He notes that smaller players like telecom-equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co. are growing, albeit at a small scale.

WSJ: The Two-Horse Smartphone Race: Apple vs. Samsung

Other technologies may shake up the telecom industry and change the way people use the Internet.

FORBES

He displayed a deep knowledge of communications technologies and their likely future consequences to telecom producers and consumers.

FORBES: Pow Wow With Powell

Just as the PC usurped the mainframe and set off explosive change in computers, new optical technologies may someday overtake electronics and topple the established telecom order.

FORBES: Hooked on photonics

Several HomePlug member companies are making significant contributions to the development of IEEE P1905, including Broadcom, Cisco Systems, France Telecom, Qualcomm Atheros, Ralink, Sigma Designs, SPiDCOM Technologies and STMicroelectronics.

ENGADGET: HomePlug and IEEE want our home networks to play nice, talk to each other

Diane Myers, a principal analyst with Infonetics Research, says Genband had a 15.2% revenue share of the global VOIP equipment market for telecom providers in 2011, trailing just slightly behind closely held Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies Co.

WSJ: Genband's Technology Makes It a Winner

The enabling technologies for terror-sensing tools will rapidly migrate to applications in medicine, industry, transportation, telecom and even entertainment, driving a tech boom.

FORBES: The Security-Industrial Complex