Probably everyone’s parents and grandparents, at some point, advised them not to be a worrier. Far be it from me to go against that kind of historical weight, but suppose at some point you feel like you have to worry? Suppose that you’re the kind who believes in planning for the worst because the best…
Telcos Need to Change. Do They Know How?
“The times, they are a’changin,” according to an old Dylan song. That’s surely true in the telecom world, according to the telcos themselves. Looking back over the first full year of Andover Intel operation, and the conversations I’ve had with 88 telcos and cable companies worldwide, I can see both direct and indirect evidence of…
The Cloud: What Enterprises Think they Got Wrong
Cloud credibility took a hit in 2023, there’s no question about it. It’s still taking one in 2024 too. One troubling truth is that there are still signs that the lack of thorough evaluation of cloud benefits is (no pun) clouding current cloud planning. Might the same thing that led to too much cloud may…
Looking Back at MWC, and Ahead to the Future
Well, MWC is over. The general sense I got from those who attended, both the operators and the vendors, was that it was a cross between a wedding reception and a wake. That’s fair, because I think that’s actually what it was. It celebrated the marriage of telcos and AI, and it celebrated the death…
Should RAN Infrastructure be Used for Other Missions? Should All RAN be Cloudified?
There’s always going to be some vendor whining regarding any technology. Somehow, buyers don’t seem to accept that it is their duty to buy the latest technology offered, whether they actually have a business case for it or not. Vendors keep insisting that even if the new stuff doesn’t really do what’s needed, that’s only…
What Do Operators Themselves Think About New Revenue Opportunities?
In a blog on Monday, I talked about the action that operators might be taking to improve their business model in the next three years. I based this on comments from 81 operators. Now, I want to use the same sources to look at what operators think about new services over the same period. Obviously,…
The AI Landscape is Changing, to Something Less Exciting and More Valuable
The AI landscape is changing. It’s not really obvious at this point because most people get their AI views by reading online stories, and they’re not tracking the reality of the shift at this point. Maybe they never will. Whether they do or not, we have to remember that AI adoption, the profits from AI,…
What’s Next for the Network Operators?
What are the network operators, the telcos and cable companies, going to do over the next three years? What should they do? Any questions like that, however important they may be, are necessarily difficult to answer because the future is never really clear. But we have to try, and what I propose to do is…
Why Network Technology Needs a New Channel Strategy
The term “networking” has two meanings. In the one we in the industry use most often, it means the process of building connectivity. In the other, the “connect” root translates into “connections”, meaning interpersonal or inter-company relationships. It may be time, in order to pursue progress in the first sense of the term, we accept…
Social Versus Industrial: The Metaverse Options and Who Might Drive Them
In a couple of my recent blogs, I talked about Nokia initiatives that might (directly or indirectly) jump-start the fusion of AI and the metaverse. That could launch a boom in tech, a pathway to enhancing the productivity of a whole class of workers we’ve been ignoring, the ones that aren’t sitting at desks. But…