[Infonetics]: Business Analysis of the 5 Leading SDP Vendors

 
A recent survey by Shira Levine, research director for service enablement and subscriber intelligence. IHS "profiles and analyzes the top 5 SDP software vendors as identified by service providers: Ericsson, HP, Huawei, OpenCloud and Oracle:

• Ericsson, Huawei and Oracle have all built strong portfolios, both organically and via acquisition, around the SDP opportunity, and that is reflected in their leadership positions in this year’s scorecard.  However, as the market shifts toward emerging opportunities such as API platforms and alternative delivery models, these established players may get a run for their money from smaller suppliers with a more targeted focus, 
   
• Ericsson’s longstanding presence in the wireless industry in general—and SDP market specifically—helps it land a leadership position
   
• Huawei ramped up in the SDP space quickly, gaining market share by selling into developing regions
   
• Oracle enjoys strong financials, a solid customer base, and a reputation for reliability and support which have helped the company maintain a leadership standing in SDP
   
• Despite a solid roster of customers, HP is struggling in the SDP market as it addresses financial issues and revamps its product suite
   
• Smaller player OpenCloud continues to grow by positioning itself as a less expensive and more innovative option to the larger SDP suppliers

See "IHS Names Ericsson, Huawei and Oracle Leaders in Service DeliveryPlatform Scorecard" - here.

Telekom Austria Implements Connetem NFV-Based EPC w/Procera's DPI

Source: Vis's World premiere 

of VoLTE Service  (here)

Back in June Procera Networks announced that "Connetem Enhances its Virtual EPC w/Procera's DPI" (here). The product is now deployed by the "first operator worldwide to implement virtualization of the entire core network production". 

The two vendors, in conjunction with Telekom Austria Group’s Serbian subsidiary Vip mobile announced a "demonstration of the first fully virtualized LTE stack in a live network delivering data, voice and IMS services. Procera’s Network Application Visibility Library (NAVL) software engine provides the application identification, traffic visibility, intelligence and control for Connectem’s virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) solution".

Two years ago, Procera deployed its h/w devices at Telekom Austria - see "Telekom Austria Selected Procera" - here]. Now, "Telekom Austria Group is now the first operator worldwide to implement virtualization of the entire core network production chain for mobile broadband services in a live environment. Instead of mobile traffic running on dedicated proprietary hardware and software, the data will now terminate in a general purpose IT data center running Intel x86 hardware and virtualization services. Additional solutions providers participating in the demonstration include Intel, VMware, Red Hat, Metaswitch, and Open Cloud".

Dejan Kastelic [pictured], director/CTO Vip mobile, said: “We are more than proud that Vip mobile achieved another successful NFV deployment. Being the youngest mobile operator and challenger in the market, we always seek for new opportunities to reshape the innovation landscape both in the local and regional markets. In this way we are directly improving our customers’ experience and expectation by introducing more efficient, cost-effective and energy saving solutions that enable faster time to market and flexible services delivery. Our dedication is to be the leader in providing new solutions to customers, vendors and local expert community by setting more advanced standards that will bring us closer to advanced European and world markets”.

See "Procera Networks’ NAVL Engine Powers Connectem vEPC for Telekom Austria Group" - here.

[Infonetics]: Ericsson Scores as Best SDP Vendor

A new vendor scorecard report by Shira Levine, directing analyst for service enablement and subscriber intelligence, Infonetics Research (new logo on the right) "ranks the 5 largest global vendors of service delivery platform (SDP) software: Ericsson, HP, Huawei, OpenCloud, and Oracle"

The report finds that “Based on completely quantitative metrics, including financial information, product capabilities and service provider feedback, we named Ericsson the top vendor in the service delivery platform (SDP) software market, with Oracle following close behind .. Ericsson scored particularly well on service and support and product reliability, and Oracle received high ratings on financial stability and solution breadth. Both companies, however, scored below average when it came to pricing .. Key to #2 Oracle’s continued success in the SDP software market will be its ability to capitalize on the demand for enterprise applications and services, including machine to machine"

See "Ericsson and Oracle shine in new service delivery platform scorecard" - here.

How do Polish MNOs Fight OTT?

   
There are many ways for MNOs to reduce the threat from OTT services (mainly in VoIP and messaging) and/or try to monetize from delivering it. One popular way is to charge for its use, other is to block it.

The leading MNOs in Poland came up with a third way.

James Middleton reports to telecoms.com that "Polish carriers Orange, T-Mobile and Polkomtel have banded together with local developers and academic institutions to create an ecosystem designed to address the growing competition posed by Over The Top (OTT) providers. The operators have deployed an open service layer within their core networks to accelerate deployment of innovative and low cost communication services with a healthy balance between cooperation and competition .. Telecoms software firm OpenCloud delivered the open standards-based service layer to the carriers and claims the model has given those involved a sharper competitive edge to attract developers".

".. Using OpenCloud’s Rhino platform, mobile operator Polkomtel / Plus has been able to take advantage of an extended community of developers to create and implement more than 25 services. These include Office Zone, Home Zone, VPN, Freephone, Split Charge, Premium Rate, Who Called/Notify ME, Voicemail in Roaming optimization....from multiple developers including IMPAQ and ATTR"

Jeff Gordon, CEO of OpenCloud, said "To counter the threat from OTT players, and boost their revenues, operators need innovation within the network and not just in device apps. However, delivering innovation in the core network has, historically, been an expensive and slow process” (case study available here).

Source: OpenCloud

See "Polish operators open core to combat OTT threat" - here.