NEW ORLEANS -- TelcoTV 2011 -- Calix Inc. (NYSE: CALX) CEO Carl Russo says video is the common denominator of all of today's most significant network and cultural trends -- and that can put service providers in a challenging, but possibly rewarding, spot.

You can watch the full keynote right here:

Russo, to lead off, focused the audience on the biggest service provider trends, two of those being cloud computing and smarter mobile devices. "The number of devices connected to the cloud is expanding at a geometric rate," he says.

Most information being captured today is digital. The culture is becoming increasingly virtual. And video is at the center of it all.

"Video is the common denominator of all these trends. Video will be the way people interact, not only with content, but also with each other," Russo says. "And when we say video, we mean streaming video files."

Ultimately, Russo says, these new consumption patterns and trends shift power away from the service providers, unless the service providers find out where they have a unique position in the market and can offer value to consumers.

"The opportunity is to focus on the customer," Russo says. "What unique services can I provide to them that I'm best positioned to provide?"

Knowing that consumers have a set of IP devices connected to a network gives service providers the ability to, if they choose to, know more about their subscribers and build billable service offerings that can be offered at a low cost. Russo didn't offer a menu of specific services to try, but having more info about each subscriber -- and knowing that they're connected an all IP network -- suggests that service providers will need to be flexible, trying several new services before they can find out what will stick.

— Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading