TTC at 25
Interview with John Peeler, president and CEO
TTC recently celebrated its 25th year as a communications test and measurement products and services vendor. Editor-in-Chief Sue O?Keefe spoke with TTC President and CEO John Peeler about the evolution of testing and its role in the converging telecom marketplace.
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Telecommunications: What main trends and changes affected the telecom industry and how has it morphed into what it is today?
Peeler: On the customer side, the trend is toward a growing demand for higher speeds and more types of services. The competitive environment between all types of service providers and a shortage of skilled workers have created a demand for products that enable rapid rollout of new communications technologies and new services--DWDM, SONET, ADSL--and also a demand for proactive monitoring and rapid repair. That translates in the test and measurement industry into the need for instruments that are more sophisticated and can address different technologies and more services. The instruments need more built-in intelligence, smaller test systems and network management software to automate processes for turn-up of new customers; also new services to automate monitoring to determine when something is going bad before it fails, and then automate the diagnostics and troubleshooting. The service providers we see are crying for help to deploy these new services more efficiently. So the industry continues to evolve in different ways beyond just instruments.
Telecommunications: Are the incumbent service providers and the newer players looking at things differently in terms of what they want from your company, or is it network optimization in general?
Peeler: They want a business partner that helps them get their toughest problems solved. Those problems are turning up new customers, new services or new pieces of the network--regardless of whether it is an ILEC or a CLEC or a wireless provider. It?s being able to do that quickly, because of the competitive environment. If I go to service provider A and want to buy a T1 or SONET circuit and he tells me it takes 45 days to deliver, I?ve got a choice, because I can probably get it in 10 days from somebody else. So you?d better believe the guy working with a 45-day cycle is trying to change that and is looking to companies like ours to help him. We have documented cases where we have helped service providers dramatically reduce their installation time. The bigger carriers are intensely focused on the efficiency side. The start-up carriers are just trying to build networks as fast as they can. But in each case we?ve focused on those types of business problems. Another typical problem is helping a carrier reduce mean time to repair.
Telecommunications: What are the key technology areas where you see a lot of growth? For you, this is obviously a case of trying to keep up with the curve.
Peeler: We?ve got to stay up on the hot, new stuff. At the network core, it?s really high-speed transmission, SONET, DWDM. You actually see SONET moving out toward the network edges and in the loop. Access technologies like DSL and cable modems are increasing the speed at the edges. There?s lots of growth in wireless and tremendous growth on the data side. In the past, people built networks predominantly to carry voice and then put data over them. There is a new move to build IP-based networks that are optimized to carry data and then look for ways to put voice on them.
We?ve introduced OC-48 analysis for DWDM networks. We?ve introduced a DWDM channel monitor with built-in optical spectral analysis capability. We?ve also introduced the TPI 350+DSL for ADSL testing. On the system side, we introduced broadband capability to test SONET networks in an automated fashion. We introduced network optimized service assurance software to monitor transmission networks and data networks. That is not just an economics issue; it?s one of how do they keep the customer? If customers don?t like the performance or the way the service provider responds when they call with a problem, they switch carriers.
Telecommunications: Right, incumbents must turn up new customers, but still worry about keeping the ones they have.
Peeler: Absolutely. With a lot of data traveling over these networks, outages are much worse. A problem impacts your business. So people want to do more and more to make sure that the network is running in a proactive manner. So it?s not just testing. It?s making sure you are providing the quality of service someone is paying for and are able to prove it to them. We think the services side is a rapidly growing market area. People want productivity improvement, cost efficiencies, increased customer satisfaction. We?re working with service providers, mapping their existing systems to help them develop more effective processes, training their people on new technologies and procedures, and then helping to program-manage the whole thing, the change process.
Telecommunications: How have testing products mirrored the growth of telecom networks? For instance, the emphasis in testing currently seems to be on handheld testing units as well as multiprotocol WAN testing platforms. How is industry development shaping service providers? testing demands?
Peeler: It is constantly changing and the demands of the communications market drives us. Our entire direction, our corporate vision and mission, is based on where the industry is going and on these larger-scale trends. But a natural evolution happens. For example, the evolution of SONET. It starts in the network core and as people need faster access it migrates to the network edges and eventually to the end users (business customers). It might be carrying a high-speed data service. We came out with the T-Berd 310 to manage SONET deployment and sold those to almost every service provider in the United States. We added capability, such as OC-48, ATM and optical analysis, as service providers? needs grew. As the market demand grew for SONET testing in a more mobile environment, with technicians out at either the customer premise or in the field in the loop, we introduced the T-Berd 2310, which is a 5-pound handheld version. We tend to introduce handheld products for each new technology that comes out. As more services become available to end users, we introduce products that can test almost every service that?s delivered to the customer premise. So we?ve approached the market from the needs of a user at a particular point in the network and provided an optimum product for that point. The idea is to optimize the product for the workforce and not make a technology-based product and say, ?Here, this is a product that does T1 testing, or here is this product that does SONET testing.? You can?t sell the same product to everybody.
Telecommunications: Has the test and measurement industry been responsive as a whole to the service providers?
Peeler: Yes. We?re changing our whole business based on what our customers are requesting. They are asking us to do a lot more for them now than they asked of us five years ago--in terms of both products and services.
Telecommunications: What kinds of functionality are on the horizon and will prove to be the killer testing apps of the future? Some examples would be nonintrusive testing, massive databank correlation of results, proactive testing throughout all stages of the network.
Peeler: I think all those examples are on the horizon, be it proactive monitoring or being able to pull data from both network elements as well as test systems. Those are important things. I think on the instrument side it is modularity, ease of use, more intelligence in the instrument. One real killer app we?ve brought forward is the ability to make solutions with multiple elements--instruments, systems and software all integrated in a more comprehensive solution. One of the unique things we?ve introduced over the last few months is an instrument that tests POTS and ISDN and soon ADSL--services delivered to the residential customer. We then took that instrument and integrated it into ruggedized PCs that have built-in wireless modems for field service workers. These PCs manage the workforce and deliver the trouble ticket. If you need to verify a credit card number, you can do that. If you need to access back into the network, into the CO and control the test system, you can do that. So we integrated our instrument with a computer and integrated our software with other vendors? equipment to make a comprehensive system that helps the service provider do a more efficient job. It reduces repeats: A technician runs a more comprehensive test with an instrument on which he doesn?t need as much training. That is absolutely a killer app because it quickly pays for itself in terms of economics and customer satisfaction.
Telecommunications: What is the correlation between network optimization and how profitable a service becomes for a provider down the road?
Peeler: Some services have proven easier to deploy than others, and if a service is difficult to deploy, it can hurt its overall acceptance. It also may be superseded by a newer service that is simpler to deploy. The overall efficiency of being able to install it, monitor it and quickly fix it is life or death for service providers. If it takes multiple people to coordinate a test from different ends of the circuit and is too slow to get turned up, or if your competitors can do it faster, they will win business from you. If you can?t fix it quickly and economically, you have to charge more. You either lose customers because of the quality level, or, if you can?t manage the whole thing efficiently, you have to charge more for the service. Then you lose your business to someone who can do it economically. These are core problems for service providers. And they are looking for new ways to solve problems rather than relying on traditional approaches.
Telecommunications: Is DSL running into that trap?
Peeler: It?s going slower than people would like, but it?s happening. People are making major investments in DSL and committing to rolling out a lot of DSL business. Telephone companies have to roll out DSL because they have to compete with cable modems. A competitive environment will produce better services at better pricing on both sides. It?s capitalism at its finest. I think DSL is going to take off because it?s the ILECs? approach to using those copper pairs. They?ll find a way to make that work.
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Above article from telecommagazine.com.
Like most BB stocks this baby is not being taken very seriously by most investors right now. Guess stock price is not very important to mgt. or they would get on the Nasdaq Small Caps. or the Amex now that they qualify.
Still a great buy if you've got a multi-year horizon IMO. |
