Vendors lag in TM Forum issues like SDPs

The TM Forum (TMF) meeting in Nice this year seemed to show that the body is becoming more relevant to key issues like service delivery platforms (SDPs), content, and even advertising, but that the vendors involved in the process are lagging in their productization of these advances. The product announcements at the meeting were pedestrian and vendors are often defensive in their role in working activity, demonstrating a desire to direct the processes to the benefit of their companies in the near term. We believe that the programs will win out, since both the survival of the body and the support of the network operators and service providers that buy the systems and software will depend on relevance to current market needs.