Thoughts From Broadband World Forum Europe
I hope everyone had a nice weekend! Last week I had the pleasure of going to Berlin for the Broadband World Forum, and while I was there predominantly for the IEC InfoVision Award ceremony (we were a finalist but, alas, not a winner), the show ended up being quite interesting. I attended some thought-provoking keynotes from executives of major carriers and manufacturers that were more insightful than the usual keynote fare. Now that I’m caught up on sleep and back on Eastern Time, I wanted to share a few of the themes that caught my eye:
- Though not a surprise, the show’s key theme was “video, Video, VIDEO!” It’s here, it’s a major driver for change and will only grow in importance to everyone (carriers, service providers, marketing, engineers, etc.).
- The debate on Net Neutrality is continuing and looks like it will come to a head in 2008. In terms of where we’re headed, Telenor’s Vice President and Head of Nordic Fixed, Berit Svendsen, gave a clue when she pointed out that flat rate, best effort services are not a sustainable business model and that they need to add premium content with high QoE. Other discussions pointed out that “Net Neutrality” should be applicable to best-effort services to ensure reasonable and fair competition.
- Ethernet aggregation networks are all the rage. BTW, I’m headed to New York for Light Reading’s Ethernet Expo 2007 this week - I’m looking forward to comparing the two shows’ perspectives.
- IP Core on Optical seems to be the long term consensus.
All in all, a very educational and worthwhile trip. Kudos to the IEC for putting together such a great lineup of talks.
