Telcordia Turns 25, Speculates on What's Next in Communications

Once upon a time there was AT&T (News - Alert), which got itself “divested” into a bunch of smaller (though still quite large) companies in 1984. One of these, Bellcore was first chartered as the research and development organization for the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). Later it became an independent company that continues to deliver innovation, experience and reach to communications service providers (CSPs) worldwide.

 

Bellcore was in charge of the super-stringent Network Equipment-Building System (NEBS) requirements that are a subset of the family of requirements published known as LSSGR (LATA Switching System Generic Requirement). In the U.S., telco-grade fault resilient products fell under Belcore’s NEBS documents. In Europe manufacturers follow the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, or ETSI (News - Alert), criteria. Fault resilient/fault tolerant computer makers like to claim that their NEBS-compliant devices are also ETSI compliant, since ETSI is sort of the European equivalent of NEBS in the U.S., though ETSI also defines what can go into the customer premise whereas NEBS addresses the central office. At one point there was a discussion about bringing NEBS and ETSI criteria into an accord known as NEBS 2000, a carrier-funded project that also involved how the CO environment and NEBS requirements would change in the future. Early work on data center requirements evolved from this study (telcos have also had data centers in addition to fcentral offices to handle enhanced services).

 

As part of an agreement involving its 1997 takeover by Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), Bellcore then changed its name to Telcordia (News - Alert) Technologies.

 

And now, in January 2009, Telcordia, presently a global leader in the development of IP, wireline and mobile telecommunications software and services, turns 25.

 

“Very few envisioned the technological explosion that has occurred or the life-altering impact that communications has had,” said Mark Greenquist, CEO, Telcordia. “During the past 25 years, Telcordia has remained at the forefront of these advancements, making technological breakthroughs that have literally changed the way the world communicates by continuously linking people, ideas, and economies through communications technology.”

 

Telcordia’s list of industry contributions includes pioneering such landmark technologies as SONET, ATM, AIN and fiber optics. From the ability to attach a document to an e-mail, to intelligent networking, to number portability, Telcordia invented the technology that has brought added choice, convenience and opportunity to the global marketplace, and it will continue to do so with its continued focus on driving communications forward.

 

“As we look to the next 25 years we are excited about what the world has yet to experience,” said Adam Drobot, CTO and President, Advanced Technology Solutions (News - Alert), Telcordia. “Over the last 25 years the industry has made explosive progress in delivering ubiquitous access for a vast array of content. Going forward, this progress will further accelerate and amplify, particularly in providing highly personalized and predictive machine-to-machine information that anticipates, prepares and responds to a person’s specific needs.”

 

On the eve of its 25th anniversary, Telcordia has released its speculations on what they consider to be the Top Five Future Trends:

 

1) Faster, Smaller, Higher Capacity: Technology devices will be faster, smaller, hold greater amounts of information and be much more ubiquitous. For example 4K television (having four times the resolution of today’s best commercially available HDTV) is already being demonstrated. That will be followed by “ultra television,” with 16 times better clarity than television today and the promise of total sensory immersion across a wide array of devices and applications.

 

2) Machine-to-Machine Communications: Voice, data and video will further converge to more radical and pervasive machine-to-machine based communication platforms that will revolutionize how people receive, send and use information. The automotive driving experience will be transformed by “cognitive cars” that will be in constant communication with each other. Amongst other things, these cars will relay information about road conditions (“slippery intersection 400 yards ahead”) and coordinate each others’ behavior in emergency situations.

 

3) Anticipatory Communications: Information that people receive will go beyond improved, timely and relevant to a more predictive and anticipatory paradigm where people and machines receive information before they think of using it. Information will be delivered in the format, language and perspective that the user wants and it will be tailored based on the user’s behaviors, tastes and preferences. For example, your refrigerator will not only inventory your grocery needs, but it will also relay the list to your favorite or nearest grocer, who will have your groceries ready for pickup.

 

4) Bandwidth Abundance: Broadband availability will continue its upward trend and continue to feed our insatiable appetite for more bandwidth. That increased bandwidth coupled with compression technology will breed a new generation of communications that will go beyond providing information on a query-based user delivered design and migrate towards a proactive machine-to-machine communications platform. All industries, from healthcare to construction, will be revolutionized by how information will be treated and delivered — it will allow for more productivity, accuracy and touch points.

 

5) Immersive Services: With increased intelligence, bandwidth and connectivity, mobile devices will blur the boundaries between the real and the virtual allowing augmented cognition and reality mining. Users will be seamlessly connected through a wide variety of network technologies to vast but highly targeted information sources, participate in flexible social networks in the new augmented reality, and be assisted in all aspects of life by personalized, situation-aware applications. All of this will be supported by the trusted and secure communications platforms of the future.

 

To learn more about Telcordia’s significant milestones, a historical video overview and background information on the company, visit www.telcordia.com/aboutus/telcordia25/index.html.