When universes collide

The concept of the multiverse and parallel universes is catching on in the world of astrophysics. And those historically locked in the telecom universe are beginning to see a similar dynamic: theirs is not the only world that matters.

Telecom and media convergence is quickly becoming a reality, but one without consensus on either its dimensions or characteristics. One of the more interesting sessions at next week's TeleManagement World in Dallas will take place on Wednesday at 2:05 p.m. In the session, called "Telecom Media Convergence: Collision and Disruption," a diverse group of panelists will address topics such as layers of convergence and fragmentation, disruptive innovations for scheduling and distributing video, de-centralized content and P2P networks.

Panelists include Bharat Gupta, principal of the communications service provider practice at Infosys Technologies; Johanne Mayer, director of OSS and chief marketing officer at Alcatel; Alan Vincent director of the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences; Debbie Burkett, director of market collaboration at the TMF; Huterer Mario, head of marketing wholesale and platform management at Telekom Austria; and Jim Hopkins, vice president at FOX Sports.

Gupta will present an update on the Telecom Media Convergence (TMC) technical program he initiated and with the help of Mayer, who also serves as a TMF officer, launched at TMC in May. The driving force behind establishing the group was to soften the impact of the inevitable collision between these two super universes and find ways for telecom operators and media companies to work together.

"We initiated the TMC group to try to get input from all the stake holders of convergence, and to find what will be needed or required if we are to expand our community of interest to the media and entertainment business," Mayer said.

The TMC group has identified eight forces acting on telecom media convergence and is seeking input on them. They are:

• Market size increase. The accessible market for Internet and mobile phones has tripled in the last five years. About 70% of households in countries with high purchasing power have access to the high-speed Internet, high-quality mobile or both.
• New and unexpected competitors. Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and other non-telecom companies are now participating in the sale and distribution of communications services. Also, easy customer access threatens content providers and producers.
• Dramatic technology improvement. Ubiquitous high speed access, improvements in IP technology and capacity, UMTS availability, better digitization technology and formatting and increased security makes new technology accessible to a wider audience.
• End device no longer a barrier. Pricing and connectivity and agnosticism of TVs and other devices have improved dramatically.
• Any content, anywhere, anytime. There is a greater willingness to pay for access to games, songs, video clips, motion pictures, static pictures, news, interactive communities and services, from all devices.
• New generation demands. Capacity of mobile phone and Internet content sharing are now prerequisites for peer group acceptance and necessity of life, especially among young people.
• Dwindling regulation. There is significant pressure in the EU to reduce regulation of the convergent media/telecommunications sector. Elsewhere, regulation is not following technological change and is enabling new unregulated entrants to previously tightly regulated markets.
• Increased IP rights protection. Piracy is becoming less attractive as users recognize need to pay for content.

Other TMC participants involved in bringing media and telecom together include: AT&T Labs, BEA Systems, BT, Harris Corporation, HP, Oracle, Swisscom, Siemens and Sun Microsystems. The TMC invited media players like Fox to participate in its panel session as a way of expanding into the media and content arena.

"We definitely believe we can bring value to the content owner, but they need to understand what it is we can bring to them," Mayer said. "This group will be a funnel into creating something that will then trigger the content and media groups to understand how they can play with the TMF."

Alcatel, which played a major role at the Broadband Service Forum, will seek help from the BSF in brining the media and telecom groups together. "I think we can take advantage of what is being done there and what the TMF is doing that compliments each other," Mayer said.

Gupta said the BSF has a considerable membership from the content and media community.

In addition to recruiting, the TMC will produce two technical reports that will define the problems these players will face in a converged environment: the disruptive forces of convergence, the enablers and barriers involved and the reference framework for converged media service providers.

The first of these papers will be distributed internally to TMF members in Dallas.

The second report will cover the impact on the traditional value chain and define the collaborative value grid of telecom media convergence. It will define the relationships between the different players and explain the benefits each brings to the table.

"Nobody would have believed the TMF would go in this direction," Gupta said. "They see the TMF as an OSS/BSS player, but we think the back office has a real role to play in the new media value chain." He said that without a strong management infrastructure within that value chain, convergence wouldn't work for either the telecom or media players.

All this talk of collaboration describes the ideal. However, the new relationships won't be problem-free, as participants try to establish themselves as the power players. It will be the TMC group's mission to smooth out the wrinkles.

"Everybody brings in their views on where they think this is all going," Mayer said. "We have active members such as Alcatel, HP, Oracle, InfoSys, Harris, so we have views form every side. We put out a draft and let everybody argue their points. I believe it is good to have every side of the story being told and I am looking forward to sitting together.

Once the parties have sat together and defined the value chain of a converged environment, Mayer said, the TMF can look at the process required to do business that way and propose enhancements to frameworks such as the enhanced Telecom Operations map, which does not address things such as customer premises equipment for example.