NXTcomm: Services with a Smile

As networks become increasingly complex, with wireline operators adding wireless and vice versa, and a host of new applications coming online, vendors are finding that professional services are becoming crucial parts of any new deal, according to conversations at NXTComm 08.

Ericsson for one noted that a full 40 percent of its workforce is dedicated to professional services and implementation. It completes the package, said Arun Bhikshesvaran, vice president of business strategy and CTO for Ericsson North America.

“Having people on the ground is really important to carriers,” he said. “In the span of four years the kind of conversation we’re having with carriers has become dramatically different, because there‘s an end-to-end explosion of devices that are connected to the network. Broadband and mobility are a huge influence of the velocity of telecom transformation.”

Ericsson can handle the device side, the access and core side, and the applications, he said, but it’s the integration, engineering and implementation that really become important as the complexity grows.

Mike Cooper, vice president of marketing and strategy for the multicore business division at Alcatel-Lucent, noted that being more than product-centric enables a vendor to stand out, now more than ever.

“The reality is that for the carrier to transform to IP, they’re going from a classical connection model to focusing on applications and services,” he said. “You’re dealing with an end-to-end discussion, and having a full services organization to wrap around all of that is critically important in the customer’s decision.”

Alcatel-Lucent, he said, works with customers on business modeling, engineering and design.

Nortel Networks has noticed a similar trend on the applications end, said Sita Lowman, leader of converged core and application marketing for carrier networks at Nortel. Nortel at NXTcomm just announced an expansion of its unified communications offerings to include a carrier-delivered managed version of UC based on IBM Lotus and IBM Sametime. The company also provides a fully hosted version of the joint Nortel-Microsoft Corp. UC effort, which essentially gives SMBs a hosted Microsoft Office Communications Server and Exchange.

“We do all the systems integration for carriers as well,” she said. “We partner with IBM to deliver professional services, and are the preferred SI for Microsoft. That has become hugely important to carriers when considering whether to add this.”

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