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Business Broadband Cloud Computing Fiber to the Premise Software Defined Network

Value Added Business Services Drive New Revenue

The informational graphic about the webinars that will be held at ITS Fiber.

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An image showing the interior of ITS Fiber's Data Center.
ITS Fiber Data Center

Perhaps data center was the wrong term to use in describing the event Viodi is producing in conjunction with ITS Fiber this week in Florida. It is almost impossible for an independent operator to compete with large, data centers that are essentially real estate plays backed by entities with deep pockets. The point of our mini-conference is to explore how operators can use their strengths to create new value for customers and generate new revenue from non-regulated sources; specifically from business customers.

Generation of revenue from non-regulated sources has been a priority for many independent operators over the past decade. With the threat of Title II regulation of broadband, finding new revenue and targeting investments to generate that revenue will be even more important. Offering services to business and institutional customers that add value to a broadband connection is one such new revenue source.

ITS Fiber has made the transformation from a provider of telephone services in a limited rural market to one that offers a panoply of business services via an all-fiber, all underground network throughout a larger region. By leveraging its fiber assets and its relatively protected and secure location, ITS Fiber is able to offer a package of services that is hard to match by larger competitors that don’t have the same local presence as ITS Fiber.

In today’s all-IP world, where floor-space needs are reduced from racks and racks to rack units, the central office offers an opportunity to provide a secure place for various forms of servers.

Jeff Meyer of ITS Fiber will be speaking about how they worked with the IIS Group, LLC and Ingemel, S.A Engineering Company to effectively redevelop their central office into a data center. More than that, however, they have figured out a way to modularize the approach, such they can match investment in additional data space with actual customer demand.

This idea of pinpointing investment to match revenues is another of today’s telecom realities. A deep fiber network is a given. The key is how and where to deploy that last mile fiber to ensure investments are directed to the right locations. Calix’s Juan Vela will enlighten attendees about how things like analytics can help operators maximize their return on infrastructure investment.

Generic servers and software are starting to replace some of the purpose-built infrastructures. Steve Gleave of Metaswitch Networks will provide a high-level view of what operators need to know about the enabling infrastructure technology, such as SDN (Software Defined Networking) and NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) that will make operators more efficient, flexible and responsive with their offerings. Metaswitch Networks’ Chris Carabello will discuss how operators can differentiate their offerings by customizing apps specifically for a given customer.

We are also going to start a conversation with Dave Fridley of FARR Technologies on how these customers, although technically customers of business services, are not always in the office. That is, broadband and cloud services are making telecommuting and the distributed workforce a reality. Fridley, who lives this reality with his company, will explore ways operators should target this growing market. We will also be talking to the founder of Cloud PC Online about their offering, which effectively virtualizes the PC; this could be a great tool for work-from-home and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) environments.

Implicit in the day’s discussions will be the need for rapid service introduction to keep up with and stay ahead of technology changes and competitive turmoil. Marketing plays an important role in ensuring a company stays in the forefront, so it’s fitting that Leo Staurulakis of JSI/JSI Capital Advisors and Denise Lechner of ITS Fiber will finish the day by leading a discussion about techniques for the marketing efforts around business services.

So yeah, the data center is really just a small, but important part, of a larger discussion that we will start this week….there is so much more to discuss than what is mentioned above, but that will be for another day and place.

Author Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

By Ken Pyle, Managing Editor

Ken Pyle is Marketing Director for the Broadband Forum. The mission of this 25+-year-old non-profit “is to unlock the potential for new markets and profitable revenue growth by leveraging new technologies and standards in the home, intelligent small business, and multi-user infrastructure of the broadband network.”

He is also co-founder of Viodi, LLC and Managing Editor of the Viodi View, a publication focused on the rural broadband ecosystem, autonomous vehicles, and electric aviation. He has edited and produced numerous multimedia projects for NTCA, US Telecom and Viodi. Pyle is the producer of Viodi’s Local Content Workshop, the Video Production Crash Course at NAB, as well as ViodiTV. He has been intimately involved in Viodi’s consulting projects and has created processes for clients to use for their PPV and VOD operations, as well authored reports on the independent telco market.

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