September 29, 2015 1 Comment
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SP360: Service Provider

ACG Research says “Cisco Packet Core is Accelerating”

Growing Market Share Leadership in Mobility – #1 in Packet Core, EPC, MME, SGW, & PGW for Q2 2015, driven by demand for LTE, Wi-Fi, VoWi-Fi, VoLTE, Policy Suite.

Wasn’t that a great lunar event Sunday Night? We had a great view of the full moon, lunar eclipse, blood moon last night that won’t occur again until 2030 something. A before and after picture of the lunar event.

Blood Moon

So the reason I am blogging this week is to give you an update from ACG Research with some additional details on the breakdown of their “Q2 2015 Packet Core 2015 Worldwide Market Shares Report” and happy to report Cisco again is leading and accelerating our Packet Core Growth.

According to Elias Aravantinos, principal analyst at.ACG Research in 2Q 2015 the Worldwide Total Packet Core (mobile and evolved) grew to $511.4 million, up 37.5 percent Q-Q. The Packet Core market was primarily driven by the high demand for LTE networks, the need to better manage the existing ones, and growth in subscriber numbers in all regions. The Worldwide Mobile Packet Core market also increased 27.1 percent Q- Q.

ACG VENDOR ANALYSIS: Cisco

According to ACG Research “Cisco had a solid quarter and posted revenue gains, margin gains and good profit, beating Wall Street’s estimates. In 2Q the company continues to lead in the Worldwide Evolved Packet Core market with 59 percent share. Cisco also continues to build momentum in the Packet Core with Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi), Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG) and support of EPC, as well as in Service Provider Policy Suite. In addition, Cisco is offering Mobility IQ, a new cloud-based platform for applying real-time 3G/LTE small cell and WiFi network analytics to LBS for applications such as directing users to less crowded concession stands in stadiums.”

Market Share leading vendors

Some recent Packet Core wins for Cisco:

 

AT&T Connected Car: Launched their Connected Car Service with Cisco at MWC 2015 and now has more than 6M vehicles.

Verizon: one of the largest 4G Service Providers is quickly looking to launch a 5G Service and leverage it’s Packet Core to give them Any G.

XL Axiata: Announced their Virtualized Packet Core (VPC) and launched their 4G Service in July, plans to have 10M 4G customers by 2016.

Cisco has a large footprint and supports more than 15 virtual networks as part of its Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) portfolio for carriers, and more than 350 Packet Core Customers across the globe. Carriers, such as AT&T in North America, are focused on using NFV with the packet core on network elements and services that attach to the packet core, such as Voice over LTE infrastructure, firewalls, and load balancers.

ACG expects tremendous growth in Network Function Virtualization (NFV), especially for WiFi Calling, as Cisco has engaged in numerous global wins & trials. Cisco is addressing carriers’ trend of capitalizing on their existing IMS infrastructure by offering both VoLTE and WiFi Calling to maintain customer’s loyalty and reduce churn.

In Conclusion

ACG predicts that the Worldwide Packet Core market will continue to increase as it is the critical part of the overall network transformation. Service providers are already convinced that this part of the network is the most crucial one and will help them build momentum, simplify, and enhance the customers’ experiences with new, rich communication services. Network upgrades and capacity demand for 5G will generate new business opportunities. vEPC is expected to grow fast, taking off in 2016 as the technology matures. Carriers, today, are in a wait and see or trial mode as they take the time to understand all the different parameters of network transformation.

Overall, ACG expects mobile infrastructure will continue to be a highly dynamic market for the next several years as vendors and carriers work through new technologies such as VoLTE, network function virtualization, small cells, Hotspot 2.0, millimeter wave backhaul, and cloud RAN solutions. Vendors with a plurality of solutions will need to have solid strategies and execution plans in this demanding environment.

Continue to Watch

This Space for more customer and industry updates coming as we head into the IOT World Forum in Dubai, Consumer Electronics Show, and Mobile World Congress 2016.

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