Magic Quadrant for Session Border Controllers

This document was revised on 10 October 2012. The document you are viewing is the corrected version. For more information, see the Corrections page on gartner.com.

Session border controllers (SBCs) for communications service providers (CSPs) essentially act as session managers by performing session management. Session management is a term describing how CSPs apply policies (such as for bandwidth for video calls), control session routing, ensure interoperability across multivendor communication environments, and integrate applications with communications services.

SBCs offer CSPs a set of functions that address service delivery problems caused by the creation of Internet Protocol (IP) network islands. These problems generally relate to security, qualityof service (QoS) management and network interoperability. SBCs enable separate IP networks to connect securely and cost-effectively, without compromising quality.

CSPs purchase SBCs for two main purposes:

• To incorporate them into their own infrastructure for their own use
• To offer CSP-managed SBCs as a service to customers that are evaluating whether to buy SBCs of their own or that have decided not to

SBCs are typically implemented either as stand-alone network elements or integrated into existing network elements, such as routers and gateways. This Magic Quadrant examines only vendors of stand-alone SBCs for CSPs. Although several of these vendors also offer integrated solutions and solutions geared toward enterprise customers, integrated solutions and enterprise solutions are not part of the evaluation.

Figure 1. Magic Quadrant for Session Border Controllers

Source: Gartner (October 2012)

Strengths

• Acme Packet is a well-known name in the SBC market, in which it has maintained worldwide leadership. It has often been the first and main vendor selected, and it therefore has a large customer base. Additionally, it has a more global presencein terms of SBC customers than its competitors, and therefore also greater mind share and recognition as an SBC vendor. This explains its high position on the Ability to Execute axis.
• Acme Packet has been ahead of the technology curve with respect to its road map and vision, which include advances such as SBCs in the cloud, IP Multimedia Subsystem [IMS]/voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE), femtocell integration, and early involvement in initiatives such as Rich Communication Suite (RCS) and RCS-enhanced (RCS-e). Its SBCs appear in 10 CSPnetworks that offer these services.
• Acme Packet's purchase of IPTEGO in April 2012 will strengthen its product portfolio by including real-time, end-to-endcommunications network intelligence, voice and video operations monitoring, customer experience management, and fraud prevention and detection.
• The company has a solid balance sheet, no debt and a significant amount of cash (over $400 million). Its customers are distributed widely across the world, and it added 61 new clients in the first half of 2012.

Cautions

• Judging from some customer feedback, Acme Packet's license structure is more rigid in terms of usage across multiple platforms than those of many of its competitors.
• Trends in VoLTE indicate that the CSPs are pursuing the IMS path, which could mean they will look for alternative approaches toward larger system integrators and incumbent vendors chosen for IMS core deployments.

Strengths

• Dialogic launched its BorderNet family of SBCs, which addresses both the CSP and the enterprise Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking markets, in early 2011. Its product portfolio includes SBCs integrated with a media gateway, such as the BorderNet 2020 SBC, and stand-alone SBCs, such as the BorderNet 3000 and 4000. The BorderNet 2020 can also be deployed as a stand-alone SBC and used in large enterprises and contact centers.
• Dialogic's BorderNet family includes solutions comparable to those of competitors with respect to features and functions. It supports all QoS capabilities, regulatory requirements, service assurance features and security capabilities.
• The BorderNet family supports Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) and IP interconnection applications; value-added services, including messaging and video applications; contact center applications requiring gateway, special call handling and SBC security; and SIP trunking applications. Dialogic's road map includes plans to support SIPconnect 1.1, the cloud, VoLTE/roaming, the IMS core and RCSe.
• Dialogic maintains a good balance between direct sales and sales through channels. Direct sales to CSPs account for 60% of its sales, and the remaining 40% come via channel partners, system integrators, and manufacturers of telecom and network equipment. Dialogic has a global reseller agreement with Ericsson, for example, which has the potential to provide it with a more global presence in mobile markets. It also has a relationship with BroadSoft to develop and deliver end-to-end IP services for end users.

Cautions

• Dialogic's BorderNet platform is comparable to its competitors' offerings in terms of features and functions, though its competitors offer platforms that can handle a larger number of concurrent sessions on the same physical appliance (Dialogic's platform scales to only 32,000 media and signaling sessions before another one-rack-unit [1RU] platform is needed). On the other hand, Dialogic's platform can handle 600 calls per second, which, from a performance perspective, could be a differentiator for smaller-scale platform deployments.
• Dialogic is developing its overall mobile "story," but should also emphasize its abilities in cloud computing and SBC technology. Although it is a participant in the GSM Association (GSMA), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the SIP Forum, and has recently highlighted its Meircom certification, it also needs to increase awareness of its involvement in standards bodies, plugfests and interoperability testing.

Strengths

• Genband offers the S3 SBC as part of its S-Series product platforms, along with its S2 Security Gateway and SR3 Routing Proxy. Genband acquired the S3 SBC with its purchase of NextPoint Networks in 2008, and has since developed it in terms of features, scalability, quality and platform flexibility. The S3 supports all regulatory requirements (except those of the U.S. Government Emergency Telecommunications Service [GETS]), and all security, interworking, QoS and service assurance capabilities for access, enterprise and interconnect deployments. Genband's major announcements during past 12 months include support for IPv6 and RCS-e, its entry into the enterprise market, and the integration of the S3 into its Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA)-based GENiUS platform.
• In 2012, Genband launched new 1RU and 2RU commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) form factor versions of the S3. A software-centric approach to design means that this product can adapt to multiple form factors, for migration to the cloud.
• In addition to the S3 SBC, Genband offers a wide variety of IP-based products, including call control and traffic and policy management. Together, these amount to a nearly end-to-end integrated multimedia IP network on a common platform, one that promises to minimize operational and capital expenditure.
• Genband has secured contracts with France Telecom/Orange for access network SBCs. It has also announced a deal with BT to supply SIP-based IP interconnect technology and part of BT's IP exchange solution.
• Key investment areas on Genband's SBC road map include centralized monitoring and analytics for multimedia applications; more scale options, upward and downward; more deployment options, for integrated and distributed media; and capacity and performance enhancements, for applications such as transcoding, VoLTE, RCS-e, video, SBCs in the cloud and WebRTC.
• Genband is the incumbent vendor for a huge number of telecom companies around the world, thanks to its acquisition of assets from Nortel, Tekelec and NextPoint.

Cautions

• After acquiring Nortel's Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions (CVAS) assets, Genband lost some share in the SBC market, probably due to its undertaking to integrate the acquired products and solutions into its existing portfolios. Genband has since re-emphasized its focus on the SBC product and won more SBC deals, but it might struggle to regain its former mind share.
• Genband's recent acquisition of Aztek Networks might create a perception that it is dedicated to investing in the legacy telecom equipment market, rather than in strategic acquisitions to align with its SBC product. However, Genband continues to emphasize its investment in its newly formed multimedia business unit, which includes SBC and application server products.

Strengths

• Huawei's SessionEngine2600 SBC is comparable to competing products from a feature and functionality perspective. It supports up to 60,000 concurrent sessions and all security, QoS andservice assurance functions.
• Huawei's financial position is strong, and it is therefore better positioned than most of itscompetitors.
• Huawei can use its strategic partnerships and customer base from wins in the fourth-generation (4G)/LTE and IMS sectors as leverage to help win SBC contracts.

Cautions

• The SessionEngine2600 SBC does not support some regulatory functions, such as those required in the U.S. by Enhanced 911 (E-911), the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and GETS. Due to the limited amount of information Huawei provided for this Magic Quadrant, we were unable to ascertain whether such support appears on its road map.
• Huawei's marketing of its SBC is not particularly strong. The company relies on direct sales, which are generally combined with other solutions, such as those for VoLTE/RCS, IMS and next-generation networks (NGNs).
• The governments of some countries, such as Australia, ban Huawei from bidding for contracts because of security concerns. If these bans are not lifted, Huawei's SBC business could struggle.

Strengths

• Metaswitch launched its SBC, Perimeta, in September 2011, and the product generated revenue in the same month. Perimeta is highly competitive in terms of features and functions – its capabilities compare favorably with those of competitors. It supports all regulatory, security and service assurance requirements, interoperates with a wide variety of components (such as femtocells and application, policy and presence servers), and is available in COTS and ATCA form factors.
• Metaswitch's road map and vision include SBCs in the cloud and further enhancements to performance and IMS/VoLTE compliance.
• Metaswitch has a good understanding of its target customers (Tier 2 and Tier 3 CSPs) and a focused approach to developing new features and capabilities for them. It also has an excellent track record of delivering fast response times and fixes.
• Metaswitch's Data Connection division is a strength. It has major SBC vendors as customers for protocol solutions within SBCs, which makes interoperability easier to achieve.

Cautions

• Currently, Metaswitch sells SBCs only directly. It needs to get its Mosaic Partner Programs rolling in order to expand its international presence in this market, which is not particularly strong.
• Metaswitch's status as a private company may cause it difficulty in an already challenging environment as CSPs look for transparency when selecting vendors. However, Metaswitch's latest year-on-year results show a relatively solid financial performance, and the company has specified a moderate amount of R&D for its SBC.
• Metaswitch mostly attracts Tier 2 and Tier 3 CSPs in the U.S. It might need to find a larger system integrator to act as a reseller.

Strengths

• Sonus offers CSPs a stand-alone product, the SBC 5200, and an integrated solution with a media gateway, the SBC 9000. It also offers another product, the SBC 5100, to enterprises and small-scale CSP environments. This choice helps it capitalize on its track record with customers as they continue to transform their networks into all-IP infrastructures.
• Sonus's vision and road map include higher-scale platforms, virtualized SBCs, and feature and application themes such as SIP video support and media codec enhancements. Its SBC is built on COTS hardware.
• The SBC 5200 is a competitive product in terms of features, functions and price. It supports all critical regulatory, security and service assurance requirements. Overall customer feedback has been positive, following improvements to responsiveness and the timeliness of feature enhancements.
• Sonus has made a significant marketing effort to improve understanding and awareness of SBCs – which will be particularly important in the enterprise space – with the publication of its online book, Session Border Controllers for Dummies.
• Sonus recently acquired a smaller competitor, Network Equipment Technologies (NET). Although two products acquired from NET (and since rebranded as the SBC 1000 and 2000) cater mainly to the enterprise sector, they might also help Sonus with much smaller-scale deployments for small CSP environments, where it has not previously been successful.
• Sonus has used its policy controller as a differentiator and built up a large installed base within CSPs, including AT&T and BT.

Cautions

• Despite success with its SBC, Sonus's overall financial performance was flat year over year, owing to a decline in the legacy trunk gateway market. Sonus engages in substantial R&D for its SBC portfolio, and has achieved significant revenue growth and deals with customers, but when investing in R&D it must be careful not to compromise its financial position.
• Sonus has always been a strong player in the Class 4 wireline space, but has lacked an overall "story" for the mobile sector. It needs to showcase any wins in this area and develop a stronger story for mobile environments.
• Sonus recently laid off 8% of its workforce. Although most of the cuts were in nongrowth business units, 8% remains a considerable reduction, which, for a company of its size, might affect its ability to execute. Once Sonus starts reinvesting in staff and resources, it will be in a better position in this respect.

Strengths

• As a logical step forward for its product portfolio, Technicolor developed the Cirpack Compact Session Border Controller, a decomposed and scalable platform available in three modules that help manage the increase in signaling traffic and the growing demands of media traffic. It is an "all in one" solution, hosting both media and signaling controllers on a single platform, and it can be upgraded to a dedicated media controller, supervised by the integrated SBC, which is an access and interconnect signaling controller module.
• When more power or dedicated modules are required, the integrated SBC can become a specialized SBC focused on access control or border management.
• Technicolor's SBC features high session capacity, denial-of-service attack and overload protection, signaling protocol interworking (SIP and SIP for Telephones [SIP-T], SIP with ISUP encapsulation [SIP-I]), network-address translation (NAT) traversal and topology hiding, high-performance call attempts per second (CAPS), QoS and statistical information, IP roaming control, cloud access, Real-Time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP), transcoding, transrating, SIP over User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocool (TCP), and Transport Layer Security-Secure Real-Time Protocol (TLS-SRTP) encryption.
• Technicolor offers a pricing model based on the initial package price, including all the capacity and features needed to meet the customer's requirements. It also offers additional and optional licenses for capacity extension and value-added features, which might interest CSPs looking for features not offered by other vendors.

Cautions

• Technicolor's marketing messages for Cirpack products in the telecom sector tend to get lost in its marketing of the Technicolor brand, which usually focuses on media. Consequently, the Cirpack brand has little visibility beyond its established customer base.
• Technicolor's product lacks compliance with nearly all regulatory requirements, such as those of CALEA, E-911 and lawful intercept, and currently supports neither IPv4/IPv6 interworking nor applications and services such as unified communications and RCS. However, it does have 4G/LTE specifications, IPv6 interworking and lawful intercept on its road map for future releases.

Strengths

• ZTE is focusing its resources on standardization activities. For about seven years it has had a team focused on standardized activities in the areas of core, service, bearer, radio and access networks. ZTE is a member of over 70 international standardization organizations.
• ZTE's ZXUN B200 SBC supports some of the basic SBC features, such as multiple protocols (SIP, H.323, Media Gateway Control Protocol [MGCP], Network Call Signaling [NCS] and H.248) to access IMS and NGN cores, security of signaling and media planes, SIP application level gateway (ALG) and address translation/NAT traversal capability, including IPv4/IPv6 interworking.
• ZTE's SBC uses the same ATCA hardware platform as the IMS core network to integrate easily into the IMS core. ZTE's SBC is also part of its voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) core solution for users accessing the NGN or IMS core and interdomain interworking.

Cautions

• Although ZTE's product supports some of the basic SBC features, it lacks capabilities relating to policy and interworking between inband dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF) and outband DTMF. Only recently has ZTE included support for the Diameter protocol, which puts it slightly behind comparable vendors.
• Judging from some customer feedback, although ZTE's product is the most cost-effective, it does not immediately meet important capability requirements. ZTE must ensure it meets its road map deadlines, improves its capabilities and functionalities, and provides well-tested products.
• Although ZTE has secured contracts with large CSPs for its SBC, its recent financial performance might compromise its ability to execute.

We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes as markets change. As a result of these adjustments, the mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant or MarketScopemay change over time. A vendor's appearance in a Magic Quadrant or MarketScope one year and not the next does not necessarily indicate that we have changed our opinion of that vendor. It may bea reflection of a change in the market and, therefore, changed evaluation criteria, or of a change of focus by that vendor.

Added

Not applicable, as this is the first Magic Quadrant on this topic.

Dropped

Not applicable, as this is the first Magic Quadrant on this topic.

The vendors featured in this Magic Quadrant supply stand-alone SBCs for CSPs' wireline and wireless networks. (These vendors also appear in Gartner's market share and related reports on the voice switching, control and application infrastructure markets.)

Many vendors sell SBCs with media gateways in combined solutions, but this Magic Quadrant evaluates only vendors of stand-alone SBCs for CSPs.

Because some vendors launched their first SBCs as recently as 2011, inclusion in this Magic Quadrant did not require a minimum level of annual revenue from those products. Instead, we simply required each vendor to have generated revenue from SBCs in 2011 and to identify at least three reference customers.

Product/Service: Core goods and services offered by the vendor that compete in and serve the defined market. This includes current product and service capabilities, quality, feature sets and skills, whether offered natively or through OEM agreements and partnerships. This includes the development of ecosystems to support specific operator requirements, such as cloud-based services, RCS, system integration and distribution, as well as after-sales support in different regions (where applicable).

Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization): This includes an assessment of the overall organization's financial health, the financial and practical success of the business unit, and the likelihood of the individual business unit continuing to invest in the product, offer the product and advance the state of the art in the organization's product offerings.

Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities in all pre-sales activities and the structure that supports them. This includes deal management, pricing and negotiation, presales support and the overall effectiveness of the sales channel.

Market Responsiveness and Track Record: The vendor's ability to respond, change direction, be flexible and achieve competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act, customer needs evolve and market dynamics change. This criterion also considers the vendor's history of responsiveness.

Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality, creativity and efficiency of programs designed to deliver the organization's message in order to influence the market, promote the brand and business, increase awareness of the products, and establish a positive identification with the product, brand and organization in the minds of buyers. This "mind share" can be driven by a combination of publicity, promotional activity, thought leadership, word-of-mouth and sales activities. Since the SBC market is diverse in terms of topology and its affiliated migration to mobility in the IMS, it was necessary to consider the different market shares and mind shares on the basis of the number and size of equipment deployments.

Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/programs that enable clients to be successful with the products evaluated. Specifically, this includes the ways customers receive technical support or account support. This can also include ancillary tools, customer support programs (and the quality thereof), availability of user groups, SLAs and so on.

Operations: The organization's ability to meet its goals and commitments. Factors include the quality of the organizational structure, including skills, experiences, programs, systems, and other vehicles that enable the organization to operate effectively and efficiently on an ongoing basis.

Table 1. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria

Source: Gartner (October 2012)

Market Understanding: The vendor's ability to understand buyers' wants and needs and to translate those into products and services. Vendors that show the highest degree of vision listen and understand buyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhance them.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages consistently communicated throughout the organization and externalized through websites, advertising, customer programs and positioning statements.

Sales Strategy: The vendor's strategy for selling products that uses an appropriate network of direct and indirect sales, marketing, and service and communication affiliates that extend the scope and depth of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and the customer base.

Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor's approach to product development and delivery that emphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology and feature set as they map to current and future requirements. This also includes assessments of financial prudence and the value of acquired companies that deliver, for example, applications or security software. Business Model: The soundness and logic of the vendor's underlying business proposition.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of individual market segments, including vertical markets.

Innovation: Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise or capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of geographies outside its "home" geography, either directly or through partners, channels or subsidiaries, as appropriate for that geography and market.

Table 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria

Source: Gartner (October 2012)

Leaders have scale in terms of market presence and size. They have momentum in the SBC equipment sector, and significant market share, based on a solid SBC product or family of SBC products. Their large scale means that, even where they need to use partners, they remain preferred by CSPsas prime vendors. Thanks to their "weight," they appear in most large CSP trials and procurements of SBCs.

Leaders are high-viability technology providers that are well positioned with their current product portfolio and likely to continue delivering leading products. They have a global presenceand are recognized as major vendors in the SBC market.

Leaders do not necessarily offer the best solution for every customer requirement, however, and their products may not be "best of breed" in every area. Overall, though, they provide solutions that pose relatively little risk, and they can achieve and sustain deployments of high quality.

Challengers have strong market capabilities and good solutions for specific markets, but overall their products lack the breadth and depth of those of Leaders. Their solutions do not offer a clear vision of how the market is evolving, and they are less innovative or advanced than those of Leaders.

Visionaries demonstrate a clear understanding of the market and provide key innovations that are illustrative of the market's future. However, they either lack the ability to influence a large portion of the market, or have not yet fully expanded their sales and support capabilities to achieve a global reach, or do not yet have the funding and scale to execute with the same capabilities as the Leaders.

The main characteristic of Visionaries is that they are not as stable as Leaders or Niche Players. Visionaries are in various phases of transition, so some may gradually move into other quadrants, where they could end up in a more stable state. They could achieve this stability either by gaining strength and scale, market adoption and recognition – thereby becoming Leaders – or by judiciously specializing in a smaller segment and ceasing activities in others as part of a strategic transformation – thereby becoming Niche Players.

The Visionaries are Dialogic, Genband and Metaswitch Networks.

Niche Players offer products that tend to focus on a segment of the market or a subset of functionality. They are generally more specialized with regard to regional coverage and/or technology. This can be an advantage, as CSPs aligned with the focus of Niche Players can find these vendors' offerings to be a good fit. In some cases, Niche Players have made specific decisions about where to compete and where not to compete, so being a Niche Player does not preclude having a well-defined strategy. Niche Players could also prove attractive partners for some of the larger vendors in this market, thanks to their specialization in certain markets or technological strengths.

SBCs are being deployed partly for time division multiplexing (TDM) interconnect to IP networks, and, in some cases, to bypass TDM networks completely, which in turn reduces the need to deploy media gateways. Media gateway controllers – softswitches – may then be repurposed, particularly as service and control logic move away from switches.

There are multiple drivers of the SBC market.

As CSPs move toward all-IP environments, networks' vulnerability grows and quality can be compromised. Therefore, security is the No. 1 reason why SBCs are deployed, followed by service assurance capabilities. SBCs provide protection against distributed denial of service attacks, encryption and intrusion detection.

A second driver is the growth of the "Internet of Things" as more and more electronic devices are adopted. Increasing numbers of these devices are touching the Internet, and this is making a transition to IPv6 essential. This fuels demand for SBCs to handle IPv4-to-IPv6 translation, as many of the servers and other equipment deployed during the past decade are neither IPv6-compliant nor IPv6-capable.

A third driver is the increased interest in SIP trunking with unified communications as a service (UCaaS) in the enterprise sector. There is potential to handle converged voice and data applications, including IM, presence, push-to-collaborate, unified communications, video and VoIP applications, over the same data connection. SBC vendors have potential in this respect, and some have already gained traction. BroadSoft is working with Verizon Business, and has a partnership with Acme Packet to provide SBCs and application servers that act as IP PBXs and as combined solutions for provisioning IMS. Sonus has its ASX Feature Server and the recently announced SBC 5100, which is geared toward enterprise customers. Genband's acquisition of Nortel's CVAS assets, coupled with the SBC it acquired from NextPoint, gives it comparable products. Metaswitch offers something similar with its converged softswitch-media gateway-SBC product. Alcatel-Lucent offers products with converged media gateway and SBC functionality. These vendors' solutions provide rich telephony features that are secure and that can interoperate with other solutions.

A fourth driver is the use of SIP in IMS architecture, which many CSPs use for VoIP services and VoIP peering via SBCs. SIP is also used in IP PBX architectures and femtocells. This has led to an increase in IMS activity, with unified communications getting smartphones to work with PBXs in an example of fixed-mobile convergence.

Finally, there is cloud computing, something that many vendors and businesses (including CSPs) are contemplating and in some cases trialing with cloud-based or virtualized networks. Some vendors are working to offer cloud SBC solutions that run on VMware or elastic computing platforms. Acme Packet, Metaswitch, Sonus and Genband stand out in this respect.

The Competitive Landscape Is Changing

SBCs have been around for a decade. In its early days the SBC market underwent considerable consolidation of vendors and functionality. It still sees acquisitions, such as Sonus's recent purchase of NET – an acquisition that builds on Sonus's SBC 5100 enterprise solution and that might mark the start of a new round of acquisitions in this market, one aimed at enterprise SBCs. However, during the past two years, in keeping with the trend toward all-IP infrastructures and the anticipation of mobile data traffic growth and requirements for greater capacity and security, several vendors have developed new, stand-alone solutions. Examples are Sonus's SBC 5200 and SBC 5100, a solution targeted at enterprises and smaller-scale CSPs; Metaswitch's Perimeta; Alcatel-Lucent's 5060 IP Border Controller; and Italtel's NetMatch.

Although this Magic Quadrant focuses on SBC solutions for CSPs, it should be added that the enterprise SBC space will also become important as enterprises adopt SIP trunking and unified communication and collaboration services. Today, most of the SBCs used by enterprises are purchased by CSPs, but enterprises are becoming more aware of the value of SBCs for security and service assurance as SIP trunk adoption, unified communications and "bring your own device" schemes become more widespread. CSPs buying SBC solutions to contribute to their services to enterprises, as well as enterprises purchasing SBCs for their own use, will likely look to vendors that have session management capabilities built into their SBCs or that offer centralized session management platforms as part of their solutions.

Deployment of LTE and the Pressure on Signaling Networks Exerted by Data and Multimedia Growth Are Expanding the SBC Market

For over a decade, CSPs have been migrating their networks to IP architecture. Recently, they have also planned for the deployment of LTE, which relies on all-IP architecture to provide enhanced services, reduce capital and operating expenditure, and increase revenue.

We expect VoLTE services to launch in 1H13 in the U.S. Initially, however, CSPs will also use circuit-switched fallback (CSFB) technology, since LTE coverage will be incomplete – amounting merely to islands amid wider third-generation (3G) cellular networks. Until LTE achieves full national coverage, or at least coverage close to that of 3G networks, CSFB will remain a necessary backup for voice services – without it, the end-user experience on LTE would be worse than on earlier network technologies. How quickly VoLTE grows will depend on whether it attracts a compelling business case as a "voice-plus" service that can be integrated first into IMS applications and later into non-IMS applications such as RCS-e and RCS 5.0.

Pressure on signaling networks is expected to grow exponentially with the rise of RCS and RCS-e. These are initiatives of the GSMA, which aims to develop specifications for the implementation of rich communication services. These include "enhanced IM" (IM with the same level of service assurance as SMS); video calling, and the ability to share documents and photos simultaneously during calls; and service discovery (knowing which of a user's contacts have RCS-capable devices). All these services can be accessed directly from a subscriber's address book. RCS services are expected to be interoperable across any platform, network and device, as defined in the standard. RCS 5.0 extends new services – IP voice and IP video calling – and provides enhancements such as video, file and picture sharing during one-to-one and group chat services. The role of the SBC in this respect is to authenticate SIP requests and support the capacity needed to allow sessions to occur.

SBCs Offer Enterprise Connections to SIP Trunking and Session Managers

Enterprises are using session managers to:

• Reduce telecommunications costs
• Dramatically simplify administration of user policies and network operations
• Unify dial plans
• Balance loads across network resources
• Automate business processes
• Protect investments in legacy communications infrastructure

As the number of communications applications increases and users proliferate across the world, so does the complexity of network and subscriber policy management. A centralized, networkwide policy engine that resides in the session manager platform simplifies policy management and enables unified enterprisewide access to unified communications, IP telephony, collaboration and contact center applications. It provides significant benefits over local network and subscriber policy engines by simplifying policy management and reducing policy provisioning errors and inconsistencies.

A centralized policy engine can include companywide dial plans, subscriber locations and devices, subscriber roles within the corporation, and rate centers for multiple service providers. A networkwide policy also drives efficiencies by balancing traffic at the network level, rather than at an individual enterprise SBC or gateway level, ensuring traffic is balanced fairly and avoiding hot spots and underutilized capacity.

Session management solutions are scalable to handle all enterprisewide real-time communications signaling traffic, including intraenterprise sessions. Session endpoints may be located on sites distributed across a private Multiprotocol Label Switching network/VPN, as well as secure tunnels across the Internet.

Although this Magic Quadrant evaluates only SBC solutions for CSPs, many of the vendors in this space also offer SBCs designed for enterprises. Gartner sees enterprise SBCs as a growth opportunity and expects an overall shift in the SBC paradigm as the distinctions between CSPs and enterprises blur – with very large enterprises acting as their own CSPs.

Large CSPs Prefer Multivendor Environments

With the transition from TDM to IP and standards-based solutions well under way, the days of single-vendor solutions are over. CSPs can now develop best-of-breed networks by cherry-picking solutions from a variety of vendors. Also, CSPs often have proprietary interfaces and software in their networks, for which they may wish to use an alternative vendor that offers an application server with particular capabilities or some value-added feature that they want to offer their customers.

In these cases an SBC can act as a point of liaison that allows equipment from different vendors to communicate with each other.

Large CSPs generally favor multivendor environments. Smaller CSPs, however, often prefer to stick with the vendor that provides their softswitch capabilities.

Security Is a Crucial Requirement

SBCs typically provide security functionality with NAT/firewall traversal, denial of service prevention and other forms of attack countermeasure.

Firewalls and NAT have proved extremely useful in building large-scale data networks. However, they present two problems when it comes to interconnecting IP networks to provide end-to-end, real-time services: firewalls make it difficult for incoming calls to connect, and NAT distorts the information needed to route calls through the IP network.

IP networks are notoriously unsecure unless proper strategies are used to secure them. With interconnected IP networks, the critical dangers are service attacks and fraud, which SBCs can mitigate through topology hiding. SBCs minimize the exposure of call control and processing elements (such as softswitches and application servers) and prevent attackers from accessing the network.

Prices Are Generally Comparable

CSPs are looking for SBC products that satisfy multiple requirements: to enable more secure communications services and capabilities, ensure QoS and quality of experience, meet all regulatory mandates, and interoperate with existing infrastructures. Another factor that is quite high on their list of evaluation criteria is attractive pricing, as they are struggling to increase average revenue per unit, particularly in mobile environments.

Most SBC vendors' prices are fairly similar, but there is some variety. Some vendors offer considerably lower prices for weaker or fewer capabilities. Others offer generic platforms that include all or most of the critical capabilities, along with the option to buy additional value-added features or applications.

Relationships, Issues of Interoperability and Vendor Investment Affect CSPs' Choices

In many cases, CSPs that have an existing relationship with a vendor for softswitches and media gateways stick with that vendor to help ensure interoperability, since, although no interoperability problems should arise when introducing a "foreign" SBC into a network, this is not always the case.

CSPs need to know that their vendor will maintain an adequate road map and enable it to sustain a high-performance network in a competitive environment. They should therefore look for evidence of resources, expertise and capital to investment in SBC technology in the long term. CSPs considering hiring a vendor outside its traditional or home market should also look for evidence that the provider has an effective strategy to direct resources to meet the specific needs of their intended market.

To determine how well vendors meet these requirements, Gartner scored them on a set of criteria designed to gauge their ability to address CSPs' wants and needs for SBCs. These criteria are headed Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision, as noted earlier.

We collected data from the vendors via a questionnaire and we also interviewed them. In addition, we conversed with the vendors' reference customers in each region to check the validity of the vendors' claims and get an overall view of the vendors in terms of product and support.

We also used information obtained by Gartner from vendors in semi-annual surveys conducted for our market size and forecast research.

Gartner's voice switching, control and application market forecasts support our observation of growth in CSPs' investments in SBCs and of a clear change in the competitive landscape.

We also used secondary research services to gather additional data.

Product/Service: Core goods and services offered by the vendor that compete in/serve the defined market. This includes current product/service capabilities, quality, feature sets, skills and so on, whether offered natively or through OEM agreements/partnerships as defined in the market definition and detailed in the subcriteria.

Overall Viability (Business Unit, Financial, Strategy, Organization): Viability includes an assessment of the overall organization's financial health, the financial and practical success of the business unit, and the likelihood that the individual business unit will continue investing in the product, will continue offering the product and will advance the state of the art within the organization's portfolio of products.

Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities in all presales activities and the structure that supports them. This includes deal management, pricing and negotiation, presales support, and the overall effectiveness of the sales channel.

Market Responsiveness and Track Record: Ability to respond, change direction, be flexible and achieve competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act, customer needs evolve and market dynamics change. This criterion also considers the vendor's history of responsiveness.

Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality, creativity and efficacy of programs designed to deliver the organization's message to influence the market, promote the brand and business, increase awareness of the products, and establish a positive identification with the product/brand and organization in the minds of buyers. This "mind share" can be driven by a combination of publicity, promotional initiatives, thought leadership, word-of-mouth and sales activities.

Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/programs that enable clients to be successful with the products evaluated. Specifically, this includes the ways customers receive technical support or account support. This can also include ancillary tools, customer support programs (and the quality thereof), availability of user groups, service-level agreements and so on.

Operations: The ability of the organization to meet its goals and commitments. Factors include the quality of the organizational structure, including skills, experiences, programs, systems and other vehicles that enable the organization to operate effectively and efficiently on an ongoing basis.

Market Understanding: Ability of the vendor to understand buyers' wants and needs and to translate those into products and services. Vendors that show the highest degree of vision listen and understand buyers' wants and needs, and can shape or enhance those with their added vision.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages consistently communicated throughout the organization and externalized through the website, advertising, customer programs and positioning statements.

Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products that uses the appropriate network of direct and indirect sales, marketing, service, and communication affiliates that extend the scope and depth of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and the customer base.

Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor's approach to product development and delivery that emphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology and feature sets as they map to current and future requirements.

Business Model: The soundness and logic of the vendor's underlying business proposition.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of individual market segments, including vertical markets.

Innovation: Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources, expertise or capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meet the specific needs of geographies outside the "home" or native geography, either directly or through partners, channels and subsidiaries as appropriate for that geography and market.