The Challenge
A growing telecommunications provider faced a critical challenge: their business was expanding rapidly, launching new services and packages to meet obligations under the Alaska Plan for rural broadband buildout. However, their technology systems were fragmented: multiple best-of-breed commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions that didn’t communicate with each other, manual processes that couldn’t scale, and legacy systems that slowed time-to-market for new offerings.
My Role
I led a software engineering team of five professionals to build the integration layer that would unify these systems and enable the business to move at the speed their growth demanded.
Team Leadership
- Recruited and developed a team of software engineers
- Established engineering practices and coding standards
- Implemented agile development methodologies
- Mentored team members on technical and professional growth
Technical Architecture
I designed and oversaw implementation of several key systems:
Integration Middleware Platform
The core challenge was connecting disparate systems:
- RADIUS/BNG Integration: Built middleware connecting subscriber management with core network infrastructure for authentication, authorization, and accounting
- OSS Integration: Developed APIs connecting operational support systems for service provisioning and network management
- BSS Integration: Built interfaces to billing support systems enabling automated service activation and usage tracking
- COTS Connectors: Created a framework for rapidly integrating new third-party solutions as business needs evolved
Modern Client Portal
Developed a customer-facing portal providing:
- Self-service account management reducing call center load
- Real-time usage visibility for customers
- Online payment processing improving cash flow
- Service modification capabilities enabling customers to upgrade/downgrade services
Infrastructure Automation
Beyond application development, I led automation of infrastructure operations:
Configuration Management
- Implemented Chef and Ansible for server configuration management
- Developed PowerShell DSC for Windows infrastructure
- Created idempotent, version-controlled infrastructure definitions
Infrastructure as Code
- Deployed Terraform for cloud and on-premises infrastructure provisioning
- Built reusable modules for common infrastructure patterns
- Implemented state management and collaboration workflows
CI/CD Pipelines
- Established Azure DevOps pipelines for application deployments
- Implemented Concourse CI for complex workflow automation
- Built automated testing and quality gates
- Created deployment runbooks and rollback procedures
Results
The systems we built enabled the business to:
- Launch new services rapidly without waiting for manual system updates
- Scale operations supporting subscriber growth without proportional staff growth
- Reduce errors through automated provisioning and integration
- Improve customer experience through self-service capabilities
The integration platform became the connective tissue enabling the organization to meet its Alaska Plan buildout commitments while maintaining operational efficiency.