IHS: VoLTE Starts to Pick Up; Huawei Leads the SP VoIP and IMS Market

A new report by Diane Myers [pictured], research director for VoIP, UC and IMS, IHS finds that ".. global service provider VoIP (voice over IP) and IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) revenue was up 46 percent year-over-year in 2Q15, to $1.3 billion .. Spending related to voice over LTE (VoLTE) deployments is starting to pick up, especially in Europe and India, fueling continued strong growth in the service provider VoIP and IMS market ..As well, operators with commercial VoLTE networks in North America and Asia Pacific are purchasing additional capacity as subscriber numbers grow in those regions". 

"Huawei took the lead in overall service provider VoIP and IMS revenue market share in 2Q15 ..  Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, GENBAND and Mavenir (a division of Mitel) also had standout growth from a year ago". 

See "Service Provider VoIP and IMS Market Soars 46 Percent YoY in 2nd Quarter" - here.

M&As - Mitel Acquires Mavenir; Brocade Acquires Connectem

Two acquisitions in our space:

• Few week after Mavenir acquired the DSC vendor Ulticom (see "Mavenir Turns Ulticom OEM to Acquisition" - here), it has been acquired by Mitel:
  
  "Mitel announced that that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement in which Mitel will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Mavenir common stock in a cash and stock deal valued at approximately $560 million .. With an established footprint of over 130 mobile customers including 15 of the top 20 mobile carriers worldwide, Mavenir is a leader in 4G LTE mobile solutions helping to define the market with a series of industry firsts, including: the world's first live network deployments of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and RCS5 with MetroPCS (now T-Mobile); the first mobile network deployment of IMS-based VoWi-Fi (Wi-Fi calling) with T-Mobile US; and the first implementation of Virtualized RCSe with Deutsche Telekom.
  
  The deal provides Mavenir the financial and operational footprint to drive further market expansion of the company's award-winning mobile solutions.
  
  See "Mitel Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Mavenir" - here.

• "Brocade announced its intent to acquire Connectem, a privately-held company in the LTE virtual Evolved Packet Core (vEPC) market, in an all-cash transaction.
  
  Related posts:
  
  - Telekom Austria Implements Connetem NFV-Based EPC w/Procera's DPI - here
  - Optus Tests Connectem to Manage Cell Congestion at Peak Usage - here
  
  The acquisition of Connectem extends Brocade's leadership in software networking and virtualized network functions, by enabling service providers and enterprises to offer ubiquitous connectivity between mobile and IoT devices, data centers, as well as public and private clouds. Connectem's vEPC solutions integrate seamlessly with Brocade's software and physical networking product portfolios to deliver industry-leading New IP data center infrastructure"
  
  See "Brocade to Acquire Connectem; Extends Leadership in New IP to Mobile Networks" - here.

[Infonetics]: DSC Market to Reach $1.3B by '18; Led by Huawei, F5 and Oracle

A new report by Diane Myers, Principal Analyst, Infonetics Research finds that ".. the Diameter signaling control market will grow threefold between 2014 and 2018, to $1.3 billion .. Globally, the Diameter signaling control market totaled $381 million in 2014, an increase of 81 percent over 2013.

Developed as the next-generation signaling protocol, Diameter has begun to permeate networks, driven by increasing LTE usage and the emergence of VoLTE (voice over LTE). As a result, the Diameter market spiked 81 percent in 2014 from the previous year.

The Diameter vendor landscape is beginning to shake out: 

[See my product list page - here]

• it’s a tight race at the top between Huawei, F5 and Oracle. 
• We see a strengthening of Ericsson and a push from Alcatel-Lucent, Sonus and now Mavenir with its acquisition of Ulticom [see "Mavenir Turns Ulticom OEM to Acquisition" - here] 
• The consolidation continues, and we expect even more in 2015

The top use case for Diameter signaling control in 2014 was once again centralized routing, but roaming via DEA (Diameter Edge Agent) was right behind"

See "Diameter Signaling Controller Market Soared 81 Percent in 2014 on the Wings of LTE" - here.

Mavenir Turns Ulticom OEM to Acquisition

Two years of OEM relations (see "Ulticom DSC Deployed Through Mavenir OEM" - here) turned into an acquisition. Mavenir announced that it has "signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ulticom, Inc., an industry leader in telecom signaling solutions. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions"

Ulticom has other OEM relations - see "Major OEM Deal to Ulticom's DSC in China" - here. 4 years ago, it was acquired by a private-equity firm Platinum Equity LLC for about $90M  (here and "Platinum Equity To Sell Ulticom To Mavenir Systems" - here).

"Through this acquisition, Mavenir enhances its portfolio of next generation software products and solutions to include a scalable, virtualized Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC), an increasingly critical network element which efficiently scales mobile operator networks and securely provides interoperable 4G LTE and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services.

Ulticom is a leading provider of telecom signaling solutions enabling the global transformation to 4G LTE, with key Diameter solutions deployed in ten tier one carrier networks globally [Entel], two of which are among the world’s top ten Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Mavenir has previously partnered with Ulticom to resell its Diameter signaling solutions to five tier one mobile operator customers globally". 

See "Mavenir Systems® Announces an Agreement to Acquire Ulticom, Inc." - here.

Mavenir's Gateway Enables Seamless LTE <-> Wi-Fi Handover

Mavenir Systems announced the "availability of its Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG). For subscribers using Wi-Fi, the ePDG provides a secure connection to the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network and enables seamless mobility between LTE and Wi-Fi.

Mavenir’s ePDG allows subscribers to maintain constant access to high-speed data and voice services whether they are in LTE coverage areas or using Wi-Fi at public hotspots, at the office or in the home. As subscribers arrive in the office, for example, the ePDG ensures that data sessions remain active and voice calls stay up while the device switches from LTE to Wi-Fi access".

".. the ePDG is designed to support optimized packet processing, high throughput and per-user QoS to provide a transparent user experience regardless of access technology"

See "Mavenir™ adds mobility to voice over Wi-Fi" - here.

Ulticom DSC Deployed Through Mavenir OEM

Ulticom announced "..deployment of the Ulticom Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC) product in a leading IPX/LTE Hubbing network through their OEM partnership with Mavenir Systems .. Mavenir Systems’ solution consists of large scale Ulticom DSCs serving as a central router at the core of the network. Arrayed around the network are DSCs serving in the role of Diameter Edge Agents (DEA)".

Related post - "Ulticom Announces a Diameter Signaling Controller" - here.

Source: Ulticom

Terry McCabe (pictured), CTO, Mavenir Systems said: “The ability to virtualize services is a key strategy for Mavenir and opens up a whole new approach for service delivery, well suited to IPX providers .. The Ulticom Diameter Signaling Controller is the first step to deployment of hosted services such as RCS”

See "Mavenir Systems Deploys Ulticom DSC in Leading IPX/LTE Hubbing Network" - here.

LightReading on the Mobile Data Flood

After seeing the recent statements on the increase of data usage (see - AT&T,  Zain) , I think it worth while watching this Lightreading video (here). It presents views from a number of vendors (so obviously represents the desire to sell).

Companies featured (most are in the policy management space) – Redknee, Bridgewater Systems, Mavenir, Volantis, Aricent and Aircom international.

The most common word repeating among the different speakers is “Optimize”. Optimization sounds like a positive term that will create a better world, but is the heart of the Network Neutrality debate.

Is this why we have no operator here ?