To harvest higher revenue, telcos need to sow the seeds now for content, IP communications and enhanced applications, and tend their fields by keeping up on business and regulatory changes. With the telecommunications industry evolving quickly, Telecom '04 will take an in-depth look at the most important emerging technologies, trends and regulatory issues to help companies grow their share of profits.
John Abel, senior vice president of membership, marketing and business development at USTA, notes the conference will center on business opportunities -- and business threats. "For instance, Brian Roberts from Comcast will talk about how cable MSOs are beginning to look a lot more like telcos and vice versa. So there are threats, but within that there are opportunities," he says.
"If you know about something ahead of time, you can take advantage of it instead of being crushed by the threat," he adds. "We want to grab people's attention, bring it to the forefront and discuss. We'd like to see the conference become a place where executives can get together, where it's non-threatening, and they can discuss what the industry's about. That includes Charter, Cox and Time-Warner, as well as SBC and the ILECs. We're talking wireline, wireless and cable. You can't ignore providers like Cox any more."
Broadband ventures such as games, movies, VoD, new home applications and video instant messaging represent one field that Telecom '04 spotlights this week. The integration of wireless to wireline networks, especially the broadband wireless technologies of WiMAX and Wi-Fi, is another.
"There's an opportunity here for rural carriers where it's too expensive to string fiber out," Abel notes. "So we're talking about how technologies integrate and the opportunities that provides."
Another trend is moving from copper to an optical network infrastructure, and the ensuing move to packet communications. "We'll hear from four RBOC CIOs on current developments on fiber to the home," Abel says. Along with this, an IP video conference will focus on all things IP TV. "The advantage to our companies for IP video is that IP-based helps them to reduce the cost of delivery versus the headend-based cable model," notes Abel. "This makes CPE more expensive, as the set-top box must be more sophisticated to decode the stream, but over time, it will be the least cost solution to get into video. It also fits the move from DSL to fiber. If our companies go IP video-based, they will leapfrog cable."
There also will be a conference by Deloitte & Touche on radio frequency identification, the same technology that makes EZ-Pass automatic tolls possible on highways and turnpikes for commuters. RFID tags are wirelessly read by sensors to track where something is and can relate it back to back-office inventory, provisioning, tracking or billing systems. In the case of EZ-Pass, each time a car passes through the tollbooth a sensor reads the tag and automatically debits a prepaid account for the commuter. A recent Wal-Mart announcement sharpened the focus on RFID and prompted Telecom '04 to showcase it. "Wal-Mart will require RFID tags soon for inventory control, so they know when the last can of deodorant walked out the door," says Abel. "They want to implement this throughout, so this is going to be a tremendous amount of data -- RFID for products, people, cars and trucks. The overcapacity of the telecom networks is well-documented, but RFID will create massive amounts of data as information will be transferred from one branch to another. Right now there's more data traffic than voice traffic on most networks. But this has an implication on networks long term, especially small telecom companies in rural areas where there might be a Wal-Mart."
A trend apart from technology that Telecom '04 will tackle is consolidation. A Legg Mason financial conference has been tailored for those interested in merger and acquisition activity. "The idea is to talk about how family-owned companies can make their assets more liquid and get on with their lives," says Abel. "We think there is going to be more consolidation going forward."
Also, a regulatory track has invited state commissioners to be panelists, along with Jeff Pulver of Pulver.com and Jeffrey Citron, CEO at Vonage Holding Corp.
The expo hall floor will offer its share of fertilizer for success. There will be an outside plant pavilion with 12 companies, and a new VoIP pavilion is dedicated to various products and services related to VoIP. In the back of the hall there will be a sports bar set up to draw attention to the technology, essentially a business lounge sponsored by VoIP players. "The idea is to educate carriers on the importance of this technology," says Abel.
Telecom '04 also is running a field trial for RFID with the help of its show contractor, Expo Exchange. Some badges will have RFID tags, and USTA plans to eventually use the technology to track how many people are in sessions, how many at the floor, how many are visiting the pavilions, and so on.
"Sure there's skepticism about all this new technology," says Abel. "But we should be able to get it out on the table and talk about it, and vendors, etc. are going to have to answer questions from network operators. Our intent is to get people talking and discussing these new opportunities."
