MetaSolv Emerges from a Successful Transformation (cont'd)

Pipeline: What about the time involved in closing this deal with BT?

Holmes: Typically the process with BT takes from six to nine months from the initial evaluations through contracts and the beginning of implementation. With a new customer you would add a few more months to the sales cycle. So, there are some new services we've been talking about that I envision coming about in the next few months. We have a significant amount of professional services talent working with BT and BT Exact, so there's going to be continued business there and we're working together very well.

Pipeline: What areas other than VoIP do you see as catalysts for driving OSS recovery?

Holmes: I think you're going to see service providers continue to face increasing competition and needing to roll out new revenue generating services. On the revenue side, the drivers are mobile services, VoIP and enterprise data. As carriers move to more and more data and content services, they'll need activation and inventory to deliver and manage them.

On the VoIP side, they'll need subscriber management, inventory management, and configuration on the network. In enterprise data you have IP VPN. It's still mostly early adopters, but you'll see more deployments as we go. Metro Ethernet is growing, and that will also drive VPN.

Now, on the cost side there are also drivers. First is asset management. The carriers have to have an accurate representation of their capabilities, and that's where inventory management really comes in. The second driver is automation. Carriers need to decrease the time and cost to provision services. That's where we come in and automate the order to activation process. The third driver is systems consolidation and the subsequent elimination of legacy systems. When you think about our work at Vodafone Pacific and others - a lot of these providers built their systems in the heyday of the market and they may not be suitable now. So they need systems that are suitable to their current and future needs, systems that are easier to maintain, and that's an opportunity for us going forward.

Pipeline: What does Telcordia's acquisition of Granite Systems mean to MetaSolv?

Holmes: We have always believed that industry consolidation was needed and inevitable. If you look at what MetaSolv has done, we've been a leader in industry consolidation. We think [Telcordia's acquisition of Granite] is a further validation of our strategy. We think inventory management is important and carriers are going to replace their legacy systems, and Telcordia's acquisition validates that strategy. Does that change how we look at things? We have more customers than our competitors; our service fulfillment revenue is arguably higher than most of our competitors. If you look at what we're doing, we're still the leader. Our job now is to grow faster than the market, and that's our focus.

Another effect of this acquisition for us, and consolidation in general, is that the competitive landscape is simplified. It was unclear who [Telcordia was] really partnered with, but now that's been answered to some extent. It has made things simpler, and all we have to do is continue to execute on our strategy. We know what [executing an acquisition] is like. We did it in the trough of the market and now we are coming out of the shoot ready to go.

Pipeline: Though you are young yet and may have another twenty years of your career ahead of you, what do you hope Curtis Holmes' legacy will be in telecom when you someday decide to hang 'em up?

Holmes: I started at Bell Labs in '81 and '82 as a summer intern and then joined in January '84 during divestiture. When I think about what happened in '84 and what happened in 2000 and 2001, I think we (the telecom industry) are just getting started.

That said, MetaSolv was considered a leader in the boom market - and there were other OSS companies that also were and aren't around anymore. Now it's time for MetaSolv to thrive once again. So when I think about the legacy that we want to leave, and that I want to leave, it is one where we put the pieces of the puzzle together and live up to what our true potential is. When you think about MetaSolv, don't think about me, think about a team that was in the marketplace, did it the right way, and came through telecom's tough periods as winners. I told the team during the downturn that we could get through this, and I had people telling me we couldn't. Now those people are saying they see the light at the end of the tunnel and this time it's not a train.

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