2005 - Telecoms and Data Marketplace Snapshot

Whats the point of this? Well, if we look at what was happening in the Telecoms and Data marketplace in 2005 (with due regard to what went before), then compare it with 2008, hopefully we can have some idea where Telecoms and Data are going in the next 1 - 3 years.

Around 2005 the Telecoms Industry was in a phase of stable but unspectacular sales growth. Emerging technology included VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) - which Telecoms System Resellers were (completely wrongly!! - more about that later) talking about as the Holy Grail of communications and also Hosted Systems were starting to emerge into the marketplace. What are Hosted Systems? Well, the idea is that instead of the Customer buying an expensive Telephone System that needs maintaining, programming and upgrading they rent the capabilities of a much larger more powerful system that is hosted centrally, managed and maintained by dedicated expert staff.

The idea of only paying for what you need when you need it, and leaving all the clever stuff to a provider rather than having to employ and train your own staff to manage complex systems is definitely a trend that is common to both Telecoms and Data as we shall see.

Another trend emerging by 2005 was the used of ADSL (Asynchronus Digital Subscriber Lines) by businesses to connect their internal Data Networks to the outside world - as a much cheaper alternative to dedicated Leased Line circuits. ADSL is not a technology ideally suited to business use and if we were to choose technology on any basis other than cost ADSL would not be used by businesses for either Data or Telecoms. In the real world, however, price is extremely important to all businesses, and so "Business Grade ADSL" services were springing up everywhere.

Another trend emerging (from as far back as 2000) was that Data Manufacturers (eg. Cisco, 3COM) were adding Telecoms capabilities to their Data Switching products - and Telecoms Manufacturers were selling small business one box solutions giving Data and Voice Network solutions in a single "low cost" package - as well as adding the ability to send Voice Calls over Data links.