Mr. Jacobson: Broadly, I cover communications software and IT services, which includes primarily companies that sell packaged software to telecommunications carriers. They also selectively sell into the enterprise market. And then there are certain companies that sell Software as a Service, providing hosting services as an alternative to on-premise license solutions. I also cover certain IT services companies that implement software products from some of the major software vendors.
TWST: Let's start on the communications side. What's the big picture in that
space at this point?
Mr. Jacobson: The carriers are experiencing increased competition, increased
demands for controlling costs and accelerating movement toward converged
services. Converged services refer to providing bundled services beyond
traditional wireline voice. It's no longer just wireline voice services, but it
includes providing high speed Internet access and various forms of data and
content. These include delivering pictures, video, e-mail messages, video
messaging, and other solutions, in addition to wireline and wireless voice
communications. There's increasing competition, particularly between the
traditional telecom communication services providers. Also, the cable and
digital broadband satellite companies are increasingly competing with each other
as they move to deliver converged services.
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