In 14 minutes you can gain the essence of what’s covered in the Anywhere, Anytime Communications edition, including highlights and perspectives from a selection of articles and key success factors from our featured customer case studies.
Anywhere, Anytime Communications - Executive Summary Podcast Script
(Full Summary Transcript)
Hello. My name is John Giere, Chief Marketing Officer and Enriching Communications Editor-in-Chief at Alcatel-Lucent. During this program, it is my pleasure to bring you the highlights and key perspectives from a selection of articles found in our Anywhere, Anytime Communications edition. These topics and many more are explored in-depth throughout the full edition of the magazine. We hope you find these insights helpful to your company as you endeavor to support today’s mobile user and prepare for tomorrow’s marketplace demands.
From boomer-generation office workers to multi-tasking Millennials, from Apple’s iTunes to Google’s YouTube to mobile TV, and all the possibilities in between – our world and the applications we use at work, at home and at play are on the move.
Today the mobility industry is a dynamic and growing market. We see growth from first-time users, such as in India where more than six million people a month sign up for mobile service, to the sophisticated multimedia sessions happening in Korea where savvy consumers are enjoying multi-user mobile gaming and video calling. We are only beginning to capitalize on the versatility and potential of these ever-advancing technologies and business models.
Consumers and enterprises are using mobile services differently from the way they did just a few years ago and the underlying technology is evolving rapidly, which inevitably means change is coming to how we all operate in this new mobile market. To be successful, all along the value chain we will need to transform ourselves to embrace new business models that can capitalize on these market dynamics and adopt operational processes that improve both top line and bottom line results. The full edition of Enriching Communications frames and explores this mobile transformation from a 360-degree view, looking at it from the perspective of users, market strategies, technologies and business models.
During this program, I’ll share some of the key success factors being enjoyed by our customers featured in this edition. Let’s start with SK Telecom in Korea.
Over the past two years, SK Telecom – South Korea’s largest mobile operator – has aggressively deployed one of the world’s first handset-based, next-generation High-Speed Packet Access, or HSPA, networks in cities across southern Korea. The services HSPA enables include not only high-definition video-on-demand and music streaming, but also multi-user mobile gaming, video calling, multimedia messaging and a host of other high-bandwidth services.
The introduction of these types of services marks an important transition for SK Telecom as it moves from a voice-based business model to one contingent on monetizing data services. It’s important to note that they have been profitably growing their business, while adding over 1.8 million subscribers between 2006 and 2007. It is also significant in this industry that their wireless data revenue has grown faster than their rate of total revenue growth.
SK Telecom believes that, by taking a strategic approach to integrating and optimizing different network technologies, they can serve the needs of existing subscribers, while laying the technological groundwork for future services in a cost-effective manner.
We also examine how AT&T has been successful in differentiating their offering by brining their Video Share service, the first of its kind in the United States, to nearly 160 markets. This marks an important milestone in AT&T’s strategy to attract new subscribers interested in unique communications features. Their service enables one-way, live streaming video feeds that can be seen by users during a two-way conversation. Once a Video Share call is initiated, the service allows customers to switch the direction of the video stream during the same phone call.
Did you know that AT&T’s Video Share is the first true IMS-based end-user service leveraging the carrier’s high-speed third-generation, or 3G network? What makes this service unique is the IMS platform AT&T put in place from Alcatel-Lucent. IMS enables AT&T to differentiate its offerings with the delivery of an unlimited number of attractive multimedia communication services anywhere, anytime with other AT&T subscribers.
We’re also seeing a lot of interest in the commercial viability and business model associated with WiMAX. Therefore, we felt it was important to bring you some insights into ONEMAX’S experience in the Dominican Republic as proof of the benefits WiMAX can deliver to carriers in developing economies. WiMAX, which can be quickly and cost-effectively deployed, is an effective solution for rapidly developing countries, where access to voice and broadband services can improve social and economic development, but is often restricted due to lack of infrastructure or geographical constraints.
Six months after the contract was signed with Alcatel-Lucent, ONEMAX launched the world’s first WiMAX Rev-e network in the 3.5 gigahertz spectrum, connecting its first customer in October 2007. According to Raoul Fontanez, CEO of ONEMAX, “With WiMAX, the rollout could be done quickly, at a competitive capital expenditure per subscriber, and it is very easy to target the specific geographic zones where there is strong demand.”
ONEMAX offers voice and broadband access services to both enterprises and individual consumers and is also using WiMAX for machine to machine communication. An interesting example is the Automated Teller Machine, or ATM connection. By connecting ATMs via WiMAX, rather than the fixed wired network, banks can deploy terminals anywhere within network coverage, not just inside a bank branch. Clearly, ONEMAX is demonstrating how viable WiMAX can be in commercial deployments.
So what are some of the mobile innovations we’re seeing in the enterprise domain? The Visiting Nurse Association, or V N A of Northern New Jersey, USA has partnered with Alcatel-Lucent to build a secure mobile computing solution that not only protects their patients’ sensitive data, but also improves the quality of patient care. Securing patient data in a mobile environment has proven to be a competitive differentiator for their visiting nurse business, while providing VNA managers with much-needed peace of mind. This is especially true when you consider the estimated cost to monitor and protect one individual from loss of personal data is approximately $50 USD and the loss of a single VNA laptop could compromise up to 20,000 patient records. If their patient data is not properly secured, that amounts to a $1 million USD exposure.
The mobile point-of-care hardware – the front line of their system – is a 3G enabled laptop equipped with the Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess 3500 Nonstop Laptop Guardian, or N L G solution. The NLG’s remote administration, maintenance and security capabilities enable VNA IT staff to effectively maintain a complex, wide-area network with minimal additional manpower and capital investment.
VNA has also begun to chart improvements in standards of care. For example, the accessibility of near-real-time visit reports to other visiting nurses and attending physicians has reduced medical mistakes and redundancies in the field.
Wireless enterprise technology is also bringing real business benefits to the City of Espoo in Finland where communication challenges were not unlike those that many CIOs face today. Espoo’s CIO explains how in addition to the natural complexities of each employee having multiple reach numbers, their city was absorbing high costs associated with call forwarding. Costs and complexity were also high as a result of managing multiple networks in a highly siloed manner.
The City of Espoo made it a strategic priority to consolidate their infrastructure from separate data, phone and mobile networks into a single integrated ICT environment. They have deployed Alcatel-Lucent’s OmniPCX Enterprise solution to maximize efficiency and flexibility across a significant mobile workforce. Today, over 4,000 Espoo city employees use Alcatel-Lucent’s Advanced Cellular Extension solution. Their CIO is pleased to report an expected 15-25 percent savings per year from both voice and data networking operations, while ensuring their employees remain more available to their constituents.
If you’re a regular reader, you know that our customer cases are merely the punctuation mark on some of the most important trends, strategies and technologies in this vibrant marketplace. As you engage with the full edition of the magazine, you’ll find a wealth of information from our experts on the most topical issues facing our industry today, all designed to help you gain a competitive edge – information ranging from the latest on Mobile TV, Eco-Sustainability and All-IP Mobile Transport to Web 2.0, Telco 2.0 and the evolution to forth generation or 4G systems. You’ll further find valuable information in our trends section on how to capitalize on the accessibility of services and networks for both developed and high growth economies. I’ve also included an article on the Millennials, 11-to-25 year-olds who have grown up with mobile phones and Internet access and who will yield incredible market power over the next 30 years. In fact, our research shows that just for blended services alone in selected markets, the Millennial addressable market opportunity is estimated to be more than $10 billion USD by 2011.
We hope you enjoyed this executive summary podcast of our Anywhere, Anytime Communications edition. I invite you to learn more by taking the time to engage with the full complement of articles online. Our goal is to spark your thinking on how to take advantage and win in this mobile transformation that will make the exciting future possibilities a reality for the 6.4 billion people of the world.
As always, we welcome your feedback, comments and insights as you explore this issue of Enriching Communications magazine at www.alcatel-lucent.com/enrich.