"From a personal perspective, although customers are interested in the IP based packet switched solutions that are coming on strong, they inevitably always come back to "what do you have to economically work with my existing network that allows me to grow, expand my business right now? ........ But it is hard to turn a battleship on a dime and on a relative basis, their circuit switched equipment business is still more than healthy, thank you very much."
DenverTechie,
Thanks for your response. I had to chuckle when I read the above. You are so right. We, tech investors, hear so much incredible hype about the coming, bandwidth and Internet explosion, yet in reality, the larger market is still the good old, dependable, circuit-switched network. It's very easy to get caught up in the hype.
I was listening to some keynote speeches at George Gilder's Telecosm conference. The name of the conference is, "Bandwidth Blowout." I listened to three of them so I'm not sure who said it. But here they are talking about this incredible, "bandwidth explosion" yet one of the participants mentioned that most telcos are still spending new money on TDM equipment and running good old twisted copper pairs! It got a laugh from the audience but is true.
I also just read somewhere that one of the reasons spending for the new data networks isn't ramping up as quickly as some believed, was because telcos are simply busy putting in analog second phone lines for all those households that want internet access. I believe I read this in connection with the Alcatel debacle. I believe it was Deutshe Telecom that may have said something like this.
Investing in the old traditional telecom equipment suppliers is tricky business. Their core business is slowing, and new business is growing. Hard to figure out who is positioned to do the best against that backdrop.
Thanks,
MikeM(From Florida) |
