Vogt: Fixed-Mobile Convergence Is Industry’s Biggest Challenge, Opportunity

01/01/2006

General Bandwidth’s Charlie Vogt

You might say Charlie Vogt has seen it all. With nearly two decades of executive tenure, Vogt, the president and CEO of VoIP infrastructure company General Bandwidth Inc., also has served as president and CEO of Taqua Inc., and been on the executive teams at Accelerated Networks, ADTRAN Inc., Ascend Communications and Santera Systems.

Given his broad industry experience, xchange decided Vogt would be the perfect candidate to kick off our “Then & Now” Q&A, which will be a feature of each issue of xchange in 2006 to commemorate the magazine’s 10-year anniversary.

The following is an excerpt of a recent conversation between Vogt and xchange Editor in Chief Paula Bernier.

XC: 2006 is xchange magazine’s 10th anniversary and also the 10-year anniversary of the Telecom Act. In what key ways has the industry changed in the last decade?

CV:
We’ve made a lot of progress over the last 10 years. We’ve gone from 2400-baud modems to high-speed broadband at the home and in your hand with the various mobile devices. Multimedia applications have always sort of been trailing the infrastructure that’s been built over the last 10 years. I think one of the dynamics we’re seeing over the last few years is multimedia applications are finally starting to catch up.
XC: On a more personal note, what were you doing 10 years ago?
CV:
Ironically, 10 years [ago] I was just joining Ascend Communications from ADTRAN. I spent the next four years with Ascend before Lucent acquired it. We went on quite an acquisition binge ourselves at Ascend, acquiring some pretty notable companies like Cascade Communications.

If you look at where the focus was 10 years ago and you look at today — where I think a big part of the industry’s focus is access.

XC: What significant developments do you expect to see in the next 10 years?
CV:
I still think that over the next 10 years there’s going to be a huge focus on delivering broadband to every home, business and handheld device. Consumers are focused on convenience, and convenience really revolves around the various applications in the industry. You’re going to need high-speed broadband to be able to get those kinds of services.

Also, if you fast forward about 10 years, I think we’ll have three or five mega service providers. I just don’t see how you’re going to have lots of small niche players that are going to be able to survive in a market that is going to be as dynamic as it is.

XC: What exciting new applications do you expect to see in the next 10 years?
CV:
The average consumer even three years ago, I think, never thought they would use a wireless handheld device — whether it’s your phone or a BlackBerry-type device — in the way they do. I think that the wireless industry has an enormous amount of upside, and frankly that’s why you’re seeing all the major RBOCs invest in some sort of wireless property. You’re even seeing the cable operators partner and invest in wireless properties themselves.

This whole fixed-mobile convergence over the next 10 years is going to be a phenomenon, and it’s the biggest opportunity and it’s the biggest challenge that the service providers and the equipment vendors have in front of them. The day you can — seamlessly, virtually, everywhere — leave your house or business where you have a landline and be able to transition to your handheld wireless device is not too far away.

XC: How is General Bandwidth positioning to address those future developments?
CV:
We are very focused on fixed-mobile convergence. We are going to approach that market from where our strength has been, and that has been on the fixed-wireline side. We will enter the wireless market in this fixed-mobile convergence strategy. I think you’ll see that early in ’06 we will be announcing some technologies that allow us to participate in the wireless space and in this fixed-mobile convergence space.
XC: Is there anything you wanted to add?
CV:
I’m surprised you didn’t ask about IMS. I actually sit on the ATIS board, which is made up [of] what I believe to be the industry thought leaders both on the wireline and the wireless side. IMS is something most of the technology companies have been following. It’s really the operating system for the next-generation network. It’s the essential building blocks for the future. I think from General Bandwidth’s perspective we’re very well-positioned in that we’re supporting the IMS standards, and we’ll be very IMS-compliant.
Links
General Bandwidth www.genband.com

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