article page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

That forum will focus on the need for telecoms operators to evolve to a new OSS/BSS architecture that provides flexibility to address changing business requirements and the importance of speed to market. With the economic upheaval, upgrades maybe put on hold so optimizing existing OSS and BSS platforms and billing processes is critical to keep business running smoothly in a difficult time.

This year’s agenda also addresses how operators can best expose their service platforms to third parties and the move to real time charging and the implementation of SOA (Service Orientated Approach) across an organization.

Pipeline: Do you have any stats on what percentage of your attendee list will be made up of service providers?

David Pringle: Of the 54,284 attendees at the 2008 event, 19% were from mobile operators.

Pipeline: Will there be any kind of networking function that will allow your OSS/BSS attendees to make direct contact with these service providers?

David Pringle: There is a networking session at the end of the day on Thursday for all of Thursday’s attendees. Although the session won’t be specific to OSS/BSS, vendors will have a chance to mingle with service providers.

Pipeline: Why Barcelona? Do you think the choice of Barcelona brings a certain type of attendee that other locations might not?

David Pringle: Barcelona is one of only a few cities in Europe suitable for holding a prestigious global industry event, such as the Mobile World Congress, in February. Blessed with a mild winter climate and a rich cultural tradition, Barcelona is an attractive city to

you’ve added or anything you’ve decided to cut?

David Pringle: Perhaps the most significant change is a move to hold all the keynote sessions in the mornings, making way for the creation of several specialist conference sessions running for three and a half hours in the afternoons.

Pipeline: As previously mentioned, our readers are specifically interested in the OSS/BSS side of telecommunications. Which of your keynote speakers to you think will have the most valuable information to share with Pipeline readers?

David Pringle: We haven’t yet announced the speaking lineup for the Business Services Forum, but the main keynote speeches by CEOs from mobile operators, such as AT&T, NTT DOCOMO, Telefonica, Telenor, Verizon and Vodafone, will be highly-relevant to the OSS/BSS community. By laying out their visions for these world-leading mobile operators, these top executives will provide the strategic context necessary for OSS/BSS suppliers to develop their own strategies for dealing with the economic slowdown.