Network management trends requires business model change

Amdocs has just published a survey of network operator management views on the future, and one very interesting point is the degree to which it matches our own results. We’re not setting ourselves as a standard here, but in the past we’ve noted that our own research tends to be a “leading indicator,” and that when more popular sources start to correspond with it, the trends are likely to be imminent.

The survey cited the explosion in the number of relationships rather than the number of customers, and saw the need for partnering with others versus walled gardens as critical. We believe that the mobile broadband challenges have finally tipped the decision process from passive to active mode, and that there will be real change in the service provider business model.

Most of that change is likely to come in 2H10 because if the normal inertia of providers, however, and because players like Amdocs are not well-positioned to drive the change themselves. OSS/BSS providers have actually lost credibility even in their core management space according to our latest survey.