Allot Partners with Checkpoint

Allot Communications and Check Point Software Technologies, announced ".. collaboration to demonstrate a virtual mobile Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) solution for bringing cutting-edge security services to mobile networks leveraging network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN). 

The joint solution that was demonstrated consists of Allot’s Service Gateway – Virtual Edition [see "Allot Launches a Virtual Gateway and Services @200Gbps/Server" - here] with Check Point’s Security Gateway Virtual Edition. 

• Allot provided a virtual network function (VNF) with pre-integrated services and a framework connected to the cloud infrastructure, orchestration, OSS and BSS platforms
   
• Check Point provided a VNF protecting dynamic virtualized environments from internal and external threats by securing virtual machines and applications with the full range of Check Point Software Blades. Software Defined Networking (SDN), which enables the separation of the control plane and data plane, is used to diminish deployment challenges in NFV such as service consistency and reliability.

During the earning call, Andrei Elfanct, Allot's CEO made some references to the new partnership:(see "Allot Communications' (ALLT) CEO Andrei Elefant on Q3 2015 Results - Earnings Call Transcript", by SeekingAlpha, here): 

• the work that we are doing with CheckPoint and specifically to what we announced this morning, we are working with them on this demonstration to build an offering that is targeting NFV network and this is part of some other work that we are doing with CheckPoint.
   
• to demonstrate the value of that we worked with Checkpoint where they're bringing the security as a service solutions and we enable it to be deployed very quickly and efficiently in a mobile environment, so we've delivered the subscriber management integration and the integration with orchestration and some other components

See "Allot and Check Point Partner and Demonstrate Virtual Mobile Security-as-a-Service" - here.

Allot: $8M Expansion Order for Security Services

Allot Communications' strategy of focusing on security (see "Allot CEO: We Compete Against Security Vendors" - here and "Allot's Former CEO: "Security is the Right Direction for Allot"" - here) shows results.

Allot's Allot ServiceProtector

The company announced that it has ".. received an expansion order of approximately $8 million from a major APAC tier-1 fixed-line operator for Allot Service Gateway Tera, Allot Service Protector and Allot Websafe. 

This incumbent operator is using Allot’s Service Protector in-line solution to protect national critical infrastructure, business communication, and IT infrastructure nationwide against destructive DDoS attacks. 

This is an expansion order to an existing project, which augments the solution’s scale, providing rapid identification and in-line mitigation of large scale attacks . 

The solution manages and secures traffic of up to two Terabits per second without the need to redirect traffic to a scrubbing center. The operator’s complex and high capacity network requires effective protection at a vast scale, which is achieved by Service Gateway Tera and its integrated security services". 

See "Allot Communications Receives $8M Expansion Order from a Tier-1 Operator" - here.

[Oppenheimer} : "Mobile security is a key VAS driver" for Allot

Ittai Kidron [pictured], Analyst, Oppenheimer provided the following assessment on Allot Communications' business:

"In recent years Allot has evolved its core DPI platform into a value added services (VAS) engine with parental control and security as new features. Progress has been solid thus far with VAS now accounting for as much as ~40% of bookings for the company. We believe that mobile security is a key VAS driver and expect revenue from this area to grow at ~50% YoY for the foreseeable future. Tier 1 customers are already at hand and trial activity is heavy. 

We expect the company to show more progress in this area in 2016-2017 as trial activity moves into deployment and as the company refines its software licensing program (from perpetual to term) to better capture upside 

.. About 10 Tier 1 carriers have signed up for Allot's mobile security platform. Several of these have already launched the associated services in their networks and have seen strong subscriber adoption (yielding higher ARPUs for mobile carriers). Trial activity with many other carriers remains strong and should yield results in 2016-17.

.. We believe Allot is now promoting term-based licensing more aggressively to better capture the upside. This process could take time to show results.

See "Oppenheimer Reiterated Perform Rating on Allot Communications (ALLT) Expecting Mobile Security to Drive VAS - here and here.

ZTE to Use Radisys' Virtual MediaEngine to Accelerate HD Media Service Deployment

Radisys announced a "strategic partnership that will standardize Radisys’ MediaEngine™ virtualized Media Resource Function (vMRF) as the media processing solution for ZTE’s Value-added Services (VAS) and core network offerings in VoLTE, VoWiFi, video and IMS. By leveraging Radisys’ common media processing platform for all of its cloud-based offerings, ZTE is helping its customers accelerate the deployment of new interactive HD audio and HD video services, while reducing upfront capital expenditures and ongoing operating expenses".

Yang Wei, chief architect of core network deployment, ZTE Corporation said: “To enable our mobile operator customers’ transition to an NFV environment, ZTE is migrating its IMS solutions and VoLTE core network service offerings to a cloud architecture, driving an important requirement for virtualized media processing. Radisys’ vMRF delivers HD audio and HD video media processing and transcoding that are required by today’s increasingly multimedia-intensive applications.”

See "ZTE Selects Radisys’ Virtualized Media Resource Function to Power its VoLTE, VoWiFi, and Value-added Services" - here.

Security VAS Deployments [357]: Vodafone [Germany, Portugal, Italy and Romania] Uses Allot

Allot Communications announced that "Allot WebSafe Personal is powering Vodafone Germany’s newly launched Secure Net offering, a network-based Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) solution for mobile users. Through full integration with the Allot Service Gateway, Allot WebSafe Personal enables Vodafone Germany to rapidly roll out value-added web security services including anti-malware and parental control that increase customer loyalty and generate incremental revenue. Vodafone Germany’s small and medium-sized business (SMB) and enterprise customers are also served by Allot’s SECaaS solution, which protects user endpoints and enhances business productivity" (see also "IFA 2014: Secure Net – effective protection against internet threats" - here).

Vodafone's SecureNet service is also available in Portugal, Italy and Romania. Allot confirmed that they all use the same solution, which is based on Optenet technology, a long time partner (here) that was recently acquired by Allot (here).

"Any broadband operator can deploy Allot WebSafe Personal in multi-tenancy mode, which allows consumers to customize their own security settings, or in a single-tenancy mode that offers a standard set of security features for all users. The service also offers on-demand reporting, enabling users to generate their own reports that outline online activities in easy-to-read graphs". 

See "Vodafone Germany Makes Web Surfing Secure With Allot WebSafe Personal" - here.

Allot CEO: We Compete Against Security Vendors

Quotes from Allot's Q1 2015 earnings call (see also "Before Procera Disappears from the Public Eye" - here), made by the president and CEO, Andrei Elefant [pictured]:

• Answering Catharine Trebnick, VP, Senior Research Analyst, Dougherty & Company question on the competitive landscape for security value-added services:
  
  "So first of all, the security additional enhancements that we have on our platform. The Security-as-a-Service solutions are coming on top of our DPI and the basic service gateway capabilities. Some of the wins that I mentioned earlier together with Optenet, we delivered security services on existing platforms that were deployed there in the market with existing customers.
  
  However we did win some new customers together, leveraging this advantage that we have. In these projects, we competed against the security providers and not against DPI players, including a major deal that we won last quarter together with a tier-1 operator. We mentioned that in one of our press releases. And that project was purely about Security-as-a-Service, and we competed against other security providers and not against our traditional DPI competitors"
   
• we divide our VAS category between four groups; Security, Monetization, Analytics and Optimization. During the quarter, the monetization and security categories were leading followed by optimization and analytics, similar to the ranking in previous quarter .. Monetization and security accounted for 70% of our VAS bookings. We continued to view VAS as our main business driver in the coming years, with key strengths coming from the security and monetization categories
   
• During the quarter, we had one 10% customer [in 2014, Allot derived 44% of its total revenues from two Tier 1 mobile and fixed operators - here]

See "Allot Communications' (ALLT) CEO Andrei Elefant on Q1 2015 Results - Earnings Call Transcript", by SeekingAlpha, here.

Allot: 4 Contracts for Web Security Offering

Allot Communications announced that it has "won four contracts in the first quarter of 2015 to supply its Allot WebSafe Personal product, a carrier-class Web Security service that enables service providers and enterprises to deliver a safer and more protected Internet environment to their users.

• The first two orders came from existing Tier-1 mobile operator customers in EMEA. These operators are expanding their SECaaS offerings with Allot Service Gateway Tera and Allot WebSafe Personal to enable rapid rollout of value-added parental control and anti-malware services. Allot’s technology will allow the operators to easily scale to the growing demand from millions of users for these security services.

• A third order was from a new Tier-1 American operator customer that plans to monetize its security offerings by leveraging WebSafe Personal to offer SECaaS services.

• The fourth order was secured from an existing Tier-1 operator customer in APAC that is adding WebSafe Personal to its Allot Service Protector deployment. The existing deployed solution is already being used to protect against high-volume distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. The expanded security capabilities now allow the operator to comply with government regulation by filtering harmful content"

Recently Allot released Key findings of the Allot MobileTrends Report H1 2015:

• Of CSPs who offer SECaaS, 60% charge a premium for it at prices ranging from $1 to $5 per month per line.
   
• Security services are mutually beneficial for broadband users and service providers. Users perceive parental controls and anti-malware services as high-value, while CSPs can quickly achieve positive ROI from delivering security solutions with incremental pricing
   
• Network-based security SECaaS create customer stickiness that can reduce churn rates by as much as 2.4% annually, which can cover the cost of deployment and operation on its own
   
• ROI on premium parental controls and anti-malware services can be achieved in five to seven months (six months on average), with ROI reaching greater than 250% in 12 months.

See "Allot Receives Four Orders from Tier-1 Operators to Enable Delivery of Security-as-a-Service and Comply with Regulation" - here.

Allot: Security VAS Solutions Sold to 5 Carriers

Allot Communications announced it has "..received five orders for Allot ServiceProtector, a solution that provides protection against massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, prevention of outbound spam, and containment and cleanup of infected botnet hosts .. In response to growing cyber threats, five Tier-1 operators have selected Allot ServiceProtector to deliver and monetize value-added security offerings to customers. 

[Related posts: "Allot: 2 Orders, $5M" - here and "Allot Receives a $15M Expansion Order, W/Analytics and DDoS Protection" - here]

.. ServiceProtector Sensor and Mitigation functions are embedded within Allot Service Gateway platforms and Allot NetEnforcer devices to protect service networks against a number of growing threats including DoS/DDoS attacks against customer web services; Zero Day attacks; anomalous traffic impacting network and service performance; anomalous behavior such as spamming, worm propagation, botnet attacks; and malicious user activity such as probing and flooding".

Source: Allot Communications 

See "Allot ServiceProtector Selected by Five Tier-1 Operators to Secure High Capacity Networks from Evolving Cyber Security Threats" - here.

ALU Adds NFV-Based Malware Protection Solution

Alcatel-Lucent announced that "Motive is to introduce the Motive Security Guardian (powered by Motive Security Labs, formerly Kindsight Security Labs), a virtualized security solution to optimize both the delivery of services as well as the customer experience by protecting service provider’s networks, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, and mobile and home devices from malware that can degrade performance, mine information and even steal data minutes.

.. When malware is found on a device, its owner is immediately alerted with step-by-step instructions on how to remove the threat. This intervention can significantly reduce calls to care agents triggered by malware, such as complaints of mobile device batteries draining too quickly; bill shock due to pirated data usage; and unwanted pop-up ads on a laptop.

[Related post - "Kindsight Helps ISPs to Detect, Block and Remove Bots" - here]

.. Residing on an operator’s cloud network, it can identify and pinpoint malware on mobile or home devices without having to be installed on them. The solution can be onboarded and managed using Alcatel-Lucent’s CloudBand™ 2.0 NFV platform and can be rapidly scaled up or down to meet market demand". 

See "Alcatel-Lucent’s Motive to deliver virtualized security solution to help service providers ensure a safe ultra-broadband customer experience" - here.

Allot: US Sales Waits for Net Neutrality

Last week Allot Communications and Procera Networks published their Q3 results. As Procera's results were known already (see "Procera: Q3 Revenues Decline by 25% Y/Y" - here)  Allot's had very good results (see "Allot Communications Reports Non-GAAP 25% Revenue Growth for Q3 2014" - here), getting very close to Sandvine for the forst 3 quarters of 2014 ($86.6M vs. $89.1M).



During the Q3 earning call, Allot provided the following information:

• Our booking during the third quarter were at record level, further supported by our largest ever $15 million order recorded during the quarter (here) .. sales in America accounted 16%, EMEA 33%, and Asia Pacific 51% .. During the quarter, we had two 10% customers .. Valued added services during the quarter represented 34% of our booking
   
• We had better years in the Americas, and year-to-date the performance there is not in the level that we expected it to be. However, we continue to work with the Tier-1 operators there. We believe that once the FCC will get to a final resolution about [Net] neutrality it will open doors for large scale projects with our type of technology. We’re starting to see over the last few months, more interest coming from them. We are in direct touch with them, doing trials, but nothing yet that has materialized to a project.
   
• [VAS]- What we are experiencing is that in most cases, the operators will buy into one or two value added services in the first phase, or in the first project. Then, they will add on top of that additional services. The services where we see more success over the last nine months are services related to revenue generating services, that have operated to create and generate more revenue for the customers, and we see more interest in services around the security space. So, as I mentioned in the last quarter, the Service Protector, which is our [inaudible] service protection product line, and the WebSafe product line, which is the parental control and [inaudible] filtering. These were two of the top three selling services, and these are around the security state

See "Allot Communications' (ALLT) CEO Andrei Elefant on Q3 2014 Results - Earnings Call Transcript", by SeekingAlpha, here.

Will Allot's $5M Order Rebound the DPI Market?

The recent announcements from Procera Networks (See "Procera: Q3 Revenues Decline by 25% Y/Y" - here), and other TEMs (Juniper), resulted in a free-fall for the pure-players DPI shares.

Allot, Procera and Sandvine Stock Performance, 5 Days

The announcement made by Allot Communications on Friday (during the holiday season and weekend in Israel) tries to regain some confidence in the market, and to show that the multi-million $  projects are still out there (but sometime they take a long time to show-up in revenue, says Sandvine - see "Sandvine: IBM is a 10% Reseller with an 'active pipeline of opportunities'" - here).

Allot's Service
Gateway Tera

Allot announced that it has " ..  received expansion orders of over five million dollars from two Tier-1 mobile operators for the Allot Service Gateway Tera for delivering value-added services to the Operators' subscribers. 

The key offering enabled by Allot is a virtualized security service which protects subscribers and boosts ARPU. This follows a $15 Million expansion order from another major Tier-1 operator [here] that was announced recently for the Allot Service Gateway Tera and associated value-added services".

See "Allot Communications Receives Expansion Orders of Over $5 Million Dollars from Two Tier-1 Mobile Operators" - here.

Allot: Expects US Growth; VAS Could Reach 50% of Revenues

Allot Communications published its Q2 results (revenues on $28.2M, here). During the earning call, the new President and CEO, Andrei Elefant [pictured], who assumed the CEO position on July 1st, provided some observations on the DPI business:

• Revenue from EMEA where 62% and bookings from this territory during the quarter indicates a continuous pull up from the 2012 flows. APAC and Americas were each 19% of revenues.
     
• In the U.S., we feel that the interest from the side of service providers in application-centric solutions is growing, as the industry approaches the final phase of the new net neutrality rules formation. The FCC will vote on accepting the new net neutrality rule during the second half of September, once the period of comment submission by industry participants is terminated. We believe that the interest in application-centric solutions will grow thereafter. 
  
  Related post: "Sandvine to the FCC: Internet Fast Lanes are not Needed" - here.
   
• We note that the progress to win new customers in the U.S. may be lengthy, but might expedite once the regulatory framework is completed .. we already have projects, a Tier 1 operators in the U.S. And this is something that we won 2 years ago and we have some very nice customers in North America. The comment that I was making [above] is mainly to explain that we believe that the environment is going to look better for us because of the recent changes that we see .. We have some projects in the pipeline ..

Regarding Value-Added services:

• Our funnel consists of major portion of value-added service projects and we continue to view this segment, spearheaded by revenue-generating services such as analytics, network security and application-centric services, as key catalyst for our ongoing growth
   
• we see between 20% to 30% of our booking coming from the value-added services .. [Q: So you're saying it could go 50-50?] A: Yes
   
• ..these value-added services are helping us also to penetrate and helping us on the competitive front to differentiate ourselves versus competition
   
• Examples for these directions are application-centric services such as zero-rated plans and personalized security services. We are seeing an increased demand for such applications from the side of leading global mobile service providers, and our offering in this space is gradually becoming a meaningful focus of our overall value-added services suite

See "Allot Communications' (ALLT) CEO Andrei Elefant on Q2 2014 Results - Earnings Call Transcript", by SeekingAlpha, here.

UK: How do ISPs Implement Network Based Parental Control Service?

Ofcom has "published a report for Government outlining measures the UK's largest internet service providers have put in place to help parents protect children from harmful content online. This follows an agreement between the Government and BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, the four largest fixed line internet service providers (ISPs), announced in July 2013 [see "UK to Enforce Opt Out Network Based Web Filtering on All ISPs" - here]. Each ISP committed to offer new customers 'family-friendly network-level filtering' by the end of December 2013 [see "UK ISPs for Safer Internet" - here]" 

"The report finds that the four ISPs now have a network level family friendly filtering service .. There are a number of filtering categories common to all four ISPs. Suicide and self-harm, pornography, file sharing, crime, drugs, violence and hate are covered by each provider's classification systems .. All of the ISPs offer some additional services alongside the network family-friendly filters, some including internet security services aimed at protecting the subscriber from issues like viruses or malware. All offer device level filtering or security software for installation on individual computers

All of the ISPs have commissioned third parties to perform the categorisation of 

internet content and services: 

• BT and Virgin employ Nominum
• Sky uses Symantec 
• TalkTalk uses Huawei [see "Huawei's SIG: Policy Enforcement and URL Filtering" - here], although Symantec was also initially involved.

The filtering solutions rely on two basic technologies:

• Filtering by Uniform Resource Locator (URL) blocking: the filtering of sites or services based on their web address – either addresses covering whole websites (http://www.example.com) or individual sections or pages on those sites (http://www.example.com/adultpictures). This involves the ISP checking some or all of the URLs which an opted-in subscriber requests against the list of sites or pages to be blocked. If there is a match, the subscriber request is not fulfilled – typically a page with the message “this site is blocked because it is classified as…” may be delivered instead.

• Filtering by Domain Name System (DNS) alteration: the DNS translates domain names (“www.example.com” into IP addresses “192.0.32.10”), to allow a subscriber’s content request to be correctly directed – this is the first stage in requesting a website or service. When used for filtering, the ISP’s DNS server will not provide the IP address for domains on the list; it may instead direct the subscriber request to an information page with “this site is blocked because it is classified as…”.

Each of Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk has adopted a slightly different version of URL blocking; Sky’s filtering system is exclusively based on its DNS servers. The use of URL blocking allows a more granular classification of online content and services: Sky’s system will always block whole domains, while BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk can target specific parts of a domain.

See "Ofcom publishes report on internet safety measures" - here.

Allot: Customers Double Orders within 2 Years; We Don't See F5

Hadar (left) and Elefant,
 Photo: Azi Ronen (2006)

Quotes from Rami Hadar, retiring CEO, Allot Communications (see "Andrei Elefant to Replace Rami Hadar as Allot's CEO" - here), notes during the company's Q1 earning call.

[See "Allot Communications Reports Non-GAAP 17.2% Revenue Growth for First Quarter of 2014" - here]

• "Our past experience shows that booking delivered collectively from new customers in the given year is in the range of 50% to 20% of the annual booking. While new deals tend to be lower than average in gross margin they are our major contributor to our future growth. Given the fast growth of data and the desire for new value added services typical mobile customer will more than double its orders from Allot within two years from the initial sale. Those following orders are most soft oriented and therefore tend to be with high gross margins than average"
   
• "Gross margins during the first quarter was 73% slightly below our usual 75%, 76% range. The main underlying reason is one large deal with the new Tier-1 fixed customer which was highly competitive and where the initial order was more hardware-biased versus software. We don’t think this represents a new trend. We are happy to say that we have already won a following order of this account which carries higher gross margins compared to the initial deal .. It was a multi-million dollar deal .. I’m proud that Allot prevailed in one of the deals. This is a very large Telco in APAC .. Obviously, we like the software content to be higher. The specific deals that we took in APAC was to the other side because of a large geographical distribution"
   
• "During the first quarter, we have continued to make progress with our value added service business which represented 28% of our bookings for the quarter"
   
• About F5 - "we haven’t seen them any pure DPI RFP. Now, having said, I caution, we don’t have perfect worldwide coverage, it could be that they are showing in certain locations. And we are not aware of it. But, we haven’t ran into them in a straight out RFP. It seems to me sitting on the sidelines, I’m just more focused on doing a good job on security front. And it seems that they are complaining of their progress in DPI and policy control and charging functions. It could be just me but this is me kind of watching their statements and public discussions"
   
• US - " It is a fairly slow quarter for America on a relative basis to other region, as you can figure out, the large deals came in other territories. We totally hope to continue our success with penetrating Q1 mobile operators in the U.S."

See "Allot Communications' CEO Discusses Q1 2014 Results - Earnings Call Transcript", by SeekingAlpha, here.

VAS/Security Deployments [302]: AT&T Uses Bluecoat for Network based Protection

  

AT&T announced ".. the launch of AT&T Cloud Web Security for businesses of any size. The new offering will provide real-time protection against viruses, malware, and compromised web sites --- all without the need for on-site equipment ..  built on Blue Coat Systems’ Security Policy and Enforcement Center. It enables customers to enforce consistent global security policies across wired, roaming, and mobile environments".

See "AT&T Continues Drive to Strengthen Security for Businesses" - here.

[Strategy Analytics]: OTT Messaging will Reduce SMS Revenues by 20%

A new report by David MacQueen [pictured], Director, Media & Apps, Strategy Analytics  finds that "Global expenditure on operator messaging services, which includes SMS and MMS, declined for the first time in 2013 following its peak in 2012 ..  operator revenue from messaging services fell by almost 4 percent last year to just below $104 Billion. Continued intense competition for subscribers between operators combined with the fast growing popularity of over-the-top instant messaging services like WhatsApp, Line Messenger and Tencent’s WeChat will drive a 20 percent fall in global operator messaging revenue by 2017".

"While RCS/ RCS-e enables mobile operators both to evolve mobile messaging beyond SMS and MMS and keep operators relevant in mobile messaging, it will not offset the current decline in messaging revenue. We forecast that by 2017 there will be just below 180 million users of RCS/ RCS-e based services. However, RCS/ RCS-e messaging will contribute little direct revenue for mobile operators. To offset lower consumer spend levels, carriers should aim to tap opportunities such as mobile marketing, or increase innovation by opening up SMS platforms to businesses and the developer community"

See "Operator Messaging Revenue to Decline 20 percent by 2017" - here.

VAS/Security Deployments [275]: Singtel Uses Fortinet to Protect Enterprise Customers

Fortinet announced that it has ".. partnered with SingTel to immediately roll out secured broadband services to enterprises across Singapore. Running on Fortinet's high performance FortiGate® network security platforms and FortiManager® and FortiAnalyzer® centralised management and reporting appliances, the SingTel Business Fibre Broadband Security Suite intercepts security threats and eliminates them in the cloud before they reach a company's IT network. Businesses subscribed to this Suite will have online content filtering bundled with their broadband access. Antivirus and anti-spam protection can be added as options. Besides improving security, the content filtering and anti-spam functions help businesses optimise bandwidth usage and increase staff productivity".

Mr Goh Boon Huat [pictured], VP Business Products, Global Products, SingTel Group Enterprise said: “The SingTel Business Fibre Broadband Security Suite is tailor-made for SMEs, which have little or no IT support. Having a reliable, convenient and automated cloud security enables them to protect their vulnerable IT networks from internal and external threats. Our SME customers can enjoy a secured Internet network allowing them to focus on their business, enhance customer experience and drive new revenue growth,"

See "SingTel and Fortinet Partner to Provide Secured Broadband Services to Businesses" - here.

Security VAS Deployments [272]: TDS [US] Deploys Kindsight for Malware Protection

Alcatel-Lucent and TDS Telecommunications [see "DPI Deployments: TDS Uses Sandvine" - here] announced that ".. Kindsight security technology is powering TDS’ Hacker Alert service. The Kindsight Broadband Security solution enables TDS to continuously analyze Internet traffic for threats, inform subscribers and provide directions on how to remove ‘malware’ or other infections on a device. TDS Hacker is the fastest selling value-added service in the company’s history and already ranks as the second most popular premium service that TDS offers".

See also "Kindsight Helps ISPs to Detect, Block and Remove Bots" - here.

See "TDS Telecommunications Corp. uses Alcatel-Lucent’s Kindsight solution to help protect U.S. customers from malicious hacker attacks on home network" - here.

Allot Adds Parental Control and Anti-Malware VAS

The DPI vendors continue to invest in the fast growing parental control market (see "[ABI]: Parental Control Market to Reach $1B in 2013" - here).

Allot Communications announced that it has expanded its Websafe solution beyond its previous single black list filtering to "WebSafe Personal. Fully integrated with Allot Service Gateway .. WebSafe Personal offers two flexible service bundles, which can be deployed together or individually. WebSafe Personal Parental Control allows parents to filter and monitor the websites and content their children view, as well as the amount of time they spend online. WebSafe Personal Anti-Malware prevents incoming viruses, worms, Trojans, bots and other forms of malware from infecting their smartphones, tablets and other handheld devices. WebSafe Personal Anti-Malware provides network-based protection against attacks and 24/7 signature updates, while requiring no action to be performed by subscribers".

".. Allot WebSafe Personal has already been deployed by leading mobile operators in multiple regions across the globe" (see "Allot Sees Growth in VAS Projects, Led by Parental Control" - here and "$6M Parental Control Win for Allot in EMEA (with Partner)" - here).

"Allot WebSafe Personal is a licensed software application that is fully integrated with Allot Service Gateway and Allot NetEnforcer platforms and can be hosted either on a blade in the Allot Service Gateway or hosted externally. Allot WebSafe Personal is NFV-ready and offers operators a pay-as-you-grow concept with the addition of software licenses". 

See "Allot Communications’ WebSafe Personal Delivers Personalized Parental Control and Anti-Malware Services to Fixed and Mobile Operators" - here.

Allot Sees Growth in VAS Projects, Led by Parental Control; Has 15-20 Cache Customers

Allot Communications published its Q2 results (revenues of $21.5M, here) showing revenue decline compared to Q2, 2012 (-18.6%) and Q1 2013 (-11.2%). Allot explained it with a revenue recognition delay for a Tier1 EMEA project of $5M (which could have brought it to the same revenue level of 2012).

The company also hinted a promising 2nd half for 2013 - ".. not only book-to-bill ratio was once again over 1, but we also reached the record level of bookings during the quarter, a level which is 20% higher compared with 2Q -- with Q2 last year. We feel confident with all of our booking environment as we go into the second half of 2013 and we believe that revenues during the second half of the year will exceed those achieved during the first half".

Allot stated that its VAS revenues accounted for 26% of total booking. During the earning call, Rami Hadar, President and CEO said, in regard to VAS:

• The growing portion of VAS in our booking is a direct outcome of our DPI-enabled Service Gateway strategy .. Our lineup of VAS offerings is growing rapidly. On top of video caching and optimization we acquired last year, we now have service protection web page, quality of experience monitoring, network analytics and network-based parental control, which we introduced last quarter
   
• the leading Value-Added Services product that contribute to the growth in our VAS numbers into the 30%, one of them actually, is parental control
   
• We see enhanced demand for VAS that enables service providers to generate new revenue sources, improve quality of experience and create real customer differentiation. In several of our new deals, at least 1 or 2 value-added services are included in the initial rollout
   
• Regarding our 2 recent video positions, from operational point of view, both companies are fully integrated into Allot. And on the products front, we expect that by the end of the year, as planned, they will be fully integrated with our Service Gateway platform. Video caching was roughly 5% of our Q2 booking and showing a growing funnel. Video optimization is undergoing several promising trials with 3 Tier 1 service providers
   
• we are quite unique in our Value-Added Services offering, and that's the key differentiator and sometimes it makes the whole difference in winning
   
• Allot has roughly 5 caching customers from the date we outsourced. And in an OEM basis, our OEM solution and over 3 are brought to us in different shots -- in shapes, maybe 10 additional ones .. I would say we have 15, maybe 20 caching customers, some are using our caching as standalone and some of them are joined with our DPI solution

See "Allot Communications Management Discusses Q2 2013 Results - Earnings Call Transcript', by SeekingAlpha - here.