Products: They're the cornerstone of many a business. They are conceived, developed, launched, used, and eventually retired. They follow a pattern not unlike the one we'll all follow in our own lives. Conception. Birth. Growth. Eventual death.

Product Lifecycle Management has long been a mainstay of the consumer goods market, and now those same concerns are being moved into the communications space. There is effort underway to define products within the carriers, and to figure out how to best manage the lifecycle of those products. If it's done well, there are a wide variety of benefits, from improved TTM to overall cost reduction. If it's done poorly, the results are less favorable.

In this issue of Pipeline, we take a look at Product Lifecycle Management, paying special attention to the Product Catalog. We'll hear from Barbara Lancaster at LTC, International on the state of the product catalog. In addition, we'll hear from Yogen Patel of Convergys (formerly of Ceon) on the ins and outs of PLM, as well as from Robert Machin of Comptel on PLM as an aspect of overall customer satisfaction.