Cisco Confirms Commitment to SP Mobility with Starent Rebrand and New Analytics

| Feb 10, 2010 | Wireless Infrastructure | Analyst: Peter Jarich

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Event Summary

February 9, 2010 – Cisco introduced the ASR 5000, formerly Starent’s ST40. A part of Cisco’s IP NGN architecture, the 5000 joins products including the ASR 1000, ASR 9000, 7600 and CRS-1 delivering solutions in the service provider’s mobile packet core, backhaul network, data center, etc. Concurrently, Cisco announced the latest results of its Visual Networking Index (with a mobile data focus) and a new, “Mobility Unified Reporting System” to deliver traffic analytics based on the ASR 5000.

Quick Take

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Moderate on Cisco’s new ASR 5000 launch and product upgrade, because while the new traffic analytics tools should help with mobile broadband monetization, the big news is simply the rebranding of Starent’s ST40 – a move that loudly signals the quick integration of Starent into the Cisco fold and Cisco’s tight focus on mobile broadband as a strategic opportunity. Unfortunately, a lack of information about how the ASR 5000 will coexist alongside 7600-based gateway products and limited details on how Cisco views monetization beyond traffic reporting and management tools weakens the announcement.

• Vendor Importance: Very high to Cisco, because the company has repeatedly identified mobility and mobile broadband as a foundation of its focus on service provider (SP) opportunities. At the same time, however, the company’s position on mobility has often been disjointed – including end-to-end core messaging, some RAN messaging, and launches which often reference “mobility” with a focus only on the enterprise. Having paid a hefty sum (~$3 billion) for Starent, the company needed to show it was serious about executing on its assets to push into SP mobility and move quickly before competitors could build momentum (or mind share) behind the new SGSN/GGSN and EPC offers.

• Market Impact: Moderate on the wireless infrastructure market, because the announcement does little more than reaffirm Cisco’s focus on the mobile core as strategic. To be fair, this is an important indication that the company is getting ready to compete more fiercely in the space and could be ready to quickly exploit its new Starent assets. What it isn’t, however, is an indication of much that competitors didn’t already know – beyond the new traffic tracking tools, the integration of the ST40 into Cisco’s portfolio and the formation of the Cisco Mobile Internet Technology Group were all telegraphed earlier.

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