10 white-hot technologies: a survival guide to business network planning

Telecommunications Americas, April, 2005 by Sean Buckley, Bob Wallace

"You can't just focus on the radio access layer because that only serves to obscure where OFDM can really make the biggest difference," he said.

The emergence of OFDM, and the many places in which it's used, should go a long way toward boosting spending on network equipment.

"Infrastructure spending has turned the corner for the better, and the demand for mobile network infrastructure is likely to grow in the coming years, especially given corporate users' and consumers' interest in mobile solutions," said Shiv Bakhshi, director of mobile and WiFi infrastructure research at IDC. The growth rate is expected to be in the single digits in the coming years, according to a market research study and report by the company.

7 SIP: Enabling Advanced Services

Clearly, no list of core enabling technologies would be complete without SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), as it plays a leading role in driving such key emerging services as VoIP. Though not perfect, the SIP standard gives service providers the foundational ability necessary to use equipment from multiple vendors for the delivery of IP-based communications services.

Why should network equipment vendors and operators continue to focus on SIP? Because this technology will provide the framework for packet calling worldwide for mobile and fixed services. It will also play a key role in the development of video calling, not to mention being what drives wireless/wireline convergence. And because it essentially replaces the PSTN, SIP will also become a focus for debate on regulatory issues including lawful intercept and E-911.

Operators need to focus more resources on SIP going forward, as it will bring up broader issues such as how to deal with identity management, trust and federation, areas in which traditional service providers have not yet been fully immersed.

SIP should be viewed not as a technology that generates revenues for enterprise users but as one that arms them with a powerful tool to control and reduce costs. As all parties have learned over the past several years, cutting costs can have the same end result on the bottom line as generating new monies. Implemented in such popular devices as phones with which to access VoIP services, consider the value of portability functionality for large and midsize companies, some of which change their locations annually as leases expire.

"The cost savings here can be gigantic when you consider what you'd pay for wiring and rewiring offices," explained Daniel Briere, CEO of TeleChoice. "So while SIP is a neat technology, it may not enable any new business applications per se. However, if you look at what using IP phones can save you just in terms of moves, adds and changes during a year in a location that isn't moving, the financial benefit is the driving factor."

Business cases aren't built solely on generation of new revenue streams, stressed Briere, with cost savings/cost avoidance being just as viable a stand-in and oftentimes better than soft benefits such as increased worker productivity. Other popular offerings such as wireless services have been 'justified on far less than spending avoided.