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Broadband & Mobile Featured Article
May 01, 2008
From Telcos to Softcos
By Gary Kim Contributing Editor
It might be a stretch to think "telcos" actually will succeed in becoming "softcos," companies fundamentally organized in ways parallel or analogous to today's software-based firms. But that isn't stopping firms including BT and Telekom Austria (News - Alert) from setting that as a vision.
Carriers need to completely rethink their technical and working process strategies if they're to stand any chance of competing against the likes of Amazon.com, Facebook , and Google (News - Alert), Helmut Leopold, Telekom Austria managing director, says, according to Ray Le Maistre, Light Reading International News Editor.
"It's not about who has the best router," but more about the ways carriers can create a software-centric culture and organization. In some ways, that's just another way of saying the creation of new services has to be made far easier, faster and cheaper. That's the driver behind IP
Multimedia Subsystem, for example.
One way to look at matters is that rather than creating 50 different services, maybe the watchword is to focus on five basic functions or features that can be used by 500 different applications.
So Telekom Austria favors a concept of modular "basic products" or software modules that can be used as service building blocks. That's the same way BT (News - Alert) now approaches service development. Think of the touted values for "software oriented architecture," a way to reuse the features and capabilities enterprises already have purchased. It's a similar sort of thought.
BT Group (News - Alert) CTO Matt Bross also has argued along similar lines. The Web21C project allows application developers to use a BT software development kit to create new services that run over BT's existing infrastructure and, eventually, its 21CN next-generation network.
At this point, it might be correct to say that tier one carriers understand and widely embrace the principle that the ability to rapidly and cheaply create new applications and services is key. Perhaps not so many go as far as BT and Telekom Austria in calling the process a change from telco to softco. But the direction is generally understood to be the right one.
Gary Kim (News - Alert) is a TMCnet Contributing Editor.
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is Best Practices for Implementing a First Contact Resolution Program in the Contact Center brought to you by Enkata.
Carriers need to completely rethink their technical and working process strategies if they're to stand any chance of competing against the likes of Amazon.com, Facebook , and Google (News - Alert), Helmut Leopold, Telekom Austria managing director, says, according to Ray Le Maistre, Light Reading International News Editor.
"It's not about who has the best router," but more about the ways carriers can create a software-centric culture and organization. In some ways, that's just another way of saying the creation of new services has to be made far easier, faster and cheaper. That's the driver behind IP
Multimedia Subsystem, for example. One way to look at matters is that rather than creating 50 different services, maybe the watchword is to focus on five basic functions or features that can be used by 500 different applications.
So Telekom Austria favors a concept of modular "basic products" or software modules that can be used as service building blocks. That's the same way BT (News - Alert) now approaches service development. Think of the touted values for "software oriented architecture," a way to reuse the features and capabilities enterprises already have purchased. It's a similar sort of thought.
BT Group (News - Alert) CTO Matt Bross also has argued along similar lines. The Web21C project allows application developers to use a BT software development kit to create new services that run over BT's existing infrastructure and, eventually, its 21CN next-generation network
.At this point, it might be correct to say that tier one carriers understand and widely embrace the principle that the ability to rapidly and cheaply create new applications and services is key. Perhaps not so many go as far as BT and Telekom Austria in calling the process a change from telco to softco. But the direction is generally understood to be the right one.
Gary Kim (News - Alert) is a TMCnet Contributing Editor.
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is Best Practices for Implementing a First Contact Resolution Program in the Contact Center brought to you by Enkata.
