[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.

DSC Deployments [304]: Entel [Bolivia] Uses Ulticom to Optimize Diameter Signaling

Ulticom announced the "deployment of its Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC) in the Entel S.A. mobile network. The Ulticom DSC will smooth multivendor interworking and IMSI-based Diameter routing, including load balancing with optimized transaction persistence, for Entel Online Charging (OCS) applications.

The Entel deployment utilizes Ulticom’s proprietary Service-Oriented Routing™ technology, undetectably optimizing Diameter signaling load across the server pool. Transaction persistence, an integral piece of the Entel deployment, routes components of transactions to the same server, dramatically reducing operational overhead. The net result is a smoother, faster transaction response; a balanced load; higher throughput and, ultimately, lower costs".

See "Entel S.A. Deploys Ulticom DSC for Diameter Signaling Traffic Optimization" - here.

Product Announcements: Sandvine, Tilera/Procera, Openwave Mobility, Citrix/Bytemobile, Aricent, Ulticom, Elitecore

MWC announcements, 2nd round:

• Sandvine Usage Management Brings New Mobile Billing Innovations (here): "Sandvine announced the launch of Usage Management release 5.0, which offers new capabilities to help both fixed and mobile communications service providers (CSPs) create, manage and implement new service plan offerings .. SmartRoam .. Pay-Per-Click Billing .. ServiceDesigner"

• Tilera Chooses Procera Networks’ NAVL Engine for SDN and NFV Architectures (here): "Procera Networks and Tilera announced the availability of DPI-on-a-NIC for high performance deep packet intelligence. .. This integrated solution for SDN and NFV environments combines Procera’s Network Application Visibility Library (NAVL) software development kit with Tilera’s TILEncore-Gx™ Intelligent Application Adapters and ART software framework on a Network Interface Card (NIC)." 

• Openwave Mobility Launches Industry’s First NFV-ready Audio, HD and Media Optimization Solution (here): "Openwave Mobility announced General Availability of DynaMO, the latest incarnation of its congestion control software ..The solution can also be deployed in a virtualized environment with dynamic scaling that is fully aligned with the industry initiative for Network Function Virtualization (NFV) .. DynaMO uses a combination of contextually-selective and congestion-aware optimization techniques. It provides the highest quality of video experience by intelligently adapting video optimization to fit the original video with each user’s device. DynaMO monitors individual users’ data sessions, optimizing video only when networks are congested and to the extent where smooth playback can be achieved".

• Citrix Powers Data Monetization for Mobile Operators (here): "Citrix announced ByteMobile Insight, a big data analytics solution designed to provide immediate, actionable intelligence for mobile operator monetization, marketing and customer care organizations ..  ByteMobile Insight is a purpose-built solution encompassing data acquisition, processing and business intelligence. It collects and enriches usage, location and customer relationship management (CRM) data from a wide variety of sources, including ByteMobile platforms deployed in the mobile core network. Actionable intelligence is delivered to any operator organization via a sophisticated, interactive user interface as ready-to-use reports or via API or file extracts".

• Aricent Launches Multi-Technology Universal SON – A Self-Optimizing Network Solution That can Automatically Optimize 2G, 3G, and 4G Networks Simultaneously (here): "Aricent launched an advanced self-optimizing network solution called Universal SON (Uni-SON). It automates optimization of multi-technology and multi-layered radio access networks thereby reducing operational expenditure (OPEX) and improving user experience significantly .. The biggest advantage of Uni-SON is that a single solution can help automate the optimization of 2G, 3G and LTE networks simultaneously. Its centralized architecture helps to capture a global view of the network, with decision variables spanning across different technologies and network layers".

• Ulticom Upgrades Successfully Deployed DSC Product (here): "Ulticom announces the availability of Release 4.1 of their Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC).. Release 4.1 brings enhanced congestion avoidance, and simplified integration with operational management systems. Feature enhancements in Release 4.1 include: Enhanced SLF-based routing (SLF=Subscriber Location Function), Simplified operational management of connections, Congestion Avoidance via intelligent, prioritized traffic redirection based upon message content, Enhanced operational capability to allow improved network monitoring and flexible formatting to ease integration with back-end network management systems".

• Elitecore introduces Passpoint-enabled Hotspot 2.0 and ANDSF support in its Wi-Fi Service Management Platform (here): "Elitecore Technologies announces that its SMP is ready to support PasspointTM certified Hotspot 2.0, an approach introduced by Wi-Fi Alliance for public access Wi-Fi to provide secure Wi-Fi access (Access Network Delivery Selection Function) from a list of Wi-Fi networks available for the client devices. Hotspot 2.0 complies with industry standards, which provides better bandwidth and seamless experience to alleviate mobile carrier traffic overheads. It will allow devices to discover and automatically select and connect to Wi-Fi networks based upon user preferences and network optimization. No user intervention will be required, all the user has to do is turn on the device and get automatic secure Wi-Fi connectivity.

Product Announcements: Ixia, Ulticom, RADCOM, NSN, SAP, DigitalRoute, Avvasi, Centri. Smith Micro

With MWC starting today, the number of product announcements made in the last few days does not allow a separate post for each .. so here is a short digest:

• Ixia Provides Three Times More Network Visibility In Half The Rack Space (here) : Ixia ".. introduced, as part of its Visibility Architecture, its most advanced, highest capacity platform that is designed to provide three times the visibility in half the rack space for enterprise and service provider applications .. Ixia’s newest network packet broker, the Net Tool Optimizer 7300, .. helps service providers and enterprises to improve real-time insights into the data traversing the network".

• Ulticom Diameter Signaling Controller is Virtualization Ready (here): Ulticom announced that "more than half of their Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC) deployments are in Virtualization environments. The Ulticom DSC is being deployed using both traditional dedicated server solutions and in Virtualized environments. As a software solution, Ulticom’s DSC is architected and ideally suited for deployment using virtualization. The product is hypervisor independent and can be scaled dynamically during operation. It has a proven track-record in operational deployments using virtualization and cloud technologies. Compatible hypervisor technologies include VMware, KVM, and Virtual Box.

• RADCOM Rolls-out Enhanced End-to-End VoLTE Monitoring Capabilities (here): RADCOM announced that it has ".. added new Voice over LTE (VoLTE) monitoring capabilities to MaveriQ, RADCOM’s NFV-based network analytics probe. The enhanced VoLTE capabilities allow service providers to monitor the VoLTE service end-to-end across the LTE and IMS domains. MaveriQ continuously monitors VoLTE calls in multiple network areas, including eNodeB, EPC, policy and charging, and in the IMS network itself. With real-time and historical end-to-end call tracing, proactive alarming and KPIs that constantly monitor service QoE, RADCOM’s MaveriQ gives operators clear visibility into all quality aspects of high-speed 4G LTE, VoLTE and LTE-Advanced networks. Providing advanced troubleshooting tools for VoLTE service degradation, MaveriQ assists in achieving VoLTE accessibility, retainability, integrity and availability. The MaveriQ solution has already been deployed in four Tier 1 service provider networks in APAC and LATAM"

• Enhanced Flexi Zone controller powers up indoor, outdoor capacity and coverage, brings Liquid Applications to small cells (here): Nokia Solutions and Networks is "extending its award-winning Flexi Zone architecture, making it the most versatile small cell solution able to cover all deployment scenarios. A Flexi Zone controller application can be added to existing macro-cellular base stations to run a large number of nearby small cells. Flexi Zone’s cluster approach can now be used for indoor deployments. In addition, Flexi Zone controller supports the integration of NSN Liquid Applications to deliver locally-relevant, fast services directly from small cell base station clusters
  The third major development enables the Flexi Zone controller to support the integration of NSN Radio Application Cloud Server functionality to enable Liquid Applications on a cluster of small cells. Radio Application Cloud Server provides processing and storage, together with the ability to collect real-time network data. These features can be exploited by applications to offer context-relevant services that transform the mobile broadband experience. Liquid Applications offers caching and local offload for street level deployments, as well as enabling operators to provide value added services indoors to enterprises and public indoor locations".

• SAP and DigitalRoute Join Forces to Enrich Customer Experience for Telcos (here): SAP AG  today announced a "..significant expansion of its relationship with DigitalRoute .. The targeted result is an enhanced solution that shall bring together data from both operational and business support systems (OSS and BSS), providing unique insights that are expected to help communications service providers (CSPs) navigate toward monetizing their Big Data in today’s stormy market conditions".

• Avvasi Launches “Xperium Video Minutes” (here) Avvasi announced the launch of its “Xperium Video Minutes solution .. Xperium Video Minutes allow networks, for the first time, to measure and manage a video’s quality in real time and to charge for video traffic on a duration basis, rather than by volume (megabytes). This innovation has the double benefit of simplifying the usage, consumption and purchase of video services, while providing a new revenue stream for network operators".

• CENTRI Technology’s BitSmartCX Solution Ready for Wireless Operator Integration (here): ".. On the heels of completing successful trials in Latin America of its BitSmartCX solution, CENTRI Technology announced that its flagship product is now ready for wireless operator integration. Designed to help mobile network operators intelligently optimize and manage the flow of data across their networks in real-time, CENTRI’s BitSmartCX reduces the need for operators to invest in additional network infrastructure while lowering backhaul, spectrum and transport costs".

• Smith Micro and Amdocs Validate ANDSF Interoperability for Seamless Wi-Fi Access and Traffic Optimization (here): Smith Micro Software announced the "successful completion of interoperability tests between the Amdocs Smart Net intelligent offload solution and the Smith Micro NetWise® traffic management client. Amdocs used Smith Micro’s NetWise I/O toolkit to validate ANDSF interoperability that would enable seamless Wi-Fi offload and traffic optimization over heterogeneous networks".

Ulticom Deploys its DSC Technology with Technotree Charging Solution

Ulticom announced the ".. deployment of the Ulticom Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC) to optimize Diameter-based charging traffic for the Tecnotree Agility™ Convergent Charging System. 

The Ulticom DSC acts as a load balancer and provides intelligent distribution for Diameter-based transactions across multiple pools of servers performing Online Charging Services (OCS) .. Tecnotree product deployments use Ulticom’s Service-Oriented Routing™ technology. Service-Oriented Routing goes beyond the typical primary-backup reliability strategy commonly used with full mesh Diameter signaling. With Service-Oriented Routing, the DSC manages traffic for network assets (sets of servers that can support a service acting together as a single Logical Service) transparently. The DSC invisibly optimizes the user experience by managing load across server pools and dynamically compensating for congestion or server failure when necessary".

Technotree
Agility™ Convergent Charging

Tecnotree is a "global provider of telecom IT solutions for the management of products, customers and revenue. Tecnotree helps communications service providers to transform their business towards a marketplace of digital services. Tecnotree empowers service providers to monetise service bundles, provide personalised user experiences and augment value throughout the customer lifecycle".

See "Tecnotree Deploys Ulticom DSC to Optimize Charging Traffic" - here.

Major OEM Deal to Ulticom's DSC in China (ZTE/Huawei ?); Initial Deployment in Asia

Ulticom announced an "OEM agreement with a major Chinese Telecom Equipment Manufacturer (TEM) to supply Ulticom’s DSC product as an integral component of their Evolved Packet Core (EPC) product line".

Jamie McArdle [pictured], VP Sales, Ulticom may have given us a hint: "A leading global provider of telecom equipment and network solutions has selected the Ulticom DSC Initial deployments of our DSC are with one of the world’s top 10 largest Mobile Network Operators located in Asia”.

Earlier this year, Paula Bernier, reported to TMCnet that "Ulticom now offers a white-label version of its Diameter signaling controller product. Related collateral, such as documentation, also can be branded with the partner vendor’s name .. It’s OEM partners include Alcatel Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks, and ZTE" (here)".

See "Ulticom Wins Major Diameter Signaling Controller Contract" - here.

Ulticom Enhances DSC with Virtual IP Management, Congestion Management and IPX Hub

 
Ulticom announced the ".. availability of Release 4.0 of its ..  Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC). Release 4.0 includes three key features: 

• Virtual IP Management – Mobile Network Operators are reluctant to change or reassign IP Address within their network since it requires additional, costly steps to re-provision other network nodes. With Virtual IP Management, a standard function of the Ulticom DSC, IP Addresses can be permanently assigned so Peers (clients and servers) need only be provisioned once.
   
• Congestion Management – The Ulticom DSC employs highly configurable mechanisms to manage signaling traffic congestion for itself and for its associated Peers and Peer Groups.
   
• IPX Hub – In Release 4.0, the Ulticom DSC also supports an increasingly important use case – the IPX Hub. The IPX Hub provides core Diameter routing and interworking within the domain of an IPX Provider". 

See "Ulticom Upgrades Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC) to Ease Network Configuration Maintenance and Contain Signaling Storms with Advanced Congestion Controls" - 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.

News [Part-2]: Aptilo, Stoke, Ixia, Ulticom, BTI Systems, Broadcom

MWC news report continues..

• Aptilo Networks and Stoke have "partnered to deliver an end-to-end solution allowing cellular operators to provide a carrier-class Wi-Fi interworking service for subscribers .. The Aptilo Service Management Platform (SMP), through Web portal or automatic SIM- based authentication, can identify a subscriber and assign traffic policies according to highly specific customer or network attributes. The Aptilo SMP can also mediate charging functions for these subscribers so that the user experience and billing are similar to that of the cellular network .. The Stoke Wi-Fi eXchange can link tens of thousands of Wi-Fi access points from different manufacturers to the operator core network, and can identify traffic at a high level of granularity to allow selective routing of user session traffic. This level of control enables operators to deliver different service classes, provide mobile network services to Wi-Fi users, and balance core network element and Internet backhaul resources".
  
  See "Aptilo and Stoke Collaborate in Seamless Wi-Fi Access for Mobile Broadband Carriers" - here. 


• Ixia promotes the "IxLoad solution, to provide greater insight and visibility into the performance of rapidly growing LTE networks .. The growth of smartphone use and the support of differentiated services, such as high-quality video, also mean a growth of difficult-to-predict signaling traffic. Signaling traffic involves the underlying communications that enable user authentication, mobility, monetization, billing, policy management and Quality of Service mechanisms .. Going beyond product data sheets to understand the true capabilities of any mobile infrastructure device including Home Subscriber Systems, Policy Servers, Billing Systems, Diameter Routing Agents, and Mobility Management Entities.".
   
See "Ixia Enables Mobile Application and Service Monetization Growth" - here.


• Ulticom announced "Release 3.3 of the Ulticom DSC – a software product that optimizes Diameter Signaling in 4G and IMS networks .. Release 3.3 extends the DSC product with additional advanced routing capabilities. It provides enhanced network routing resilience and even greater flexibility for multi-AVP-based routing. Release 3.3 also provides advanced White Labeling support. This feature empowers OEM customers to rebrand the DSC product and supporting documentation, tailoring it to their own product portfolio".
  
  See "Ulticom DSC Release 3.3 – Diameter Signaling. Solved." - here.
    
• BTI Systems announced an ".. industry-first cloud networking solution designed to significantly improve inter-data center connectivity. Intelligent Cloud Connect is an open software-rich platform that combines network intelligence and application awareness with significantly expanded capacity and scale. By doing so, it increases cloud connectivity performance - quadrupling capacity and scale, reducing latency by half, and increasing network applications performance by as much as 10 times - while significantly improving operational efficiencies, network control and service innovation compared to legacy solutions".
  
  See "BTI Systems Announces Intelligent Cloud Connect to Unblock the Performance Bottleneck of Inter-Data Center Connectivity" - here.
   
• Broadcom announced a "scalable small cell development platform for multiple radio access technology (RAT). The platform integrates all the hardware and software components required to accelerate the development and deployment time of small cell base stations .. The platform is the first to combine the state-of-the-art XLP-208 multicore processor, which was engineered by NetLogic, acquired by Broadcom in February 2012 .. The advanced software included in the platform enables important new features such as content caching, interference monitoring, self-organizing networks (SON), DPI-based services and security to be quickly deployed while maintaining line speed performance as operators and content service providers add new network services. Other solutions available on the development platform include Broadcom's complete portfolio of backhaul devices for optimized traffic management, including x-DSL, x-PON and wireless.
     
  See "Broadcom Announces Advanced Development Platform for Small Cell Base Stations" - here.

[ABI] Major RAN/EPC Vendors After DSC Market; $500M/2016

   

A recent report (content) by Joe Hoffman (pictured), principal analyst, ABI Research finds that the Diameter Signaling Router market will reach $500M by 2016.

   

According to Joe, “A network outage at a top tier operator could put $300M of revenue at risks .. most of the problems to date are growing pains of 4G, and Diameter Routing mitigates a lot of risk”

"Leading independent vendors  [my list] have captured initial market share, as Diameter Signaling has been under the radar of the major RAN/EPC vendors. As operators step up efforts to monetize 4G investments, Diameter usage spreads to policy and charging. Diameter Signaling is recognized as a critical control point, and the big iron vendors are now heating up the race".

See "3G/4G Diameter Routing to Reach $500M by 2016, First Movers Threatened by Infrastructure Vendors" - here. The report covers Acme Packet, Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs, Diametriq, Ericsson, F5 Traffix, Tekelec and Ulticom.

Ulticom Announces a Diameter Signaling Controller

 
One more player joins the growing Diameter Signaling Router market (see "[Infonetics]: Diameter Signaling Router Market to Grow at 106% (!) CAGR Through 2016" - here and my current list of vendors - here)

Ulticom announced ".. the availability of the Ulticom Diameter Signaling Controller (DSC). Designed to address the challenges arising from the explosion in mobile broadband usage, the Ulticom DSC provides Telecom Equipment Manufacturers and Mobile Network Operators with a critical tool to manage and optimize their packet core, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks .. The Ulticom DSC is available today as a software solution on the Red Hat and CentOS Linux operating systems "

"Common deployment scenarios utilizing the Ulticom DSC include, but are not limited to the following: ..  Advanced Load Balancer ..  Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) and  Centralized Routing as a Relay and/or Proxy Agent"

See "Ulticom Launches the “Ulticom Diameter Signaling Controller” - here.