well as presenting possible approaches to address them.
This whitepaper explores the challenges faced by localities (communities, regions, etc.) and presents four potential options to address their broadband gaps: do nothing, subsidize an ISP, become an ISP, or develop a digital infrastructure public-private partnership.
After thorough evaluation, the digital infrastructure public-private partnership (PPP) approach emerges as the most recommended solution because it leverages the strengths of both public and private sectors to ensure affordable broadband access is available to all.
The release of the white paper “Leaving No One Behind in an Increasingly Digital World–Options for Unserved and Underserved Areas to Bridge Broadband Gaps” is the outcome of a long partnership between SNG, COS, and Valo to enable stewardship of localities’ digital future that is sustainable, inclusive, and cost-effective.
Ensuring that no one in your locality is left behind in an increasingly digital world means that everybody can access reliable and affordable high-speed internet. This broadband connectivity has become an essential infrastructure for localities. However, there are still areas where broadband services are non-existent (unserved) or inadequate (underserved).
This joint whitepaper compares the various options available to localities seeking to bridge their broadband gaps and ensure equitable access to digital opportunities. Recognizing that a one-size-fits-all solution does not exist, the paper analyzes the advantages and drawbacks of each proposed option to help decision-makers make better-informed choices about their locality’s digital future.
“We are delighted to jointly announce this white paper highlighting different options to solve broadband gaps,” said Mikael Curri, founder and President of SNG. “We will continue to work with localities and the private sector to build a sustainable broadband and digital inclusion ecosystem.”
About Strategic Networks Group
If you want to learn more about digital infrastructure, public-private partnerships, digital inclusion, and how to get started, reach out to us at www.sngroup.com
About Valo
For more information on what it takes to set up, operate, or commercialize digital infrastructure, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at www.valonetworks.com
About COS Systems
COS Systems delivers cloud-hosted software to plan, build, and manage broadband networks globally. COS Business Engine is a proven network management solution (BSS/OSS) supporting traditional ISPs and Open Access networks.