http://www.currentanalysis.com/ Analysis Reports provided by Current Analysis, Inc. en-us All materials Copyright 1997-2010 Current Analysis, Inc. Reproduction or distribution prohibited without express written consent. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:44:10 GMT http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52440&rss Italtel continues to invest in and expand partner relationships, specifically strengthening its already tight relationship with Cisco. The company need to be careful, however, not to neglect development of its own product portfolio. McGarvey, Joe 2010-07-20T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=43029&rss With the revelation of information related to the performance of its CSCFs, NSN’s IMS solution rates among the highest in the market in terms of session and subscriber control. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-07-16T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=43028&rss Ericsson continues to improve the overall value of its IMS solution through the introduction of new capabilities, as well as consistent improvements to existing components and subsystems, such as policy management. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-07-15T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=43076&rss With each iteration of its IMS solution, Huawei improves the overall depth of the portfolio and better positions the platform to gain greater acceptance with major operators outside of China. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-07-15T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=54107&rss Cisco’s Hosted Collaboration Solution adds a broad set of communications applications to its existing hosted offering, but requires operators to move communications services to Cisco’s proprietary hardware platform and service delivery equipment. Riggs, Brian - McGarvey, Joe 2010-07-02T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=54092&rss Alcatel-Lucent’s acquisition of ProgrammableWeb is the company’s latest and boldest move toward designating the cultivation of a broad and energized developer community as the key to its application enablement strategy. McGarvey, Joe 2010-07-01T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53980&rss By unveiling an updated corporate vision and strategic roadmap so shortly after completing its acquisition of Nortel’s CVAS business unit, GENBAND is letting customers and competitors know that it plans to pursue new opportunities aggressively. McGarvey, Joe 2010-06-23T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53935&rss Having passed several years ago on any opportunity to compete head-to-head with telecommunications equipment makers in IP-based core session control, Cisco is working hard to define its position in the signaling infrastructure of operators. McGarvey, Joe 2010-06-21T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53907&rss NSN, unable to match its largest competitors in terms of end-to-end IP services infrastructure solutions, employs a strategy to differentiate its offerings through a focus on professional services and customer insight information. McGarvey, Joe 2010-06-17T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53864&rss Ericsson’s top-of-market status or near top-of-market status across mobile softswitching, IMS and SDP segments make it a leader in the overall IP services infrastructure space and prime supplier to transitioning operators. McGarvey, Joe 2010-06-14T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53863&rss Huawei entered 2010 with momentum, striking a stark contrast to the majority of its competitors, which either ran in place or fell behind in an overall difficult 2009 for the telecommunications industry. McGarvey, Joe 2010-06-14T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53835&rss With session-based services becoming an increasingly critical element in both fixed and mobile networks, the demand for session border controller solutions, after more than a decade of deployment in operator networks, is poised to skyrocket. McGarvey, Joe 2010-06-10T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=50353&rss The Alcatel-Lucent Service Delivery Environment (SDE) is a framework based on service oriented architecture (SOA) principles that functions as a blueprint for operators in the construction of service delivery infrastructures. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-06-04T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53768&rss IBM’s Service Delivery Platform (SDP) strategy is based on the IBM Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE). The SPDE is at its core a comprehensive framework for the construction of a service delivery environment. McGarvey, Joe 2010-06-04T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=50352&rss The Huawei Service Delivery Platform (SDP) Solution is a comprehensive collection of products, processes and systems designed to enable operators to address four critical business objectives. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-06-03T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=50354&rss The Ericsson SDP is threatening among the SDP solutions available from network equipment providers, as the platform provides a strong mix of standalone products that have been welded into a complete architecture. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-06-02T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52098&rss The HP Service Delivery Platform (SDP) is an open and standards-based solution designed to enable the development, delivery and management of converged network and subscriber services. McGarvey, Joe 2010-06-02T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53704&rss With customer experience management the hot topic at Management World in Nice last week, operators may have finally found a business pursuit that will allow them to unite their IT and network halves of the business for good. McGarvey, Joe 2010-05-28T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53678&rss ZTE, the “other” Chinese equipment vendor, is working hard to increase its status outside of its huge domestic market. Steady advances in IMS and SDP technology and international deployments are big steps toward the company’s goal. McGarvey, Joe 2010-05-26T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53594&rss Sonus’ long-awaited introduction of a session management product did not disappoint. The company’s compact and powerful SBC presents an interesting new challenge to market leader Acme Packet. McGarvey, Joe 2010-05-18T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53563&rss After being touted as the company most likely to go public for several years and coming close to being acquired on at least a couple of past occasions, BroadSoft is on the precipice of a major equity event after filing for an IPO in March 2010. McGarvey, Joe 2010-05-14T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53557&rss The Veraz and Dialogic pairing is the latest M&A activity driven by the explosive traffic growth on mobile data networks. Time will tell, however, if combined portfolios create a compelling solution or just a diverse one. McGarvey, Joe 2010-05-14T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53543&rss Acme Packet has improved upon its Net-Net 3800 platform with new options with which the company can target a greater variety of enterprises. However, it is carriers that will benefit most from the new capabilities. Arnold, Robert 2010-05-13T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53491&rss Tekelec’s $165 million buying spree to acquire Camiant and Blueslice provides the company with control plane intelligence that will significantly increase opportunities with mobile operators struggling to address exploding data bandwidth demands. McGarvey, Joe 2010-05-07T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42261&rss Alcatel-Lucent’s share of the softswitch market surged in 2009, as the company was responsible for more than a quarter of softswitch revenue worldwide. The 5020 MGC-8’s contribution to that total, however, is not clearly documented. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42258&rss Cisco’s decision not to deliver IMS-based session control technology reduces the BTS 10200’s role in IMS environments primarily to that of media gateway control and telephony application server functions. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42656&rss GENBAND has changed the name of its softswitch to the C3 Gateway Controller, which reflects the company’s strategically savvy move to make it a critical component of its Global Interconnect Solution. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42263&rss While Huawei’s SoftX3000 softswitch continues to find traction around the globe and claim BHCA and session density leadership, the focus in developed markets is for the SoftX3000 to transition into an access gateway control function (AGCF). McGarvey, Joe - 2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53450&rss With Huawei identifying assisting operators in capturing a greater share of the communications value chain as strategically paramount in 2010 at its recent analyst conference, the company confirmed the strategic value of its IP services products. McGarvey, Joe 2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42260&rss As Italtel emphasizes the company’s systems integration strength in 2010, Italtel is likely to concentrate softswitch developments on broadening its integration with third-party equipment and opportunities in enterprise markets. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42265&rss While the hiQ 8000 is currently a major component of NSN’s fixed voice transformation solution, the platform ultimate plays a limited role in an end-to-end IMS environment. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42257&rss Nortel continued to evolve the CS 2000 throughout the company’s legal difficulties in 2009. The company’s consistency will pay dividends by significantly simplifying the integration of the CS 2000 into GENBAND’s product portfolio. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42254&rss With the scheduled delivery of an all-IP platform in 2010, Sonus is signaling that it will accelerate the ongoing transition of its softswitch solution toward the IMS industry standard. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42264&rss With opportunities still in short supply on the access side of the TDM-to-IP market, Veraz acted prudently in licensing its Class 5/IMS technology to LS Cable of Korea. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-05-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53371&rss Huawei held its annual Global Analyst Conference towards the end of April in Shenzhen. While the company’s messaging continues to mature, it still managed to surprise with its take on the application market and new strategies in the enterprise. Jarich, Peter - Hunt, Glen 2010-05-03T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53269&rss GENBAND is no stranger to the integration of new products and companies, having made numerous acquisitions over the past year. The absorption of Nortel CVAS, however, is on a much larger scale and will present significant challenges. McGarvey, Joe 2010-04-29T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53250&rss The Ericsson SBG session border control breaks new ground in terms of performance and configuration versatility. With only a couple of dozen customers, however, Ericsson has significant market share ground to make up on industry leaders. McGarvey, Joe 2010-04-27T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53246&rss ZTE held its sixth annual Global Analyst Conference towards the end of April. While it remedied a lack of focus on solution messaging which dogged it last year, it still needs to back up product and solution claims with mature market proof points. Jarich, Peter - Keith, Erik 2010-04-26T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53225&rss In what is becoming a large crowd of policy management competitors, Telcordia looks to stand out with the introduction of its Bandwidth Manager product and a customer-centric approach to service control. McGarvey, Joe 2010-04-23T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53177&rss Operators that dismissed policy management in the past as merely a network congestion antidote are discovering that service control will be one of the more important weapons in the battle to differentiate their networks and capture subscribers. McGarvey, Joe 2010-04-20T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53097&rss Alcatel-Lucent is backing up its marketing rhetoric with resource investment. The company aggressively continues to invest in refining and expanding the key components of its application enablement strategy. McGarvey, Joe 2010-04-13T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53091&rss Juniper is jumping into video with its Ankeena acquisition, bolstering its longer-term competitiveness vs. Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco, although the benefits will not fully be realized until Ankeena’s technology is integrated into Juniper’s routers. Schreiber, Yoav 2010-04-12T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=53048&rss Disparities between the fixed and mobile softswitching product segments are significant. While fixed softswitches are advancing into their sunset years, their mobile counterparts have only started to tap into their full potential. McGarvey, Joe 2010-04-05T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=41845&rss Alcatel-Lucent's mobile switching solution combines the lowest power consumption per subscriber on the market with competitive call features. Unfortunately, subscriber capacity conspicuously trails rival products. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-04-02T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=41873&rss Introducing a new version of the MCS-Server Blade Cluster at the end of 2009, Ericsson has increased subscriber capacity and further cemented its market-leading position in the mobile softswitching space. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-04-02T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42867&rss Huawei’s mobile softswitch solution is steadily gaining traction in GSM/WCDMA regions. With NSN’s introduction of an ATCA-based platform, Huawei is no longer the newest system on the market. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-04-02T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=41846&rss NSN’s introduction of the ATCA-based Open MSC server significantly boosts the subscriber capacity of the company’s mobile softswitching solution, while the company claim further distinction with the industry’s only integrated VoIP offering. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-04-02T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52856&rss Turning in a record financial performance in 2009, Acme Packet enters the new decade as the reigning heavyweight champion of SIP communications. McGarvey, Joe 2010-03-17T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52855&rss Mobile and global will be the twin foci of Metaswitch in 2010. Emboldened by a new CEO and strong performance in 2009, Metaswitch will look to separate from close competitors through expansion in the coming quarters. McGarvey, Joe 2010-03-17T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52849&rss Coming off a strong Q4 2010 financial performance, Tekelec is well positioned at the start of 2010 to execute on its plan to continue to increase revenue from products in its next-generation portfolio. McGarvey, Joe 2010-03-17T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52839&rss Not anticipating significant activity in the Class 5 replacement market in the next couple of quarters, Veraz has wisely partnered with a solution provider to dig up Class 5/4 opportunities, especially in developing markets. McGarvey, Joe 2010-03-16T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=50995&rss The 5340 ECN is designed primarily for operators looking to leverage an IN-based service environment, putting the platform at a potential disadvantage in pure IP or IMS-based environments. McGarvey, Joe 2010-03-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42183&rss BroadSoft has done an excellent job of modifying and extending its flagship product – the BroadWorks application server – to meet the hosted communications requirements of all types of operators catering to all types of customers. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-03-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42594&rss The second half of 2009 was lean for Comverse, as public deployments of the Netcentrex converged communications solution were few. The company needs to start building up new deployments to justify the 2009 addition of an IMS core. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-03-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52804&rss The hosted VoIP and multimedia market has largely been associated with fixed-line services, but given the rise of smartphones and mobile broadband, makers of hosted application servers are prepping their wares for mobile and converged carriers. McGarvey, Joe 2010-03-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=49502&rss The hiQ 4200 is an integral component of NSN’s overall VoIP strategy, playing a role in existing and future deployments in cable, fixed, and mobile networks. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-03-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51002&rss Nortel’s Adaptive Application Engine scores high marks for multimedia functionality, openness, and deployment flexibility. Public deployments of the platform in the past six months, however, have been scarce. McGarvey, Joe 2010-03-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52764&rss Validating recent declarations from its new CEO that Metaswitch was on the cusp of expansion, the company announced its first acquisition. In acquiring service broker maker AppTrigger, Metaswitch has launched its M&A activities in fine fashion. McGarvey, Joe 2010-03-10T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52646&rss Although the MG3510 Universal Media Gateway is already an industry workhorse, the platform will gain more traction when it is affixed with additional capabilities to support ETSI environments and mobile networks. McGarvey, Joe 2010-03-01T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52671&rss Built on the same platform as the Sonus GSX family of media gateways, the Network Border Switch (NBS) is a pragmatic SBC option for Sonus customers. More than 75 carriers have deployed the NBS globally since its introduction in 2003. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-26T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52665&rss From all public indications, 2009 was a transition year for the IP communications product portfolio within Comverse. Consequently, the former Netcentrex business unit will need to demonstrate market momentum in 2010. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-25T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52655&rss With the acquisition of Nortel’s CVAS unit all but assured, GENBAND should immediately implement a thoughtful and thorough integration and rationalization strategy, and present customers with a ready-to-go-market product portfolio. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-24T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52649&rss Urgency was in the air at the 2010 version of Mobile World Congress. Operators now fully recognize that time is of the essence in fending off challenges from Internet-based competitors. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-24T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52571&rss Acme Packet’s trio of SIP-based signaling solutions at MWC represents a major milestone in the maturity of the company. Already the leader in session management, Acme Packet is looking to grab a bigger piece of the IP infrastructure market. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52563&rss The proposed acquisition of Convergin’s service broker technology fortifies Oracle’s SDP offering with crucial legacy-to-next generation integration capabilities and pushes the software giant further up the SDP market ranking. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52550&rss Though Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) software is compatible with several Cisco router families, the company’s decision to focus implementation on the ASR 1000 Series puts its session management offering in its most attractive configuration. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-11T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52540&rss Even if 2010 does not represent a significant financial rebound from 2009, operators need to be aggressive in executing on critical components of infrastructure and business model transformation projects. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-10T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42306&rss Alcatel-Lucent boost the utility of the 7510 Media Gateway by making it a vital component of the company’s distributed session management solution. The 7510 is now among the most versatile media gateways available. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-02-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42301&rss With the inclusion of the Alcatel-Lucent 7510 MGW in the company’s IP Borders solution, the 7520 MGW has lost some of its luster in the company’s carrier VoIP and multimedia portfolio. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-02-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42300&rss It is likely to be well into 2010 until it can be determined if Cisco’s decision not to provide IMS-based session control will impact the market momentum of the MGX 8880 media gateway. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-02-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42646&rss GENBAND has been increasing its market share, more than doubling it based on revenue from 2007 to 2008, according to Synergy Research Group, while it simultaneously executes its product convergence strategy for all its acquired technology. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-02-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42303&rss Though Nortel’s MG 15000 remains a market powerhouse, the fate of the platform will rest in the hands of the company that triumphs in the auction for Nortel’s Carrier Voice and Application Solutions business unit. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-02-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42302&rss With Class 5 PSTN replacement opportunities less than plentiful, Sonus is looking to further leverage the success of the GSX9000 in core networks in 2010. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-02-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=42318&rss Veraz Networks’ addition of session management capabilities to the I-Gate 4000 PRO will increase the attractiveness of the product among operators looking to leveraging existing network equipment rather than purchase standalone SBCs. McGarvey, Joe - 2010-02-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52508&rss BroadHop leaps full force into the evolving policy control and management arena with the introduction of the Quantum Network Suite. Next steps for the company are to assemble a partner ecosystem and customer roster to validate performance claims. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-03T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52498&rss Faced with the reality that Class 5 deployment opportunities are scarce, Veraz has licensed its Class 5 softswitch to a Korean partner, in a largely risk-free transaction that enables Veraz to focus its product development resources elsewhere. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-02T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52482&rss After completing its cost-cutting activities in summer 2009, including a significant headcount reduction, Sonus enters 2010 a little leaner than in the past but focused on jumpstarting its product innovation efforts. McGarvey, Joe 2010-02-01T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52425&rss Amdocs moved much closer to the mainstream of the SDP market with the introduction of CES 8. Now the company needs to shout from the rooftops that it is a serious contender in the service delivery market. McGarvey, Joe 2010-01-21T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52400&rss Cisco takes a stab at the hosted multimedia sector of the market with its Hosted Unified Communications Services solution. Though BT is an impressive first customer, Cisco may have difficulties in finding additional operator partners. McGarvey, Joe 2010-01-19T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52358&rss Huawei is spending $500 million on its R&D and manufacturing in India, in part to bulk up its local image and fight stiff import tariffs. The move is clearly necessary to build momentum abroad, but will other investments follow? Jarich, Peter 2010-01-12T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52350&rss The Bell Labs organized Green Touch Initiative launched with a goal of improving telecom network energy efficiency a thousand-fold. How it will achieve this and what the world will look like when the group’s plans are complete is anyone’s guess. Jarich, Peter 2010-01-11T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52551&rss NSN’s session management offering is a reflection of the company’s willingness to engage partners to create a solution, as the NSN CFX-5000 Border Controller is paired with a border gateway from either Acme Packet or Juniper Networks. McGarvey, Joe 2010-01-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52299&rss Considered a suitor of Nortel’s carrier VoIP assets for quite some time, GENBAND made its interest official with a $282 million stalking horse bid. If successful, GENBAND will be a significantly different company in 2010. McGarvey, Joe 2009-12-23T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52556&rss McGarvey, Joe 2009-12-22T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=43026&rss Serving as one of the pillars in Alcatel-Lucent’s IP transformation and application enablement strategy – as well as its High Leverage Network – is the company’s comprehensive IMS portfolio. McGarvey, Joe - 2009-12-22T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52552&rss The GENBAND S3 enjoys an exceptionally large installed base of carrier customers. After eight years in production, however, the platform is being augmented by the future availability of ATCA-based SBCs and a session routing proxy from GENBAND. McGarvey, Joe 2009-12-22T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52553&rss Acme Packet continues to perform at the top of its game – and reside at the top of the standalone market. With former partners unveiling session management gear, however, Acme Packet will need to improve direct relations with customers. McGarvey, Joe 2009-12-21T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52554&rss The Huawei SE2300 offers operators multiple configuration options for session management. However, the platform is underpowered in comparison with products from rival standalone equipment makers. McGarvey, Joe 2009-12-21T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52260&rss Service exposure capability is the most critical aspect of an SDP. Operators need to recognize that service capability offerings vary significantly in terms of depth, breadth and their ability to support multiple business models. McGarvey, Joe 2009-12-16T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51038&rss With the IMS and SDP market shifting in focus toward mobile operators in 2010, ZTE will be in a strong position to improve its positioning in these categories by leveraging its penetration among mobile operators. McGarvey, Joe 2009-12-10T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52208&rss Though Alcatel-Lucent efficiently followed up its “application enablement” announcement of a year ago with new products and services, it remains to be seen if the company’s efforts create significant – or any – competitive differentiation. McGarvey, Joe 2009-12-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52065&rss Though most operators recognize the need to develop new business models and evolve service delivery platforms, they lack the experience to transform their network. IBM’s global development centers are designed to fill that need. McGarvey, Joe 2009-11-25T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52031&rss Starent’s introduction of its policy and charging control solution will strike a timely chord with operators struggling to handle exploding bandwidth demands. However, the company should have been timelier in unveiling its partner ecosystem. McGarvey, Joe 2009-11-19T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51889&rss Acme Packet is out ahead of the SBC pack in its support for the Rich Communications Suite initiative. With RCS not a guaranteed commercial success, however, it is possible that Acme Packet’s RCS-related sweat could be all for naught. McGarvey, Joe 2009-11-05T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51890&rss Faced with continuing losses, NSN’s planned “return to growth” required a change at the German-Finnish JV. Cost cuts and a new organization are a good start, but limited details make it impossible to know if they can deliver success. Jarich, Peter 2009-11-05T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51888&rss With the introduction of the One Voice initiative and a supporting technical profile for voice over IMS in LTE networks, that sound you hear is the wind going out of the argument that LTE is a data-only specification. McGarvey, Joe 2009-11-05T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51879&rss After an H1N1-induced delay this spring, NSN held its Global Analyst conference last week. Where the company’s planned transformation into a software and services company was a front-and-center message, its networks messaging suffered. Jarich, Peter 2009-11-04T00:00:00-05:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51822&rss Despite a low-key atmosphere, most likely attributable to the postponement of the exhibition from the spring, SUPERCOMM 2009 served as an intriguing backdrop to concurrent net neutrality activities in Washington, D.C. McGarvey, Joe 2009-10-28T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51816&rss Cisco does not plan to make homegrown core IMS technology part of its overall solution, rather the company’s strategy focuses on providing IMS-based components and functions that are complementary to session control components from partners. McGarvey, Joe 2009-10-27T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51792&rss Metaswitch’s enhancements to its application server platform bring the company another step closer to fulfilling its objective of transitioning into a competitive force in the application layer of the carrier VoIP and multimedia market. McGarvey, Joe 2009-10-23T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51789&rss Nortel’s carrier VoIP unit, as improbable as it sounds given the company’s financial situation, is cranking out new products and software enhancements. The new products, however, will not be available until Q2 2010. McGarvey, Joe 2009-10-23T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51762&rss Cedar Point’s new platform offers customers a serviceable migration path to an IMS or Packet 2.0 architecture. With portions of the platform not available commercially until 2010, however, Cedar Point’s window of opportunity is closing. McGarvey, Joe 2009-10-20T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=41275&rss AudioCodes is effectively weathering the global recession that has damped the overall VoIP market by leveraging its low-level technical expertise to explore new product categories, such as high definition VoIP and IP-to-IP transcoding McGarvey, Joe 2009-10-19T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51755&rss As the IMS market pushes closer to mainstream adoption, proponents of an Internet-based approach to service delivery would be wise to partner with facilities-based operators to create value-added versions of their services. McGarvey, Joe 2009-10-19T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=52473&rss As the IMS market pushes closer to mainstream adoption, proponents of an Internet-based approach to service delivery would be wise to partner with facilities-based operators to create value-added versions of their services. McGarvey, Joe 2009-10-19T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51743&rss NSN’s Fixed Voice Transformation solution provides operators with a comprehensive roadmap for migrating PSTN users to IP networks, though it might be years before some Tier 1 operators even think about ripping out Class 5 TDM switches. McGarvey, Joe 2009-10-16T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51678&rss Upon completion of its acquisition of Packet Island, BroadSoft will have added technology to its portfolio that will enhance its hosted VoIP offering and generate revenue for the company as a standalone service. McGarvey, Joe 2009-10-07T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51627&rss Intelepeer’s launching of an AppworX developer program is a timely move and a wake up call for the equipment makers, which need to make sure they play a strategic role in assisting operators in the opening of their networks. McGarvey, Joe 2009-09-30T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51612&rss BroadSoft’s intensifying of focus on the consumer services attributes of its application server comes at just the right time and should help the company strengthen its direct relationship with Tier 1 operators. McGarvey, Joe 2009-09-25T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51589&rss Though Globe Telecommunications may not be a major operator, NSN’s most recent deployment of its service delivery platform is effective in highlighting the rapid time-to-market attributes of the NSN Service Delivery Framework. McGarvey, Joe 2009-09-22T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51582&rss The availability of Release 2 of the RCS specifications and a developer competition are designed to accelerate the adoption of RCS-based services. Much of the success of mobile and fixed operators hinges on a fast ramp-up of RCS-based services. McGarvey, Joe 2009-09-21T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51552&rss The RCS project marks the first stage in the blending of telecommunications services and the Internet – as well as the first shot in the looming battle between operators and Over the Top service providers for the hearts and wallets of subscribers. McGarvey, Joe 2009-09-18T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51539&rss After two years of quietly nurturing its core IMS technology, Thomson is preparing for the commercial release of its IMS session control and subscriber management technology. The new addition will be a hit with the company’s installed base. McGarvey, Joe 2009-09-17T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51518&rss AT&T’s Domain Supplier announcement was long-expected, though not completely novel. It does, however, hold out the promise of a major-league endorsement and solid revenues for the vendors chosen – if they can live up to the operator’s demands. Jarich, Peter 2009-09-14T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=41406&rss With most of Nortel’s product divisions either sold off or in the process of being sold, it’s just a matter of time before a buyer is found for the company’s Carrier VoIP & Applications Solutions (CVAS). McGarvey, Joe 2009-09-14T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51489&rss Although neither of Thomson’s two new products offers ground-breaking performance, the introductions are important in that they signal a fresh period of development activity in the Cirpack product family. McGarvey, Joe 2009-09-10T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51477&rss The build out of mobile data networks has reignited debate over the location of intelligence in the network. If telecom operators do not change business models they will be resigned to rely on transport services for the bulk of future revenue. McGarvey, Joe 2009-09-08T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51303&rss Though AppTrigger can legitimately claim that its latest version of the company’s service broker is applicable to all the competing flavors of VoLTE, it will take another year for the company to prove its claims. McGarvey, Joe 2009-08-18T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=41337&rss If Thomson is to emerge out of its financial restructuring a competitive threat in the softswitch and IMS markets it needs to duplicate its recent success at Bouygues Telecom in pairing the Cirpack VoIP gear with components from the company’s IPTV portfolio. McGarvey, Joe 2009-08-14T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51267&rss With the introduction of the SR3 Routing Proxy Solution GENBAND has an offering for customers looking to attach existing signaling equipment to a centralized routing system. But the company needs a public deployment to validate the new product. McGarvey, Joe 2009-08-12T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=41344&rss Taqua continues to win class 5 replacement opportunities though not at the same rate it saw last year and is looking for some revenue boost from new enhancements and partnerships targeted toward the mobile side of the service provider business. Ogle, Jeff 2009-08-11T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51245&rss Sonus Networks expands its product architecture to create a packaged solution designed to target the standalone SBC market, which has seen a renewed interest on many fronts including the router vendors. But can it win against Acme Packet? Ogle, Jeff 2009-08-07T00:00:00-04:00 http://www.currentanalysis.com/COMPETE/FrontEnd/Report.aspx?rid=51180&rss Despite financial issues and distracting asset sell offs swirling around it, the carrier VoIP division of Nortel has remained focused on providing significant and steady enhancements to its product portfolio. McGarvey, Joe 2009-07-31T00:00:00-04:00