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By
Tim Young
“The world meets nobody halfway. When you want something, you gotta take it.”
-Sylvester Stallone as truck driver and arm-wrestling great Lincoln Hawk in the 1987 film Over The Top.
Since this issue of Pipeline uses the term over-the-top (and its corresponding acronym, OTT) pretty widely, it might behoove me to take a second to define exactly what we’re talking about. We are not talking about the film from which I pulled my opening quote. Though that movie is unforgettable in its own right (Truck drivers! Arm-wrestling! Vegas dazzle!), in this case we’re referring to any service that brings something that was traditionally a part of the regular communications infrastructure (especially video and voice) directly to the consumer, sidestepping the traditional CSP value chain.
I think we all understand the
headaches that the proliferation of
these services have caused for service
providers, but we want to dig a little
deeper on the ways in which these OTT
services are shaping the future of
communications, and how providers
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OTT services are shaping the future of communications |
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can figure out a way to meet customer
demand for these services while
simultaneously retaining those same
customers and dissuading them from
cutting the cord altogether.
In this issue, our editorial team explores these providers, from Skype to Hulu to Google TV, as they are increasingly exposed to the limelight. In addition, Ed Finegold tackles the elephant that enters the room in any discussion of OTT plays: Net neutrality. We also bring you word from OSS/BSS providers working in the space (like Comarch) on the special support considerations that OTT plays necessitate. All that plus, as always, the latest news and information impacting the OSS/BSS industry.
The communications world is tough. Maybe not arm-wrestling truck-driver tough, but tough nonetheless. Staying competitive may just mean going over the top.
Enjoy,Tim YoungEditor-in-Chief
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