In the past couple of years, data networking giant Cisco Systems has been on a mission to increase its expertise and expand its product breadth in the telecommunications space. Leading the charge in the carrier space is Kevin Kennedy, senior vice president of the service provider line of business at Cisco. Today's service providers are faced with huge challenges as well as business opportunities created by the growth of the Internet, which in turn is causing an epic market disruption. Any time there is a market disruption, the level of wealth creation and change in the industry are of pioneering proportion, with the values of the past not indicative of the purchase criteria of the future.
Markets expand and products segment along the lines of functionality, customer intimacy and cost.
One of the key results, and a lesson for us all, is the winners of the past are not necessarily winners or players in the future. In order to succeed in this new Internet market, service providers must be aware of these market dynamics. After the success of these low-cost phones, we realized consumers didn't care if a phone was sturdy as long as it worked. The market's values had changed overnight and, as a result, we lost a great deal of market share. Relating this to today's environment, aggressively pursuing the Internet and seeking new business models to succeed in this new environment becomes the essential challenge.