Continued......Threats of 2007

... leans towards products that enable the management of virtual machines, says John Sloan, analyst for Info-Tech Research Group.

"Vendors will be pushing virtualization as part of a service package and the real differentiator will be the ability to manage virtual machines," Sloan said.

He said VMWare Inc. will continue to have a strong presence in the market but Microsoft might attain a higher level of exposure once the company introduces it Hypervision for Longhorn in 2008.

Sloan will be watching out for more development in the application of virtualization on desktop computers. "This strategy provides excellent flexibility, cost savings as it reduces the need for purchasing physical PCs and lowers the cost of software maintenance."

Pros and cons of deregulation

We'll get more features and cheaper services, or possibly not.

Experts are still debating the potential impact of the recent announcement of intent by Maxime Bernier, Canadian Minister of Industry, to deregulate the telecommunications industry.

"There will be an acceleration in the bundling of IP (Internet Protocol), video, music and other features, while IP-based telephony will become more available," says Carmi Levy of Info-Tech Research.

He said loosening of restrictions will result in carriers offering a greater range of enticing service bundles at cheaper rates.

This will occur along with another trend - new developments in telecommunication devices that Phil Edholm, chief technologist and vice-president of networks with Nortel Networks Inc. talks about.

In the carrier world, bandwidth will be more pervasive, Edholm said. Increased capacity will make it possible to offer converged media to consumers "wherever they may be."

He said “on demand video” will become more commonplace "and not only available at home, but on your mobile phone as well."

However, Philippa Lawson, executive director and lead counsel at the Canadian Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) in Ottawa warns consumers might be in for a surprise.

"Deregulation does not always mean better and cheaper services. There have been cases where the opposite has happened after regulations were removed," Lawson said.

In Bernier's announcement, she noted the absence of rules to protect consumers.

"There is the flipside. Carriers who serviced isolated areas by virtue of artificially set prices might leave those customers once regulations are taken away," said Levy.Cont

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