[September 07, 2008] Infonetics Report: Session Border Controllers Post First Sequential Decline Tweet (Wireless News Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Some softness in the otherwise healthy service provider VoIP equipment market materialized in 2Q08, reports market research firm Infonetics Research, with the overall worldwide market down 4 percent, led by double-digit percentage declines in the session border controller (SBC) and softswitch segments. The research firm noted in its report that from this time a year ago (2Q07), the overall market is up 3 percent, led by strong year-over-year gains in the SBC, media server, and softswitch segments. "While down in the first half of 2008, we expect the carrier VoIP equipment market to bounce back in the second half, ending the year on a positive note. The 5-year outlook looks good as well, as demand for VoIP networking gear continues unabated, driven by a long term migration from circuit switched to packet telephony. Similarly, while the session border controller segment saw its first sequential decline this quarter -- due to a pause in deployments in North America and Europe where large service providers are maxing out their installed base rather than purchasing new equipment - we expect it to pick up nicely in the second half of the year," said Stephane Teral, principal analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research. Infonetics' report tracks VoIP subscribers and carrier VoIP equipment, including high-, mid-, and low-density trunk media gateways, SBCs, media servers, class 4 and class 5 application softswitches, and IP Centrex/hosted IP PBX, IP trunking, and residential voice application servers. The report also tracks fixed-line and mobile network IMS core equipment, including HSS and CSCF servers. ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) ((Distributed on behalf of 10Meters via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com)) ((10Meters - http://www.10meters.com)) Copyright ? 2008 Wireless News [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]