GARTNER DATAQUEST: TELECOM RECESSION WILL END ONE-STOP-SHOP VENDOR DREAM.

The economic slowdown will spell the end of the one-stop-shop telecommunications vendors, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB).

"Of the world's eight leading telecom equipment vendors, all of which until this year were aiming to become suppliers of practically all the gear needed by their carrier clients, none will be able to realize this dream," said Bhawani Shankar, principal analyst for Gartner Dataquest's Worldwide Telecommunications and Networking group.

"Although the leading players will remain, their product portfolios, their market focus and, indeed, the nature of their relationships with their clients is destined to change radically," Shankar said. "Large diversified vendors will transform into suppliers with significantly narrower focus, and there will be a lot to differentiate the enterprise vendors from the carrier vendors -- a marked departure from the verticalized business models that most vendors were trying to adopt until recently."