May 1999

As we approach the new millennium, our thoughts may be attuned to new beginnings, and we may sense, however vaguely, that we've been here before. Such thoughts may emerge anywhere - even in our meditations on so practical a subject as CTI. For CTI - whether by some uncanny resonance with the spirit of the (new) age, or perhaps by mere coincidence - is itself, in its continuing evolution, approaching its origins.

CTI was built, in a sense, on impatience. Or, more specifically, an eagerness for more sophisticated business communications. Unwilling to wait for service providers to deliver new or enhanced services, individuals and corporations set out to do it all themselves. They would build or acquire their own communications systems. Indeed, by so exercising their will, they created a new market. And the new market's demand for increasingly capable customer premises equipment called forth a burgeoning community of vendors.

The new market rejected the traditional, services-centric model, which had always seemed closed and monolithic. Instead, the new market embraced more open approaches. Alternative platforms emerged, and platform providers energetically cultivated development partners. In this new environment, where collaboration and components-based development shattered seemingly insoluble communications challenges, new communications solutions appeared in kaleidoscopic array. The old, services-centric model was left far, far behind. Or so it seemed.

Ultimately, an odd thing happened. Maybe it was because of Moore's Law. Or the Telecommunications Reform Act. Or the ascendancy of the PC. Or the Internet. But whatever it was, the new CTI platforms grew so powerful, and the CTI development community acquired such depth, that CTI began to reshape the services environment. Now, enhanced services are capturing imaginations throughout CTI. CTI, it seems, has come full circle, arriving at its beginning, and (apologies to T. S. Eliot) knowing it for the first time.

CTI's culmination will, of course, be reflected in the CTI EXPO Fall conference program. Significantly, the program has expanded to accommodate two new tracks - a CTI Development track and a Next-Generation Services track.

In these new tracks, the sessions will drive home CTI's growing power and broadening relevance - from the customer premises to service providers, including ILECs, CLECs, cable companies, and ISPs.

In the coming months, we will release more details on our revamped program, and we will urge readers to keep up to date on the latest developments. Finally, we hope to see you there, at CTI EXPO Fall in Las Vegas, NV, Dec 7-9, 1999. Join your colleagues, and usher in the new millenium. And chart a new future for CTI.