Genius is an infinite capacity for taking life by the scruff of the neck.Katherine Hepburn
Dear Vorticians,
With a hectic travel schedule this week, I’m going to turn over the dais to readers and get caught up with a few of the many letters I’ve received of late.
First up, your views on the mergers reshaping the telecom industry. (As an aside, you may want to read this Network World interview with former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt, who was in charge when the 1996 telecom reform legislation was enacted. Let’s just say he isn’t thrilled with how things have panned out under his successor, Michael Powell. https://www.nwfusion.com/edge/news/2005/0216qahundt.html.)
In my last newsletter on the AT&T/SBC merger, I mentioned a former colleague who asked me which REM song best described the current state of the telecom industry. My guess: “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.” Readers had their own takes on that and on the impact of these mergers on the industry.
Vortician Steve Schick, of Redback Networks, wrote: “I can think of several other REM songs that might also apply. First, ‘Perfect Circle’ comes to mind from the band’s first full-length album, ‘Murmur.’ Baby eats parent? From the same album, ‘Laughing’ or ‘Pilgrimage’ might also fit. The second album, perhaps aptly named, ‘Reckoning,’ offers us, ‘Pretty Persuasion’ and ‘Little America.’ From an album title point of view, ‘Fables of the Reconstruction’ seems to fit just fine. The album offers us the song, ‘Auctioneer.’ Perhaps more damning is the fourth album, addressing the times with ‘What if we Give it Away.’ ‘Fall on Me,’ and ‘Begin the Begin.’ The album you chose for us (‘Document’) also sports, ‘Welcome to the Occupation,’ which may overstate the case a bit.
“I think of the scene in ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ where, after a series of barbaric murders involving prolific blood and mayhem, the father proclaims something to the effect of, ‘Let’s not argue over who killed whom. This is a wedding. It’s supposed to be a happy occasion.’
“Agree or disagree with telecom M&As on the table. Just don’t get distracted from the main event. Right now, I firmly believe that telcos around the world face what is both a massive threat and a massive opportunity. With declining voice lines, competition from mobile and VoIP, the tremendous growth in consumer broadband ‘data’ services and the opportunity to reinvent television infrastructure, telcos are at a historic crossroads that means everything to their future. Carriers finally have the opportunity to transform themselves on the consumer side from a utility company to a services company.
“The Redback Networks’ view is that broadband video, or IPTV, has the potential to revolutionize television, shifting it from a fixed-schedule broadcast model to a true on-demand model offering interactivity and a rich set of viewing choices similar to – and surpassing – those found with today’s best DVDs. In addition, broadband video can integrate video content with data to provide entirely new capabilities ranging from movie-gaming hybrids to new advertising tie-ins to alternative camera angles or story lines to comprehensive search capabilities.
“Broadband video also provides a viable route to high-definition content, universal personal-video-recorder control and even mobility of content, so that the consumer could decide what goes to the living room set-top box and what might go to a portable viewing device. Moving to one fully integrated network could bring tremendous capabilities to the telco. Will the revolution of television be televised? Film at eleven.”
Vortician Chris Carleton wrote: “Needed your newsletter on a lousy weather day like this. Love the REM stuff. Here’s one about subscribers — by way of the delusional, old-guard phone company view.
“From ‘(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville’
It’s not as though I really need you
If you were here I’d only bleed you
But everybody else in town only wants to bring you down and
That’s not how it ought to be
I know it might sound strange, but I believe
You’ll be coming back before too long”
Thanks Vorticians Chris and Steve. Now, one final letter this week. I asked readers what they’d do if they were named CEO of HP, replacing outgoing leader Carly Fiorina, Vortician Martha Young wrote: “Lots and lots of things could benefit HP, but let’s stay focused on the low hanging fruit.
“1. Place HP Global Services front and center for all other work coming out of the company. Through HPGS, emphasize business continuity, storage consolidation, application management, identity management, and of course, security in an anywhere/everywhere work environment.
“2. Close all the superfluous offices, sending everyone home to work virtually, linking through HPGS. May as well drink your own Kool-Aid. The company becomes one big grid, leading the concept in both services and grid computing.
“3. Dust off OpenView and reignite its usability and interoperability with other focused management toolsets. The services model, grid computing and virtual business models all require remote monitoring and management, not just of the infrastructure devices but the applications and business processes. To date, HP was the only one with a reasonable story. Why they have let this slip is beyond me, but where is policy management? Business process management? What are they thinking?! (Ed’s note: HP CTO Shane Robison spent a good deal of time at VORTEX 2004 discussing the central role of OpenView in HP’s strategic plans – John Gallant.)
“Okay, that’s a good start and should keep ’em busy for a couple of quarters. The net of required change is that we live in a capitalist society and HP’s leadership needs to think in terms of dollars at both top and bottom lines across the entire company, not just the silo mentality that has been so pervasive for far too long.”
Thanks Vortician Young. I have other comments to share on the future of the telecom industry and where HP needs to go. Sorry that space and time constraints preclude sharing more today. Let me know where you stand by writing to me at mailto:jgallant@vortex.net.
Bye for now.
