Many Leading VOIP Vendors Are Lacking a Key Technology Ingredient, Heavy Reading Finds

Many Leading VOIP Vendors Are Lacking a Key Technology
Ingredient, Heavy Reading Finds
Report shows that many makers of VOIP softswitches have no plans to incorporate
critical session border control functions in their products 


NEW YORK, March 4  /PRNewswire/ -- Makers of the softswitches that telecom
carriers are using to deliver voice over IP (VOIP) service to their customers
have no firm plans to incorporate session border control features into their
products, even though their carrier customers see a growing need for those
functions, concludes a major new study released today by Heavy Reading
(http://www.heavyreading.com/), the market research division of Light Reading
Inc.

"VOIP Session Border Controllers: A Heavy Reading Competitive Analysis"
presents the most detailed, comprehensive competitive analysis of session
border controllers (SBCs) ever undertaken. The report evaluates 40 products
from 23 different manufacturers, providing granular information on every
important aspect of functionality and performance of each vendor's offering.

The report also delivers in-depth analysis of how SBCs are now being deployed
to enable VOIP services, as well as how the technology's place is likely to
evolve in service provider networks and in the telecom equipment hierarchy.

"Most major softswitch vendors are not ready to address session border control
as a strategic part of their next-generation network plans," says Graham
Beniston, Heavy Reading Analyst at Large and author of the 117-page report.
"Suppliers such as Alcatel [NYSE: ALA], Ericsson [Nasdaq: ERICY], Lucent
Technologies [NYSE: LU], and Siemens [NYSE: SI] are still shaping their 'big
picture' VOIP architectures and are concentrating their strategic thinking on
that area. This should help SBC specialists maintain a leadership role in
defining their market."

Beniston notes that most major suppliers of VOIP softswitches are now relying
on partnerships with smaller SBC specialist companies to deliver session border
control functions to their customers. Rather than develop their own SBC
expertise, those vendors are likely to acquire smaller SBC specialists when the
time is right, he concludes.

Other key findings of the report include:

Telecom carriers see a need for session border control, which means the
prospects for SBC specialist vendors are generally bright. Carrier requests for
proposal (RFPs) specifying session border control functionality are appearing
in quantity now. For SBC startups, there are multiple sales channel options
ranging from direct sales to partnerships with large incumbents. Several SBC
specialists now have such partnerships in place. Exit strategies from IPO to
acquisition are viable.

Carrier VOIP architecture futures and vendor strategies are realigning around
the requirements of fixed-mobile convergence. Most of the major incumbent
vendors are now following the 3rd-Generation Partnership Project's (3GPP) IP
multimedia subsystem (IMS) standard. The question of whether SBC signaling
control will be integrated into the softswitch will not be resolved until the
move to an architecture based on IMS is well under way.

Products from Sonus, NexTone, Kagoor, Jasomi, NeoTIP, and Tekelec graded as
best-in-class across the different SBC categories evaluated. Sonus earned the
top spot in product comparisons involving intercarrier peering. In the carrier
access evaluations, NexTone achieved the highest overall rating. Kagoor has the
strongest products in the distributed SBC signaling controller category.
Jasomi's PeerPoint earned the highest marks in the distributed SBC media proxy
category. NeoTIP and Tekelec graded out as the best enterprise SBC products.

"VOIP Session Border Controllers: A Heavy Reading Competitive Analysis" is
published in PDF format and costs $3,495. The price includes an enterprise
license covering all of the employees at the purchaser's company.

   For more information, or to request a free executive summary, contact:

   Dave Williams
   Sales Director, Heavy Reading
   415-321-3750, ext. 30
   

   Press/analyst contact:
   Dennis Mendyk
   Managing Director, Heavy Reading
   201-587-2154
   

  About Heavy Reading


Heavy Reading is an independent market research organization offering
quantitative analysis of telecom technology to service providers, vendors, and
investors. Its mandate is to provide the comprehensive competitive analysis
needed today for the deployment of profitable networks based on next-generation
hardware and software. 

DATASOURCE: Heavy Reading



CONTACT:  Dave Williams, Sales Director, [phone], ext. 30 or

, or Press and Analysts, Dennis Mendyk, Managing

Director, [phone] or , both of Heavy Reading 



Web site:  http://www.lightreading.com/ 

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