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Avaya Bundles Up with NETGEAR for “Quick” P2P System Sales| Analysts: Brian Riggs, Robert Arnold | Enterprise Communications | Client Access Announcement Summary
May 22, 2007 - NETGEAR and Avaya entered into an agreement in which the two companies will jointly deliver their respective SOHO switch and peer-to-peer telephony systems to value-added data resellers who are unfamiliar with IP telephony. Simple design templates and application notes will make it quick and easy to configure and install without any specialized training. The bundle is available immediately in North America, with delivery in Europe on the roadmap. Through Best Buy for Business, a bundled solution for eight users sells for between $3,150 and $4,200 depending on the type of Avaya handsets used. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Positive on Avaya and NETGEAR bundling a number of their respective voice- and data-centric small business products because it will help to speed sales and distribution processes and has attracted the interest of potentially powerful channel partners. However, the arrangement is more about sales and marketing than it is about product development and integration. Logistical benefits may be gained, but technical advantages are minimal. • Vendor Importance: Moderate to Avaya, because one-X Quick Edition bundled with NETGEAR data equipment could help Avaya to better compete with advanced and comprehensive small office communications offerings introduced by alternative suppliers. However, the Avaya-NETGEAR agreement brings no clear functionality advancements that competitors need to consider. • Market Impact:Moderate on the SMB telephony market, because AT&T has committed to reselling the Avaya-NETGEAR bundle as part of a packaged internet access and SIP telephony service offering. However Avaya is not introducing new capabilities or new distributors for its one-X Quick Edition platform, nor are resellers or small businesses getting price discounts for ordering the Avaya and NETGEAR systems in a bundled fashion. Nextlink Enhances Wireless Services Redundancy with Power Backup Options| Analyst: Brian Washburn | Business Network Services - U.S. | Client Access Announcement Summary
May 22, 2007 – Nextlink introduces Nextlink Network Resiliency Services, a service for business and government customers to deploy fixed wireless to provide physical route diversity for business continuity purposes. The service enables customers to re-route traffic and/or handle overflow traffic and other communications anomalies. Nextlink's services offer 10-155 Mbps speeds, 4- and 8-hour battery backup, and network availability of up to 99.999%. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Slightly positive on the launch of Nextlink Network Resiliency Services because the fixed wireless company's greatest opportunity to make initial inroads with business accounts is as a provider of backup services. Nextlink's enhancements to its redundancy services, even as minor as battery backup, should appeal widely to an enterprise audience considering Nextlink as a wireless backup provider. • Vendor Importance: Moderate to high to Nextlink, because wireless backup plays to the company's technology and infrastructure strengths while mitigating some of its shortfalls. Fixed wireless is subject to entirely different criteria (e.g., line of sight, access to a building wall or rooftop) than copper- or fiber-based access (e.g., fiber routes and termination in the building basement). What's more, Nextlink sister company XO has its own PoPs and facilities in the markets it serves, giving customers the option to implement diversity throughout the network, not just in the access portion. • Market Impact: Low to moderate on the market, because many smaller CLECs and competitive access providers aim to get their foot in the door with enterprise-class accounts by providing backup services, a category under constant price pressure, with the aim of growing their way further into these accounts over the long term. Business addresses where dual-entrance metro fiber is not available represent Nextlink's best opportunity to make its pitch as a wireless provider of continuity services. Microsoft Touts Support for OCS by Leading Voice Systems Developers| Analysts: Brian Riggs, Robert Arnold | Enterprise Communications | Client Access Announcement Summary
May 22, 2007 - Microsoft announced that 12 leading PBX developers will support interoperability between their voice systems and Office Communications Server 2007. These include Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Mitel Networks, NEC, Nortel Networks, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Audiocodes, Dialogic and Quintum Technologies. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Neutral on Microsoft’s announcing PBX developers’ support for interoperating with Office Communications Server (OCS), because the OCS interoperability specification was previously announced and all major telephony developers have made clear – either formally or tacitly – that they will support the platform. As a result there is no particular change in Microsoft’s competitive positioning based on this week’s announcement. • Vendor Importance: Moderate to Microsoft, because the company presently has no tangible share of the business voice systems market and for the foreseeable future will rely on the market leaders to establish itself in this space. This initially began in the form of support for the instant messaging and VoIP capabilities of Live Communications Server. The present announcement confirms expected carry over of this support to Microsoft’s OCS when it becomes available. • Market Impact: Low on the enterprise communications market, because the Microsoft product in question is not yet shipping and the company has failed to formally announce a date for OCS general availability. As a result, there will be no immediate impact on enterprise buyers or the competitive PBX landscape. Samsung to Widen Branch Office Options for Avaya| Analyst: Brian Riggs | Enterprise Communications | Client Access Announcement Summary
May 22, 2007 – Samsung announced U.S. availability of the Ubigate(TM) iBG 2016 and iBG 3026 converged Enterprise networking platforms. The Ubigate systems are designed for the small to medium-size businesses or branch offices of larger Enterprises, providing integrated switching, routing, security, and telephony. Pricing was not announced. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Neutral on Samsung’s IP Business Team introducing its Ubigate iBG Series Convergence Platform to the North American and European markets, because it will provide Avaya with additional integrated branch office options for its Communications Manager PBX, though this solution will not be well differentiated from existing integrated branch office solutions, at least from a telephony perspective. • Vendor Importance: High to Samsung, because Ubigate models give the company a foundation on which to build a more comprehensive converged communications offering as it develops a market for its networking systems outside of its east Asia stronghold. Low to Avaya because the Ubigate gateways largely duplicate existing branch office offerings currently delivered via the company’s partnership with Juniper Networks. • Market Impact: Low on the SMB communications market, because from the perspective of enterprise and SMB communications Unigate remains very much a work in progress, with many features to be delivered at later, unspecified points in the product’s future. Besides plans to sell the platform through Avaya, Samsung has no established reseller network in either North America or Europe, nor has it articulated a reasoned plan for penetrating the European market. Woven Systems Demonstrates Its 10GigE Fabric Switch| Analyst: Michael Brandenburg | Enterprise Network Systems | Announcement Summary
May 22, 2007 – Woven Systems, the leading innovator of Ethernet fabric solutions, announced that it will be demonstrating its flagship product - the EFX 1000, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) Fabric Switch - at Interop 2007 Las Vegas: IT Conference and Exposition (booth 2449). The EFX 1000 switch, based on Woven’s patented vSCALE technology, delivers highly scalable 10 GE performance for server clustering and storage applications at 1/5 the price point of alternative switch offerings. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Positive on Woven Systems’ introduction of the EFX 1000, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) Fabric Switch because it has the potential to revolutionize the way 10GigE is implemented in the data center. Rather than using the standard crossbar switch architecture, the EFX 1000 essentially creates a switch fabric that is partitioned by vLAN or priority. • Vendor Importance: Very high to Woven Systems, because this is the company’s first and only product, as well as a new approach to implementing GigE switching. If the EFX 1000 is a success, Woven Systems stands to win big; if not, the company could quickly become another obscure footnote in switching history. • Market Impact: High on the core switching market, because this new approach must be met with either strong challenges to its validity or a stronger alternative switch. McAfee Announces IntruShield Integration with Systems, 10 Gbps Speed| Analyst: Charlotte Dunlap | Enterprise Security | Client Access Announcement Summary
May 22, 2007 - McAfee announced the McAfee IntruShield 10 Gigabit Ethernet platforms, the first and only network Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) appliances to deliver performance of up to 10 Gbps and the highest gigabit port-density available in the industry. The new IntruShield multi-gigabit M-Series platforms are designed to meet the explosive growth of IPS into the network core and data center, as well as the rapid growth of high-performance10 Gigabit Ethernet and IPv6 networks. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Positive on McAfee’s new release of IntruShield, because it is integrated with centralized management system, ePolicy Orchestrator and risk management product, Foundstone, which allows the network device to leverage the company’s NAC and endpoint intelligence. New hardware enables a 10 Gbps version of McAfee’s high-end IntruShield IPS product within the M-Series. • Vendor Importance: High to McAfee’s integration efforts, which better position the company as a security risk management company. Customers are assured of broader security risk information that reaches from the endpoint to the network. • Market Impact: High on the threat management market segment, because the leading IPS technology IntruShield provides more value with the additional intelligence; however, the company needs to add network behavior anomaly detection (NBAD) technology to its solution. SonicWall Announces E7500, 5 Gbps UTM with DPI| Analyst: Charlotte Dunlap | Enterprise Security | Client Access Announcement Summary
May 22, 2007 - SonicWALL unveiled the SonicWALL NSA E7500, a new gateway security appliance. Designed for campus networks, distributed environments and data centers that require consistent performance, manageability and security without paying a price premium, the NSA E7500 is easy to deploy and includes a rich set of application layer features for inbound and outbound network control. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Slightly positive on SonicWall’s announcement of its first enterprise class 5 Gbps UTM appliance with deep packet inspection to be released in Q4 2007. The UTM offering represents the company’s foray into the mid-tiered market with its network security business. • Vendor Importance: High to SonicWall’s gateway security appliance announcement, because the company can respond to the needs of mid-sized enterprises customers with limited IT resources looking for integrated security that includes application layer intelligence. • Market Impact: Moderate on the network security market segment, because SonicWall will offer later in the year a high performance UTM that allows application specific policies for access control, but the company faces leading networking competitors with mature UTM offerings and established distribution models in the mid-tier space. Cisco Stretches Its Mobility Vision| Analyst: Kathryn "Kitty" Weldon | Enterprise Mobility - U.S. | Client Access Announcement Summary
May 22, 2007 -- Cisco launches enhancements to its mobile solutions portfolio, including new capabilities for the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, Unified Communications, Business on the Go, and Process Monitoring and Optimization Solutions. New features include telemetry-powered asset tagging and “chokepoint” management and comprehensive vertical solutions for retail and oil and gas customers. Cisco also focused on its vision of delivering secure, extensible mobile solutions, regardless of access technology or location. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Slightly positive on Cisco’s mobility enhancements as they show that Cisco may become a force to be reckoned with within the broader enterprise mobility market. While the actual announcements at Interop are relatively minor, they continue to reinforce the vendor’s existing leadership position in the WLAN and enterprise communications markets. However, Cisco’s mobility “vision” implies a potentially broader role helping enterprises (including remote and mobile users) access, secure, and manage any network or application regardless of the underlying network transport. • Vendor Importance: Moderate to Cisco as not only do its Interop announcements add to its existing in-building/campus-focused solutions with location, in-store mobility, and “first mile” wireless solutions, but they point to a future where the vendor plays a more active role within the larger EM eco-system. Enterprises increasingly view mobility not as a set of access technologies that depend on where the end-user resides or needs to communicate, but as the over-arching ability to access any and all information they need, regardless of their company role or location. Cisco has the potential to add credibility and cohesiveness to the fragmented and “wild west” nature of existing EM deployments. • Market Impact: Moderate on the enterprise mobility segment as although Cisco remains a key player in the WLAN and enterprise communications arenas, it is only a nascent participant in the wider EM competitive landscape which also includes WWAN technologies, carrier services, and devices that run over cellular networks. What remains uncertain is if the vendor can pull off an evolution where it also has a meaningful role to play in the broader mobility market. Microsoft and Trusted Computing Group Demonstrate NAP/TNC Interoperability| Analyst: Andrew Braunberg | Enterprise Security | Client Access Announcement Summary
May 21, 2007 -- Trusted Computing Group (TCG), which develops open standards for computing security, and Microsoft Corp., a TCG member and active participant, have announced that they will provide customers and partners with interoperability between TCG’s Trusted Network Connect (TNC) architecture and Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP) for network access control (NAC). Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Very positive on Microsoft and Trusted Computing Group’s surprising progress in enabling interoperability between Microsoft’s Network Access Protection (NAP) framework and Trusted Computing Group’s Trusted Network Connect (TNC) framework. This agreement is an important industry milestone that is great news for customers, although it might not be fully appreciated initially by the general market. • Vendor Importance: Very high to the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) and Microsoft’s network access control; for the TCG, the arrangement provides additional credibility in regards to both its technical approach and, more importantly, its position as an industry-leading open set of specifications for network access control. For Microsoft, the deal provides a much-needed bridge technology where customers can safely deploy TNC-compliant technologies today and leverage those investments as they migrate to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 (i.e., Longhorn) in the future. • Market Impact: Very high on the NAC market, because this deal has the potential to isolate Cisco’s Network Admission Control framework since it provides a much more flexible and open approach to working with Microsoft NAP. Microsoft has contributed its Statement of Health protocol to the TCG, and the TCG has released it as a TNC-compatible open standard. The protocol enables communication between NAP (and now TNC) agents and NAP (and now TNC policy servers). The result is that customers can mix and match NAP and TNC-compliant architectural elements. Avaya Aims for Distributed Targets with New Communications Solution| Analyst: Robert Arnold | Enterprise Communications | Client Access Announcement Summary
May 21, 2007 - Avaya announced Distributed Office, a new IP telephony communications system that delivers rich branch communications capabilities and powerful management for highly distributed networks. The Avaya Distributed Office i40 and Avaya Distributed Office i120 support 40 and 120 users respectively, with flexible media and trunking configurations. The solution is complemented by Avaya's portfolio of phones and clients, including the new one-X Deskphone Value Edition family of cost-effective IP phones. Distributed Office will be available from Avaya and certified Avaya resellers, in North America, and select European and Asian countries on May 29. The i40 will list for $2,000 and the i120 starts at $2,700. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Positive on Avaya’s new Distributed Office platform because it strengthens the vendor’s capability to meet the communications requirements of enterprises with highly distributed multi-site environments. • Vendor Importance: Moderate to Avaya, because the new offering will allow the company to market its solutions to a customer type and segment that it could not effectively serve with its existing portfolio. Built primarily on technology utilized in other Avaya systems, resellers will be quick to come up to speed on the new offering. • Market Impact: Moderate on the enterprise communications space, because there are some similarly positioned distributed voice solutions already available, such as ShoreTel’s, but there is ample room among this particular class of customers for Avaya’s new offering, which targets a different customer sub-segment. Nortel Introduces Another Hosted Services Program| Analysts: Robert Arnold , John Marcus | Enterprise Communications, Announcement Summary
May 15, 2007 – Nortel announced its Nortel Hosted Solutions for enterprises and service providers. The portfolio includes IP telephony, unified communications, automatic call distribution (ACD), contact centers and other network application services delivered to enterprises through service providers using equipment owned and managed by Nortel. Nortel hosts and manages these applications from facilities around the world, supported by a global ecosystem of partners and market readiness programs. Analytical Summary • Current Perspective: Positive on Nortel’s new hosted communications portfolio, because the vendor has delivered on and improved its previously vague positioning messages regarding its hosted applications strategy for service providers and enterprises. Nortel has revamped its services strategy and portfolio with a focus more heavily weighted on the enterprise segment and this latest announcement provides greater clarity regarding the value of the solutions for both end-user business and carrier channel customers. • Vendor Importance: Moderate to high to Nortel, because the company has been promising to build up its services capability and has taken supporting steps in this effort for several years. By officially launching its hosted services programs Nortel can move ahead in positioning its Global Services organization as having the ability to satisfy additional types of enterprise communications requirements and achieve this through a better equipped base of service provider partners. • Market Impact: Moderate on the enterprise communications market, because the newly defined Nortel Hosted Solutions portfolio represents a significant market entry by an able competitor. Under the initiatives Nortel will be able to better match the offerings presented by competitors that have been supplementing their product sales by augmenting their partners’ services portfolios in support of enterprise customers.
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