IMS operator survey shows Huawei gaining and a shift toward video and mobile services

Campbell, CALIFORNIA, August 11, 2009—Communications market research firm Infonetics Research released results from its IMS Plans: Global Service Provider Survey [1], published last week as part of its Service Provider VoIP and IMS Continuous Research Service [2] (CRS). The survey provides a strategic overview of service provider IMS network plans, service offerings, core product features and capabilities, drivers and barriers to deploying IMS, and ratings of 10 IMS vendors: Acme Packet, Alcatel-Lucent, BroadSoft, Cisco, Ericsson, HP, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks, Sonus, and ZTE.

ANALYST NOTE

"Our 2009 IMS service provider survey indicates that the IMS market is advancing from early-stage services to the next phase. The two most important indicators are the higher number of service providers planning to offer services beyond fixed-line voice—such as video and mobile services—by 2011, and the shift in IMS deployment drivers, which include the opportunity to offer converged services, deploy new applications and services, and consolidate networks," says Diane Myers [3], Infonetics Research’s Directing Analyst for Service Provider VoIP and IMS.

"On the vendor front, Ericsson continues to be the leading IMS vendor, but Huawei has made the most progress in terms of deployments and vendor perceptions. Huawei poses a credible and serious threat to Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia Siemens based on the number of providers with Huawei IMS products under evaluation, and overall perception of Huawei across a broad set of criteria," Myers added.

IMS SERVICE PROVIDER SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

80% of Infonetics’ service provider respondents run fixed voice over IMS today or will by 2011, making fixed-line VoIP service the current mainstay of IMS deployments
More than half of the service provider respondents plan to deploy video telephony and converged mobile/fixed-line services over the next 12–18 months
The top three IMS applications operators expect to offer over the next two years are mobile-related: FMC, mobile presence, and mobile messaging

REPORT SYNOPSIS

Infonetics’ IMS Plans: Global Service Provider Survey [3] provides insights into service provider IMS (IP multimedia subsystem) network strategies, deployment drivers and barriers, service offerings, CSCF (Call Session Control Function) and HSS (Home Subscriber Server) deployments, product feature preferences, product vendor selection criteria, brand awareness ratings, and a vendor scorecard.

The scorecard provides service provider ratings of Acme Packet, Alcatel-Lucent, BroadSoft, Cisco, Ericsson, HP, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks, Sonus, and ZTE on 10 criteria: IMS vision, technology, system integration capability, management, price-to-performance ratio (value), pricing, product roadmap, security, service and support, and financial stability.

Infonetics surveyed knowledgeable purchase decision-makers at 20 incumbent, wireless, and competitive service providers that have deployed IMS core equipment or plan to by 2010. The respondents represent almost one-third of worldwide service provider revenue and capex, and 37% of total EMEA public service provider capital spending, representing a good portion of the overall EMEA landscape, where the majority of IMS activity is.

Of the operators surveyed, 75% are from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), 10% from Asia Pacific, 10% from North America, and 5% from Central and Latin America (CALA).

Related research:

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Members: http://www.infonetics.com/login [9]

New to Infonetics' online portal: http://www.infonetics.com/cgp/newaccounts.asp [10]

From the portal, go to RESEARCH, then SERVICE PROVIDER VOIP AND IMS.