Norsk Telefoningeniørmøte 1992 - Telenor

96
New technology and markets
KARL A ALSMAR
The creativity and
entrepreneurial factors
New technology and new markets are not
just out there waiting for us. They will be
the result of our collective efforts.
At a “Telefoningeniørmøte” I find it is
essential to emphasise the very important
role the engineers play in all the sectors
of our industry, the engineers who create
the new market possibilities and who by
visionary entrepreneurship set a new
market segment in motion by creation
and exploitation of technology.
In our industry we have been remarkably
successful using new technology to
create more efficient and more economic
telecommunications systems and
networks. And we will succeed to do this
also in the coming broadband era by
creating and using extremely advanced
technologies.
But the challenge in front of us is not on
technology only, but rather on the
creation of new telecommunications services
of real value for the end users; services
that will generate the future economic
growth of our telecommunications
industry. Our industry must be much
better in creating the services from the
users point of view and not only from a
network or from a technology point of
view.
When we create these valuable services
we must look much more for ways to
make the services easier to use. Smart
cards, menu driven dialogues, voice
recognition and synthesis technology, etc
will be increasingly important to assist
the end users.
Those of us who are able to combine
competencies and technologies from
many different areas will be the successful
creators of the future market expansion
in telecommunications.
We at Ericsson see very clearly the
enormous creative and entrepreneurial
possibilities that are generated when we
combine our end user applications
knowledge with our technological
strengths in public switching, business
communications and cellular mobile
radio systems, into complete solutions
for attractive services for the end users.
Society evolution and
telecommunications
Technology and social change are interdependent.
Telecommunications have a wide and
deep impact on various aspects of the
society and on our way of living. The
prospects for the future are that we will
see an expanding social and economic
role of telecommunications.
We are working in a world where work is
being done in teams and groups and
committees. We are toiling for ever in
meetings, conferences, seminars. Is this
well-spent time? Could we reach better
decisions with the aid of more suitable,
potent and convivial tools inside and outside
of the meeting rooms, and thereby
with the aid of telecommunications bring
in colleagues and experts from anywhere?
“Computer and Telecommunications
Support for Collaboratory Work” is a
fascinating subject that will have a profound
impact on the society, the companies
and the individuals.
At present, many industries are undergoing
a major shift, from labour-intensive
structures to knowledge-intensive
structures. Companies with business
activities spread over a wide or even
global geographical area are becoming
heavily dependent on telecommunications.
The increasing flow of information and
the pressure of time on decision-making
processes mean that more and more
efficient communications systems are
needed in order to have the required
information available anywhere at any
time.
But telecommunications must not only
focus on a more efficient society. We
must also use telecommunications to the
benefit of the individual human being.
Telecommunications put individuals in
close contact. The free flow of
information is a corner stone for the
democracies. And in recent years we
have all witnessed the power of telecommunications
as a crucial factor in opening
closed countries to democracy. Individuals
use telecommunications for entertainment,
for education, for security, for
gossiping etc and we do this more and
more.
One important area which we as engineers
and industry leaders should pay
more attention to is the growing amount
of elderly and disabled people. We can
surely create more telecommunications
solutions to make life easier for them.
Sometimes good telecommunications
solutions could be the key for better
participation and integration of elderly
and disabled people in the society.
The dynamics of the
telecommunications
market
The regulatory authorities in the world’s
three main trading blocks, North
America, Pacific Rim and the EC are
favouring the liberalisation of telecommunications.
Although they have approached
the issue from different
perspectives, substantial efforts have
been made to support competition aimed
at encouraging the development of new
and innovative services to the benefit of
end-users.
These changes have led to profound
changes in the telecom market and
thereby to the framework for applications
and exploitation of technology. And it is
interesting to note that it is new technology
and its opportunities that have been
the underlying force that has initiated
these fundamental changes in the market.
The established national operators are
facing threats from regulatory changes,
new bypass alternatives and new competitors.
Private networks, niche operators
and global operators compete aggressively
with the established operators.
But the established operators with their
broad range of networks, services and
competencies have an exciting challenge
to use modern network management
tools to please the end-users. This means
rapid response to new service requests,
availability and protection of services
and on-demand network configuration.
The new dynamics of the telecommunications
market implies that market and
customer segmentation must play a fundamental
role in defining the telecommunications
strategies. Strategies based
on technology only will not lead to
successful business for any of the players
in the telecommunications market, not
for the operators and the suppliers and
not for the end users.
The established operators and the large
suppliers have historically demonstrated