Amdocs launches products for digital ads, retail.

Amdocs, a software maker long known for its billing technologies sold to telecommunications providers, is launching on Wednesday new products designed to help its clients reap more sales from new digital businesses.

The products support tasks such as search and digital advertising, Web-based retailing, and a more sophisticated way of interacting with customers.

The launch comes as telecommunications companies increasingly rely on a combination of Internet, wireless, and even video to offset declines in traditional phone use. In these markets, Amdocs customers have become exposed to more competition."

Service providers really recognize the need to transform from being utilities ... to purveyors of a digital lifestyle," Mike Couture, Amdocs vice president of marketing, told Reuters."

They are really facing some threats from applications providers, like Google, who are vying for ownership of the customer."

Amdocs clients include the largest U.S. telecommunications players and their new rivals in the cable industry, from AT&T and Verizon Communications to Comcast.

The Amdocs products mark new territory for the company, even if similar ones have been developed by Internet media and retail companies.

The Amdocs advertising component lets service providers use the data they have about customers and serve up ads that specifically relate to their known behavior, across any of three screens--the mobile phone, the computer, and the television set.

A digital commerce function allows service providers to recommend customers new products not unlike the user suggestions offered by Web retailer Amazon.com.

What concerns us is that would Amdocs capability to sell new technology be affected by the fall in the US economy. And are service providers like Amdoc capable enough to compete with the leading internet giants?