 Pipeline
Publishing, Volume 4, Issue 1 |
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This
Month's Issue: |
Come Together:
Fixed-Mobile Convergence |
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TMW-Nice:
Sun, Sea, and OSS |
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By Tim
Young
The conference halls are dark.
The booths have been taken down.
The funky marketing giveaways
are resting safely in carry-on
bags, Nice trashcans, and the
hands of the surely under whelmed
offspring of telecom types around
the globe. (My Dad went to Nice
and all I got was this lousy
provisioning solution branded
slinky?) It's official: TMW-Nice
2007 is history. The good news?
It was a fun one.
This year's Nice show bears
noting for a few reasons. First
off, it was big. There were over
3,000 attendees this year, making
it a significant improvement
over last year, or any year for
that matter. On top of that,
there were well over 100 exhibitors,
numerous conference sessions,
some compelling and tradition-breaking
keynote addresses, and lots of
successful peripheral events.
Furthermore, there was discussion,
and lots of it.
The entire show had a theme of
really putting talking points aside
and delivering quantifiable results
already. This was evident in the
conference programming which tended
to focus on applying what we know
rather than continuing the debate
to little avail. It was evident
in the keynote speaker selection,
which included requisite service
provider representatives, but also
a forward-looking advertising exec
and an industry visionary. For
more on all of the speakers, feel
free to peruse analyst Barbara
Lancaster's accompanying show rundown.
It was evident in my conversations
with vendors. Ken Rugg and Judy
Mintz of Progress Software made
mention of how previous conversations
in this sector have been somewhat
theoretical, and now it's all about “How
do I make it real? How do I make
it useful?”
Simon Murderack, CEO of Tribold,
agrees. “When we were in
Chicago [at Billing and OSS World,
when Simon and I last spoke], we
were not quite sure that the North
American CSVs understood the weight
of change that was about to happen
to them. Or maybe
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There
were over 3,000 attendees this
year, making it a significant improvement
over last year. |
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they understand it,
but they are insulated
from it. What's been
fascinating about this
show is that everyone
gets it. They embrace
the change and are energized
by it.” Murderack
was speaking specifically
about Tribold's unified
product catalog solution.
Tribold made some serious
waves at the event, along
with their solutions
partner, customer care
and billing giant Convergys.
Our take? Bravo! Enough “the
future is now!” lip
service. Devices and
capabilities that have
always been considered
anything from sci-fi
to wishful thinking are
now viable. This event
seemed to be a time for
some leaders in the sector
to get together and decide
to talk less and do more.
Let's hope it sticks.
The Expo
The expo was an interesting
beast this year, and
a true tale of two TMWs.
Some vendors were happier
with booth traffic and
the show in general,
and these tended to be
those vendors with booths
on the upper floor. In
an exercise in unorthodox
layout, the expo area
of Nice's Acropolis convention
center has its entrance
o the upper floor, and
the only way to access
the lower floor is by
traveling through the
upper floor. Problem
is, according to several
vendors, not many people
were making their way
downstairs. While the
layout hasn't changed
much year to year, unhappy
vendors cited better
efforts in previous years
to drive traffic downstairs.
The difference between
the two floors, in crowds
and climate, was noticeable.
Bustling bazaar up top,
polite and tentative
trade show down below.
As with any trade show,
there were veteran companies
attempting to expand
awareness about just
who they are and what
they do. Martin Group,
the venerable South Dakota-based
OSS, engineering, and
consulting company that
has been around since
1970, was at the show
attempting to expand
its visibility as it
has grown outside of
the US through partnerships
with Ericcson. “This
is our first direct presence
in an international show,” says
Jeff Boozer of Martin
Group. “We're
not trying to make a
splash. We're here to
learn.”
Vitria had some recent
announcements as well. “Vitria
has been in existence
since the early '90s
and went public in 1999.
This year we went private
again.” Vitria
also announced the latest
release of its Business
Accelerator platform. “Business
Accelerator is built
from the ground up for
and SOA environment.
Keep what you've got,
but you can also move
into a nonproprietary
situation.”
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