FROM PETERBILT TO OPTIMUS PRIME

IF Life Imitated Art, network and business transformation would be instantaneous, as easy and as fast as transforming from a Peterbilt truck into an Autobot named Optimus Prime or from a Chevy Camaro into a 'bot called Bumblebee.

Steven Spielberg has a knack for bringing a tear to the eye with both lighthearted movies such as E.T. and overwhelmingly emotional dramas such as Schindler's List. But Transformers? A robot movie based on a cartoon? You bet.

Odds are that if Shadman Zafar, chief information officer for Verizon — or any of the other technologists in charge of making the transformation to a next-generation architecture while trying to bring the business along with it — sat in a theater watching how easily these complex robotic aliens transformed from one thing to another, it would bring a tear to his eye. Reality is just not like that.

Zafar is the subject of this issue's cover story on page 6. He opens up about the benefits, challenges and progress of the transformation Verizon has undertaken in its landline business. Verizon has made IT the engine of its transformation. Taking a service oriented architecture approach, the company is bringing FiOS to market in a whole new way — at least for Verizon. The big difference, as you will see, is how they are putting access to traditional operations support systems/business support systems functions directly into the hands of consumers, an idea as alien to service providers as a transforming Decepticon.

Others are taking up this challenge as well. On page 10, Susana Schwartz highlights a project called Content Encounter, led by AT&T, that is just getting under way in the TeleManagement Forum's Catalyst Project environment. It demonstrates how a new service delivery framework can unleash the potential for location-based, presence-based and social networking—based services.

Keith Willetts, chairman of the TM Forum, also addresses content on page 16, crowning it king in his view of the shifting balance of power in telecom's evolving value chain.

And to put all this into perspective, Patrick Kelly, partner and co-founder of OSS Observer, provides a marketwide look on page 12 at the disruptive phase in which service providers find themselves, explaining why it will take a full-enterprise effort to come out on the winning side of that turmoil.

An interesting complement to these articles also appears online. Telephony's Rich Karpinski illustrates how the nightmare scenario for telcos did not end with Halloween last week. It continues with the never-ending threat from a growing list of out-of-the-box competitors. However, Karpinski does more than just frighten you; he offers up enough garlic and wooden stakes to ward off any start-up ghoul that comes along.

Throughout, it becomes clear that transformation is not easy and, unlike the movies, is not swift. But take heart. Even fans of Transformers complained that at a mere two hours and 24 minutes, the movie dragged on too long.