News Area

Software Development Engineer, R&D Organization

Posted on in Job Opportunities

Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Job status: Full time, permanent

PacketFront Software is rapidly expanding in the Telco segment. We are making telecom operators more competitive with our solutions for end-to-end automation of network operations and service fulfilment. If you want to be part of a dynamic team building the new business, this could be your next challenge.

About PacketFront Software

PacketFront Software delivers automated multi-vendor network management since 2001 through its unique OSS system BECS. BECS provides zero touch configuration and automated service provisioning for any IP network hardware and topology and offers operators a seamless migration path from legacy networks to SDN and NFV. 100 operator customers in 23 countries have chosen BECS for efficient network operations.

At PacketFront Software, we know that the success of our company relies on our people who design, market, sell and support our automated solutions for broadband and data communication networks. As a member of the PacketFront Software R&D team, you will enjoy working with highly committed colleagues in a fast-paced business environment. Individual as well as team contributions are highly valued and expected from you.

PacketFront Software’s employment decisions are based on applicant’s experience, specialist skills and personality. Female applicants are encouraged. We have already gathered some of the very best system specialists, engineers, and salespeople in our business. Do you want to become part of our dynamic and inspiring team?

Job Description

PacketFront Software is bringing the OSS and BSS applications BECS and BBE to new markets. To reinforce our growth, we are now hiring developers to strengthen the R&D team.

This position is a key role in the Stockholm R&D team to help us continuously improve our products, teams and increase the value delivered to our customers.

Based in the company offices in downtown Stockholm, Sweden, you will work in close cooperation with our R&D team in China as well as with our Professional Services and Sales teams in Stockholm.

For this position, we would like you to meet most of the following qualifications:

  • Master’s Degree in Engineering or similar
  • 3 or more years of experience from a similar professional role
  • Programming experience, for example in C, Shell, Tcl, Perl, Python
  • Experience from agile development environments
  • Knowledge about broadband/datacom topologies, technologies and Switching/Routing (e.g., Residential- and Business Ethernet, MPLS, Data Center, PON, xDSL)
  • Experience with Git and Gerrit
  • Experience from working with distributed teams

If you know about these things, it’s even better:

  • OSS/BSS systems in the telecom/datacom industry, particularly service provisioning and management
  • Systems Integration

Personal characteristics:

  • You are already a resident of Sweden
  • You are fluent in English, both spoken and written
  • You have a structured approach to your work
  • You are good at communicating with your colleagues
  • You are not afraid to ask for help
  • You are eager to learn and ready to share your knowledge within the team
  • You have a willingness to help out wherever needed to make your team and the company succeed.

Responsibilities:

  • Help drive the agile SW development of the OSS application BECS including
    • Requirements analysis, definition and estimation
    • Design and implementation
    • Test, documentation and delivery
    • Debugging
    • Support
  • Participate in the continuous improvement of our working methods, products, tools and frame works
  • Participate in feature definition and design activities
  • Take an active part in the daily work to help the team succeed
  • Support our customers as well as our internal Professional Services and Sales teams

What is in it for you?

  • We are embarking on a new journey and you have a chance to join us
  • You get to work in a great, small company where everybody knows each other
  • We have great team members eager to help you get on board
  • You get to work with the complete product, building your expertise and have a chance to put your mark on the product
  • The team is great, help is never far away
  • We value a work-life balance

Please send your CV and an introduction letter to jobs@pfsw.com. For this position we are not considering consultants or the help of recruiting companies. For more information about the position, reach out to Jonas Ohlsson (our CTO and your future manager) on the above email and he’ll get back to you.

PacketFront Software Appoints new CEO

Posted on in Press Releases

This week, change agent and business builder Jonny Wetterborn was appointed as PacketFront Software’s new CEO.

With over 25 years’ experience in the software space and a background in business growth and expansion, with a commercial touch, Jonny was inspired by PacketFront’s competitive and innovative market portfolio.

Over the past 20 years, the Swedish-based OSS and BSS solution provider PacketFront Software have grown to become a major player in this field and are looking to accelerate their growth outside of the Nordics. They have brought Jonny in to execute on this mission.

Jonny commented on his future at PacketFront:

“What really hooked me about PacketFront was my initial meetings with PacketFront’s chairman Tom O’ Hagan. Tom has a compelling ambition and vision to grow the business and so commands change and acts accordingly.

“It is his vision to transform the company to more aggressive growth that excites me about this opportunity. I feel confident with the company’s vision and am honoured to receive this chance to operate and execute on this plan together with the existing organisation and Board of Directors.”

BECS 3.20 is released

Posted on in News

The latest BECS release is now available for existing customers at www.pfsw.com/support.

The main focus of the release is:

  • Support for transactions, which makes it possible to revert a configuration task in case of errors
  • Support for global DHCP scopes making the handling of IP resources more efficient in large open access networks

BBE 2.7.0 is released

Posted on in News

The latest BBE release is now available for existing customers at www.pfsw.com/support.

The main focus of the release is to make the creation and editing of customized reports easier and more intuitive.

PacketFront Software and Keypro sign partnership

Posted on in Press Releases

Stockholm and Helsinki

PacketFront Software, which develops and sells network orchestration solutions for carriers and AltNets, has signed a partnership agreement with Keypro Oy. The agreement covers the distribution of PacketFront Software products in Finland.

Keypro is a well-recognised supplier of GIS solutions in the telecoms market, both in Finland and abroad. PacketFront and Keypro have had technology co-operation for a number of years and this step will further strengthen the relationship and demonstrates the importance of being able to provide larger, integrated product portfolios to the market.

See more about the combined PacketFront and Keypro solution at:

https://www.keypro.fi/en-gb/pfsw-automatic-provisioning

Check out what PacketFront and Keypro have in store for you!

Posted on in News

 Whether you’re a start-up or a veteran city carrier, the combination of PacketFront and Keypro offer you an end-to-end solution for active and passive network documentation and management. No hassle. No risks. Our field-proven solutions and expertise will help you keep operational costs at bay while providing your customers and partners with an enhanced service. Check out our new website to see the power of our automation solutions.

Broadway Broadband opts for PacketFront automation to support their mission of keeping challenging areas connected

Posted on in Press Releases

Swedish-based software provider PacketFront is delighted to announce their latest partnership with Broadway Broadband, to expand its reach from the Nordics into UK markets.

Broadway Broadband are a Liverpool-based network operator who specialise in connecting rural communities to the rest of the UK – even for the most geographically challenging areas. The network provider work to ensure ultrafast broadband speeds using the best technology, suited for specific locations.

To help them on this journey, Broadway have partnered with PacketFront Software to support their network growth through the use of their Business Support System, BBE and network orchestration tool, BECS. The key element of this solution is the support for wholesale models, which will enable Broadway to offer third party services to expand their customer’s freedom of choice for services.

Broadway Broadband’s CTO Barry Weaver commented on the partnership:

“With the help of PacketFront Software we will reach a new level of customer service excellence by ensuring both fast network build-out and enhanced service delivery speeds, while keeping our operational costs to a minimum. By making this move we aim to meet and exceed the high expectations of our customers, partners and investors”.

Lloyd Warn, Senior Account Director at PacketFront responded to this statement:

“We are excited to work with Broadway Broadband to support their efficiency and expansion plans for the future. Broadway Broadband is a prime example of our growing customer base in the UK and are proof that making the UK our second home market, after the Nordics, is the right move”.

A driver for automation

Posted on in News

Earlier this month, our VP of Sales Timo Kuusela, was interviewed by Comms Dealer about how PacketFront Software is successfully orchestrating and automating the UK’s ‘manual’ networks and processes.

Read part of the article here:

PacketFront Software was established in 2011 as a spin-off from PacketFront Solutions which sold both hardware and software products. The idea was to create two independent companies to give the software side a better opportunity as a multi-vendor solution. “We found that having our own hardware made it difficult to cooperate with other hardware vendors so forced the separation to focus on the core business – software,” said Kuusela. “The objective was, and is, to offer network orchestration and CRM solutions to altnets.”

The first major task was to build an independent software business within the altnet market space and prove that it could work with other hardware, while maintaining its existing customer base. “The second was broadening our portfolio to support carriers,” noted Kuusela. “Services in the residential altnet market are quite straightforward – you’re selling Internet. In the carrier space services are much more complex. The third milestone was attracting Tier1 and Tier2 carriers as customers. Many of the bigger carriers still do a lot of manual work. So we want to show how they can avoid tasks like CLI typing and focus on system architecture to give better services.”

For altnet customers, PacketFront Software provides more complete solutions including self-service portals for end customers, CRM systems and network orchestration. Those components create an end-to-end solution that delivers automated workflows for customer and service management. “When it comes to carriers we mainly focus on network orchestration,” commented Kuusela. “Our BECS solution provides auto provisioning from customer devices all the way to their core network. By integrating BECS with CRM systems, operators can create workflows that, for example, allow for zero-touch network build out and automated service provisioning.”

PacketFront Software’s main focus is Europe with the Nordics its primary market. “Now the UK and Germany are great markets for us to expand into,” stated Kuusela. “We have a market presence in both but there’s a lot of potential as they are large markets behind the Nordics in their FTTP roll out.

“In the UK we also see a trend towards open access. Altnets are interested in opening up their networks to other service providers. This has been the dominant model in the Nordics, and PacketFront has been the pioneer supporting that business model from the very start, which we now want to utilise in UK markets.”

The automation challenge

The main challenge Kuusela faces is the slowness of transformation. “We hear so many customers say ‘we need automation’ but never actually get started with it,” he said. “In the past, when we researched altnet and carrier markets and asked if they need automation and network orchestration there was resistance on both fronts. While both were interested on a theoretical level, operators were hesitant to change their existing working methods. But network orchestration has become mainstream which means we now don’t have to drive those motivations.

Another challenge faced by the company has been how fast it can scale while accounting for the diversity of how operators build their networks, and the number of software and hardware vendors it needs to integrate. “Every new customer has meant creating a unique environment,” added Kuusela. “However, we have proven over and over again that we get our solution to work in any environment.

Kuusela’s primary growth strategy is to work with more system integrators and technology partners that complement PacketFront Software’s portfolio. He is also looking for new technology partners to expand the firm’s ecosystem. “This will help customers and system integrators as we can show how systems work together and the combined benefits,” he added.

“Customers need flexibility – from a commercial and technology point of view – to select the best of breed software and hardware and we provide that. We have workshops with our customers to identify their pain points and low hanging fruit, where we can provide the fastest benefits. Then we help with implementation. All our customers’ networks are different and we adapt our solutions to work in the existing network environment which is also where we support operators when they need us.”

Final thoughts

“Everybody is looking at investing in network automation in some way or other because they can see the benefits it brings. For those dragging their heels, my advice would be to ride the wave soon or expect tougher times moving forward, because you won’t be as competitive in a couple of years.”

You can read the full version of this article on comms dealer. [link]

Join us in welcoming Jonas to PacketFront!

Posted on in News
Jonas Ohlsson has been appointed as new CTO of PacketFront Software. Jonas has 20 years of industry experience after working at companies, such as Nokia, Tieto and NetInsight. Besides his technical expertise, he has extensive management experience, which will be valuable in his role as head of R&D and the support teams.
“I’m really happy to get Jonas onboard. His deep knowledge of the technology and IT market in general is a boost for the whole company and an important cornerstone in our expansion strategy” says Christel Sandstedt, interim CEO of PacketFront Software.

Virtual1 acquires PacketFront the network orchestration software company

Posted on in Press Releases

 Leading UK Connectivity and Cloud provider Virtual1 is delighted to announce the acquisition of PacketFront Software, providers of network orchestration solutions for complex multi-vendor residential, enterprise and MPLS networks.

Founded in 2001, the Swedish based software house delivers efficient network automation solutions for telecom operators, city carriers and enterprises in more than 20 countries, including Virtual1.

Virtual1 founder and CEO Tom O’Hagan: “Virtual1 have worked closely with PacketFront for a number of years, and they have been a key partner in the creation of our market leading Software Defined carrier network (SDN) strategy. Acquiring PacketFront helps to secure the intellectual property that we have heavily invested in, as well as recognising how critical orchestration software is to the future of both Virtual1 and the wider industry.”

O’Hagan continued “Whilst PacketFront will join the Virtual1 group of companies, it will continue to operate as an entirely stand-alone organisation from Virtual1. It will maintain its own distinct brand, customer base and senior leadership team. This acquisition will give the team at PacketFront the financial investment to more rapidly open up new markets within the UK and internationally.”

Timo Kuusela, VP of Sales at PacketFront Software echoed these sentiments: “We are very excited about being part of the Virtual1 family and now expanding our business into the UK market as well as other territories. Having helped FTTP providers get to market quickly and operate efficiently across the Nordics, we see a very exciting opportunity with the new wave of FTTP suppliers emerging in the UK.“

About Virtual1

Virtual1 Empower businesses with a network built for the future. They operate the UK’s largest wholesale-only network, built for simplicity and success with high capacity, low latency, and advanced software architecture. Privately connected to market leading UC, SIP, and Cloud solutions, our users enjoy top-notch security and guaranteed levels of performance.

By combining state-of-the-art technology and a team of the industry’s best, we provide businesses with customisable, automated, streamlined connectivity. And our award-winning 1Portal puts control of it all in our partners’ hands, so they can quote, order, and manage their customers’ solutions with ease.

About PacketFront

“Since 2001, PacketFront Software has delivered efficient automation solutions for telecom operators, city carriers and enterprises in more than 20 countries. Their multi-vendor network orchestrator, BECS, provides true end-to-end network automation – enabling functionality such as zero touch configuration and automated service provisioning for all IP networks. It also offers a seamless migration from legacy networks to SDN and NFV.”