The harder they fall

As a child sitting in my immigrant grandfather's lap, I would avidly watch what was, even then, wildly misnamed professional wrestling. To a child's eyes (and yes, even my grandfather's) it was an exciting world of bone-crunching competition where the biggest wrestler didn't always win. Now as an adult, I get to witness the same low and high drama from my desk. Every industry has its day. Now telecom enters this rarefied air of heroes, villains, technology tag teams, bandwidth body slams and unpredictable outcomes.

Welcome to the 1998 telecom battlefield. If the siege engines aren't already at your organization's walls, they're being maneuvered into place. Competition is alive and well despite all the lip service being paid about the failures of the Telecom Reform Act. As usual, the legislators arrived in the emperor's new clothes and about a decade too late for the real festivities. Anybody see the sun beginning to set on the dial tone business they just deregulated? Watson, come here-I need some Web tone. Technology is the wrecking ball that will reshape your world, not legislation.

It's the 21st century...do you know where your network is? It is the age of the lowest cost-per-bit network winning the game, and some of you aren't in training. We're here to help. Telephony's readers are a varied lot-LECs, CLECS, ISPs, IXCs, MSOs, PCS providers. It's a veritable alphabet soup of competitors and organizations vying with one another to provide voice, data and video services to customers. Every week, our singular mission is to provide you with the industry news and network technology information you need to thrive in today's competitive carrier arena.

There are two key elements to your business: network technology and customers. Network technology is the core of your business-it's the lever you use to move your world. At no other time in this industry has network technology moved as quickly and been such a blessing and such a beast. Our goal at Telephony is to deliver accurate, timely facts, insightful analysis and industry-centric context concerning the technologies that are recasting your professional life-IP telephony, IP switching, third generation wireless, optical transport and switching, DSL, TMN, DWDM, OSS, network management and more.

Nowhere in the industry is convergence more apparent than at your customer's door. In one form or another, you are all competing for the same customers, either at their offices or their homes-if not today, then certainly tomorrow. Telephony is at the forefront of covering the technologies that are redefining the competition for customers-billing packages, service creation platforms, data warehousing, customer care, and marketing and sales strategies.

The industry is setting an ambitious tempo, and we'll certainly dance the tune. In 1998, Telephony is adding editorial and graphics staff to our technology departments and A.M. Report news section. The amount of technology change and information is expanding rapidly. These investments mean we have the eyes and ears to bring you what you need to know.

We will also continue to publish the premium supplements and special publications that sharply focus on specific topics. Because of your strong interest in these premium publications, we are creating a separate editorial staff to grow and add to these important products. Powering the Network, our magazine-in-a magazine devoted to network power and energy technology, expands to six issues in 1998. PCS Edge, our in-depth, quarterly PCS publication, appears again in 1998 in its quarterly time slot. Internet Edge, Telephony's look at how IP technologies are changing the network infrastructure and services, grows to three issues in 1998.

I hope your 1998 information travels also include Telephony's Web site, www.internettelephony.com.

It has numerous features that are delivering great value to its users (which grew steadily in 1997). In addition to our exclusive on-line editorial features, a dedicated search engine allows you to search our comprehensive archives. Our newly improved on-line JobZone now has its own search engine for those of you seeking to explore your vast and growing professional horizons. And more.

As the great business philosopher and re-engineering expert Conan the Barbarian, said, may you crush your enemies and hear their lamentations. We wish you a professionally enriching and successful 1998. And remember, as we all know, the biggest guy doesn't always win.