The biggest challenge we're seeing is the whole transformation of how people communicate with each other. The demands are becoming more and more complex from a network perspective. There's bigger security issues, bigger connectivity issues because everybody wants to do everything mobile. People want to start using video applications. The mobility of communication is the big change that's happened over the last 10 or 20 years or so. People used to be OK with having to go to a certain location to make a phone call. Or go to a certain location to go on-line. People now want to get everything instantly and they want to get it wherever they are.

Tekelec's business has grown out of handling complexity that service providers and network providers and connectivity provide around the world.

On innovation

A lot of the innovation I see that's very interesting has been on the device side. Devices such as the Blackberry device and the Treo device that have come out have had a tremendous impact on improving productivity, especially for enterprises. It's been incredible how these devices have helped in clearing certain types of transactions, such as basic e-mail, that a few years ago would have required us to go into an office or a hotel room and hardwire a connection into the Internet and take an hour or two on dial-up to actually get things done.

On innovation at Tekelec

A lot of the innovation and a lot of the success that we've had has come from the Eagle platform, the Eagle product that really has been the bulk of our revenues and profits for the last couple of decades. It's very unique in the industry for how many calls it can process and handle at any give time. It actually handles over 600,000 calls per second. This is clearly the leading platform for its functionality, STP [Signaling Transfer Point], ... where we have over 80 percent market share.

On competition

Within that STP area the biggest competition is probably Siemens and maybe the Chinese manufacturers. With our switching group Sonus is probably the biggest competitor. Within our software group, companies like Agilent and Tektronix. They make competing products. They're stronger in certain geographies. They're stronger in some features, we're stronger in others.

On North Carolina's challenges

Keeping up with the growth in terms of building the infrastructure. I'm seeing certain stresses on infrastructure growth, whether it's road building or school building that the state really needs to deal with it and somehow become a little more proactive on anticipating the growth.

On incentives

There are reasons to give incentives and sometimes they just don't work out. The state is right to be very active in promoting the benefits of moving to the state and they should continue to do that. Going to the next step and actually providing incentives should be done on a case-by-case basis. The state should look at investment decisions just like any other entity should. If they think it's a good investment then they should move forward. As long as it's not tied to some non-economic value that can't be quantified, I think it's a good thing.

On changes in business

The pace at which business gets done is a lot faster. The amount of change that a typical business has to deal with these days is just breathtaking compared to 20 years ago when I started my career. That runs the gamut from technology change right through regulatory changes, governance changes. You look at public companies for example, the amount of processes and investment they've had to put in to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley.

On company's stock

From a regulatory perspective I can't really make a comment on our stock. However, what I can say is, the industry is an excellent industry to be a player in because anyone will dispute the fact that all of us are going to continue to demand faster and better communication. So that's certainly a good place for a telecommunications company to be.

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