By Erin Harrison

The super-efficient generation and transmission initiative known as the smart grid is giving electric utilities around the world new challenges and opportunities as they strive to meet increasing demand while deferring additional fossil energy generation projects.

Researchers at Alcatel-Lucent believe the best way for these power suppliers to find balance with new imperatives and consumer expectations is to push innovation deeper into the distribution networks.  In an interesting piece, “Smart Grid: The world's leading utilities turn promise into reality,” market leaders explain how they benefit from innovations with the smart grid.

By Beecher Tuttle

With traditional voice and data margins diminishing, service providers have been forced to look to new avenues for revenue generation. One such opportunity exists in the form of mobile commerce services, which have been proven to help minimize subscriber churn and unearth new applications and content value chain opportunities for revenue growth.   

When leveraging the assets of enhanced customer experience, identity and security, operators can take advantage of the inevitable migration toward the mobile phone as a wallet (MPAAW).  This is a market that is expected to increase to more than $1.1 trillion by 2014, according to research firm Gartner, and one where Alcatel-Lucent has placed a significant stake in the ground with its Mobile Wallet Service (MWS).

By Beecher Tuttle

The recent influx of innovative communication and entertainment technologies has increased user demands to new levels. Today's consumers want access to highly interactive, personalized multimedia content on man y and any device – including televisions, smartphones, tables and PCs – all with the same quality of experience obtained via traditional TV viewing.   In other words they want video portability, and service providers need a multi-screen video services platform that can accommodate this need and capitalize on the opportunity.

By Special Guest: Wim Van Daele, Director, Communications – Mobile Commerce, Video & Immersive Communications, Alcatel-Lucent

Service providers are discovering new opportunities brought by the expanding market for the delivery of digital media services (applications, music, games, e-books, and more). Answering the question how to leverage this opportunity is one thing; but even more important is the question how to successfully monetize it.

In other words, how can service providers position themselves as critical components in application and content value chains to add value? How can they successfully differentiate from/compete with players such as Apple and Google?

players such as Apple and Google?

By Beecher Tuttle

The cost-effective, scalable and flexible nature of cloud services have made them exceedingly popular with enterprises of all sizes. As such, the cloud – along with the parallel convergence of information technology, telecom and media – has given communication service providers (CSPs) substantial opportunities to increase revenues and profits.  These manifest themselves in a number of different market segments that leverage cloud computing capabilities and include Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

The benefits  cloud services provide enterprises – and the associated revenue generating opportunities for CSPs – were recently documented in an article entitled, “Enterprise Cloud Services Come of Age,”  which was authored by Alcatel-Lucent's Xavier Martin and Annie Ohayon-Dekel.  In it they explain how and why SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS market segments are expected to enjoy 15 percent, 61 percent and 27 percent CAGR growth over the next ten years.