In my line of work as a professional e-mailer and phone answerer, I come across a lot people who frequently use the phrase, "Telcos just don't get it," or some variation thereof. For example, "Telcos just don't get broadband," or "Telcos just don't get customer service," or "Telcos just don't get the inner nature and unrequited desires that uniquely define me as a tortured individual." (You'd be surprised, some people talk to us like we're telecom industry psychiatrists.)

Sometimes, the evidence backs up these statements. For years, people said, "Telcos just don't get Ethernet," and for good reason. They were busy pushing ATM and other solutions for local area network access and management even though Ethernet--a technology born of the enterprise, rather than the public network--quickly became the dominant LAN standard. But, telcos have warmed to Ethernet as the technology itself has evolved to encompass better quality of service, larger scalability, easier service management, carrier-grade equipment interoperability and other attributes.

Now, you see a telco like BellSouth making Ethernet as broadly available a service as any other telco service. BellSouth has come to understand the value of Ethernet, and enterprises in BellSouth's region that might have found it difficult before to interconnect branch offices over long distances with Ethernet will likely embrace that move.

Do telcos get it? Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't, and sometimes it just takes a while. In some cases, new technologies may capture everyone's imagination, but they need to mature and acquire telco-grade attributes before the telcos can really take advantage of them. After that, it doesn't matter how long it took telcos to get it, only that they do something with it.

Another topic of great importance to telcos is IPTV. Telephony will be hosting a day-long IPTV Workshop at this year's Fall VON trade show in Boston on Monday, Sept. 11. We'll hash out the latest developments in IPTV and what telcos must do to make it succeed. You can register now, right here.

E-mail me at doshea@telephonyonline.com.