[August 21, 2008]

Infonetics Research: Carriers name Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens top IMS vendors

(Marketwire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CAMPBELL, CA, August 21 / MARKET WIRE/ --

A new study by Infonetics Research that provides an
in-depth view of service provider thinking and plans for IMS equipment and
services, including service provider perceptions of leading IMS
vendors, names Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Nokia Siemens as the "top IMS
equipment manufacturers."

According to the study, Service Provider Plans for
IMS, which surveyed service providers in North America, Europe, Asia
Pacific, and Latin America-Caribbean, roughly 3/4 plan to offer fixed VoIP
over IMS by April 2009.

"So far, IMS has mainly been deployed to support fixed-line VoIP services
rather than multimedia services, likely because IMS multimedia services to
date have shown varying degrees of success. As service providers accelerate
their transition to VoIP to more efficiently compete, and as more of them
experiment with new mobile and multimedia services, IMS will be the glue
that bridges their heterogeneous networks together and assures
standardization of those services," said St?phane T?ral,
principal analyst at Infonetics for service provider VoIP, IMS, and mobile
infrastructure.

Infonetics' study is based on formal interviews conducted by senior
analysts with incumbents, mobile operators, and competitive operators, and
examines the trends, drivers, challenges, and spending plans of service
providers deploying IMS equipment and services. The study features an IMS
vendor scorecard and service provider feature wish-lists for IMS products,
including Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Call Session Control Function
(CSCF), Application Server, Media Resource Function (MRF), and Breakout
Gateway Control Function (BGCF) products.

Other highlights from the study:

-- Interoperability between different types of next gen voice and IMS
equipment was the only obstacle rated by more than half the respondents as
a "strong barrier" to deploying IMS
-- When asked what kind of new IMS-enabled service respondents would like
to offer by and after 2009, FMC was the clear leader

-- 3GPP IMS leads the list of reference architectures respondents' VoIP
networks are based on now, increasing to about 3/4 of respondents by 2009
-- In a series of questions asking service providers to rate Alcatel-
Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nokia Siemens, Nortel, and Sonus, those
familiar with the vendors rated NEC highest for management, price-to-
performance ratio, financial stability, and service and support
-- Roughly 1/4 of respondents have already installed Ericsson MRFs in
their networks
-- Broadsoft dominates the field of deployed application server
manufacturers

Download study highlights
from Infonetics' online portal at www.infonetics.com (see Service Provider
VoIP and IMS area). For sales, contact Larry Howard, vice president, at
larry@infonetics.com or +1 (408) 583-3335.

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international market
research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since
1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established
technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan,
strategize, and compete more effectively.

Press Contact:
St?phane T?ral
Principal Analyst, Service Provider VoIP, IMS, and Mobile Infrastructure
Infonetics Research
+1 408.583.3371Email Contact

Copyright ? 2008 Marketwire

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