If you're an incumbent IP network equipment supplier, the chances that your operator customers are entirely happy with you are remarkably slim. Your high costs and lack of kit interoperability, not to mention a concern about your pace of innovation, are the things most likely to be sticking in their craws.

These were some of the findings from a recent online survey of 100 network operators worldwide. Conducted by Heavy Reading and sponsored by Israeli firm DriveNets – a specialist in cloud-native networking software and network disaggregation solutions – the survey and accompanying white paper from Heavy Reading, "A radical network change to cloud," should serve as a wake up call for incumbent vendors if they want to hang on to their communications service provider (CSPs) accounts.

Of those canvassed, only 7% said they were "fully satisfied" with their existing IP network suppliers. Given that more than one-third of survey respondents are from "large Tier 1 operators" (those clocking up more than $5 billion in annual revenue), the statistic indicates that incumbent vendors are failing to fully meet the needs of their biggest customers.

Heavy Reading, based on the survey and previous research, warned incumbent suppliers to either adapt to what CSPs want or face the ignominy of being booted out.

"Disaggregation is opening the IP market to new supplier choices that have not existed in decades, giving operators new power in the buyer-seller relationship," said Sterling Perrin, senior principal analyst at Heavy Reading and author of the whitepaper.

Next-gen IP architectures mean next-gen vendor requirements

In parallel with CSP unease about existing IP network suppliers, the survey highlighted a growing trend of adopting disaggregated and cloud-native networks.

Two-fifths of survey respondents in the fixed network category said they had already deployed the next-gen IP tech, while 42% in the mobile network operator camp said they had done the same. Over 60% of those canvassed said they planned to deploy in the next five years.

The survey highlighted various factors driving the need for architectural change in IP networks among CSPs, but cost reduction topped the list by a considerable amount (over 60% of respondents put this as among their top three reasons). Other prominent drivers for architectural change include the move to a cloud strategy (selected by 44%), network scale (42%) and greater vendor diversity (39%).

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The Heavy Reading report said the strong showing of cloud strategy was most likely the result of "new dynamics between service and cloud providers," which are becoming partners and competitors at the same time.

"Cloud providers are pursuing CSPs' revenue streams," said Ido Susan, co-founder and CEO of DriveNets. "They're not only taking on some operational networking payloads but are also becoming a backbone alternative for enterprise services. Transforming their network to a modern, fully virtualized cloud-native architecture will enable them to be more innovative, roll out new capabilities at the network edge next to new cloud buildouts, and substantially lower their costs."

— Ken Wieland, contributing editor, special to Light Reading