IEEE Communications Magazine

Feature Topic on

Industry Analyst Forum: Trends in Communications

The communications industry is in the midst of a sea change. In the U.S., two mega-carriers have emerged from consolidation among major telco network operators, while on the world stage, several major equipment suppliers have merged into multi-national mega-vendors. Carrier and vendor contraction has also led the network to undergo fundamental changes: from circuit to packet-switched, from wired to wireless, from labor intensive to higher degrees of automation. Implications can be seen as a chain-reaction network-wide as new bandwidth intensive applications and services including high-definition television (HDTV) and high-speed Internet access compel network operators to significantly upgrade their netowrks. Such upgrades include access networks with deep fiber architectures; backbone networks with reconfigurable optical network elements, higher speed optics, and terabit routers and switches; wireless infrastructure from 2G to 3G and beyond; and deployment of lower cost network infrastructures based on IP/Ethernet technology. Telcos, cable TV providers or Multiple System Operators (MSOs), and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers are locked in a battle for subscribers as they invest in network upgrades to offer triple or quadruple-play bundles including voice, video, data/Internet, and wireless services to residential and business customers. Web portals loom as potential entrants into the battle, too. Carriers must invest in their networks to remain competitive, or face extinction, yet they must also balance investment with fiscal controls. The battle for subscribers impacts all aspects of the supply chain from network operators to system and sub-system equipment vendors to component suppliers. In this feature topic issue we aim to survey the broad trends that shape the future of the communications landscape from the perspective of analysts who cover various aspects of the industry. To that end we solicit original, unpublished manuscripts from industry analysts not currently being considered elsewhere for publication. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: Schedule
Manuscript submission: February 15, 2008
Notification of acceptance: April 1, 2008
Final manuscripts due: May 1, 2008
Publication date: July 1, 2008

Submission
Articles should be tutorial in nature and should be written in a style comprehensible to readers outside the specialty of the field. All submissions will be reviewed based on technical merit, relevance and readability. Articles should have no more than 4,500 words, no more than 6 tables/figures, and no more than 15 references. Authors must follow the IEEE Communications Magazine's guidelines for preparation of the manuscript. Complete guidelines for prospective authors can be found at www.comsoc.org/pubs/commag/sub_guidelines.html. All articles to be considered for publication must be submitted through IEEE Manuscript Central (http://commag-ieee.manuscriptcentral.com). Select "July 2008/Industry Analyst Forum" from the drop down menu to have your manuscript submitted to this feature topic.

Guest Editor
Paul Bonenfant
Equity Research
Morgan Keegan & Co., Inc.
535 Madison Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10022, USA
E-mail: pbonenfant@ieee.org or paul.bonenfant@morgankeegan.com