Leader: BT's fluid core

The big contract win story of the day - actually a story about contract wins, plural - is interesting on several levels.

For practically every business and public sector office in the UK, the upgrading of BT's core network - known as the 21st Century Network project, or 21CN - is highly significant. If things go to plan, we should all benefit in the long term.

But the greater intrigue today surrounds who was in and who was out of the long list of vendors picking up big contracts. At first glance, the roster reads like a who's who of telecoms equipment manufacturers. Some old European friends are in - Alcatel and Ericsson, for example - as is a current major partner: Cisco.

The rest of the list also comprises companies from Europe and the US that the telco knows well, as well as a relative newcomer in the shape of China's Huawei, which now must be in or very close to telecom's top tier of vendors.

Little old Marconi - and both those adjectives are now apt - didn't make the cut. Its shares fell 40 per cent on the news. Some will criticise BT for seemingly taking work to all corners of the world except its own back yard. But there is no reason to assume any provider should get special treatment or won't get a look in farther down the road.

And this is very much about being inclusive. At a breakfast debate today, quite separate to BT's main announcement, BT group strategy director Clive Ansell spoke again of the telco's open approach with 21CN.

Calling on all sorts of expertise, sharing knowledge and feeding back what's learnt through various channels, often the media, is all part of the strategy.

To its credit, 21CN is perhaps BT's biggest break from its conservative past. It wants to be seen as a leader and reap the benefits of what a modern, cutting edge (to use the obvious phrase) 21st century network can offer.

There's no guarantee pan-UK communications will turn out exactly as BT or its myriad customers would like. But right now, we hear from suppliers eager to please, knowing similar contracts will in the not-too-distant future be up for grabs at dozens of other telcos around the world. Going that extra inch for BT is worth the effort, they must think.

And being seen to be a leader, BT will tell you itself, is no bad thing in terms of its image and winning custom - long before 21CN technology kicks in fully.