Service Providers could tap into a potential $100 billion in new annual revenues in the U.S. alone if only they successfully expose the intelligent capabilities of their network to enable a new ecosystem of content and applications, according to a newly published book from Alcatel-Lucent.
The Shift: The Evolving Market, Players and Business Models in a 2.0 World discusses how the emerging ecosystem of service providers, developers, advertisers, consumers and business uses stands to benefit when smarter networks are used as development platforms.
The book analyzes the rapid pace of consumer technology adoption and its impact on service providers, enterprises, application developers, content providers, and handset manufacturers as they scramble to meet the exploding demand for bandwidth and Web 2.0 service access anytime, anywhere and over any device. It cites market research commissioned by Alcatel-Lucent to demonstrate how a collaborative communications ecosystem is necessary to address the challenges of consumer, enterprise and vertical markets currently limited by industry fragmentation.
"The Shift is the result of over a year of research and analysis and maps a compelling and profitable future for both the service provider and application developer in the Web 2.0 world," said Allison Cerra, head of marketing for Alcatel-Lucent Americas and one of the book's authors. "Specifically we outline how additional value is inserted into the ecosystem when service providers expose intelligent network capabilities. The resulting benefits are clear for everyone -- end users, developers, advertisers and service providers. It requires an approach where consumers have control of their experience, developers benefit from enhanced capabilities, and service providers monetize their investments to fuel future innovation."
Among the book's findings:
- Parents, social networkers, online video enthusiasts and gamers value applications that incorporate network-based intelligence. They will pay 25-35 percent more for a service with three capabilities operating simultaneously vs. a service with one capability.
- Over 50% of consumers are comfortable sharing sensitive profile information, such as location, presence and online behaviors, with their mobile provider.
- Nearly 50 percent of commercial developers would use network-based APIs and are willing to pay twice as much for APIs bundled together vs. those sold separately. Enterprise IP developers will pay up to three times more.
- A third of U.S. advertisers would use network services that enable them to deliver advertisements across social media sites based on user interests and behaviors.
