Service providers continue investing in SDPs (service delivery platforms) as they try to better monetize their networks and manage the impact of over-the-top (OTT) providers on the bottom line, according to Infonetics Research. However, cost holds back many SDP initiatives. "The cost of implementing an SDP is a major barrier to deployment, and operators are turning to more productized solutions, including commercial off-the-shelf software," said Shira Levine, the firm's directing analyst for service enablement and subscriber intelligence. Asked in an open-ended question for their ranking of the top three SDP vendors, service providers listed Ericsson in the top spot, followed by Huawei and Oracle (tied for second place), and IBM. Huawei slipped from first place in Infonetics' 2012 SDP survey to its second-place tie this year. For more, see this Infonetics release.