INCOMPAS Spring 2017 - Day 2 Show Daily

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« 6 » THE INCOMPAS SHOW I APRIL 3 - 5, 2017
DAY 2
of Cyberattacks, which will take
place at the HUB.
“But it is also an opportunity for
companies that work with providers
to secure their networks and the
data being delivered and stored,”
Pickering noted. “Given the many
breaches of late, this continues to
be an area of focus and concern,
but also an area of opportunity for
those working to prevent attacks
and protect data. As more enter-
prise and small businesses adopt
services that rely on the cloud, the
importance of securing their busi-
ness communications and informa-
tion increases.”
Competition, as ever, has
developed into new forms in
the last year. “One of the great
things about technology is that
it is constantly evolving and
changing,” Pickering said. “This
change is always driven by what a
consumer or business needs from
its service provider. The need for
more and more capacity in order
to deliver business applications
to enterprise customers is a key
factor in our space. Competition
in the communications market is
what drives change as companies
innovate to stay ahead.”
When it comes to preserving
that competition and what’s
shaping the federal regulatory
environment today, the policy
landscape, like the industry, is
undergoing transformation with
a new administration. Under
new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, for
instance, INCOMPAS expects to
see a renewed focus on facili-
tating broadband and infrastruc-
ture deployment. The association
is already seeing a very active
agenda in Congress on competi-
tive issues, with a focus on broad-
band and infrastructure deploy-
ment, as well as cybersecurity in
this legislative session.
“We believe the new admin-
istration can open up new doors
for members,” Pickering said.
“President Trump has made more
competition, not less competi-
tion, the centerpiece of proposals
to reform healthcare, insurance,
prescription medication and schools.
If the Administration approaches
the communications and technology
sector in the same way, more
competition, not less, will be good
for consumers and businesses and
also good for our members.”
There are also events
happening on a state level that
are shaping the competitive land-
scape. Issues like rights of way and
building access are key issues for
competitive providers, and while
rules are for the most part under
the purview of the FCC, the issue
itself is a local one.
“Given this, competitive
providers should keep a close eye
on local municipal efforts to prevent
or delay competitive providers from
reaching their existing or prospec-
tive customers,” Pickering noted.
INCOMPAS is also keeping
its eye on the megamergers that
continue to define today’s commu-
nications business environment—
and is holding a session entitled
“Trends in Competition Amid
Consolidation” at 9:30 a.m. today at
the HUB on that very subject.
“It is clear that there is signifi-
cant amount of consolidation
taking place and we expect this
trend to continue,” Pickering said.
“I would encourage our attendees
to be sure not to miss the panel,
to hear the perspective of Bank
Street, as well as GTT and
Masergy CEOs on this topic.”
Going forward, INCOMPAS will
stay true to its core mission, and
an important part of this mission is
carried out in the annual events like
The INCOMPAS Show.
“We want to provide the oppor-
tunity for our membership and the
industry to come together to network
and do business through our events
each year and for these events to
also reflect the transformation taking
place in the broader communica-
tions market,” he concluded. “We
hope our show attendees have a
great experience in New Orleans,
and we look forward to seeing
everyone again in San Francisco,
October 15-18 at the INCOMPAS
Show: Fall 2017.” p
(INCOMPAS, continued from page 1)
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internet and competitive
networks industry—
supporting business
growth by advocating for
policies that create an
open and competitive
communications market.
It also wants to continue
to grow and diversify its
membership to reflect
the transformation going
on in the industry.
“One thing the competitive community embraces is change and evolu-
tion in technology, in fact competitive communications companies drive
these developments in their efforts to improve the reliability, scale, speed
and efficiency of their offerings for their customers,” Pickering explained.
“This creates vast opportunities for providers to not only expand their
product offerings, but to do so in the most efficient way possible. We
have a number of enterprise-focused members that are now using or
planning to use SD-WAN in their businesses. Customers will continue
to need an open network that allows them to reach the provider of their
choice, as well as the applications of their choice.”
These new opportunities don’t come without challenges. For
instance, securing networks and data from cyberattacks continues to
be one of the biggest issues that competitive service providers face.
This is the subject of today’s session at 12:50 p.m., The Economics