Every New Year’s Eve, half an hour before midnight, Swedish television airs a traditional black and white TV episode called the ”The countess and the servant”. The table is set for a party of six, but none of the guests are present. The countess sits at the head of the table and the servant acts the role of each of the guests, toasting five times a dish, quickly getting more and more drunk, stumbling over the head of a bear that decorates the floor.

The financial climate has been one big stumble in a bear market in 2009. Operators and telcos have not been suffering as badly as many other industries – mainly due to two steel baths already endured since the turn of the millennium – and have continued to invest, though the decision has transitioned from the CTO’s to the CFO’s office, adding another layer of involvement and delays to the process. The cutthroat nature of the financial climate has put strain on all vendors, but it strengthens the ones who survive since it requires a compelling offer, obvious value, and a sustainable business model. We all come stronger out of this.

The poor servant on New Year’s Eve doesn’t come out stronger after each course that is followed, in a more slurred voice, by the recurring question “Same procedure as last year, miss Sophie?”, and the countess’ “Same procedure as every year, James”. The DPI industry has been anything but the same in 2009. 2009 was the year DPI grew up, became a commodity term, and got invited to play with the big guys. DPI has become an integrated function in any and all operator networks.

And it will become even more integrated, not only with policy control, but also with charging and billing in the coming 12 months. Intelligence is important for any business decision, and DPI is the intelligent layer in an IP network. The more intelligence, the better the decisions. This is why we’ll see “DPI everywhere”. DPI will be a stand-alone function to accommodate the broad expectations of what DPI should be able to do (throttle, filter, prioritize etc.), but the traffic identification capabilities will also be integrated into other network elements.

I think, or I should say “I hope”, we’ll see an upturn in the economy during the second half of 2010. People will start spending more and operators will start investing for the future to gain market share and keep up with the competition. The competitive landscape is still a bit fuzzy as telcos compete with cable MSOs who compete with mobile operators since they all offer at least three overlapping services. This landscape will transform again in 2010 where the need for speed will narrow everyone’s scope to become best in their field. The belief in the future will drive a fast development, which will benefit LTE that will take off even though 3G and its massive investments are still fresh in mind. More available bandwidth will drive services that consume more bandwidth, which is why video will be the fastest growing application in 2010 as well.

I eagerly look forward to 2010, and as Miss Sophie wraps up dinner, I’m confident it’s the beginning of 365 exciting days until she’s back again and we can conclude another year. Happy New Year!