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October found me flying over the Swiss Alps again to "Confoederatio Helvetica" to attend the ITU sponsored Telecom World 2003. Even though the Alps were still standing tall and mighty, and the Swiss chocolate still the same - delicious and mouth melting - the zing was missing from the biggest Telecom show on the earth. Everything that was there in 1999 was conspicuous by its absence. In 1999, everyone had put up a dog and pony show. Multiple players had showcased their wares, built around the inflated promise and over-expectation of Internet as a medium. There were huge multistory stalls from the mobile operators and 3G was the buzzword - not because of its earning potential - but because of the money spent in acquiring the licenses. Incumbents and challengers alike had put up a dazzling display, complete with magicians, truly believing in their own wizardry in the brave new world. It was a curious (and maybe vicious) spiral - the content, the transmission and the delivery promise that led to inflated valuations, and somewhere someone forgot to ask the consumer what he thought about the whole affair!
After the loss of billions of dollars and millions of jobs, the mood this time was definitely mellow. There was no overriding theme - like 3G - but there was a lot of talk on convergence and access technologies. Carriers and operators from the US and Western Europe have suffered the biggest knockout blows - and some of them have not yet scrambled back to the ring. Even the big networking and computing vendors from these regions were substantially subdued. Consequently, the Asian companies dominated this show more than ever before. Japan had the biggest area coverage through its stalls, but yet, typical to their style, were as unobtrusive as possible. Just like a quiet Haiku. Korean companies were aggressively in the forefront, complete with musical quartets and martial art performers. And big brother - neighbour China - watching them from the sidelines, preparing for its share of the sunshine. The contrasting moods of the various continents stood out starkly.
A word on the Indian Pavilion. In the electric blue of the connected world, it was strangely yellow and green. In contrast to slick presentations being done by others, we had multiple screens masquerading as a single screen, with not enough chairs or space to invite someone to sit and watch the tepid content being served. Clearly, we could have done much better!
The times have changed, fortunately for the better. In the old days, the buzzwords were 4Cs - Connectivity, Content, Commerce and Community. Now they read differently - Convergence, Competition, Cash Flow - and thankfully - Customers
Rahul Swarup
President
Sify Enterprise Solution
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