Wish I could have coined this phrase, ‘cuz darned if it’s not right on the money. Today, end-users want everything right this minute and right where they are and right at a discounted price.

That leaves you in the precarious position of delivering everything to your customers without a whole lot of investment dollars and with more and more pressure to do your jobs in overdrive.

Intimidating or exhilarating?

I’m goin’ to argue it is exhilarating and here’s why. Infonetics forecasts by 2013 that telco service providers are expected to derive about $56 billion worldwide from IPTV services offered (not including mobile IPTV services). Not bad, eh? The revenue expected to come from FTTH services isn’t anything to sneeze at either.

Given this prize, all eyes are focused on video-on-demand (VoD) and streaming content. Of course, in order for end users to get their fix of Everything-on-Demand (EoD), the onus is on you to beef up the infrastructure to support not only HD VoD, but network and RS-DVR services, targeted advertising, and start-over services.

Will you get extra credit, extra pay, and extra kudos for making this happen? Not likely. That’s why we’re offering you, the network heroes of the telecom industry, a free pass to OSP EXPO’s 25+ seminars and keynote presentations. You deserve a little beefing up of your own, and this September 2-3 in Minneapolis is when and where you can get it. (Register today for free at www.ospmag.com and use VIP code: VIP0809.)

Even so, you may still be asking: “So, why should I be exhilarated instead of exhausted in my professional life?” My position is simple.  Approach life in this way and you’ll feel something more intrinsically valuable than external carrots being thrown at you. You’ll be able to look inward and know that you didn’t take the lazy way out. You’ll feel the self-satisfaction of knowing you helped your company survive the not-so-favorable macroeconomic climate of this year. And every morning, you’ll see a person in the mirror who is committed to approaching life’s challenges with a positive and grateful attitude.

No – it’s not the big money. It’s something more. This reward is a well-earned sense of self-competence and appreciation that we have jobs in this economy. And in my humble opinion, that’s more than enough reward.

Get involved with our OSP Thought Leaders™ Live event well before we gather together on stage during OSP EXPO 2009!

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Start jotting me notes or status updates and questions you want our OSP Thought Leaders to answer. See page 41 of the August 2009 issue for more details.