By Tim Young
with Barbara Lancaster and Wedge Greene

In May, we were able to attend the TeleManagement Forum's TeleManagement World (TMW) show in Nice. In November, we were able to visit the TMW-Americas show to see what's changed since we last heard from the TMF and its constituent companies.

The TMW-Americas show rolled into Dallas a month early this year. That's a welcome change, as a trade show in December is just begging to interfere with end-of-year plans. The event offered three days of solid programming, boasting multiple conference tracks, keynotes, roundtables, social events, a full expo floor, a showcase for TMW Catalyst projects, and the slick new “Content Encounter.”

On the expo floor, the largest booths were the realm of the larger companies, including those that may be household names, but not in the OSS space. CA and SAP occupied the largest booths, alongside perennial TMW show-presence, Amdocs.

The expo floor itself was larger than the previous year, spilling over into an additional room. Traffic seemed somewhat lighter than it was in Nice, even correcting for a smaller overall attendance. Many firms reported that the bulk of their luck in terms of contacts, leads, and other types of possible new business came from prearranged meetings and the TMF's Executive Appointment Service. No surprise there. Booth traffic may be your bread and butter in lots of industries, but the OSS field is way down the list.

The entire event was sporting a bit of a different focus. While the players were all the same, and the name had only slightly changed, the focus was much more on content and device plays than ever before. The slick and pricey “Content Encounter” dominated the Catalyst area, and seemed to steal the thunder somewhat from the ordinarily bustling Catalyst showcase. Content Encounter took you through the delivery of next-gen content from start to finish, ostensibly. It was interesting and worth a look.

It's very existence, though, underscored an omnipresent theme at the TMW-Americas show: What is the place of the service provider in the face of new and different offerings from content and device companies, and the ever-present threat of competition between cable, telco, over-the-top (top buzzword of the event: See LTC commentary below...), and other providers? Are traditional SPs going to be just a bitpipe? Is that such a terrible fate? Having a “Content Encounter” as a focal point proved that the TMF is aware of the shifting market and is willing to, in one way or another, shift with it.