Wireless was a dominant theme at Telecom ’99, the ITU’s massive communications exhibition held every four years in Geneva. The exhibit halls at the October event were full of the promise of 3G mobile multimedia services and broadband wireless access. Even Bill Gates played his part, demonstrating a commitment to a wireless future during his opening keynote address to the Interactive Summit, one of the technology tracks at the Telecom ’99 Forum, the major conference running alongside the ITU’s exhibition.
The opening keynote for the Infrastructure Summit, the other half of the Forum’s technology track, was given by Carly Fiorina, the new CEO and president of Hewlett-Packard. Fresh from the front cover of Fortune magazine and acclaimed as the most powerful woman in American business, Ms. Fiorina was tasked with opening five days of debate and presentations assessing the telecommunications industry from an infrastructure perspective. She was invited to discuss the issues at stake, from a visionary general point of view, and identify the main questions that needed to be addressed in depth during the subsequent sessions of the summit.
The issues at stake are non-trivial. Now that the convergence of communications and computing is finally happening, the telecommunications infrastructure world faces unprecedented challenges. The PSTN no longer will remain the primary engine of public communications and eventually may be replaced by next-generation IP-based networks. Both the communications and computing industries are evolving rapidly to embrace the concept of mobility. And the developing world is looking with dismay at the emerging “digital gap” caused by the ability to access information through technology enhancements available primarily to the developed world.
Global and human dimensions are unique features of Telecom Forum events. They are the only conferences with exceptionally strong delegate representation at senior levels from both developed and developing countries. Telecom Forum audiences are a peer review panel par excellence.
They contain an unrivaled mix of high-level representatives from all sectors of the industry and all parts of the globe. A unique opportunity for Fiorina to paint a global vision for the future of telecommunications infrastructure.
She gave a sales pitch extolling the virtues of Hewlett-Packard.
Why do some people abuse conference organizers and delegates in such a fashion? Unfortunately, it’s not a particularly rare phenomenon. Hewlett-Packard was by no means the only offender during the week of the Telecom ’99 Forum. Explanations proposed by other delegates involved either ignorance or arrogance, or some combination of the two. I wish I could suggest other reasons, but I can’t.
Perhaps the ITU should establish a third standardization bureau to complement the ITU-T and ITU-R. It could be called the ITU-B and dedicate itself to formulating recommendations for standards of behavior.
