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Genband 'laser-focused' on network transformation -- and beyond
[November 10, 2011]

Genband 'laser-focused' on network transformation -- and beyond


(Connected Planet Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) New York -- Genband today continued to bang the drum on its network transformation strategy – essentially: replace your TDM switches before they fall apart – while laying the path to what it believes are the next two big IP opportunities after that, network convergence and optimization.



Eighteen months out from its Nortel CVAS acquisition, which made it the market leader in VoIP switching , Genband CEO Charlie Vogt stressed that it is Genband’s culture – steeped in entrepreneurial opportunity and a deep customer focus – that rules the combined companies.

What also rules is a “laser” focus on the market opportunity in helping global carriers switch out legacy TDM infrastructure for new IP platforms, Vogt said. “If we’re not successful on network transformation, then Genband won’t be successful,” he said. “There’s not one employee in Genband that’s not focused on network transformation.” That said, Genband – via related IP products like application servers and session border controllers – is also ready to help service providers take advantage of the bigger opportunity of participating in the IP network/applications ecosystem, which requires more flexible networks and IP smarts.


“[We can help operators] transition from providing bandwidth and pipes to providing content and have a chance to be a business partner with the Facebooks and so forth,” Vogt said.

Genband continues to tell a compelling tale when it comes to the aging TDM network. Among the stats it touted today: - Genband now “owns” and manages 8500 TDM switches and 12,000 IP switches - The average age of a TDM switch today is 30 years old; most switches were designed to operate for 25 years - 30 operators worldwide have 400 or more TDM switches in their network - If the retirement of existing TDM switches continued at current pace, by 2020 63% of TDM lines and 80% of TDM switches would still be in operations, with the average switch age rising to 36 years It is those numbers that drive Genband’s network transformation strategy, said Mark Pugerude, Genband’s chief strategy officer. But for operators, that is not enough. As they look to make next-generation platform decisions, he said, five key points drive their purchases: the need to leverage capex investments across multiple parts of the network; a standards-based, open architecture to future-proof the network; lower total cost of ownership that accounts for operational variations; interoperability with multiple platforms, including those not under its control; and investment protection to avoid blind alleys out of which it can be difficult to back out.

To address those opportunities, Genband is betting on its ATCA-based Genius platform and the applications it now delivers on that hardware, including session border control (SBC), call control, IMS/NGN, traffic and policy management and unified/multimedia communications apps. “We are now primarily software engineers,” said Pugerude.

Once Genband makes its IP network transformation/modernization play, it believes its next opportunity lies in two related areas: network convergence, including providing both platforms and applications spanning fixed, mobile and enterprise networks; and network optimization, or replacing the deterministic network management of yesterday’s TDM networks with similar capabilities on IP networks.

In an IP world, policy and related tools provide the intelligence – including knowledge of users, application and network usage – that operators need to manage the network.

“[Providers] don’t have the ability to control the networks the way they did when it was a TDM network,” he said. “We can show them how they can prioritize and map these networks to their specifications.” © 2011 Penton Media

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