Strategy Analytics Expects M&As of Traffic and Policy Management Vendors

   

According to a new report by Strategy Analytics we should expect additional M&As in the policy and traffic management market (following the steps of Cisco/Starent, Amdocs/Bridgewater, Tekelec/Camiant, Ericsson/Telcordia).

The report "shows why the mobile broadband policy and traffic management industry is ripe for partnerships and mergers in a new report from its Mobile Broadband Opportunities (MBO) service"

Sue Rudd (pictured), Director, Service Provider Analysis, noted, “Many of these players already partner with each other -- and with traditional equipment manufacturers – in order to deliver complete solutions for mobile operators. As service providers race to optimize capacity that will satisfy mobile broadband demand, policy management has changed from a passive network tool to a strategic business weapon. To meet operator needs, players may need to team up permanently to integrate and test high performance solutions that can increase capacity by 50 percent at a fraction of the cost of new infrastructure.”

Nevertheless, the creation of single-vendor solutions faces operators with higher dependency in the solution they bought and diminishes the value of using standard interfaces between network elements (such as 3GPP's PCRF-PCRF interfaces).

"We see three key dimensions to consolidation:

• Personalization for Value Added Services
• Applications, Content Video Optimization
• Billing for Real Time Rating and New Pricing Options"

"Key players mentioned in this report include: Allot, Arbor Networks, Bridgewater (now acquired by AMDOCS), Broadhop, Bytemobile, Cisco (former Starent), Openet, Procera, Continuous Computing (now a subsidiary of Radisys), Sandvine, Tekelec (former Camiant) and Volubill"

See "Traffic Management Players about to Merge" -  here.