Where rubber hits road

I had a former editor who always insisted that any news story worth the cost of the ink (this was pre-Web-newsletter days) showed "where the rubber hits the road."

Despite the absurdity of the analogy--most things that are where the rubber meets the road are flattened in a violent manner--I can't help but recall it as this week's Networld + Interop show kicks into full gear. N+I at one time appeared to be bidding to take over Supercomm as the most important carrier show on the calendar but has receded to more of its enterprise focus. At the same time, it's also the one major show every year in which almost every large carrier sends its top enterprise people.

And while many of us in the access market can become overly preoccupied with the residential market, it's really the enterprise and small business that incumbents frankly are concerned about losing. For while residential users have always been the bread and butter of telco revenue streams, enterprises represent greater margins and significantly higher upside potential. In essence, the enterprise market is where the rubber hits the road.

Stay tuned to Telephony's Web site for updates from the show. For those you going to Las Vegas for the event, always put down the back-up bet on the Pass Line in craps and e-mail me your thoughts at vvittore@primediabusiness.com.