Telco Execs: Convergence Means Opportunity -- And Risk

CHICAGO -- More thorough network deployment, seamless communications on converged devices and network security will be critical as the telecommunications industry continues to evolve, four industry executives said Wednesday at Supercomm.

William Owens, Nortel vice president and CEO, called for more service to
rural America. While there's been a lot of focus on triple play and other high-tech advances, the industry is overlooking opportunities in rural communities, said Owens, who himself grew up in rural North Dakota.

Ignoring these opportunities is putting the U.S. further behind in terms of
broadband deployment vis-a-vis the rest of the world, said Owens, who
pointed out that the U.S. has fallen from 11th to 16th among countries in
terms of percentage of broadband penetration.

As the industry continues to advance into next-generation networks, there
are growing security concerns, Owen added. "The 80 largest U.S. companies have lost at least 4 percent of their revenue due to network reliability and failure of security," Owens said. "It affects a company's stock price by at least 2 percent when there's a rumor of a virus on their network."

With hundreds of new security threats emerging every day, there's more need for deep packet inspection, said Owens, whose company in December announced a partnership with Symantec to offer such a service. Nortel has the deep inspection capabilities, while Symantec has the experience in virus
protection.