CES 2008
Sprint Augments XOHM Ecosystem – But Leaves Key Details Out

January 8, 2008 – Sprint announced new ecosystem partners for its XOHM mobile WiMAX service. In particular, it was announced that Amdocs was awarded a multi-year contract to support service activation, customer management and billing, with SwapDrive supporting online data backup applications, McAfee delivering online security products and eTelecare Global Solutions providing, “voice and e-support customer care.” Device support from ASUSTek, OQO and ZYXEL was also announced.

Analytical Summary

► Current Perspective: Slightly positive on Sprint’s announcement of new suppliers into its XOHM mobile WiMAX service. Broadly, the move argues that Sprint is bringing together the suppliers required for a strong service launch. Specifically, the promise of new converged devices (with WiMAX) is in line with Sprint’s vision of XOHM as a mobile Internet technology while new application and service partners speak to the important issue of how Sprint will earn (and collect) money from its network. Unfortunately, the question of whether or not Sprint will move forward with its original XOHM plans remains unanswered and no amount of new partners can offset that.

► Vendor Importance: High to Sprint because, to the extent that the vendor is still committed to XOHM, it needs to build out its WiMAX supplier ecosystem; the company’s original WiMAX vision, after all, was a high-speed mobile Internet network supporting many partnered applications thanks to a wide array of fixed, portable and mobile devices. The new partners help to bring this vision a little closer to reality. At the same time, as a de facto spokesman for mobile WiMAX, the company needs to distract people from the fact that its commitment could be wavering or altered when a new CEO has his say.

► Market Impact: High on the WiMAX infrastructure and broader WiMAX markets. Though initial mobile WiMAX momentum may be driven by emerging market applications, Sprint has becomes a high-profile example of what the technology is capable of. Thus, while the market will move forward with or without Sprint, Sprint’s ability to pull multiple device, network and application vendors into its ecosystem is important for showing what the technology can do as well as the market’s support for WiMAX. In short, Sprint’s new partners could help other operators looking at WiMAX to see the technology as more attractive.

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CES 2008
Microsoft TV Partners with BT to Launch Integrated IPTV and Gaming Solution

January 6, 2008 – Microsoft and BT announced that BT Broadband customers will gain the option of accessing the BT Vision IPTV service from either an Xbox 360 console or a set-top-box (STB). BT Vision, which is powered by Microsoft Mediaroom, plans to make this service available to existing and future Xbox 360 console owners in the middle of 2008. The announcement was made during the keynote address by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Microsoft President of Entertainment & Devices Division at the 2008 International CES.

Analytical Summary

► Current Perspective: Very positive on BT’s announcement that it will be the first operator to deliver an integrated Microsoft Mediaroom and Xbox 360 solution for accessing the BT Vision IPTV service. By delivering an integrated consumer entertainment and communication experience, Microsoft TV is leveraging its unique core assets such as its widely deployed Xbox 360 gaming solution as well as strong partnerships with leading telecom operators worldwide to further differentiate its Mediaroom offering from rival IPTV offerings. As the momentum in IPTV subscriber growth increases, Microsoft TV is expanding the platforms available for accessing IPTV services, enabling operators that select Mediaroom to deliver enhanced interactive entertainment experiences as well as access to larger pools of subscribers.

► Vendor Importance: High to Microsoft TV, as the company needed to announce a telco operator partnership to follow through on its CES 2007 announcement to integrate the Xbox 360 with its IPTV offering. With Mediaroom now running on 1 million STBs worldwide, Microsoft can exploit its advantage of over 13.4 million deployed Xbox consoles to further accelerate Mediaroom subscriber penetration. The announcement has a high importance to BT which needs to demonstrate accelerated IPTV subscriber growth (beyond its current ~100,000 base) by tapping into the more than 1 million Xbox 360 users in the U, in order to reach its medium-term goal of securing 2-3 million BT Vision customers.

► Market Impact: Very high on the digital media infrastructure (DMI) market, since Microsoft has used its traditional CES keynote address to announce this widely anticipated move. To meet the enhanced Mediaroom/Xbox 360 challenge, rival IPTV middleware vendors will be forced to bolster the integrated entertainment and communication experiences of their interactive platforms. IPTV service providers will be required to compare Mediaroom’s enhanced platform versatility vs. rival IPTV solution offerings.

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C-Scape 2007
Cisco’s CRS-1 Captures AT&T’s Global IP Core Network

On December 10th Cisco announced that AT&T has selected its Carrier Routing System (CRS-1) as the core platform of its global IP/MPLS backbone network. The AT&T network delivers voice, video, data, and mobility services to residential and business customers worldwide. CRS-1 attributes such as high availability and scalability were extremely important factors in the decision to deploy the platform.

Analytical Summary

► Current Perspective: Positive on Cisco’s announcement that AT&T has chosen its flagship Carrier Routing System (CRS-1) to satisfy the needs of AT&T’s global IP/MPLS backbone network, because the CRS-1 will be used to deliver voice, video, data, and mobility services to residential and business customers worldwide, including services such as DSL and U-verse. AT&T has over a dozen core sites that will leverage the various models of the CRS-1, ranging from the single chassis to the multi-chassis version depending upon the throughput requirements of the various PoPs.

► Vendor Importance: High to Cisco, since the selection points to another service provider that has decided to deploy the CRS-1 to meet its IP core routing needs. Although certainly not a greenfield network, AT&T needed to select a new supplier for its core routing needs, especially given Avici Networks’ decision to withdraw from the space to focus on its Soapstone initiatives. The AT&T contract represents a significant win with a Tier-1 provider that is experiencing significant growth in IP service delivery. The selection comes after a comprehensive test and trial period to validate the high-availability and scalability features offered by the platform.

► Market Impact: High on the IP core routing market segment, since the deployment represents a network upgrade from an existing Cisco customer. An AT&T spokesperson noted that high availability and scalability were extremely important to support its customer base as service portfolios grow. AT&T was one of several service providers whose capacity requirements exceeded the capabilities of a single chassis, indicating that the scalability of the CRS-1 will be a significant factor that could be leveraged to support the growing throughput needs, which according to an AT&T spokesperson have nearly doubled this past year.

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