LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012: The chief executives of Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco took to the stage today to discuss the challenges to service providers of moving to the cloud, while noting that, on the flip-side, this also creates opportunities for those able to adapt.

Alcatel-Lucent’s Ben Verwaayen said that the biggest change the industry has seen in recent years has been the recognition of individual customers with distinct needs, rather than using a one-size fits all approach.

“If you look to the technology pipeline, it’s truly amazing what is coming up. The numbers will dwarf everything you’ve ever seen. But the relevance of that is not in the big number, the relevance of that is we enable people to make choices, choices focused on number one,” he said.

But the evolution of the market has also opened new options for operators. “You can choose as an operator whether you go for access and transport, or you can be a service provider. You can choose whether your differentiation is in price or in capability. You can choose whether the public will see you as an innovator, or low-cost.”

“Those choices were never there before, because a telco, was a telco, was a telco,” Verwaayen continued.

John Chambers of Cisco also noted the cloud opportunity, with the caveat that there will be losers as well as winners.

“Cloud and mobility change the industry. It will introduce a decade long run in terms of innovation and job creation, however it will be one that will leave anyone behind who doesn’t move rapidly and reinvent themselves,” he said.

“The opportunities will proliferate rapidly, but it will also leave behind those companies who fail to move. Average is over,” he continued.

Chambers also noted that there will need to be a change for the way that vendors operate. “The ability to move fast here, I think, is very key. You’ll see it in a combination of doing it internally, internal start-ups, strategic partnering, and acquisitions.”