Slashdot Mirror
Major Telco Providers Form Open Source Alliance
An anonymous reader writes "Several major telecom companies have come together to form a new alliance. Founded January 1, 2006 by Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola, NEC, Nokia and Siemens, "SCOPE", is helping to promote the availability of open carrier grade base platforms based on Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware / software and Free Open Source Software (FOSS) building blocks, and to promote interoperability to better serve Service Providers and consumers. " It's worth noting that a number of these companies have also been OSDL members, pursuing the same agenda.
AFAIK none of these companies are telcos, but rather telecom equipment manufacturers.
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
Ericsson already has a history of providing open source. See Erlang Does anyone know of open source solutions that the other companies provide?
Alcatel: The parent company is based out of France, with close ties to the government. Probably pro-open source.
Ericsson: Sony owns them. This won't last. Sure, they've got a good track record, but...
Motorola: they're in it to make money, acquiring open source companies and selling linux-based phones.
NEC: They jumped on Itanium for their cluster platform, so they joined OSDL two years ago, probably to make sure their investment paid off.
Siemens: Just barely joined the OSDL. Siemens Communications is primarily a hardware company; from my POV they're just trying to push their profit margin.
Nokia: they seem pretty secure as a cell phone company; I think they're into OSS genuinely to benefit the community. Take a look at what they're Open Sourcing.
Their contributions to open source notwithstanding, it looks like they want to:
1. Form alliance, apply magic words "Open Source"
2. Post article on slashdot, improve public image
3. Wait for OSS community to write their software
4. Sell COTS hardware to upgrade cell networks
5. Profit!
Of course, maybe they're working on Carrier Grade Linux just so they don't have to buy Micro$oft products any more.
Ericsson: Sony owns them.
Sony Ericsson is a joint venture between Sony and Ericsson which are separate entities (think about MSNBC -- NBC and M$ are independent but got together and made something, well, crappy)
...and SonyEricsson make handsets rather than CO equipment in any case.
Most of those companies are withering on the vine. All but Siemens produce the old standard fiber transmission systems. OC-192 LTEs (terminals) and LREs (regenerators). The American backbone will be an IP based network with in 18 months. I am working on it right now. The backbone will be Juniper T640s riding on Siemens and Ciena Ultra Long Haul DWDM Optical Amps. Being IP no more protection ring architecture. No more 1+1 or working and protect fiber paths or equipment. The others do not make the equipment to compete with the likes of Nortel, Ciena, Fuji or Siemens. Alcatel does make OK DXCs. Their transmission systems look and feel like Ronco made them.