ZTE Heralds EPC Strengths – With Key Details Lacking

| Feb 1, 2011 | Mobile Access Infrastructure | Analyst: Daryl Schoolar

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Event Summary

January 31, 2011 -- ZTE announced that its EPC had achieved what it deemed as “records” in performance. Working with Ixia for a demonstration at a mobile operator, ZTE’s ZXUN uMAC (MME) scaled to support 15 million users, while its ZXUN xGW (SAE-GW) attained a throughput of 174 Gbps. The company claims contracts to deploy its xGW packet gateway in Europe, North America, Russia, Southeast Asia, and other regions.

Quick Take

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Moderate on ZTE’s packet core testing results and claims of record-breaking performance, because it is encouraging to see vendors tout the tested performance of their products, and not just their performance claims, particularly companies which need to build their mobile packet core credibility and mindshare. Yet, as much as operators will need solid EPC capacity to deal with LTE traffic demands, ZTE’s claims fall short on too many fronts: they lack the claimed performance (tested or otherwise) of competitors which have MME products topping out well above 20 million users and SAE-GW products with throughput at 200 Gbps or above; they make no reference to ZTE’s EPC services capabilities at a time when operators are looking to monetize their traffic better; and they provide limited details regarding testing procedures, leaving the numbers open to interpretation.

• Vendor Importance: High to ZTE, because the vendor needs to build its credibility as a solid EPC supplier. There is no denying that strong EPC products are critical to the delivery of a compelling end-to-end LTE offer. For its part, ZTE’s limited history as a 3G mobile packet core supplier, coupled with a solution it feels is strong, makes it all the more important for the company to put its capabilities on display. Going beyond the performance it specifies on its EPC datasheets to note tested EPC capabilities helps on this front, though third-party validation (a la Cisco’s work with EANTC) would have shown more confidence.

• Market Impact: Moderate on the mobile packet core market, because competitors will simultaneously question ZTE’s testing results while also claiming performance besting those results. Without details on how ZTE carried out its tests (i.e., the traffic mix, amount of DPI, whether the performance was actually achieved or extrapolated), competitors are in a position to claim them invalid. Coupled with the fact that these same competitors have promised scalability beyond the results of ZTE’s tests, few will feel an immediate need to respond. Ultimately, though, if operators are looking for packet core capacity to support real world traffic, the value of validated testing cannot be denied, potentially putting ZTE on the right side of a trend.

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Current Perspective

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