DUBLIN -- Management World -- Amdocs Ltd., one of the largest Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) vendors in the world, is set to join the rush to provide advanced data analytics systems to communications service providers (CSPs).

And there's little doubt that the rush is on, especially as the specter of the Big Data challenge looms. (See SNA Brings the Customer Closer, Cisco Buys Web Analytics Firm Truviso, Video Quality Isn't Hot Air for Wind Mobile, Subex Unveils Performance Management Tool, Comptel to Buy Xtract for €3.1M, NTT Unveils Social Media Analytics Service, Xtract, NSN Team on Social Analytics, Waking Up to the Power of SPIT and M&A Activity Lends Credence to Mobile Analytics.)

So what's Amdocs up to in this area? It has a historical partnership with business intelligence systems specialist SAS Institute Inc., struck in 2005, but that doesn't look like it'll be enough to meet the growing demand for back office systems with integrated analytics capabilities.

"We're not ready to talk about the developments we have in this area just yet, but there's no doubt it's a top trend," says Alastair Hanlon, VP of market strategy at Amdocs. "Traditional sources of revenues are slowing at our CSP customers so they need to find ways of driving new revenues from the customer data they hold. And they're looking at how the likes of Google and Facebook are building businesses around social networking -- they're interested in those models."

Hanlon adds: "Data monetization is the key to all this. This is one of things we are hearing from service providers. They want to figure out how to manage and monetize data, how they can innovate to stay ahead of others, especially the OTT players, and how to simplify their customers' experience. We're trying to help service providers such as AT&T Inc. and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) innovate by introducing them to startups through our Engage! program."

However Amdocs gets into the advanced analytics space, it certainly seems to be a capability that industry analysts believe is important for major SPIT vendors to have in their portfolio. Heavy Reading senior analyst Caroline Chappell pointed out the growing requirement for NoSQL database capabilities in her Management World preview, while her colleague Sarah Wallace is expecting the Dublin show to be a sea of analytics-based displays. (See SoMoClo Descends on Dublin.)

"All the vendors are talking about analytics. They either have it, are developing it or are looking at M&A," she says.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading