Posted on: 7th November 2023, by Alison Kerevan
Welcome to the latest edition of the Magrathea Newsletter, combining news from Magrathea and around the industry.
Portals & APIs
The good…
We had a successful launch of our new MAGIC Portal, incorporating the Numbering Portal. Our clients have been asking us for a while now to give them a user-friendly portal instead of purely relying on the API and finally we have done it! The portal covers the most commonly used actions right now but we will expand on it over time so clients can choose to use either the portal or API interchangeably.
The bad…
We have also been busy creating a new Broadband Portal to add MAGIC but unfortunately, we had to pause the update on Saturday due to a blip found in the process. Obviously, we are all really disappointed to miss our self-imposed deadline but of course it was better to delay things rather than risk introducing any issues. The team understand the cause of the problem and are already working on the required fix so we hope to share a new date for the load any day now (giving seven days’ notice).
The future (we don’t do ugly if we can help it!)…
Once the Broadband Portal is released (which will also include the incorporation of our Porting Portal into MAGIC), our team have a few behind the scenes projects to get caught up on. With a small team like ours it’s really important that we provide them with easy to use tools and simple access to all the data they need to do a great job, so our developers will be taking a little time to work in those areas for the rest of this year to be sure our team remain the happy helpful bunch that they are! After that, our current plan is to continue moving existing tools into the MAGIC Portal – all heading towards our goal of having one central place to access everything we do.
Meanwhile, don’t forget our existing Client Portal!
Although it’s next on the list, it’s going to take a while for us to move the functions of our existing Client Portal and RESTful API as it’s important that we include improvements and check everything is serving us well along the way. So if you would like to be able to do your own balance transfers, change tariffs and check recent CDRs just get in touch with our team to give you access to the existing Client Portal or API.
Core network update
Many of you will have spotted our planned works notice for October, involving two very late nights for our team working on our key project, upgrading our London node. I’m pleased to report that the works went ahead without any glitches and has made another good dent in the upgrade work we have on our priority list for this year.
Whilst it’s always tempting not to meddle with things that are working, we have always invested in constant maintenance and improvements to our core network and this year is no different. This project, which has been running throughout 2023, is starting to feel like there is end in sight. We hope to fit in another visit ahead of the Christmas network freeze period – when our Network Manager tells us we have to down tools and drink mulled wine – but the final stages will be done in the New Year.
Ofcom Statement – Net Neutrality
After a call for inputs and then a consultation that closed in January, we have now got a statement from Ofcom and have shared some thoughts in our latest article which can be found here
https://www.magrathea-telecom.co.uk/net-neutrality-rules-get-some-clarity/
The full Ofcom statement can be found here and overall we are pleased with the approach Ofcom have taken with this review: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/270260/Statement-Net-Neutrality-Review.pdf
PSTN Switch Off
Through our involvement with Comms Council UK we continue to push for more information to be made accessible to the general public, specifically the business community, and we were pleased to see an interview with our MD printed in the latest Comms Business magazine. You can view it online here on page 14
https://cbus.mydigitalpublication.co.uk/november-2023
You can learn more about the campaign and the upcoming media launch event by watching the website www.fittoswitch.co.uk
Industry events
This month we will be at the NICC Annual Forum, taking place 9th November. This is an all-day conference that involves each of the NICC task groups giving updates on their work this year as well as a few key notes on relevant topics.
If you want to learn more about the work of NICC you can visit the public website here https://niccstandards.org.uk/ but if you want to talk specifically about the task groups Magrathea are involved in just get in touch and we will be happy to update you. Particular focus at the moment for us is a common numbering database and CLI guidance reviews.
Then immediately after that a few of the team will be getting dressed up for the annual ISPA Awards! The event, taking place in Whitehall, has a record number of attendees this year and we are sponsoring the ‘Best VoIP’ awards. Hopefully we will see a few familiar faces on the night.
What’s on our minds…
This month we went to the development team to ask what’s on their minds. The overwhelming response was “coffee” but we persisted until we got a more verbose statement!
Of course, they are very focussed right now with rolling out our new portals and making sure they deliver on the brief. But also, aware that the bigger picture plan is to try and streamline use for our clients and our team, they are making the time to get all new tools fully documented and get automated tests in place.
In case you were worried, the team have been provided with some freshly brewed coffee and left to go back in their coding cave, their favourite place to be!
As always here at Magrathea we appreciate your comments and feedback, if there is anything you would like to contact us about, or you would like to opt out of receiving future newsletters, please email info@magrathea-telecom.co.uk
Kind regards
Magrathea
The information contained in this guidance is for your information only and is not intended to be relied on. It does not constitute legal professional advice, nor is it a substitute for you obtaining your own legal professional advice. Magrathea accepts no liability whatsoever for any errors, omissions or statements in this guidance or for any loss which may arise from your use of this guidance.