Week 3

e-Service Networks: Content, Capacity and Management

Synopsis

The capabilities of networks define the operational possibilities available to e-services. We examine ideas regarding the value of networks, capabilities of alternative (non-digital) forms of networks that also support e-Service operations, and technologies for designing and managing networks.

Readings

Note: Articles with an (R) before them are required readings (Case Studies also are always required, if found below). All other articles are optional material -- typically material that provides some background for the readings, or other related articles with similar content.

Value and Networks

Note: I have e-mailed each student a copy of this article (with the copyright permission covered). The article was sent to (i) your BC e-mail account on file, or (ii) the e-mail account you gave me on your business card. If you did not receive it yet, or don’t know how to access your BC e-mail account, please contact me (heimgr@bc.edu) to have me re-mail it for you to the appropriate account.

(R) Sawhney, M., and D. Parikh, “Where Value Lives in a Networked World,” Harvard Business Review, January 2001, p. 79-86.

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/prod_detail.asp?R0101E

A Related Presentation:

http://www.mohansawhney.com/Registered/Content/Presentations/Where_Value_Lives.pdf

Note: You must register for a FREE account to Dr. Sawhney’s site

Analog Networks

(R) Sawhney, M., “The Battle for the Analog Last Mile,” Working Paper, 1999.

http://www.mohansawhney.com/Registered/Content/TradeArticle/TheBattle_LastAnalogMile.pdf
Note: Go to www.mohansawhney.com, register for a free username and password, and then click the above link.

Note: www.mohansawhney.com appears to be down today (1/30/2001), so you can also download the article from this link TheBattle_LastAnalogMile.pdf

Video (Audio) Networks

DEF: “Codec”

http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm?term=codec

DEF: “Analog-to-Digital Converter” vs. “Digital-to-Analog Converter”

http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm?term=A/D%20converter

DEF: “Digital Signal Processing”

http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm?term=DSP

DEF: “Nonlinear Video Editing”

http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm?term=nonlinear+video+editing

Network Design and Management - OSSs

(R) TUTORIAL: “Operations Support Systems Tutorial”

http://www.iec.org/tutorials/oss/ (Online Tutorial)

http://www.iec.org/tutorials/acrobat/oss.pdf (Downloadable Document)

TUTORIAL: “Telecommunications Management Network (TMN) Tutorial”

http://www.iec.org/tutorials/tmn/ (Online Tutorial)

http://www.iec.org/tutorials/acrobat/tmn.pdf (Downloadable Document)

(R) Guerra, J. L., “Road Littered with OSS, Billing Failures,” Billing World, October 1, 2000.

http://www.billingworld.com/content_frames/full.asp?id=1797&action=article

Case

Heim, G. R., “Duplication of Video Tapes at Vaughn Communications”

http://www2.bc.edu/~heimgr/md850s01/interfaces1.rtf (Rich Text File format)

http://www2.bc.edu/~heimgr/md850s01/interfaces1.pdf (Adobe Acrobat format)

Note: The title on the paper itself is: “Scheduling Flexible Duplication Systems: Simulating Videotape Mass-Customization Networks”

Overview

Vaughn Communications in 1993 needed a way to better schedule its video duplication networks. At the time, their production scheduling approach consisted of hand-entering jobs into a spreadsheet, judgementally assigning production times for “important” jobs, and scheduling remaining jobs in a first-come-first-serve manner. Since then, Vaughn (now merged as Allied-Vaughn) emerged as a major player in the customized video duplication industry, and has specifically targeted the video marketing segment, in which videos are requested by potential customers in lot-sizes of one, and manufactured and shipped as fast as possible before the potential customer forgets about it.

Questions

1. How are the characteristics of Vaughn’s networks different from the other types of networks? Can they be managed similarly, or must they be managed entirely differently?

2. Was the approach taken by the researchers to manage this network appropriate or inappropriate?

3. What are the challenges and/or advantages that Vaughn had (will have) to face as the world changes from analog to digital (from physical to non-physical) (from traditional business to e-business)?

Epilogue

Visit Allied-Vaughn’s web site (http://www.allied-digital.com/) and examine the related types of products that can be manufactured by Allied-Vaughn.