Delegates at the SA Telecommunications, Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC), held this week at Fancourt Hotel in George, had the opportunity to pose key questions to a forum of chief operating officers from a number of players in the ICT industry.
Among the companies represented were hosts Telkom, Alcatel, Grintek and Cisco Systems, as well as international organisations such as Tellabs of Finland and US-based Sonus Networks.
Asked what users can expect from a next-generation network (NGN), Alcatel`s Scott Smith said: "Effectively, users want services they can use anywhere at any time. An NGN will have to provide continuity of services - in other words, allowing a user to do what they want, when they want and where they want."
"The other key issue for users of an NGN will be security. Users will be seeking true mobility coupled to strong security along with real-time access to services," stated Mark Baptiste of Cisco.
Questioned about the local ICT trends and future prospects, Pumlani Moholi, Grintek`s COO, said ICT budgets are shrinking, so local businesses are looking to optimise their current technology.
"Our challenge as suppliers is to meet these requirements - organisations require robust and reliable equipment to meet the tougher demands of the African market," said Moholi.
Dr Mike Hluchyj of Sonus Networks attempted to answer the tough question of what network will come after Internet Protocol (IP).
"One needs to remember that IP is an evolving technology, so looking forward, I do not see another network convergence technology replacing it. Of course, one can never say never, so while there is nothing clear on the horizon at present, stay tuned."
Finally, the controversial question of what Telkom`s viewpoint is on key issues like number portability and least-cost routing (LCR) was answered by the monopoly`s COO, Shawn McKenzie.
"As far as number portability goes, it is a service that consumers like, so we will have to do it at some point, but until we at least have a second network operator, there really is no reason to institute it," says McKenzie.
"In terms of LCR, there have been a lot of complaints about Telkom`s stance on this issue, but it is the same as someone working out how to drive my car - just because they`ve worked it out doesn`t mean I should let them drive it.
"We need to sit down with the players that want to use LCR and work out costs and charges that will be reasonable for everyone involved, but until that is done, I see no reason to let someone use our network, just because they`ve figured out a way to."
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