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AlcaLu & HP: SIP Can Wait
Caroline Chappell | Analyst
As the IMS market stalls, with many operators balking at expensive application redevelopment, equipment vendors must reevaluate their telco app server strategies.

Alcatel-Lucent and HP are weighing in with next-generation IN (NGIN) app servers, targeting operators that want to sweat more revenue out of their legacy IN assets as they migrate to a more future-proof platform.
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Telco App Servers: NGIN Revs Up for a Serious Run at SIP
It is common to observe that communications service providers (CSPs) must radically change their strategies for service acquisition and delivery if they wish to compete in the convergent, service-hungry IP world. What should a CSP's strategy look like for a flexible service layer that will enable the CSP to deliver more services, more rapidly, and at lower cost to the market?

The longevity of Intelligent Network (IN) services and legacy network assets and growing operator emphasis on service interoperability between networks is leading several key vendors of service-layer technology to reevaluate their market offers. Two companies are redoubling their efforts to support legacy IN customers with new service platforms that can support operators as they migrate to a next-generation network (NGN). Meanwhile, another company has strengthened its grip on the SIP app server market, championing the cause of redeveloping communications applications and making them fit to participate in the next-generation, IT-based services world.

These companies can provide key pieces of service delivery platform (SDP) function necessary for supporting an ecosystem of third-party developers. As part of their service-layer strategies, CSPs will need to build SDPs that manage developer relationships and network access, as well as the lifecycle of the services each party builds and delivers. The largest vendors want operators to be able to buy all the key service-layer technology components from them, rather than CSPs choosing different telco app server, service exposure layer, and SDP vendors.

The battle lines for the service layer are drawn clearly at the telco app server layer, nominally a small element within the much broader market for the SDP and operation/business support system (OSS/BSS) transformation, but a highly strategic one, nevertheless. On one side are ranged the next-generation IN (NGIN) app server vendors and on the other, the remaining, powerful, SIP app server vendors.

The past 12 months has seen much change in the service-layer market. The key requirements for a transitional/next-generation service-layer environment have become clearer and market consolidation means that more of these requirements can now be bought and integrated from fewer vendors. Operators are still making a distinction between suppliers for the programmable telco app server and the SDP, often requiring separate suppliers to work together to provide the entire set of service-layer capabilities they need.

Telco App Servers: NGIN Revs Up for a Serious Run at SIP considers the service-layer capabilities that operators will need to establish to support third-party service development and evaluates the strategies of leading vendors of telco app server technology as they position themselves for the next evolution of this market. It also profiles 10 leading companies in the market.


Sample research data from the report is shown in the excerpts below:
Table of Contents (ssi0909toc.pdf)
Five service-layer requirements can be mapped to five service-layer capabilities, as the following excerpt illustrates. Together, these capabilities support the tasks of communications services creation, (policy controlled) exposure, orchestration, and deployment. The programmable telco app server is the main category of product needed to address the majority of these capabilities. Some telco app servers contain service broker function, although the service broker is establishing itself as a product category in its own right. The third-party development platform needed to support an ecosystem of external developers will require more than a programmable app server, however. It is best realized through the implementation of an SDP.
[click on the image above for the full excerpt]
Companies profiled in this report include: Aepona Group Ltd.; Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU); BroadSoft Inc.; Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ); IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM); jNetX Inc.; OpenCloud Ltd.; Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL); Telcordia Technologies Inc.; and Telenity Inc.
Total pages: 31
JUNE 2009
Infrastructure as a Service: Telcos Aim for the Cloud
This report examines the development of IaaS, explores the opportunity it represents for telcos, and analyzes the key areas telcos still need to address – particularly around infrastructure management – if they are to participate in this emerging market. It also profiles ten leading providers of IaaS-enabling technologies.
READ SUMMARY
Including table of contents, executive summary, and financial metrics
MARCH 2009
Order to Cash: How SOA Can Break Down Telco OSS Silos
This report discusses the order-to-cash process and how next-generation products are driving demand for SOA-based OSS/BSS architectures. The report examines process and system areas that are challenging telco process architects as they try to consolidate and manage product data centrally and create a future-proof process that spans fulfillment and billing.
READ SUMMARY
Including table of contents, executive summary, and financial metrics
JANUARY 2009
Accelerating Telco Services Through SaaS/PaaS: Strategies for SDPs in the Cloud
This report explores strategies for cloud computing, including software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) approaches, as well as new approaches to service innovation, such as service exposure and service syndication, that are blurring the boundaries between SaaS and PaaS. The report also profiles 15 leading vendors in telco services.
READ SUMMARY
Including table of contents, executive summary, and financial metrics
NOVEMBER 2009
The Race for SaaS: Do Telcos Have Their Heads in the Right Clouds
DECEMBER 2009
Building Operational Intelligence Into the Next-Generation Telco Service Layer
FEBRUARY 2010
Reinventing the Telco: Which Vendors Have the Strongest Propositions?
* Calendar subject to change
ANALYST
Caroline Chappell
Caroline writes the Services Software Insider research newsletter, addressing the latest developments telecom service delivery technology.
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Caroline Chappell
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ANALYST
Denise Culver
Denise is the author of VOIP Services Insider. She has more than ten years' experience in technology journalism.
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Denise Culver
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ANALYST
Tim Kridel
Tim writes for both Unstrung Insider and Cable Industry Insider. He has previously covered the wireless and cable industries for a number of research firms, including Heavy Reading.
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Tim Kridel
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