Positively our last word on Telecom World and, unsurprisingly, that word is Huawei.
When the event was last held in 2003, China's leading telecoms equipment manufacturer was just emerging as a potential competitor in Europe and it was absent from the North American market. But what a difference three years make.
At this year's Telecom World, conveniently held on Huawei's doorstep in Hong Kong, the Shenzhen-based company attracted the sort of media buzz once reserved for the top table of western equipment suppliers.
A sign of how times have changed came when Cisco's CEO John Chambers gave a press conference. The burning question was not about Cisco's product strategy or Chambers' vision of the Internet, but whether the US giant planned to partner with Huawei. His reply was equally revealing.
"I would love to partner with Huawei," Chambers told reporters. "That may or may not happen in the future."
Huawei has just ended a joint venture with 3Com of the US, so its unlikely to be in a hurry to tie the knot again -- see this EngagingChina story for more.
However, Chambers' response that his door is open reveals the new-found respect enjoyed by Huawei,which has shaken off its traditional image as a vendor that focussed primarily on the Chinese market and a handful of emerging countries.
Indeed, Huawei announced at the event that in the first half of 2006 it had recorded contract sales of $5.2bn, an increase of 29% compared to the same period last year. The value of contract sales from international markets grew even faster, up 36% to $3.4bn.
International business now accounts for almost two thirds of Huawei's sales -- just the sort of juicy statistic worth remembering for dinner party debates when someone argues that China's hi-tech companies cannot make it overseas.
Huawei reiterated its recent customer wins with leading European operators such as Telefonica, Vodafone and BT. In the wireless space, Huawei has secured 35 contracts to deploy 3G networks.
The company also talked up its R&D strengths, with more than 2,500 patents granted to date. It wants to increase R&D investment to expand its patent portfolio.
This issue of intellectual property rights looks set to become the new battleground for Huawei. While it is best know internationally for its capital equipment, it also supplies mobile handsets to more than 70 operators around the world.
However, it is at a big disadvantage in the handset business because it only owns around 5% of the IPRs for the components used in its handsets --- foreign firms such as Qualcomm of the US have the lion's share.
According to this IDG story, Huawei could benefit from China's new TD-SCDMA standard for 3G networks, as the patents for this home-grown technology are owned by Chinese companies. More on the TD-SCDMA saga in this earlier EngagingChina story.
Of course, with so much expectation now riding on Huawei, hubris dictates that something sooner or later is going to go wrong. But at this point its difficult to see what.
More on Telecom World in this EngagingChina story.
