ITU03: Final analysis

As weary attendees nurse their feet and expense accounts and get ready to return home, it is worth reflecting on the point of the quadrennial get-together.

Telecom 99 was subsequently referred to as the mobile internet's Woodstock by investment bank Nomura. It was a high point of a particular time in the industries of telecoms and IT, an era when it seemed the only way was up.

Of course for much of the subsequent four years, the only way for a number of companies was down. Even some of the giants that are once again on a pretty firm footing didn't exhibit this time. The show was poorer for absentees such as equipment powerhouses Alcatel, Ericsson, Lucent, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens as well as Vodafone and other significant telcos from around the world, especially the US.

That said, it's hard to find a better mix of attendees under one roof. Unlike other gatherings, there was once again a mix of regulators, politicians, various middlemen and media. And that's not to mention key bosses such as Bill Gates, Carly Fiorina, John Chambers, Arun Sarin and others too numerous to name.

Questions from the floor at rarely pedestrian panel sessions came from all parts of the world - one segue went from the Philippines to Germany to Pakistan to Australia to Mexico and then Ghana. And that's what part of this United Nations event is all about.

But how useful is it? The ninth ITU Telecom show since 1971 once again identified some key issues facing the whole ICT sector right now. Perhaps the overriding one for this publication is how all companies must do more to help their customers go about their business.

John Gage, chief science officer at Sun Microsystems, put it this way: "Everyone that's been a pipe must be more."

But the adage goes for equipment providers, software vendors - pretty much everyone.

Other key themes included wireless - both putting on the map technologies such as WiMAX and reaching consensus on the place of Wi-Fi and 3G - voice over IP (VoIP), the commodification of some technologies and delivering others with increased sophistication, with an emphasis on aspects such as quality of service (QoS) and service level agreements (SLAs).

A simple 'What's the big theme this year?' question to a wide cross-section of attendees threw up that handful of issues and technologies and plenty more ideas besides.

Four years ago one company, when asked to predict the event just passed, told this writer that it would be even bigger, with companies fighting for floor space and the tallest stand. How wrong. Much has been made of attendance levels of less than half the 1999 headcount and a conference that no longer spills out onto the park opposite the giant PalExpo.

But it's quite possible we'll never see another industry event with the size and hype of 1999's. That's not meant to be pessimistic. This publication is bolder than most in saying - barring huge disasters no one can foresee - the worst of times are definitely behind us. Let's approach the future showing some confidence.

So perhaps there was no single theme this year but the show will go on and it will still be relevant and sizeable. Some of those big companies who didn't attend missed out - will they be back next time? Who knows.