Pipeline Publishing, Volume 3, Issue 8
This Month's Issue: 
New Year, New Challenges.
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Insider's Telemanagement World
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By Wedge Greene and Barbara Lancaster, LTC Internaional

Toward the end of every TMW show, the old timers get together in small groups to informally recap and “judge” the success of the show.  This year the consistent view was that the service providers, analysts and old time vendors considered it a success.  The active vendors on the Expo floor were somewhat more reserved or (should that be realistic?), noting that all deals take a long time to close.  Anyway, by Thursday noon, everyone was exhausted; a clear indication that minds and bodies were kept at a marathon pace for 3-4 days.  This was a working meeting and while interacting with peers is among the greatest of pleasures, no one could consider this meeting a junket.

It was a well-attended conference with some 1500 members of the OSS/BSS community converging in Dallas, Texas for the biannual conference of the TeleManagement Forum,And the TeleManagement World (TMW) Americas.  The number of attendees and the number of vendors (near 80) on the Expo floor gives a strong indication that the American OSS/BSS market is emerging form its long doldrums.  While still well below the record attendance figures at the height of the bubble, when sheer size drove the TMW to the larger conference facilities in Las Vegas, this year’s attendance represents a large growth over last year in vendor booths (sprinkled with a few organizations and providers) and an increase of about 300 in the number of attendees.

Likely because of the universal cuts in business travel and conference budgets, the two TMWs have evolved to become more like two annual regional events, rather than the “twice-a-year cannot-be-missed” event it was from 1997 – 2002.  The fall/winter Americas show is still much smaller than the spring European show.  Not all of the size difference is attributable to the more desirable conference venue of Nice, France over Dallas, Texas.  The shows echo the effects of the much deeper crash in America and the slower climb back.  As a result, in America, things are just waking up.  And that metaphor is a good one for this show - it felt like most participants were still a little sleepy and doing their morning stretches.  A few early risers were preparing for a morning run, but most were still on their first cup of coffee and quietly contemplating the world.  The speakers were vocal, mostly insightful, sometimes strident, but the audiences were for the most part quiet and attentive.  When the audiences get strident and the speakers attentive, then the TMW show will begin to rock again.

Inside the TMF Advisory Board Meeting

This is the meeting at which the TMF staff provides a formal progress report of the past half year to the TMF member leadership.  While the size of the board has remained constant, the number of advisors has significantly increased over the last few years - reflecting the large influx of new members which now totals more than 500.  However, the typical new member is small and cannot devote the resources to the TMF that once rapidly advanced interoperation agreements.  Mergers and acquisitions have reduced the number of large American and European providers, but the Forum has successfully attracted a broader range of company types and a significant new membership from East Europe and the Asia pacific region.  Cable companies are now joining and a new TMF marketing effort is targeting media companies with IPTV tie-ins and significant web presences (MSNBC News sent a keynote speaker, but he did not warm to the TMF product).  Among groups still conspicuously absent are the American replacements to the

"The number of attendees and the number of vendors (near 80) on the Expo floor gives a strong indication that the American OSS/BSS."

CLEC (successful mid-tier companies like Yipes, Paetec and Masergy).

Bottom line:
the TMF is economically healthy but in danger of becoming unfocused.  Positively, services have expanded even measured against the time of the bubble.  Board driven programs started around the


turn of the century are now well established.  The TMF web site is content rich and well read. But it is difficult to find content in the portal and the non-insider can be overwhelmed by the endless projects.  Finding implement-able product is still difficult.  And it is left to the seeker to decide what is worth implementing.

Two significant initiatives developed over the last year were prominently featured at the TeleManagement Forum Advisory Board meeting.  The flashiest new project is the “Landscape project” which is working on a rationalized architecture, converging the older concept of the Service Delivery Platform (SDP) and the newer IMS service delivery architecture to build a Service Delivery Framework (SDF).  This project is breaking ground by framing the architecture discussion around creating and delivering advanced applications and content-based services.  The battle cry is “enrichment” rather than the previous business driver of “efficiency”.  Work has started on component breakdown architecture.  The project seems well lead by Appium, Telcordia, and BT.  I find it the most significant new thing in the forum this year.

More pedantic but no less important to your future is the progress being made this year by the “Business Transformation Benchmarking Program”, lead by forum staff and e*Tezeract.  This program seeks to provide a comprehensive and international database of service provider business performance metrics. 

The first round of metrics associated with service delivery and customer interactions have been established and the project is moving forward to gather more results and also to expand the base of metrics provided.  Contributing service providers can see how their performance actually stacks up against their competitors and ecosystem members around the globe.  And they can also identify internal areas which need improvement along with a view of how much improvement should be possible for the money to be spent.  Companies contributing their details to the benchmarking study receive free access to the results.   Benchmarking results are available for purchase to other subscribers.  It is not clear that the forum understands this program or its implications.  Will the TMF seek to be a JD Power?  How can subscribers be


 

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