Communications and Technology Industry Research

International research firm IDC recognized Chinese telecommunications equipment and network solutions vendor ZTE Corporation for its contribution in providing Next-Generation Home Location Register (NG HLR) to service providers, said an announcement from ZTE (News - Alert).

 

In its latest Vendor Spotlight Report, titled, “Leveraging Next-Generation HLR Solutions,” IDC (News - Alert) acknowledged the contribution of ZTE in helping service providers addressing the challenge of subscriber data management. The report also highlighted that ZTE allows service providers to cost effectively migrate from traditional HLR to NG HLR.

 

IDC’s Vendor Spotlight Report analyzes popular IT-network convergence trends in subscriber data management. The study also examines the role of NG HLR vendors in assisting service providers to manage subscriber data. It further discusses the need to replace the conventional HLR system with the NG HLR to manage today’s customer-centric and service-led telecom environment.

 

As per the report, NG HLRs are just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ since service providers have just started exploring the benefits of this technology. NG HLR holds critical customer information and attributes that can be used to create market differentiation, the report said. It also has a variety of functions to support mobile voice services.

 

NG HLR, according to ZTE officials, is an “evolution of the traditional HLR products and technologies and includes distinctive characteristics such as robust software architecture and hardware platform options.” It provides additional benefits including scalability, reliability, fast deployment, evolution potential and convergent capability.

 

ZTE's NG HLR is part of its wireless product family. It consists of a FrontEnd (FE) and a BackEnd (BE). While FE provides applications such as HLR, home subscriber server (HSS), mobile number portability (MNP), and Authentication Authorization Accounting (AAA) server, BE serves as a real time, resilient and distributed directory server data platform.

 

IDC found ZTE is capable of addressing the challenges in today's telecom environment, and has a huge opportunity of becoming successful in the NG HLR field. The report highlights that ZTE is “among the few vendors that have developed reliable NG HLR solutions that can meet emerging requirements of today's SPs.”

 

“Being named by an international research firm such as IDC to be among the leaders in providing NG HLR solution is a significant feat for us,” said Mr. Wangwei, vice president of Core Network products, ZTE, in a statement. “It once again proves that the industry is recognizing our commitment and technological expertise in helping mobile operators set the pace with industry trends, enhancing their competitive advantage.”

 

ZTE’s HLR and NGHLR solutions have been deployed worldwide. More than 1 billion subscribers are benefiting from the HLR functionality from some 115 SP customers worldwide. Currently, ZTE is supporting an installed base population of 340 million subscribers as a result of some eight SPs deploying their NG HLR solution, mainly in China as well as other Asian, Middle East and Europe.

 

The company is reportedly the fastest growing telecoms equipment business in the world, and offers a wide range of products that covers virtually every sector of the wireline, wireless, service and terminals markets.

 

ZTE recently introduced two innovative cards - MF662 and MF645- as part of its high speed packet access (HSPA) product family. MF662 is a compact HSDPA+ data card which provides enhanced data speeds for consumers. The MF645 is a USB TV data card which allows users to watch digital TV from a laptop using mobile broadband connection.