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Cast your mind back to, say, 2005 or 2006. Service Delivery Platforms were heralded by many as a game-changing advancement that would revolutionize the OSS/BSS segment and, by extension, the entire communications space.

The troubled waters that SDPs have navigated in the time since is proof that nothing is as easy as it seems. Microsoft, famously, killed its SDP efforts (dubbed the Connected Services Framework) back in December, ..

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Oh, the wonderful month of May! And what does it hold for us in the world of telecom news? A bit of acquisition, a touch of customer wins, a few Q1 and Q4 results, and a pinch of other news. RIM seems to be doing exceptionally well while Nokia isn’t quite where they’d like to be. Time Warner Cable is trying to test out some new ways of charging for internet usage, but they’re being met with opposition from New York Democratic Representative, Eric Massa. Read on to find out more. We hope you enjoy your latest edition of NewsWatch!

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A good SDP solution makes it possible for a CSP to define and deploy all of the network and service elements required to deliver innovative services with incredible speed and cost-effectiveness. An SDP makes launching new services an absolute snap, doesn’t it? 

Sure does. Well, maybe. A few years ago, the SDP concept made a lot of sense. CSPs ran several different types of network, each with specific functionality that supported certain services.

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Many large CSPs’ billing environments are disaster areas because of a long list of common reasons. Product-by-product organization is a big one. Failure to integrate assets after major acquisitions is up there, too. And don’t forget the poor IT governance and reactive architectural roadmaps that so often accompany mad dashes to market with new, me-too offerings. The industry isn’t blind to the effects of these causes, which are evident in the number of billing conversions, consolidations, and transformations...

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As much as the communications industry loves its alphabet soup, sometimes the letters need to change. Communications Service Provider – or CSP – is giving way to Next-generation Operator – or NGO. While communications services are still a core part of what the industry delivers, the offerings, value chains, and ecosystems now cover significantly more ground. The industry has been talking about its shift toward application- and content- based offerings for years. Now it’s actually happening.

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In a world of growing competition and declining voice revenues, communications service providers (CSPs) are continually looking for ways to increase revenue. Further, as services proliferate and converge, the line between the traditional telecommunications industry and Web-based/Web 2.0 services is becoming increasingly blurred. To drive innovation and grow revenue, CSPs are looking to “blend” Web-based applications — from simple Web portals to advanced social networking tools with Web 2.0 features – with telecommunications network...

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Financial success in today’s communications market is driven by two levers: driving top line growth (revenue) while minimizing cost to deliver it. More than ever, the consumer holds tremendous power given the competitive nature of today’s market and the variety of choices available to them.

For carriers, keeping up with customer needs is not for the faint of heart. Not only are there more customer segments that need to be served,..

In these economic times, every business is facing the reality of lower budgets and the demand for greater cost efficiency. So it comes as no surprise that both tenets raise a variety of challenges for service providers. The need to generate more revenue opportunities from existing customers becomes paramount just as the enterprise is looking at their VPN and asking the question: Am I using my VPN efficiently? This creates the perfect storm—and the perfect time for service providers to ask their own question: What more can I offer?

Service delivery manages to be a headache for CSPs of every sort, worldwide. Delivery of new and increasingly complex services has gotten faster, more accurate, and more convenient for the end consumer, but with better service delivery comes higher customer expectation, of course. Therefore, the need to do more, faster, is relentless.

And is that any less true now, with times tough and getting tougher?