article page | 1 | 2 | 3 |

service, knowledge, partnership, and in taking on some of the cost and risk enterprises face as they roll out new systems and devices. A big leap? Sure. But it's not a bigger leap than any telecom faces in morphing itself into an entertainment provider or playing me-too with Google.

Figuring it Out

If there's an opportunity to do more for enterprises and grow revenue as a result, there are two major questions to answer. First, why aren't telecoms already in this business? There has to be more to it than just their new love affair with content. Second, what roles make the most sense for telecoms to play as real partners to enterprises? There's only one way to figure it all out, and that's to go out and talk to end users and technology manufacturers - telecom's customers - and ask them. That's exactly what Pipeline plans to do.

During the next several months, we'll look at a number of major technology areas one by one, including:

• Scanning
• Logistics
• POS and Financial Terminals
• Airport and Municipal Devices and Applications
• Digital Signage and Advertisements
• Biometric Security Systems
• and Medical Technologies.

We'll talk to manufacturers, end users, analysts, and knowledgeable members of the OSS/BSS community to discuss the opportunities, challenges, strengths and weaknesses for telecoms in each area. We'll find out from end users and manufacturers what more they'd like to see telecoms bring to the table as enabling partners. We'll ask the experts what the major hurdles are that telecoms need to clear to meet these needs. And, in the end, we hope provide some solid answers about what's really next for telecoms. Best of all, we won't talk here about entertainment content or social networking. We will, instead, address how telecoms can bring value to enterprises that Internet competitors don't have the expertise, technology, or business models to match.