The establishment of Rakuten Symphony as a distinct business unit, parallel to (not beneath) Rakuten Mobile, represented the arrival of a new and large player in the next-gen telecom market landscape. Its goals – industry disruption – are based on underlying principles that warrant a deeper analysis.

In this whitepaper, we look at the raison d’etre for Symphony’s formation and at the principles – cultural, technical, architectural – that have led to ground-breaking results already at Rakuten Mobile.

The enterprise “WAN” market is in a period of upheaval, and periods of great change create opportunity for those that are willing to move out of their comfort zone. This particular opportunity may be telecom’s first and best opportunity to break the chains of what many refer to as the “dumb pipe”.

This research note is one of a pair of related analyses. This analysis spells out the market situation and needs, essentially diagnosing why the opportunity presents fundamental challenges to today’s CSPs. In a complementary research note we offer CSPs our prescription for success.

This analysis will be of interest to product managers in telecom operators, strategists and architects looking to plan the route to growth with their enterprise customers.

The enterprise “WAN” market is in a period of upheaval, and periods of great change create opportunity for those that are willing to move out of their comfort zone. This particular opportunity may be telecom’s first and best opportunity to break the chains of what many refer to as the “dumb pipe”.

This research note is one of a pair of related analyses. In the first, we explored why and how this $101B incremental opportunity differs fundamentally from the needs that enterprises have traditionally looked to their CSPs partners to provide. This second analysis spells out our prescription – across product, solution and operations – for CSPs to maximize their chances of success in this new market, defined in terms of market share, revenues, and margins.

This analysis will be of interest to product managers in telecom operators, strategists and architects looking to plan the route to growth with their enterprise customers.

Industry stakeholders are still largely talking a technical vision of 5G. 5G must be economically proved, particularly in delivering value beyond connectivity. The report looks at the key factors in enabling 5G economic success, particularly the benefits of automation.

The report examines the current state of 5G, its current level of maturity, looking at the proposed 5G use cases, the economics of 5G, and the business opportunities from 5G.

5G Americas 2024 in Dallas was a well put together event, packed with solid discussion and a unique format that encouraged real discussion, not corporate-speak.

Thoughts and updates on all things 5G within the Americas came from (among others) Igal Elbaz (AT&T) Ana Valero, public policy director for Telefonica (Americas), Rob Soni, VP RAN engineering, AT&T and Karri Kuoppamaki, SVP of network technology strategy for T-Mobile). Member companies which had strong representation at the event included Ericsson, Mavenir, Nokia, Ciena, Samsung.

Breakout sessions included Open RAN, Autonomous Networking, AI, Private Wireless, Edge Networking.

Our writeup from this invite-only event reveals what operators and policymakers across the Americas are really thinking about the state of 5G.

This report is free on subscription to our Strategy & Vision, Automation & Orchestration or AI, Assurance and Analytics research (login required). 

The ability to charge for various forms of network consumption has always been fundamental to telecom operators. But with 5G, the foundations of how charging works are completely transformed.

In this 5-page Research Note, we explain the path to 5G charging, and what operators and their vendor partners must now consider in strategies for monetizing their 5G investments.

Existing subscribers can access free by logging in to our Digital Enablement or Operator Strategies & Vision research modules. 

For more information on our research modules click here. 

Primer that examines the current state of 5G, its current level of maturity, looking at the proposed 5G use cases, the economics of 5G, and the business opportunities from 5G.

Inventory Management is one of telecom’s perennial challenges. Dynamic, virtualized networks and cloud change the nature of the problem – and so create the need for a new generation of inventory management.

This Appledore paper is free to download, courtesy of ServiceNow. Registration details will not be shared. 

The application of orchestration concepts to a telecom context may seem to require a substantial investment in R&D. In fact, there are many aspects of telecom orchestration which build on a telco software ISV’s established strengths. This research note calls out how the somewhat amorphous definition of telco cloud permits participation of multiple specialist vendors, large and small. We use our perspective on how VMware’s portfolio has evolved to illustrate one path – among many – to telco cloud orchestration and automation.

This Research Note is available free to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration module.

In this profile we look at how Accedian is building an active assurance capability, aligned with modern cloud native networks. Appledore Research were briefed on Accedian in Barcelona at MWC 2022 and as part of our work on the IBM Cloud Pak and Cisco Crosswork Solution Profile.

“Accedian are aiming to move testing beyond troubleshooting, to become an active continuous part of network services” 

Active assurance provides a powerful technique to understand the status and performance of the network. It simulates a network flow using active agents across one or many link paths measuring latency, delay, and throughput for the data session. This provides the performance metrics necessary to confirm a consistent service level and to provide a high degree of confidence on actual data plane traffic performance. This technique is superior to older performance monitoring systems that poll, collect, and infer network performance characteristics. It is also essential to manage and monitor complex services such as network slicing that deliver customized service quality tunnels to individual users and applications.

The Telecom Infra Project has commissioned Accenture to deliver its program of industry education, and address the skills shortage in open and disaggregated networks. With systems integration one of the key concerns of operators considering the option of open/disaggregated networks, we think this relationship could be a significant development in the progress of the open RAN movement.

This research note is available for purchase here, or free to subscribers to our Disaggregation, Open RAN and Ecosystems research module.

Note: Subscription clients can access the report from their Digital Locker. Click here to log in/access the locker, or contact us with any queries. 

The report is a primer on Machine Learning and AI, and forms a basis for understanding the opportunity in telecom and virtualization. It will form the basis for future research outlining operations, market progress and individual supplier’s advances.

“There is no precedent for a technology with such potential on jobs, human decision-making, and on regulations designed to protect rights and promote the common good.” – Roman Ferrando

AI is accelerating faster than the ability of governments, companies and individuals to regulate its impacts. Nonetheless, around the world multiple efforts are being made to do just that. In this research note – “Navigating Uncharted Waters” – we survey the current state of developments in attempts to foster the most valuable adoptions of AI while applying existing or new legislation to protect everything from intellectual property to national infrastructure. We also explore the implications for telecom operators and suppliers.

This research note is available free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module. 

Amidst the headlines and hype surrounding AI, telco CTOs must figure out how to develop a coherent strategy on it within the telecom context.

In this 6-page Executive Strategy Note, we offer an off-the-shelf playbook for telecom CTOs that addresses the shortcomings that have led to disappointing results, and provides a solid foundation for future success in leveraging potentially transformative set of technologies.

This research note is available free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module. 

Amdocs’ 2023 analyst event was a two-day immersion into the progress, strategy and mindset of the telecom industry’s pre-eminent BSS vendor. No vendor in the telecom software space can afford to ignore Amdocs’ presence, and anyone who regards them as a competitor only among Tier-1 opportunities is woefully under-informed.

This research is available free to subscribers to our Digital Enablement research module. Existing subscribers can access the report from this link. 

Amdocs has been in the forefront of GenAI adoption, determined to leverage its undoubted technical strengths and deep knowledge of telecom business context, data, and processes.

Its amAIz platform offers CSPs a wide range of configurable options and pre-defined use cases for using GenAI to enhance everything from customer bill queries to network design.

In this profile, we look at Amdocs’ GenAI strategy as realized through the amAIz offering.

This research is available free to subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance, or Digital Enablement research modules (login required). 

“Catalog was dull!  Amdocs’ aim is to make it exciting; enabling digital transformation”

Amdocs Catalog is a next generation enterprise catalog, providing a unified commerce, charging and service/resource catalog. It provides the catalog platform for all of Amdocs solutions. Amdocs Catalog is built and delivered as cloud-native microservices. It is designed as a stand-alone solution that can federate existing BSS and OSS catalog systems, both from Amdocs and third parties.

This report profiles Amdocs’ micro services based DigitalONE and CatalogONE products and the underlying Microservices360 platform on which they are based.

Note: an updated perspective on Amdocs Microservices360 and microservices strategy is now available here. 

Amdocs has a strong and long pedigree in the inventory management market. This 10-page profile examines the company’s offering, notable customers, and provides our own SWOT analysis, based on criteria from our wider inventory market outlook report.

This report is available free for subscribers to Appledore’s Observability and Data Management research module.

Amdocs has spent 18 months thinking about how to apply its tradtiional strengths to telecom networks themselves. The result is no mere rebadging exercise. In this Research Note, we summarize the essential information about this new entity: Amdocs Networks.

This report is available free for subscribers to Appledore’s Observability and Data Management research module.

This document profiles amdocs’ NFV SD-WAN Package Solution, which is amdocs’ Management offering (OSS, Orchestration), in the context of Appledore Research’s on-going research stream and best practices.   This is one of a series of SD-WAN supplier profiles that Appledore is producing in 2018-2019.

The document looks at amdocs’ SDWAN Management features, positioning, differentiators, and analysis compared to our best practices.

Two version are provided: A “Full” detailed version and a “Short” marketing version.

Amdocs is the 800lb gorilla in the telecom software space, heading towards $5B in revenue and with telecom customers around the world.

In this research note we provide our takeaways from an invite-only September 2024 event where Group President – Technology and Head of Strategy Anthony Goonetilleke outlined Amdocs vision and strategy.

Essential reading for anyone who needs to know how this industry giant is planning for its future.

This research note is free for subscribers to our Strategy & Vision or AIOps, Assurance and Analytics research.

“A shot across the bow of Salesforce’s telco empire” – John Abraham

In February 2023, with MWC as a backdrop, Amdocs and Microsoft announced an expanded strategic collaboration. While some aspects of the announcement reflect wider industry trends towards the cloud, one aspect stands out as having the potential to impact the competitive market landscape in a much more direct way.

In this 5-page research note, John Abraham unpacks the latest Amdocs-Microsoft announcement, puts it in context of B2B customer engagement more generally, and looks ahead to what this means for CSPs and vendors in the BSS sector.

This research is available free to subscribers to our Digital Enablement research module.

Note: Existing subscribers can access the report from the Research Notes subfolder in their Digital Locker. Click here to log in/access the locker

This profile focuses on Anritsu’s Service Assurance portfolio. We concentrate on eoMind, Anritsu’s portfolio-leading AI Subscriber-led Anomaly Detection. We assess its market progress and investigate specific use cases that leverage their machine learning and classification modeling to drive efficiency and automation in network operations.

This report is available free for subscribers to Appledore’s AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research module.

The rise in streaming video, gaming, and application data is pushing CSPs to invest in more capacity, spend which isn’t recuperated by current business models and unlimited bandwidth pricing plans. Encryption, QUIC, and other multiplexed transport protocols obscure service providers’ visibility into the traffic on their networks. To obtain network visibility utilized in customer experience and to determine network upgrades and capacity expansion, CSPs need innovative approaches to test and ensure services.

This white paper looks at the growing need for better observability and insights from the vast amounts of data flowing through networks. It also explores how this can be achieved in practices, with great contextual understanding of the subscriber, services, applications and usage types, devices, location, and access networks, based on high quality data capture.

We argue that this requires a progression beyond traditional service assurance, or application performance monitoring, and toward deep performance monitoring and analysis that supports automation in the network.

In that context, we look at how one company, Sandvine, is responding to this fast-emerging requirement and opportunity.

This report is free to download, courtesy of Sandvine. Details used for download will *not* be shared outside of Appledore Research. 

Subscribers to our AIOps & Analytics research module can access this report directly in the AIOps folder in their Digital Locker. 

Aria Systems is a highly regarded provider of SaaS-based billing solutions for CSPs. Aria’s core platform offering was designed to support specific CSP requirements for billing. It has since broadened its scope of offerings and has built a large customer base for its SaaS-based billing solutions for telcos and enterprise customers.

Principal Analyst John Abraham provides an overview of Aria Systems and discusses the company’s portfolio and partner strategy.

This research is part of our Digital Enablement research module. Current subscribers can access the report here. 

The network infrastructure market is ripe for disruption, starting from the edge in. And with the rise of intelligent edge networking, Arrcus has quickly established itself as a company to watch in this space.

In this profile we assess Arrcus’ proposition and opportunity, and why we think it has significant potential to disrupt the networking market.

This report is available free for subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance, or Enterprise Edge & Private Networks research (login required). 

The paper evaluates an ideal service assurance solution architecture for operations in the cloud and 5G era and a comprehensive method for proactively pre-testing throughout full lifecycle management. The outcome of this approach will yield lower operational cost in different deployment models.

An assessment of the biggest Open RAN commitment to date – and the implications for aspiring open RAN vendors, large and small.

This research is free to subscribers to our Open RAN & Disaggregated Networks or Operator Strategies & Vision research modules (login required). 

AtlasEdge is a new name in a new market: edge data centers. These fill the gap between vast centralized data centers and purely private edge facilities, effectively becoming a neutral host for open RAN, or supporting a range of other enterprise-focused edge use cases.

Already well-funded and with sizeable infrastructure in place, this joint venture between Liberty Global and DigitalBridge provides more evidence of the fundamental change and new opportunities in the telecom market arising from cloud computing.

Published as part of our Enterprise Edge and Private Networks research module. 

Foundational changes are demanding new WAN networking realities and creating opportunity for CSPs.  The rise of public cloud; the rise of work-at-home, the rise of digital services and business, the importance of digital supply chain collaboration. Additionally, both the sophistication of and the consequences of security threats are vastly greater.

The net result is that enterprises are demanding end-to-end solutions, and telecom CSPs are best positioned to deliver those. In this forecast, we predict not only significant growth in the market for automated, managed security (rising to $17.6B in 2027) but also significant growth in CSPs’ share of that market – conditional on them raising their own game in automation.

We believe that success in security demands that CSPs provide it as an automated, managed service bundled with underlay and overlay transport.  We also believe that an effective, automated security offer drives additional transport segments – worth even more than the security itself.  This is a must-win market, and due to complexity, manual methods are not sufficient.

Our forecast looks at managed services for automated security across all six segments:

• Managed SDWAN
• Security Orchestration
• Next Gen Firewalls as-a-Service
• Native Cloud Security as-a-Service
• DDoS Protection & Mitigation as-a-Service
• Automated XDR as-a-Service

This forecast will be of particular interest to CSPs selling to enterprises, suppliers enabling CSPs with their enterprise growth plans.

Appledore top tier subscribers can access the report immediately in their Digital Lockers under Market Outlooks. For other inquiries please use the link below. 

This landmark report provides a high level forecast and detailed analysis of a major new multi-billion dollar revenue opportunity for telecom in enterprise, network and cloud security. Across over 50 pages, Principal Analyst Grant Lenahan dissects the state of security, and explains why automation of security offers such a critical new growth vector, in particular for CSPs – though with important qualifiers: the telecom industry must think differently and build automation into the core of new service thinking.

The report outlines the many places automation must be applied, reducing the ambiguity in the term, and offers examples of where the industry is moving in this direction. The revenue opportunity is quantified with a breakdown into delivery component segments. We offers recommendations for success, to minimize complexity and cost, and to maximize market gains.

CSPs profiled include BT, Lumen, ngena and Spirent. Vendors profiles include Akamai, Ciena, Ericsson, IBM, Nokia and VMware.

While extremely valuable as a standalone resource, Automating Security develops themes and industry trends explored in our earlier Security in the Network Cloud. Scroll down to read the full Table of Contents.

Appledore top tier subscribers can access the report immediately in their Digital Lockers under Market Outlooks. For other inquiries please use the link below. 

Data inaccuracy is inevitable, the real challenge is how we minimize its effect.

This market outlook looks at data accuracy management and the management of network decision-making that needs to be a fundamental foundation of automated and autonomous networks. It explores the issues of inventory accuracy in modern networks, and how decision data management needs to become an increasingly important part of a telco’s business processes. To support automation, inventory solutions will need to measure and monitor data accuracy and business decisions based on this data. Inventory solutions will increasingly need a decision inventory that models and measures the success of decision-making, enabling the prioritization of processes which can improve data accuracy and the success of automated decision-making.

The report introduces a new concept, the business “decision-making” inventory. An inventory of business decision-making success and failure. As a new concept, it is difficult to estimate market size. Appledore believes its importance, in enabling automation and autonomy, makes it more valuable than existing inventory solutions, a market we estimate as worth $90 million in 2023 growing to $175 million in 2027.

The report will be useful to CSP decision-makers who are looking to deliver new high-value, on-demand services with increasing amounts of automation to deliver these services cost-effectively. The report provides a framework for managing trust in automated decision-making and the data on which it is based. CSP should actively create a data accuracy and decision-making framework for all parts of the network where they want to deliver new on-demand services.

The report will be useful to inventory vendors and operational orchestration vendors with an interest in enabling their CSP customers to use their solutions to deliver widespread automation. Inventory and orchestration vendors should actively work with CSPs to trial and prototype enhanced data accuracy management and the monitoring of key process decision-making.

With a focus on wider business decision-making, we expect inventory suppliers with a multiple network and operational domain footprint to have a significant opportunity here. For example, vendors with a BSS/OSS footprint like Amdocs and Netcracker and vendors with an OSS and network technology domain footprint, like Nokia and Ciena Blue Planet. New inventory entrants like ServiceNow, with a strong process management background, will also have an opportunity here.

This research is available to subscribers to our Observability & Data Management module. 

For details of all our research modules, click here. 

This paper investigates the end-to-end challenges to automation, and suggests OSS and process methods that will lead to higher levels of automation.

Vodafone Group’s report of EUR500m in savings certainly made headlines, even if it left some questions unanswered. But is their means of achieving it a solution for the industry as a whole? And if not – what can other, smaller telcos hope to achieve, and how?

In this Research Note Grant Lenahan puts Vodafone’s undoubted achievement into context, asking: what does this mean for everyone else?

This Research Note is available to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration module, and Operator Strategy & Vision module. 

The pursuit of autonomous networks (AN) in the telecommunications industry has eluded even the most ambitious operators up to now. However, the journey is being helped by industry collaborations, and in particular the work of TM Forum, together with vendor and operator partners, with notable real world results already achieved.

In this research note, we highlight:

• Our analysis of the TM Forum “Autonomous Networks – Empowering digital transformation from strategy to implementation” whitepaper published in September 2022.
• How MTN in Africa, working with Huawei ADN, is achieving early success with its strategy for autonomous networks (AN).
• Recommendations for Telecom executives implementing AN initiatives.

Independently produced by Appledore analysts, the research note is free to download, courtesy of Huawei. Download details will only be used for delivery, not shared with any third party. 

The pursuit of autonomous networks (AN) in telecom has advanced rapidly in the last few years, with growing numbers of operators leveraging industry learnings, concepts and designs to take a step up in their autonomy journey.

In this in-depth 20-page whitepaper, we look at:

• How concepts from the TM Forum and elsewhere are helping operators to see network autonomy as an achievable objective.
• How two operators – AIS Thailand and China Mobile are progressing towards autonomous networks
• How one vendor, Huawei, is supporting industry efforts to make autonomous networks a reality.
• Recommendations for Telecom executives looking to obtain the benefits of autonomous networks.

Scroll down to see the full table of contents.

Independently produced by Appledore analysts, the research note is free to download, courtesy of Huawei. Download details will only be used for delivery, not shared with any third party. 

The trouble with telcos’ digital transformations is that they seem to take too long, cost too much, and can get bogged down in gnarly integration issues.

AwareX believes it has an alternative: a way to avoid the typical issues, and actually accelerate a digital transformation. Given the company’s pedigree – and market progress – it’s a claim well worth exploring.

In this independent report, we look at AwareX’s proposition, offering, market position and prospects. Essential reading for any operator with a transformation or digital experience agenda.

This report is available free to subscribers to our Digital Enablement research module (login required). 

AWS is a top tier cloud supplier in the market and rapidly expanding its influence in the AI/ML market. It has more than 100,000 customers using AWS leveraging machine learning and increasingly Generative AI. A key initiative for AWS is to remove the barriers to entry for its customers in realizing better, faster, and cheaper outcomes because of advances in LLMs and more broadly machine learning techniques commercialized by AWS.

In this report we profile AWS overall GenAI offering strategy with a specific focus on Bedrock, now a central tool in the AWS AI offering, generally available since September 2023. We highlight key differences compared to its main rival, OpenAI.

We look at the market impact so far of AWS in telecom with GenAI, and provide a SWOT analysis.

Finally we make recommendations for CSPs exploring the potential of GenAI both for internal and external use.

This research is available free to subscribers to our AIOps, Assurance and Analytics research module. Existing customers can access the research here (login required). 

In 2021, in Telco as a Platform (TaaP) Appledore looked at the opportunities for growth from the disaggregation of telecom networks. We introduced a set of guiding principles that operators can adopt to help accelerate service creation and generate consistent new revenue streams.

By adopting Appledore’s criteria and regularly evaluating progress, CSPs can accelerate their efforts of becoming the cloud and communications providers of choice in their markets.

Starting in Q4 2022, Appledore will interview operators representing the global CSP market (and their platform vendors) to establish a looking to benchmark CSP and vendor progress in achieving Telco as a Platform goals and sharing platform success stories with an annual Telco as a Platform Report Card. This Research Note explains the evaluation process and gives interested parties a way to participate in this research.

OSS needs to change. It’s time for network operators to hit the productivity gym!

In this white paper we describe a modern, service-oriented management infrastructure, and specifically measure the Blue Planet Intelligent Automation portfolio and long-stated vision, against our documented recommendations for the future of OSS.

Much is at stake:

• we estimate that automation can reduce the cost of many network operations by 95-99%;
• that service demand intervals can fall by a similar percentage (weeks to minutes);
• that by the latter half of this decade, the industry will be spending between $11B and $27B (median: $18B) annually on software to yield this automation.
• many services are under competitive threat from public cloud vendors who have adopted these Sea Changes as part of their DNA and operate with a very low-cost structure.

In a previous report we looked at the growing need for and use of speciality silicon in telecom. This companion report brings together perspectives on many of the leading players in the speciality silicon for telecom market, so that telco buyers and potential partners for these firms can better understand the range of propositions on offer.

• Who are the leading players?
• Where are they focusing their product lines and R&D effort?
• What are the different telco use cases that call for different kinds of specialty silicon?
• Who plays where?
• What are the implications for operators in particular of choosing (or not choosing) speciality silicon over an “x86-everywhere” strategy?

This comprehensive, independent report explains how this market is evolving, and profiles many most notable players, including: AMD, Arm, Broadcom, Cisco, Dell, HPE, Intel, IBM, Juniper, Marvell, Nokia, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Spirent. A dedicated section explores how cloud providers participate in this ecosystem: Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud. 

Scroll down for the full table of contents.

This research is free to subscribers to our Disaggregation, Open RAN and Ecosystems research module (login required), or can be purchased below. 

The attempt to realize the dream of virtualized telecom traces back to a seminal NFV 2012 whitepaper. But the vision of a ubiquitous layer of commodity compute has clearly not panned out as imagined. Rather, the demands from telecom for specialized silicon have increased, rather than reduced – and the market continues to evolve.

In this comprehensive Market Outlook, Grant Lenahan explains the five distinct market segments for speciality silicon in telecom that exist today, their primary use cases, driving factors, leading vendors, and future trajectories. The report also highlights where innovation and growth opportunities exist for the many vendors now competing for space in this complex and technically challenging market.

Characteristically in-depth and wide-ranging, this report also looks at the implications for automation and testing.

Vendors referenced include: AMD, Arm, Arrcus, AWS, Azure, Broadcom, Ciena, Dell, DriveNets, Ericsson, Google Cloud, Huawei, Intel, Juniper, Marvell, Nvidia, Nokia, NTT, Qualcomm, Red Hat, Rakuten, VMware and Wind River among others.

Scroll down for the full Table of Contents. 

Free access for current subscribers to the following research modules:

• Open, Disaggregated Networks & Ecosystems (access it here),
• Automation & Orchestration research (click here)

Non-subscribers can purchase the report below. 

This document profiles BT’s SD-WAN offering in the context of Appledore Research’s on-going research stream and best practices.

CAMARA (the Greek word for “roof”) is a new and fast-growing industry alliance dedicated to establishing standardised set of telecom APIs.

In this research note we put CAMARA’s mission into context, and offer a view on its chances of succeeding, given the history of API initiatives in telecom.

Essential reading for anyone with an interest in telecom-as-a-platform, telco APIs, industry vertical solutions and 5G monetization.

This report is available free to subscribers to our Digital Enablement and Operator Strategy & Vision research modules. Subscription clients can access the report from their Digital Locker. Click here to access your locker.

For any enquiries, contact sales@appledorerg.com. 

Alongside proprietary solutions for management of telco cloud infrastructure, there are also open source options For example, Canonical.

In this extensive 15-page profile we examine Canonical’s portfolio and business model, competition, and zero in on its impact and momentum in the telecom market, including some notable Tier1 operators.

Includes a SWOT analysis.

This research is available free to subscribers to our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure Management research module. 

Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS) have been a tremendously lucrative activity for bad actors – and therefore has become a major segment unto itself, with the ability to create havoc and significant cost not only for the attack victim (typically an enterprise or government agency) but also for the serving network.

This research note combines a look at two developments; the technological evolution of DDoS, and the corresponding and resulting evolution of the Nokia Deepfield Defender DDoS security solution, rooted in their Deepfield network analytics solution, and the Nokia FPx series of fully programmable router chips.

This research note is available free on subscription to our Automation & Orchestration research module (login required), or as a free download courtesy of Nokia, here. 

Appledore have identified network coverage and new business models as key to telco innovation success (see our  Reinventing Telco – Innovating beyond technology report) nowhere is this more apparent than in delivering CSP connectivity within existing buildings.  The future of telco will also increasingly be built on disaggregated solutions (see our Disaggregation for Growth: Telco as a Platform report). We see neutral-host players enabling better and ubiquitous in-building coverage, quickly.

Tel Aviv-based startup Cellium is an enabler of this future, allowing building and venue owners to become neutral hosts with their EdgeAir products providing indoor access to LTE, 5G, Wifi and IoT networks, at a fraction of the cost of conventional distributed antenna systems (DAS).It also provides a compelling proposition to CSPs to deliver their connectivity, partnering with building owners to deliver ubiquitous coverage at a low price point.

We profile the company and its solution as part of our Operator Strategies & Vision research module.

Patrick Kelly returned to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2024. Should CES be on your radar for 2025? That depends…

For purchase here, or free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research (login required). 

CES – the Consumer Electronics Show – has been around since 1967. What did the 2023 event have that the telecom industry needs to note? Or was it all just VR headsets and TVs? Patrick Kelly offers highlights.

You can also listen to Patrick’s takeaways from CES2023 in the Appledore podcast. 

This solution profile is focused on Ciena’s Blue Planet software as it applies to ARG’s research into closed-loop automation, in this case specifically orchestration. It should be read in the context of “The Role of Closed Loop Automation in Virtualized Networks”, ARG 2016.

This profile analyses the portfolio of Ciena’s Blue Planet division in the context of Appledore’s recommendations on successful closed loop automation.  Ciena Blue Planet’s focus is delivering intelligent automation software and solutions to CSPs and they have taken the important step of separating their software products business from their core optical networking business.

The new Blue Planet division is leading Ciena’s delivery of SDN software management and orchestration for NFV, WAN and Cloud. They are also moving toward intelligent closed loop network orchestration driven by AI/Machine Learning.

Blue Planet has four major software products that support its intelligent automation solution. These provide cross technology and vendor support:

• Orchestration (both Multi-domain service and NFV-O);
• Inventory
• Analytics
• Route optimization and Assurance (ROA) targeted at cross layer IP and optical network management and optimisation.

Ciena’s rebrand of its IP and Optical domain controller is much more than just a new name for MCP: it’s part of a jump to intelligent, autonomous networks and overarching platforms.

This research report is free to view, courtesy of Ciena. Current Appledore subscribers can also access the report directly (no download) in our Automation & Orchestration research module (login required). 

Ciena is arguably the leading optical supplier globally, and is a rising force in IP and PON access. Together with its Blue Planet division, it has a comprehensive portfolio for transport domain automation.

In this in-depth profile, we assess the extent to which this portfolio adopts the principles of modern automation solutions, including intent, closed-loop automation, as well as its market impact.

This research is available free to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research (login required). 

“Cisco will gain a valuable technology capable of sub-second sensor processing combined with distributed network visibility” – Patrick Kelly

Cisco’s acquisition of Accedian was hardly unexpected, but it nonetheless enhances Cisco’s proposition for telecom service providers. It also evidences a significant pivot in the assurance market.

In this research note we look in detail at what Cisco gets from the acquisition, and how this market is evolving.

This research is available for one-off purchase below, or free to subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research module. Existing subscribers can access the report in their digital locker here.

Cisco’s acquisition of Splunk was the company’s largest ever, by a wide margin. Why did Cisco reckon that Splunk was worth the 31% premium? And how does Splunk fit within Cisco’s remarkable string of software acquisitions?

In this research note we look at the trends that are driving such a high valuation, and how Cisco is continuing to execute on its strategy to become a software giant.

This research is available for one-off purchase below.

Existing subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance or Observability and Data Management research module can access the report here (or here).

Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are demanding lowered CAPEX spend on networks, lowered OPEX spend on running and maintaining their networks and improved customer experience from their networks. The whitepaper is aimed at senior decision makers within a CSP. It looks at how Cisco Crosswork Hierarchical Controller can automate the management of IP/Optical transport networks delivering quantitative benefits for all operators, be they mobile, fixed broadband or enterprise focused.

This report is FREE to download, courtesy of Cisco. However, your registration details will not be shared.

Telecom may be virtualizing, but we are far from cloud -native and from achieving its operational promise.   An extensive primary-research effort looking at best practices and candid industry opinion from across leading CSPs, NEPs, disrupters and web-scale players. We begin with first principles, look at current practice, industry objectives, gaps and recommendations for success.

Even when the traditional vendors continue to deliver integrated solutions, such as Cloud RAN or Cloud Core, these solutions increasingly rely on a diverse set of underlying software libraries, many of which are increasingly based on open source software. Vendors and suppliers will both want visibility and security of this supply chain.

Cloudsmith is gaining increased traction in many cloud development environments. Appledores believe that solutions like Cloudsmith will become increasingly important in telecoms in both CSPs and within their vendors.

This research is available free for subscribers to our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure research module (current subscription and login required). 

The huge sums paid for operators for spectrum licenses demonstrate just how critical an asset it is for telcos. But once auctions are done, what options do operators have when they find their spectrum gets congested?

Cohere Technologies has developed a remarkable breakthrough that uses software to effectively multiply the available spectrum for cell sites, which can translate to cost savings running into the billions of dollars. In this profile, we explore the nature of Cohere’s innovation, and the potential value to operators.

This profile is available free to subscribers to our Open & Disaggregated Networks research. Authorized users can log in to view it here. 

This framework report documents the state of the art in orchestration – MANO and beyond — as of 2017. It surveys best practices in four critical areas, and the state of the art in implementation, looking across a wide range of CSPs and suppliers. It is part 1 of a two-part series.

CROSS Network Intelligence is a 10-year old supplier of telecom network inventory and automation solutions, based in the Czech Republic and with a notable set of customers across EMEA. This profile looks at their modern offering and their approach to solving the problem of incomplete inventory data.

This profile is one in a series available to subscribers to our Network Data Management and Observability research module, and is part of a series of profiles that accompanies our market outlook report on the inventory management market.

Note: Existing subscribers can access the report from their Digital Locker. Click here to log in/access the locker

Discussion of service orchestration in telecom can be complicated by lack of clear terminology, mis-use of terms, and muddled vendor positioning.

In this Research Note, Grant Lenahan provides a clear explanation of cross-domain (or end-to-end) service orchestration, from basic concepts to the role of solutions and specialists within an overall autonomous networks architecture.

This Research Note is available to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration module, and Operator Strategy & Vision module. 

By some accounts, the journey towards autonomous networks is well under way, a steady progression now boosted by cloud and the latest AI technologies. But while there is no doubting the increasing aspiration, many in the industry privately admit slow progress, and frustration. Why?

In this insightful 6-page research note, Francis Haysom highlights the existence of a chasm on the road to autonomous networks, and argues that only by understanding it can operators and their vendor partners make the fundamental but necessary changes required to cross it.

See also the follow-on report, on Measuring the Network Autonomy Chasm.

This research is free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module (login required). 

“At the heart of this new operating model is data”

In recent years, three agents have accelerated the pace of change: mass-market broadband, cloud computing and the smartphone. These three have completely transformed how customers define their experience – and their expectations. While each continues to advance on their own terms with ever-greater speed, reach and capabilities, their combination creates a completely new operating model for telecom. This new operating model creates new demands on how telecom relies on – and what it looks for – in its most critical IT platforms. And at the heart of this new operating model is data. More specifically, the ability to deliver the right data, at the right time, and in the right place.

This new context is highlighting the technical (and commercial) limitations of database platforms selected during an earlier, simpler generation in telecom. For everything that telecom now aspires to be – dynamic, distributed and disaggregated – a new generation of database technology is now needed.

This document profiles Deutsche Telekom’s SD-WAN offering in the context of Appledore Research’s on-going research stream and best practices.

This comprehensive market forecast predicts the future growth of the $30Bn-plus Digital Enablement Systems market for software and related services over the period 2024-2028. This includes individual market subsegment forecasts for:

• Billing Systems
• Charging Systems
• Mediation Systems
• Policy Management Systems
• Customer Service Engagement Systems
• Sales Engagement Systems
• Marketing Engagement Systems

An essential reference for operators or vendors, ISVs and Systems Integrators planning their strategies.

This research is available free to subscribers to our Digital Enablement & Monetization Systems market research. Authorized users can log in to see it here. 

The market for digital enablement systems is seeing fresh activity, as a result of telcos’ need to stay relevant to their customers amidst seismic shifts in technology and behavior. At the same time, prioritizing efforts to monetize networks in new ways. The older terminology of business support systems (BSS) is no longer an accurate term to describe CSPs’ responses to today’s pressures and opportunities.

In this Market Share report, we look at what is driving investment in this sector, we size the market for digital enablement systems, and identify the companies who in our view are leading the market overall, and within each segment.

This report is available free to subscribers to our Digital Enablement research module (login required).

Appledore forecasts the DCIM market, excluding virtualization infrastructure, will grow from $1.3bn in 2024 to $1.9bn in 2028.

The reinvention of telecom operators as cloud-based businesses will have profound effects on the wider industry. Not only will it be key to new levels of agility and speed, but it will enable new sources of revenue, new types of customer experience, and new ways to differentiate. But telecom has unique and demanding characteristics that make the realization of a “telco cloud” particularly challenging.

In this comprehensive 30+ page Market Outlook, Appledore looks at the key foundation for this cloud-based future, the distributed cloud infrastructure (DCI). DCI is the foundational layer of Appledore’s NAS taxonomy, on which the cloud network functions will run, and on which the operational processes of the telco will be automated.

The report looks in detail at the market for the DCI management function (DCIM), looking at the typical software stacks that are available to support the cloud-native network. Each stack reflects different design choices that are available to the telco, with design choice needing to be driven by the business requirements of each telco, and potentially each telco use case.

However, telco does have some unique challenges and needs that DCIM needs to address. These are are outlined in this report. The report also looks at the different commercial models for DCI/DCIM support for cloud networks, including Public Cloud, Private Cloud and Hybrid Cloud.

The report will help those in CSPs and their vendor ecosystem, needing to understand the choices available in implementing a Distributed Cloud Infrastructure and its DCIM management capability. Short profiles of notable players in telecom DCIM in the report include: AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Rakuten Symphony, Canonical, Red Hat, Wind River, SUSE and VMware. See also Appledore’s previous reports for vendors and operators on the model for success with Telco Cloud: Telco Cloud for Vendors: A Blueprint for Success and Telco Cloud for Operators: A Blueprint for Success

Scroll down to see the full table of contents of this report. 

This report is free for subscribers to our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure Management research (login required). 

Telecom TV’s annual DSP Leaders event brings a higher-than-usual ratio of telecom-operators-to-vendors together to talk frankly about the state of telecom’s transformation.

So, how are we doing?

This report is available free to subscribers to our Strategy & Vision research module (login required). Or get it free from TelecomTV. 

DSP Leaders gathers senior executives over two days in an interactive format to swap notes on the trajectory of telecom.

Co-hosting CSP execs included BT’s Howard Watson, Vodafone’s Scott Petty, Orange’s Arnaud Vamparys as well as senior execs from Three UK, Telefonica, and Deutsche Telekom. With a subtitle of “Accelerating Telecom Innovation” – did it? Are we?

We had the privilege of participating and offer our takeaways. (This report is an extended version of the blogpost from the conference with additional detail and commentary and recommendations)

Note: Existing subscribers to our “Operator Strategies & Vision” module can access the report from their Digital Locker. Click here to log in/access the locker

DTW – Digital Transformation World – needs no introduction. The 2024 event, once again in Copenhagen, came around quicker than the normal 12-month cycle, but there was still plenty to take note of, from a NAS and Digital Enablement/BSS perspective.

This report is available free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module (login required). 

Also check out our on-site impressions and discussions on our YouTube channel, Talking Transformation. 

New venue, new city, new dates – but was it plus ca change at Digital Transformation World 2022?

The TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World – the flagship convention for the telecom software industry for over twenty years – returned to an in-person event after a two-year Covid-enforced gap. Living up to the spirit of its transformation title, it has a new format, time of year and home venue for the next three years: Copenhagen’s Bella Centre.

The move could hardly be more apposite for the telecom software community: a shift away from familiar, yet brutally monolithic and ageing infrastructure: the Acropolis Center in Nice, long overdue substantial overhaul; cosmetic adjustments made over recent years failing to address its real problems.

Impressively, DTW 2022 attracted over 3,000 delegates to Copenhagen. But was it a case of plus ca change? Our Research Note looks at the themes and sentiments from across the event – keynote presentations and at the coal face with vendors and industry peers.

Takeaways and observations from TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World event in Copenhagen, September 2023.

This report is published under our Operator Strategies & Vision research module. Existing subscribers can access it here.  

The changing role of inventory in dynamic, online, virtualized/cloud networks.

This report looks into the role of inventory in dynamic, hybrid and cloud-based networks, and how inventory must be re-structured to facilitate the benefits of virtualization.

“No strategy for cloud-native, autonomous telecom networks can be complete without a consideration of the part that eBPF will play in telco.” – Francis Haysom

Its name may provide little or no clues as to its importance, but eBPF – extended Berkley Packet Filter – is one of the essential enabling technologies for telecom’s pivot to cloud-native and autonomous networks.

In this 10-page research note, Francis Haysom and Rahul Atri explain why a 10-year old opensource project is becoming quite so vital to the future of telecom networks, and next-gen network operations.

This research note is available free for current subscribers to our Observability & Network Data Management research module (logins required). 

This report investigates the business case and the market potential for CSPs to capture some of the growing public cloud market with Edge Cloud (the optimum combination of access network and edge computing). In particular, it looks at the key differentiation that CSPs can achieve in, what is likely to be, a very competitive market.

Public cloud has transformed the IT world; with applications that would have traditionally been managed by an enterprise on-site now being hosted in the cloud. However, some applications cannot be moved to centralized public cloud for reasons of latency, mission criticality and backhaul network capacity/cost. Similarly, many exciting and innovative new use cases are stalled by the limitations of end devices and the latency and communication capacity/costs to the centralized cloud. This is the opportunity for Edge Cloud!

Emblasoft is a private company that has deep technical expertise in actively testing voice, SMS, and data in a mobile network. The company’s size allows it to be nimble to respond to key customer requirements as the market evolves to 5G SA.

This report is available free for subscribers to Appledore’s AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research module.

In November 2021, Ericsson surprised the market by announcing its acquisition of Vonage, one of the original disruptors in the business communications market. Appledore looks at what this development means for Ericsson and the wider market, and offers answers to the key questions: why Vonage? Why now? What’s next?

For more on our coverage of Ericsson (including free-to-view content), see here.

This profile offers an evaluation of the Ericsson Adaptive Inventory product. Ericsson, with its acquisition of Telcordia Technologies and its Granite inventory, is a long-time player in the inventory space. EAI is its evolved inventory solution to support multi-domain and multi-vendor inventory federation.

This research is available to subscribers to our Observability & Data Management module. 

For details of all our research modules, click here. 

This document profiles Ericsson’s “Dynamic Orchestration” solution, in the context of Appledore Research Group’s  best practices for closed-loop automation, which are derived form our framework report “Closed Loop Automation in Virtualized Networks”.  It is a critical tool for those looking to plan simplicity into our automated future.

Ericsson is one of the three dominant suppliers of mobile infrastructure, software, and services to CSPs worldwide.

The company’s investment in AI has resulted in the launch of a diverse set of products over the past five years. AI and automation continue to be key investment areas for Ericsson. Ericsson recently developed its own generative AI framework, leveraging Large Language Models (LLM) that are fine-tuned and optimized for the telecom domain.

This independent profile assesses the impact of Generative AI across Ericsson’s portfolio.

This report is available free to subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research module (login required).

This document profiles Ericsson’s Management Solution (OSS, Orchestration), for SD-WAN, based on the Ericsson Orchestration Suite.  It is profiled in the context of Appledore Research’s on-going research stream and best practices. This is one of a series of SD-WAN supplier profiles that Appledore is producing in 2018-2019.

The document looks at Ericsson’s SDWAN Management features, positioning, differentiators, and analysis compared to our best practices.

Ericsson and a host of global operators have announced plans to form a joint venture to establish a single platform that combines network APIs from multiple operators. The platform will present the GSMA Open Gateway set of APIs (in Linux Foundation CAMARA form) via various developer platforms. Will this new entity lead to a serious uptick in telco revenues from 5G networks? Can it succeed where similar previous efforts have failed? What’s different this time?

Our Research Note provides our take on the limited information provided so far, and commentary on the relationship/impact to adjacent efforts from other vendors and telcos.

In addition to Ericsson, the list of founding shareholders is: América Móvil, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Reliance Jio, Singtel, Telefonica, Telstra, T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone

This report is available free to subscribers to our Digital Enablement or Operator Strategies & Vision research modules. 

Canadian vendor EXFO is a distinctive independent player in the telecom inventory space. EXFO is focused on the optimal management and combination of existing inventory data to support assurance and fulfilment business decision-making. This 10-page profile examines the company’s Nova Context offering, notable customers, and provides our own SWOT analysis, based on criteria from our wider inventory market outlook report.

This report is available free for subscribers to Appledore’s Observability and Data Management research module.

This paper is available FREE here.

The use of intent is at the center of a radical and powerful change in how services and IP networks work.

In this extensive 15-page whitepaper by Appledore, in association with Juniper Networks, Principal Analyst Grant Lenahan offers a complete explanation of how intent, orchestration, AI/ML and more come together to deliver experience-first automation.

This paper is available FREE here, or can be purchased on this page. Also available free for subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module (login required). 

Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) is an established key metric in many sectors, yet in Telecom remains relatively low-profile compared with other metrics such as Net Promoter Score, CSAT and ARPU. Flytxt is one of the early movers in the CLTV space since 2010, with an impressive roster of CSPs as customers. Recent advances in cloud and AI, plus telco partnerships, are a key part of the company’s plans for the future.

Principal Analyst John Abraham profiles the company and its solution as part of our Digital Enablement research module.

This profile will be of interest both to CX architects, product owners within CSPs as well as wider BSS/Digital Enablement and telecom CRM/CX solutions.

The services that enterprises are willing to pay extra for on are inherently more complex and more customized – and therefore more difficult for telcos to automate, compared to mass-market consumer services. But there are signs that at least some CSPs are embracing an automation mindset, and making the changes and investments required to go from custom projects to repeatable products – and so profit from a $100+ billion enterprise services market opportunity.

We look at how AT&T’s recent announcement of an upgrade to its Cisco-based SDWAN offering points to a mindset shift in the automation of complex services, one that the wider market should take note of.

This Research Note is available free to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration or Operator Strategies & Vision module.

FutureNet World is the leading industry event dedicated to all things network automation related. The London 2024 edition proved a highly worthwhile two day event, affording insights and contact with all the leading pioneers, evangelists and practitioners from the vendor and – most impressively – operator community.

This 7-page writeup and analysis offers our take on the most significant themes and developments from the show.

This research is available free for subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration or Operator Strategies & Vision research (login required). 

Futurenet World has become the go-to-event for honest discussion within telco on the future network and the role that automation and AI is playing. FutureNet MENA now in its third year. The differences in discussion topics, priorities and perspectives compared to the London event are worth noting.

This 5-page writeup and analysis offers our take on the most significant themes and takeaways from this region-focused event.

This research is available free for subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration or Operator Strategies & Vision research (login required). 

Note: Subscribers have access to the full version of the report. A free summarized version is available on the FutureNet World website. 

Despite some progress, the pioneers in Open RAN have not yet been followed by a “second wave” of fresh converts; that was always going to be a slower and more complicated phase.

Yet on the evidence of FYUZ 2023, the Open community is at least acknowledging the challenges, and engaging a wider range of stakeholders and influential parties – not least from among the very companies that it once seemed to challenge.

This report is published under our Open RAN research module. Existing subscribers can access it here.  

There’s no doubt that GenAI is a powerful new capability. The question is: how and where can it be deployed to best effect?

In this Research Note, we review how GenAI is being incorporated by CSPs into the BSS/Digital Experience space, the impact it is already having on some conventional wisdom and business practices, and where telcos are exercising caution.

We also highlight some of the GenAI-infused offerings from leading software vendors on the show floor at MWC24: Amdocs, Salesforce, CSG, Netcracker and Totogi.

This research is available free to subscribers to our Digital Enablement research module (login required). 

GenerativeAI – GenAI to its friends – is already the buzzword of the year. But how can telecom CSPs harness its potential, and understand (and mitigate) its risks? In this research note, we map out the areas of opportunity that GenAI offers telecom service providers, and provide recommendations for how to proceed.

We also shine a spotlight on GenAI developments at selected telecom vendors: Amdocs, AWS, DataRobot, EnterpriseWeb, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Salesforce, and ServiceNow.

This research note is available free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module. 

Google Cloud Platform

“Google Cloud for Telecom is so much more than just infrastructure.”

Along with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, Google is the third hyperscaler to target telecom with a proposition based on cloud infrastructure. In this independent 14-page report, we provide an overview of Google Cloud Platform for Telecom, from its 2020 launch to the latest updates one year on. We look at Google Athos in a telecom context, and survey Google Cloud’s latest CSP and ISV partnerships.

This profile offers a thorough and impartial assessment of HPE Trueview inventory. HPE first introduced its Trueview active inventory solution in 2012. In its most recent platform release, Greenlake, HPE demonstrates its ongoing commitment to technology innovation and supporting global CSPs in their adoption of 5G and digital transformation.

This research is available to subscribers to our Observability & Data Management module. 

For details of all our research modules, click here. 

Commentary and first-look analysis on HPE’s planned $14bn acquisition of networking vendor Juniper.

We look at the risks and opportunities for HPE, assess the impact on the telecom network automation software market, as well as on rivals such as Cisco and telecom NEPs.

This research report is available free to subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics & Assurance or Enterprise Edge & Private Networks research modules (login required). 

Huawei Analyst Summit (HAS) provides the best opportunity to understand the broad sweep of Huawei’s strategy and outlook, and to drill into details in more specific areas with product owners, strategy leads and other subject matter experts. In-depth customer case studies provide real-world state of the art.

HAS2024’s overarching theme was “Thrive with Intelligence”, reflecting Huawei’s strong vision for how the world’s telecom networks should work: as intelligently as possible. Strategy and product presentations reflected this plan of moving from Network Automation to Intelligent Operations. Data, automation, AI and programmable networks are at the center of Huawei’s vision.

Our subtitle on the event writeup – Autonomous Networks Move Center Stage – reflects our take on the changes in emphasis and strategy that we took away from two full days of presentations.

In this comprehensive debrief from the event, we offer our takeaways and highlights.

This research is free for subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module (login required). 

Huawei’s iMaster Mobile Broadband Automation Engine – Core Network Autonomous Driving Networks (MAE-CN ADN), facilitates the agile delivery and operation of Huawei Cloud Core Telecom Cloud Infrastructure for 4G and 5G broadband networks, and unified applications for efficiently managing the previous generations of networks together with 4G and 5G.

In this profile, we look at the scope and capabilities of the solution.

Free to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research (login required). 

Appledore had rare and privileged access to Huawei‘s annual Product Advisory Conference (PAC) for 2024, in which key customers actively shape priorities within the roadmap of solutions.

This research note offers a unique insight into Huawei’s strategy in BSS and Digital Enablement, and in particular its thinking (and progress) on the use of GenAI in critical business operations and front-office functions.

This research note is free to download, courtesy of Huawei. For more reports related to Huawei, see here. 

Subscribers to our Digital Enablement Systems research module can access the report directly via their existing access. 

Huawei presents its strategy to several hundred invited telecom analysts at an annual event, the Huawei Analyst Summit. Where its MWC presence offers a showcase for its technologies, the HAS offers a better opportunity to hear the overarching strategy set out.

In this research note we offer our summary and commentary on what was presented over the course of two days at the Huawei’s HQ in Shenzhen, in April 2023.

You can also hear Robert Curran and Shanthi Ravindran discussing HAS2023 on the Appledore podcast. 

Note: Existing subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision module can access the report from their Digital Locker. Click here to log in/access the locker

To view additional research on Huawei, click here. 

IBM is spending $6.4billion to acquire HashiCorp, a company founded just 12 years ago, focused on multi-cloud infrastructure automation. In this research note we look at the deal, its rationale, and what the implications are for the telecom sector.

This research is free to subscribers to our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure research module (login required). 

The necessity for Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to quickly detect and recover from network issues is becoming ever more critical. Delay in detecting and solving service-impacting issues risks jeopardising telecom’s three vital Rs: revenue, reputation and retention. Amidst rising network and operational complexity, greater speed and intelligence is required.

Part of IBM’s wider suite of Cloud Pak offerings, IBM Cloud Pak® for AIOps is a state-of-the-art AIOps platform to assess, diagnose, and resolve incidents across mission-critical workloads, based on advanced, adaptable and explainable AI and using Network and IT Operations data.

In this profile, we assess the capabilities of IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps in the context of AIOps in general, and against the distinct challenges and requirements that CSPs face in adopting it in telecom networks. Includes a SWOT analysis, and recommendations for CSPs.

This report is available for purchase below, or free to current subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research module (click here to log in). 

For any enquiries, use the Ask the Analyst button below or contact us.

This document profile’s IBM’s portfolio in assurance and analytics, under its concept of “cognitive operations”.  The profile includes traditional product, as well as how IBM is augmenting them with leading edge AI/LM technology from Watson.

IBM has been working on quantum computing for many years. That research is now finding real-world applications in fields as diverse as telecom, financial services, logistics and healthcare. In this report, we highlight IBM’s recent breakthroughs in the field, some practical use cases for quantum computing, and progress towards what IBM calls “Quantum Utility” – deriving real business and scientific value from this pioneering technology.

This report is available free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies and Vision, or AIOps, Assurance and Analytics research modules (login required). 

For some additional background on this topic, check out our podcast episode with the Chief Operating Officer at IBM Research, Dr Jeff Welser! 

IBM has been rapidly expanding its presence in networking and telecom – not least in its vision for using all forms of AI to help telcos automate and optimize. Its vision is as comprehensive as it gets – with an impressive degree of realization already, and numerous real-world proof points from customers.

This extensive profile provides an in-depth view of IBM’s watsonx AI platform offering to telcos. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the state of the art (and state of one of the leading vendors) in AI for telecom.

This research is available free to subscribers to our AIOps, Assurance and Analytics research module (login required). 

To browse all our recent research publications, click here. 

In this market outlook we investigate, validate, qualify and size the 5G opportunity in Industrial Automation (IA), sometimes referred to as “the 4^th Industrial Revolution” or “Industry 4.0”. Regardless of terminology, is the opportunity real? How big it is?  When it will happen? How it will happen?” The report is based on detailed interviews with CSPs, 5G vendors, other industry players and industry organizations. We size the market, drill into various segments, and lay out the critical points that CSPs and 5G vendors must understand and address in order to succeed.  We also discuss factors that will drive adoption in various sectors and geographies, providing guidance for how to successfully identify and target opportunities

In this market outlook we investigate, validate, qualify and size the 5G opportunity in Industrial Automation (IA), sometimes referred to as “the 4^th Industrial Revolution” or “Industry 4.0”. Regardless of terminology, is the opportunity real? How big it is?  When it will happen? How it will happen?” The report is based on detailed interviews with CSPs, 5G vendors, other industry players and industry organizations. We size the market, drill into various segments, and lay out the critical points that CSPs and 5G vendors must understand and address in order to succeed.  We also discuss factors that will drive adoption in various sectors and geographies, providing guidance for how to successfully identify and target opportunities

“Infovista is one of the last independent ISVs with its core portfolio in the service assurance market.” – Patrick Kelly

Infovista is a leading independent software vendor with a strong track record in the service assurance market. Beyond service assurance alone, it has a broad portfolio of solutions for network operators, focused on network planning & optimization; network testing & deployment; and service and experience assurance.

Launched in 2022, Ativa aims to combine operational tasks into a single holistic view of the entire network. In this 9-page profile Appledore looks the market reaction to Ativa and its significance within the Service Assurance market.

Subscription clients can access this research directly via their Digital Locker. For help or queries, contact us.

This in-depth document profiles Infovista’s Ipanema SD-WAN offering in the context of Appledore Research’s on-going research stream and best practices.  We cover infovista’s technology, features, relative positioning, market evidence / success and also how they integrate into the broader operational environment to support automation.

This is one of a series of SD-WAN supplier profiles that Appledore is producing in 2018-2019.

Document is 20 pages long with features, positioning, differentiators, and analysis compared to our best practices.

“The gap between telcos’ dreams for 5G and the reality of delivering and monetizing them is simply too big.” – Francis Haysom

There is a constant call for greater innovation from telcos, in pursuit of goals for growth – and to prove to shareholders that the investment in 5G has been worth it. But all too often, the sort of innovation put forward has been bordering on science fiction, or at least fantastical, and missing functional (and revenue) opportunities closer to home. In the current telecom market climate, the issue constitutes something of an emergency.

But the problem is much less about technology than poorly-structured thinking about the nature of innovation in telecom.

In this Research Note, Francis Haysom applies Appledore’s Innovation Framework to show how it can uncover significant new value even from telecom’s longest-established service – Emergency Contact (999/911/112).

This research is available free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision module (login required). 

For details of all our research modules, click here. 

For 5G mobile services, Malaysia’s 34 million people rely on an almost unique network: a single RAN owned by the government, but connected to the separate mobile core networks of competing (retail) service providers. Ericsson Managed Services provides day-to-day operations support of the shared RAN.

Faced with the challenge of unconventional and unpredictable RAN traffic patterns, Ericsson has piloted an solution to optimize the allocation of bandwidth automatically, dynamically. Its resulting Intent-based Operations (IBO) illustrates the real-world results achievable from the application of intent-based thinking to autonomous networks.

This research is available free to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module (login required). 

This report on inventory management looks at the changing landscape for inventory in telcos and follows on from our 2017 report on dynamic inventory and our previous report on Network Data Management, which focused on observability and the management of telemetry data. It looks at the new challenges and requirements for inventory in networks that are becoming increasingly dynamic, where the network is becoming increasingly software-based, and where the underlying network is deployed on the cloud. It looks at the changes needed to network inventory solutions in response to this.

Broken into four sections, the report provides a definition and forecast for the inventory market and a background on the evolution of inventory management. It then looks at the current business challenges that will change inventory management and finally describes what inventory solutions will need to change to address these challenges.

Appledore believes data, including inventory, will be the central platform around which all operational processes will flow. Network Data Management, including inventory, is at the center of our Network Automation Software (NAS) taxonomy. Inventory provides the fundamental knowledge of what and where the network is. A record of all the components (geographic, physical, logical, and service) of the network and the dependencies and topological relationships between them.

Network Data Management (NDM) is an essential segment within the Network Automation Software (NAS) market. We predict growth in spending on solutions in this category, from an estimated USD 0.9 billion in 2023 to USD 1.7 billion in 2027.  We estimate that inventory is 10% of the total NDM market, with total spending on inventory solutions growing from USD 90 million in 2023 to USD 170 million in 2027, supporting increased automation in service orchestration, domain management, and in AIOps. Our estimate covers total inventory spend, including both software and services but does not include inventory embedded in domain management applications like controllers. These are important components of Inventory but difficult to separate from the domain manager spend.

This solution profile is part of a series of profiles that accompanies our new market outlook report on automation in the transport domain.  This research looks at the state of the art in automating transport networks and services. Our focus is on L2/L3 services, but with full observability of Layer 1.  This profile focuses specifically on Nokia’s NSP, one of the earliest entrants in this segment, with lineage back to Alcatel-Lucent’s SAM.

This profile is one in a series available to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module.

This solution profile is part of a series of profiles that accompanies our market outlook report on automation in the transport domain.  This research looks at the state of the art in automating transport networks and services. Our focus is on L2/L3 services, but with full observability of Layer 1.

This profile focuses on Oracle’s IP Service Activation (IPSA) solution, part of Oracle’s wider portfolio of automation and orchestration offerings.

This profile is one in a series available to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module.

This report is now available free, courtesy of Netcracker. 

Netcracker has long been one of the few firms that maintains a “complete stack” with meaningful portfolios in all aspects of operating a public telecom network and business, including network automation, traditional OSS, order and catalog management, revenue management, and customer experience management. Within network automation software (“NAS”) Netcracker has strong assets in network data management; orchestration, and AIOps, enabling them to fully “close the loop”.

Netcracker has benefited from close association with NEC on network technologies such as SDN and early work on NFV, in association with large CSPs. However, Netcracker strongly defends its independence and its validity as a relatively neutral, multi-vendor ISV.

This solution profile is part of a series of profiles that accompanies our market outlook report on automation in the transport domain.  This research looks at the state of the art in automating transport networks and services. Our focus is on L2/L3 services, but with full observability of Layer 1.

This profile is one in a series available to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module.

This report is free to download, courtesy of Netcracker. Your details will only be used to send the report, and not passed to any third party.

Existing subscribers can also access the report from their Digital Locker. Click here to log in/access the locker

In telecom, Fujitsu has nailed its colors to the “open” mast, and it has a sizeable business in building and operating the most modern of networks. Its Virtuora NC (Network Controller) offering is a key part of its wider proposition, and gives the company reach both directly into service providers and also other vendors who lack their own optical control software.

In this profile we look at where Virtuora NC fits, within our overall network automation software market taxonomy, market traction to date, and identify some standout features and characteristics.

This solution profile is part of a series of profiles that accompanies our market outlook report on automation in the transport domain.  This research looks at the state of the art in automating transport networks and services. Our focus is on L2/L3 services, but with full observability of Layer 1.

This profile is free to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module (login required).

Perhaps more than any other vendor, Huawei has taken the vision of an autonomous network and applied it across a broad and deep portfolio of network management products and adjacent services offerings. This profile takes an in-depth look at the company’s Network Cloud Engine (NCE) suite of product for IP and Optical domain management, and assesses the approaches and concepts they embody.

This solution profile is part of a series of profiles that accompanies our market outlook report on automation in the transport domain.  This research looks at the state of the art in automating transport networks and services. Our focus is on L2/L3 services, but with full observability of Layer 1.

This profile is one in a series available to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module.

Existing subscribers can also access the report from their Digital Locker. Click here to log in/access the locker

The transport domain is becoming more complex, more multi-vendor and critically – far more dynamic. No longer do WANs and other enterprise services get set up once and remain unchanged for years.  Rather, services will be more customized and dynamically changing. This demands automation.

This market outlook provides an understanding of the status, evolution size and growth for domain managers that control a huge subset of networks:  IP services over optical transport, both in the core and out to the access network.

Short profiles of notable vendors in the space are included:

• Blue Planet Transport Automation Solution (Ciena)
• Cisco NSO and CrossWork
• Elisa FRINX Machine
• Huawei All-Optical AND (Autonomic Driving Network)
• Infinera Open Wave Manager
• Juniper Paragon Automation
• Netcracker Network Domain Orchestrator (NDO)
• Nokia Network Services Platform (NSP)
• Oracle IP Service Activation (IPSA)

This report offers a valuable insight into how this apparently mature segment continues to evolve, and how suppliers are responding to new demands of CSPs.

It also includes detailed set of recommendations for CSPs and vendors in this space.

Juniper Networks is one of the leading providers of IP networking gear globally with a comprehensive portfolio of routers, network appliances, SDWAN, and managed wifi. This profile focuses on their management/automation software portfolio which has received growing investment over the past few years, including both organic and through acquisition.

At over 12 pages, this longer-than-usual profile offers an independent, comprehensive technical assessment of Juniper Networks’ Automation and Orchestration offering and market position.

This profile is one in a series available to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module.

Juniper Paragon Active Assurance (formerly known as Netrounds) is a programmable, active test and monitoring solution for physical, hybrid, and virtual networks.  Paragon Active Assurance uses active, synthetic traffic layers 2-7 and verifies application and service performance at the time-of-service delivery and throughout the life of the service.

This report is available free, courtesy of Juniper. 

Juniper is one of the leading global providers of IP network gear, and has recognized the growing importance of automation software. Through acquisitions and organic investment, it now has an important portfolio of network automation software under the Paragon brand, including in Domain Orchestration (Management), the largest of our NAS market segments.

This 13-page, in-depth profile assesses Paragon Automation, Juniper’s modular offering for intent-based transport network automation.

This solution profile is part of a series of profiles that accompanies our market outlook report on automation in the transport domain.  This research looks at the state of the art in automating transport networks and services. Our focus is on L2/L3 services, but with full visibility of Layer 1.

This profile is one in a series available to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module.

This report is free to download, courtesy of Juniper. Your details will only be used to send the report, and not passed to any third party.

Existing subscribers can also access the report here.

Keysight Technologies is one of the most significant player in the test equipment market, with over USD 5.4B in revenue, 32,000 customers and products distributed in over 100 countries.

Since 2014, Keysight has invested heavily in 5G, developing a product portfolio supporting the digital transformation efforts of mobile operators worldwide. A string of acquisitions and internal development have resulted in a portfolio spanning mobile device testing and benchmarking, RAN validation and performance testing, 5G core and domain management products, and network operations and monitoring systems. But this also means competition from a wide range of strong players including Anritsu, Netscout, Rohde & Schwarz, Spirent and Viavi.

In this extensive profile, we look at how Keysight has expanded its relevance across the entire 5G supply chain, and how it has adapted its test, measurement and assurance solutions (and wider ecosystem) in response to the software-ization and cloudification of telecom.

This report is free for subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research module.

Kubernetes-fest KubeCon is a global event series that offers telecom a glimpse of the future – and also what is already today’s reality for thousands of companies in other industries.

Francis Haysom donned a baseball cap, T-shirt and got down with the developers to see what a cloud-native world is really like, and what that might mean for telecom.

This research note is free to subscribers to our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure research (login required). 

Here is a review of LotusFlare’s DNO Cloud commerce and monetization platform. Over the past ten years, LotusFlare has continuously improved its DNO Cloud SaaS platform by integrating charging, billing, payments, CPQ, eSIM monetization, and more. Several Tier-1 CSPs have already embraced LotusFlare’s DNO platform to introduce new digital brands, set up online marketplaces, and replace outdated BSS systems. For more information about the DNO Cloud platform, please check it out.

This document focuses on how catalog driven DevOps principles can achieve a high degree of re-use, cost reduction, and agility.  It further demonstrates that this approach complements the industry shift to virtualization and advanced orchestration, and provides a low-risk, gradual path toward agility.

Lumen’s launch of a new Network-as-a-Service offering in July 2023 included a number of eye-catching features: on-demand, pay-by-the-hour pricing. But these are just the beginning of what Lumen has been re-architecting itself for for years: a completely new kind of enterprise market.

In this research note we look at Lumen’s new offering and the enabling technologies and attitudes behind it – and why we think that Lumen’s implementation of NaaS is evidence of a market in transition.

This research is part of our Enterprise Edge and Private Networks research modules. Current subscribers can access the report here. 

Machine learning promises to solve complex problems in the telecommunication operational domain much faster, cheaper, and with more accuracy than the best human domain experts could ever hope to achieve. Machine learning applied correctly has the potential to predict, identify, and quickly isolate anomalies yielding positive business outcomes. This is possible now because of high quality data sets, advances in compute processing, and teaming telco domain experts with data scientist to develop robust machine learning algorithms. The best way to think about machine learning is that it minimizes a cost function such as reducing an error rate. Said another way it processes millions of data sets, searches for patterns, and the results have a higher rate of accuracy compared to traditional methods.

Agility, enabled by automation, can only be achieved using cloud infrastructure, and running cloud-native applications. However, controlling “the network” is radically different when “the network” is defined in software, running on distributed clusters of Linux servers.

MantisNet is one example of a company using eBPF to provide observability and related capabilities for cloud-native networks, building on their history in Ethernet monitoring. MantisNet supports NetOps and SecOps teams making the move to Cloud Native networks.

In this profile, we assess MantisNet’s Containerized Visibility Fabric (CVF) product. Includes a brief SWOT analysis.

This research is available free for subscribers to our Observability and Data Management research module (current subscription and login required). 

AIOps is the innovation platform to improve network availability, capital efficiency, and counter cyber-attacks in cloud networks. However, the telecommunication market has been very slow to embrace the automation of operations, relative to other industries. This unwillingness to restructure operations to take advantage of low-cost machine intelligence has had a direct impact on the financial performance of CSPs.

This report focuses on the predominant use cases in the telecommunications industry. We evaluate the supply and demand side economic drivers. We also consider the broader secular trends impacting the market for AIOps investments including future labor force declines. As with most fast-growing early-stage market segments business models and the ecosystem will adapt quickly prior to maturation. We profile some of the leading suppliers and identify new entrants from the larger ecosystem.

Scroll down for the full Table of Contents.

This report is also available as a free download from IBM (registration required).

This research is published as part of our AIOps, Assurance, Analytics Research research module. Current subscribers can access that research here. 

End-to-end, or cross-domain, Service Orchestration is a rapidly evolving market space. Indeed, the variety and capabilities of vendors in the market have expanded dramatically in just the past two years. At the same time, CSPs have had to learn a new set of concepts and to evolve their own thinking about what orchestration is, what it is for, and how it differs from earlier efforts to automate, co-ordinate and streamline operations. In this major new report, the result of hundreds of hours of in-depth conversations, we assess the state of the market and the most notable players within it.

This detailed report is essential reading for CSPs and vendors with an interest in cross-domain orchestration. Scroll down for the Table of Contents.

End-to-end, or cross-domain, Service Orchestration is a rapidly evolving market space. Indeed, the variety and capabilities of vendors in the market have expanded dramatically in just the past two years. At the same time, CSPs have had to learn a new set of concepts and to evolve their own thinking about what orchestration is, what it is for, and how it differs from earlier efforts to automate, co-ordinate and streamline operations. In this major new report, the result of hundreds of hours of in-depth conversations, we assess the state of the market and the most notable players within it.

This detailed report is essential reading for CSPs and vendors with an interest in cross-domain orchestration. Scroll down for the Table of Contents.

Network Data Management (NDM) is an essential segment within the Network Automation Software (NAS) market. We predict growth in spending on solutions in this category to rise to USD 1.7 billion in 2027. Yet this market is being contested by a ever-widening set of suppliers, including several large players from outside the conventional telecom vendor roster.

Over 20+ pages, this Market Outlook maps the significant shift in thinking (and practice) on data management in networks in recent years, and its relationship to today’s most fundamental concern for CSPs: automation. The report highlights the increasing importance of cloud and the influence of IT observability thinking in networks, and a dramatically different approach to inventory.

The report profiles a selection of diverse vendors whose offerings nonetheless incorporate the new principles for network data management and observability: Amdocs, Netscout and Nokia, Rakuten Symphony, Couchbase, Cloudera, Devo, Elastic, Splunk and Teradata.

Scroll down for the full Table of Contents.

Marvell Technology is a US-based vendor of task-specific silicon to telecom, as well as datacenter/IT, automotive and other industries. In existence since the mid ’90s, in recent years under a new CEO, it has been on a transformational journey.

With our “Beyond x86: Specialty Silicon in Telecom” as a backdrop, this profile explores Marvell’s presence and relevance in the telecom vertical, assesses its strategies including a high-level SWOT analysis.

Free access for current subscribers to the following research modules:

• Open, Disaggregated Networks & Ecosystems (access it here),
• Automation & Orchestration research (click here)

Non-subscribers can purchase the report below. 

Mavenir hosted its annual analyst event in Dallas November 16 – 17, 2022. The event was supported by the senior leadership team for radio, packet core, IMS, and billing. Sidd Chenumolu, VP of Technology Development at DISH Network keynoted the session providing insight on the Mavenir deployment within the DISH Network. Mavenir is deployed at DISH Network supporting 7K cell sites, 5 bands, and fully cloud native open RAN. 

Mavenir has been one of the most successful Open RAN disruptors in the market to date. One might argue that Mavenir led the Open RAN market creation back in 2017 and is now reaping the rewards of its fully virtualized container architecture. The market tailwinds of worldwide 5G rollouts, cloud-native transition with support from the hyperscalers, and western government policy shifts aimed at replacing Huawei and ZTE favor Mavenir. This is materializing in high-profile deployments at DISH Networks and Airtel where Mavenir is the prime supplier of 5G core and access technology. Mavenir has also cultivated long-term relationships with TMO-USA, Verizon, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, Rakuten, and Telstra among others where deployments are at early stages but could materialize in billions of revenues over the next 3 years. 

In this profile, we discuss how Mavenir is disrupting the billing segment of the market based on new technologies like 5G SA. We look at both the opportunities that Mavenir’s approach can facilitate, but also look at the challenges they face in competing with established billing suppliers.

With 5G and Open RAN technologies, we believe that traditional CSP vendors have an opportunity to expand their market. We believe that Mavenir is putting in place the right approach by leveraging 5G and LTE in enterprise private networks, in particular, their approach to creating an industry partner ecosystem and developing enterprise-appropriate business models. 

In this profile, we discuss how Mavenir is taking a leading role in defining and leading this move to an LTE and 5G enterprise private networks. We look at both the opportunities that Mavenir’s approach can facilitate, but also look at the challenges they face in what is a non-traditional field for telecoms vendors. 

This report should be read in conjunction with our Mavenir Open RAN Solution Profile which looks in more detail at how Mavenir is approaching the wider opportunity from Open RAN in all wireless networks, including enterprise private networks. 

“What is Level 4?”

Telcos believe intuitively that more autonomous networks must be a good thing, but the industry is far from agreed on what “good” looks like for autonomous network operations.

In the second report in our series on the Network Autonomy Chasm, Francis Haysom sets out a new basis for measuring progress towards fully autonomous networks.

See also the first Crossing the Network Autonomy Chasm report.

This research note is free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module (login required), or can be purchased below. 

“A place where real decisions are made, real influencers are everywhere, and real answers can be found.”

MEF’s Global Network-as-a-Service(NaaS) Event – GNE to fans – brings together an exceptional community of practitioners and purchasers in pursuit of a well-defined set of commercially-focused goals. That focus makes for clear-sighted discussion of the opportunities and challenges, yes, but also the progress being made.

Principal Analyst Grant Lenahan provides context and insight into the topics discussed at the 2024 event, including NaaS, APIs, a $101B upside for telcos, intent, autonomous networks and more.

This research note is an invaluable perspective on the progress being made on delivering high-value services seamlessly by – and between – telcos and their partners in the digital ecosystem. With five takeaways and recommendations.

Companies referenced include: Amartus, AT&T, Amdocs, Ciena, Cisco, Console Connect, Lumen, Netcracker, NTT, Tata among others.

This research is available free of charge to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module (login required). 

Takeaways and observations from MEF’s Dallas event, October 2023.

This report is published under our Automation & Orchestration research module.

Existing subscribers can access it here.  

An understated contract award in late 2021 between two relatively low-profile companies could turn out to have much greater long-term significance for players in the mobile market, especially in the hot areas of enterprise private networks, 5G and telco as-a-service. This Research Note takes a closer look at the parties involved – Working Group Two and CKH IOD – and the differences between private networks offered on a managed service vs as-a-Service basis, and explains why better-known mobile players (operators and vendors alike) should take note of this quietly significant development.

This report is available free to subscribers to our Enterprise Edge and Private Networks, Digital Enablement, and Disaggregated Networks, Open RAN and Ecosystems research module.

You can also hear more about Working Group Two and wireless innovator Mobi in discussion with Appledore in this podcast episode. 

“Mobileum frequently quotes that 61% of network problems are discovered first by end users or not reported at all.”

Mobileum is an independent provider of roaming, analytics, and test and assurance services to CSPs  worldwide. Mobileum has a portfolio of solutions, including revenue assurance, fraud management, network optimization, and customer experience management. The company’s analytics platform, Active Intelligence, leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide real-time insights into network and customer behavior.

This report profiles Mobileum’s AIP platform, network testing, and assurance products. We evaluate the technology, review customer traction, and provide additional context for Mobileum’s industry position.

This report is free for subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research module. Access it directly via your Digital Locker. 

“At MTN we aim to take our customers on a digital journey which transforms their lives…Chenosis is more than an API monetization journey for us, it’s a platform that will transform the African software landscape” – Selorm Adadevoh, MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer

Much of the latest discussion around APIs in telecom centers on network APIs. But why wouldn’t telcos be a natural port of call for developers for a much wider range of APIs, addressing a wide variety of business needs?

Chenosis is a business with the MTN family, that is aiming to be an API aggregator, marketplace and more. As an example of what telcos can aspire to, its story is inspiring. Its pedigree and approach are also highly instructive for the telecom industry’s latest efforts to profit from participation within the API economy.

This report is free to access for subscribers to our Digital Enablement or  Operator Strategies & Vision research module (login required), or can be purchased below. 

The annual MVNO Nation event is a unique opportunity to see telecom from a completely different perspective, and one that is often overlooked. But there is plenty of action from operators and suppliers in this community.

Published as part of our Digital Enablement & Monetization research module. Existing subscribers can access the report by logging in here. 

Much smaller than its Barcelona edition, and with an Americas focus – so what did you miss at MWC Americas 2024?

This research is free to our subscription customers (login required). 

“Generative AI stole the show” – Patrick Kelly

A lot has changed since MWC Americas 2022. This report on the 2023 event from our on-site team of highly experienced analysts provides a summary and additional insights on the many topics address both in the speaker program, and from the all-important show floor and meeting room conversations.

This research is available as part of our Operator Strategies & Vision research.

Existing subscribers can access the research here.

Non-subscribers can purchase the report below, or contact us for subscription or other enquiries. 

The Appledore team unpacks a busy week at MWC2023, highlighting the most notable announcements and takeaways from a telecom network automation perspective.

You can download just the slideset from this page.

Reflections on MWC Barcelona 2023

What topics will likely get the most airtime at MWC this year? More robots? Or VR headsets? Or something more rooted in the here-and-now? This Research Note offers our view on what themes are likely to stand out in Barcelona at MWC2023.

MWC 2024 looked a lot more like its old pre-pandemic self. But viewed through the lens of network automation and digital enablement, there were some notable differences – and not only in the amount of time and space devoted to AI! Our team review the most significant takeaways from a week’s worth of show-floor conversations and announcements.

This research is available free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module (login required). 

Watch our 60-minute MWC24 debrief webinar – no registration required.

The fact that Nearby Computing exists at all is evidence of how early stage the edge market is. This well-connected Spanish startup/spin-out has a particular take on what is needed to make telco-enabled edge applications work. With blue-chip backers and hedging its bets between a “spreading-out” telecom and “smartening-up” infrastucture companies, Nearby suggests that that “blurred” may be the new “laser-focused”.

Touching on edge infra, orchestration, 5G, Kubernetes and more, this short profile is a thought-provoking read.

Subscription clients can access this research directly via their Digital Locker. For help or queries, contact us.

Nephio is a new, fast-moving and widely-backed initiative that addresses issues in the automation of the lifecycle of cloud-native telecom network functions. With the driving force of Google Cloud behind it, and over 70 operator, vendor, NEP, SI and ISV participants also involved, it has the potential to put the journey to cloud-native telecom into a higher gear.

We think Nephio is a truly important initiative that anyone with an interest in cloud-native telecom needs a working knowledge of. 

This research note explains what Nephio is, why it has gathered such momentum already, and its prospects for success.

This report is available as part of our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure research module. 

Report on Netcracker 12 from analyst conference in Cannes May 2017

This document profiles Netcracker’s Management & Orchestration Solution for SD-WAN, based on the Netcracker Business Cloud.  This solution is Netcracker’s entry into the management of SD-WAN and related enterprise services (OSS, Orchestration), and is profiled in the context of Appledore Research’s on-going research stream and best practices. This is one of a series of SD-WAN supplier profiles that Appledore is producing in 2018-2019.

The document looks at Netcracker’s SDWAN Management features, problems solved, positioning, differentiators, and analysis compared to our best practices.

Netcracker is a long-standing market leader in telecom software with solutions covering digital OSS/BSS, customer engagement, cloud, and analytics. It is one of the first to announce a telco-specific offering that leverages GenAI capabilities.

In a 11-page profile, we look at what the new offering provides, and how it aims to help telcos improve operations and reduce costs, while navigating the concerns and limitations around GenAI.

This report is free, courtesy of Netcracker. It is also available online (no download) for subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research module. For help or queries, contact us.

“Telco digital transformation programs are the leading driver for deploying Netcracker Inventory. ” – Francis Haysom

Netcracker is a long-standing telco software vendor with solutions covering digital OSS/BSS, customer engagement, cloud, and analytics. Their inventory products include Active Resource Inventory and Service Inventory which together form the Netcracker Inventory Solution, part of its Digital OSS suite.

In this 10-page profile following up our Market Outlook on Inventory, we look at Netcracker’s solution and how it has changed to keep pace with industry trends and evolving operator requirements in this vitally important area.

Subscription clients can access this research directly via their Digital Locker. For help or queries, contact us.

This document profiles Netscout’s nGeniusONE and Carrier Solutions.

NETSCOUT was founded in Westford, MA, (as Frontier Software) in 1984 by current CEO Anil Singhal and Narendra Popat. Its diverse set of assets from multiple acquisitions have been combined into a more unified enriched data platform, today supporting a near billion-dollar revenue stream spanning assurance, AI, analytics. NETSCOUT is also the largest supplier of passive and active probing solutions in the telecommunication market.

In this 10-page profile we look at recent financial performance, current portfolio and how the company has doubled down on its 5G focus.

This report is available free for subscribers to Appledore’s AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research module.

Founded in 1984, NETSCOUT is today a leader in network and service assurance, with its solutions deployed at 90% of Tier-1 service providers. This close-on-$1bn revenue service assurance company is responding to the seismic changes in networks and network operations, and the pivotal role of AI and ML.

In this profile, we take an in-depth look at NETSCOUT’s Omnis Analytics offering, adjacent portfolio and recent innovations both technical and commercial.

This report is free to subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research (login required).

What is the role of network automation software (NAS) in supporting telcos’ sustainability goals?

This report is available free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module (login required). 

This in-depth document profiles ngena‘s SD-WAN offering in the context of Appledore Research’s on-going research stream and best practices.  We cover ngena’s technology, features, relative positioning, market evidence / success and also how they integrate into the broader operational environment to support automation.

This is one of a series of SD-WAN supplier profiles that Appledore is producing in 2018-2019.

Document is 28 pages long with features, positioning, differentiators, and analysis compared to our best practices.

The proposal announced by Nokia to acquire Infinera would create a formidable IP + Optical player. Grant Lenahan examines the rationale for this deal and what it could mean for the market.

This report is available free to subscribers to our Automation and Orchestration research module (login required).

What is the rationale behind Nokia’s acquisition of API marketplace vendor Rapid, in November 2024? Where does this fit within wider industry efforts to monetize networks, and enter into non-traditional (for telecom) business models and markets? And how does it relate to Ericsson’s efforts with Vonage?

In this analysis, Appledore looks at this news from multiple perspectives to uncover what it is – and what it is not – about.

Available free to subscription customers for our Strategy & Vision, Automation & Orchestration or Digital Enablement research (login required). 

This document reports on Nokia analyst day 2017 in Nice France.

Originally announced at MWC2023, Nokia’s anyRAN offering promises parity performance to Nokia’s own pre-integrated RAN, but on any – that’s any – choice of platform (CPaaS, servers, hyperscale cloud), and with any RU.

It’s quite a claim, and in this short profile we assess Nokia’s progress with its anyRAN promise and offering.

This research note is free to subscribers to our Open RAN, Disaggregation and Ecosystems research module (login required). 

Nokia Cloud and Network Services used the backdrop of the TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World to give invited analysts an update on the business unit’s market progress and product developments.

With some updated positioning, results from deployments, live demos and discussion with execs and specialists, the event offered plenty of opportunity to see how Nokia CNS is evolving. Topics covered include the new Enterprise Edge Charging offer, the AVA Data Suite, and Network as Code, as well as real-world results from its analytics collaborations with Google Cloud.

This Research Note provides insights from the day, and is essential reading for anyone looking for an up to date view of Nokia CNS capabilities and direction.

This report is free to access for subscribers to our Observability and Data Management Research, or our Digital Enablement Research.

Nokia’s Cloud and Network Services (CNS) is a $3bn+ business unit, home to an extensive portfolio of network automation, analytics, security, charging & policy and network monetization software. As such, with a global customer base, including many enterprise customers, this BU’s strategy and outlook provides a valuable proxy for the priorities of CSPs.

This 16-page report starts by considering the impact of a recent (Spring 2024) change in leadership, and goes into detail on CNS’ market progress and road ahead, including their thinking on AI and GenAI, autonomous networks, security and more.

This research report is available free for subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration or AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research modules [login required].

Appledore was among a small group of analysts invited to an in-person briefing at Nokia’s Executive Experience Center in Espoo, following a well-attended User Group for its mobile core products.

The visit provided an extensive opportunity to hear about Nokia’s plans in mobile core, especially 5G Standalone, and about changes in the market during 2022. We were also shown a selection of live demonstrations showcasing real-world applications of several Nokia strategic themes, including SaaS and network-as-code.

This short Research Note will be of interest to anyone wanting to understand developments and changes within the 5G Mobile Core market, and/or the trajectory of one of the leading vendors.

This research is part of our Digital Enablement research module. Current subscribers can access the report here. 

This document profiles Nokia Deepfield cloud and networks analytics platform.

With recent organisational changes, Nokia has moved further into what Appledore considers a “post-OSS” era. Nokia Digital Operations is the latest name for an enlarged portfolio of existing and new software assets. We put that in context, and take a look at the heart of the portfoltio: the aptly-named Nokia Digital Operations Center.

For more on our coverage of Nokia (including free-to-view content), see here.

All the intelligence and automation in the world is for naught, if users can’t actually reach the network in the first place. Geography, topology and cold hard economics all contribute to making the last mile a critical yet hugely challenging part of a telecom operator’s business. The digital divide that has arisen between well-connected urban and underserved rural communities is both real and vital for operators and governments to address.

In this research note, we look at one example of a vendor innovating to address the technical and economic challenges of connecting remote, hard-to-reach locations: Nokia, with its FastMile 5Gmm receiver.

This research note is free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module (login required). 

Nokia’s recent partnership with Infobip aims to create a global developer community to leverage the combined strengths of both companies’ API platforms. This collaboration is designed to facilitate the creation of telco network-powered applications, allowing developers to access a wide range of capabilities and services. The partnership has potentially important implications for the telecommunications industry, combining Nokia’s expertise in networking, including fixed networks, 5G and 4G with Infobip’s comprehensive CPaaS offerings. This report is based on insights gathered from: In this note we look at the background behind this announcement and what it might mean for CSPs contemplating introducing network APIs.

The report will be of interest to CSP CTOs who are considering Network API strategies.

This research is free to subscribers to our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure research module (login required). 

The telecommunications industry stands at an important inflexion point. The rapid evolution of network technologies, coupled with the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, has elevated security from a technical consideration to a C-suite imperative. Prevention, rather than remedy, has become the watchword, driven by potential liability, customer trust, and loyalty concerns.

Nokia NetGuard Cybersecurity Dome links this new security need and a focus on the telco market. Nokia’s  experience across transport and 5G mobile networks brings telco-specific expertise to the broader IT security space. NetGuard Cybersecurity Dome provides a platform to orchestrate threat detect and response . It has been designed as an “as-a-service” solution to offer the scalability that telecoms require, allowing for gradual adoption and expansion of security functionalities as networks and requirements grow.

This research is available free for subscribers to our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure research module (current subscription and login required). 

This profile documents the intent, strategy, execution, and benefits of Nokia’s NSP solution.  In particular, we look at its fit in the context of ideal next-generation operation of the “telco cloud” and its ability to contribute to high degrees of automation, closed-loop operation and agility.  We compare NSP to Appledore’s published recommendations and to general practice in the industry.

The telecom industry has made several attempts to create APIs that will make tapping network capabilities as simple as adding a line of code to an application. But incremental revenue seems to have been largely captured instead by third parties, with limited revenue going to telcos. 5G may change things, and the GSMA’s Open Gateway and related Linux Foundation Camara effort are signs of fresh optimism.

Nokia’s Network as Code was launched against this backdrop. In this research note, we look at the NaC proposition, its relationship to a mature CPaaS market, and how Nokia is going about turning a revolutionary idea into revenue for its CSP partners.

This research is free to subscribers to our Open & Disaggregated Networks research (current subscribers can login here). 

In July 2022, Appledore was invited to attend an event cohosted by Nokia and the TM Forum on the topic of SaaS in Telecom. This was a good opportunity to hear from the leadership of a relatively new business line, as well as from multiple UK operators, on the topic of telecom SaaS. Nokia officially introduced Nokia SaaS to the market in November 2021.

This 6-page Research Note provides an introduction to Nokia SaaS and its positioning and significance for telecom CSPs, enterprises, and entrepreneurial developers.

One of the key announcements from Nokia’s 2023 SReXperts Americas event was the new SR 7730 router and FPcx chip. Grant Lenahan takes a look at the specs, explains the positioning and significance of these new offerings – and why they represent both a continuation of Nokia’s technical lineage, as well as a disruptive market innovation.

This report is essential reading for network strategy and architecture heads at CSPs, as well as for other suppliers of IP and Optical solutions.

Available free for subscribers to our Automation and Orchestration research module, or for one-off purchase below.

Despite the increasing amount of airtime in telecom taken up with talking about software, telecom is still fundamentally reliant on the hardware that processes and routes vast amounts of bits around the network, in the most efficient, secure and intelligent way possible. Nokia’s annual SReXperts and Wavelength events offer a window into the innovation and progress that continues to be made to do just that, in the company’s IP and Optical network portfolio.

Appledore had privileged access to the 2022 event, and this extensive, in-depth Research Note calls out what we think are the most notable developments revealed at the show, from silicon to security. We offer our takeaways on what the SReXperts show revealed about Nokia’s strategy, and about how Nokia is responding to trends such as intent, open interfaces and automation.

This report is essential reading for network strategy and architecture heads at CSPs, as well as for other suppliers of IP and Optical solutions.

Held in multiple regions, Nokia’s annual SReXperts series of events offers an in-depth, up-close look at the company’s latest innovations and strategy in IP and Optical.

At the main event in New Orleans, there was new silicon (which we cover in greater depth in a sister-Research Note), new routers, and more. We offer our takeaways on what the SReXperts show revealed about Nokia’s strategy in IP and Optical.

This report is essential reading for network strategy and architecture heads at CSPs, as well as for other suppliers of IP and Optical solutions.

This research is published as part of our Automation and Orchestration research module.

Existing subscribers can access it here. 

The report is available for one-off purchase below, or contact us for subscription or other enquiries. 

Network security is always top of the list of priorities for telcos, and they need all the help they can get in understanding how the threats to their, and their customers’ networks, are constantly evolving.

Nokia’s Threat Intelligence Report compiles information from a range of sources to highlight trends and behaviours that telco execs need to be aware of.

In this research note we offer our own key takeaways from the 2024 report, as shared in a briefing to analysts in October 2024.

This research is available free for subscribers to our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure Management research. 

This report has been superseded by a new version.

This updated solution profile on Nokia Unified Inventory assesses the product against Appledore’s Inventory Management Market Outlook (Nov 2022) which provides additional analysis of key players in inventory, their solutions, company, and market impact, with a uniquely Appledore Research perspective.

Unified Inventory is now a stand-alone product, a change from its original positioning. It is integrated with Nokia’s Digital Operations Center (Assurance Center, Orchestration Center, and Unified Inventory). For existing customers it is also integrated with FlowOne.

This profile is one in a series available to subscribers to our Network Data Management and Observability research module.

Nokia and NVIDIA have teamed up to create an Open-RAN/vRAN edge platform and ecosystem that delivers accelerated RAN performance as well as supporting advanced industrial AI workloads at the edge (example: machine vision/recognition). This is an instance of Nokia’s commitment to “anyRAN”, announced at last year’s MWC Barcelona (February 2023).

In this research note we look at how this collaboration works, and the implications and possibilities for AI at the network edge.

This research is available free for subscribers to our Disaggregated Networks, Open RAN and Ecosystems research module (login required). 

The June 2023 announcement by Nokia and Red Hat is a powerful demonstration of how the telecom supplier landscape is evolving in response to the impact, opportunities and challenges of cloud economics. We look at the announcement and its implications for both companies, CSPs, and the wider market.

This research note is available free to subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration, or Distributed Cloud Infrastructure Management research modules. 

In April 2024 the US government’s NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration) convened its first RIC Forum, a conference on the next steps to delivering the Open RAN RIC. The forum invited presentations and demonstrations with a focus on two particular use cases (energy management, and traffic steering) and giving priority to those demonstrating practical applications in both commercial and US DoD contexts.

This Research Note provides summaries and commentary from the three-day event, which featured 18 different presentations and demonstrations from major open RAN players such as AT&T, Mavenir, Capgemini, Juniper, Viavi, Microsoft as well as specialists, and industry bodies such as the Telecom Infra Project, and the Open Networking Foundation.

This report is available free to subscribers to our Disaggregation and Open RAN research module (login required). 

Nuage and Asavie – Extending SDWAN to Mobile Devices

Appledore have argued that one of SDWAN’s great values is the automation of security, and therefore reducing or eliminating the most common vulnerabilities – configuration errors and therefore security holes, left by human error.  This new partnership greatly extends that security automation, to any edge devices connected to mobile networks, while simplifying the user experience.  At the same time, this strengthens Nuage’s offer, and increases the value proposition and revenues that CSPs can address with their managed SDWAN solutions (their “TAM”).

O2 Telefónica Germany’s program to migrate one million mobile customers to a Nokia 5G SA Core running on AWS infrastructure is a watershed in the adoption of public cloud by brownfield operators.

Even more significant is how AWS innovated to meet Germany’s stringent data privacy and security requirements.

This report explains the journey of this ground-breaking implementation and the significance for the industry.

This report is free courtesy of AWS. 

“Often prescriptions on changing culture can be seen as “too hard” and ignored”

Observability is an important first step in allowing automation, security and innovation in the cloud-native network. It is also an important corrective step in enabling telcos to fully benefit from virtualization and cloud-based network solutions. However, openness with collaboration is a critical second step in allowing insights gained from that observability to both scale and deliver quickly. Sharing of data, insights, and solutions across the cloud-native network supply chain supporting all data-intensive processes, including security and the network software lifecycle.

This report looks at how openness and a culture of sharing both data and insights will be a driver of success with cloud-native telcos. This report identifies practical steps that telcos (and their vendors) can take to adopt openness. It is aimed at decision-makers in CSPs and their vendors who are adopting cloud and cloud-native approaches for networks, the cloud-native telco. The report looks at the need for openness (open-source principles and collaboration), on top of observability, in making this change. Interested readers should also see the sister report: observability beyond telemetry.

This research is available to subscribers to our Observability & Data Management module. 

For details of all our research modules, click here. 

Assuring service performance and delivery in a modern cloud-native network requires more real-time data capture and analysis. It also demands a wider scan of the network infrastructure, as services no longer run in a single network domain but instead across many technology domains. The service chain itself could be hundreds of microservices distributed across multiple cloud providers. Observability is the knowledge of how multiple domains perform at any given time. Each of the network domain outputs is a credible source of understanding of how well the overall service is performing.

In this whitepaper, Appledore looks at how observability is critical to the successful delivery of 5G networks and how Netscout is enabling this.

“Telcos should have a clear strategy for observability in their cloud-native networks.”

Observability will be critical to business success from the modern cloud-native network. Observability is more than “telemetry 2.0”. Enabling a data-driven and API-exposed network (CPaaS), it also drives automation and autonomy in the network, driven by business policy or even AI. It supports the Lifecycle Management (LCM) of the cloud network. It supports innovation in the network, with applications such as the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC). It supports business success allowing a telco to understand if a network service is profitable. Most critically it supports strong security in the network.

But all of this is only achievable with a fundamental shift in the way CSPs manage telemetry data from the network.

In this report, Appledore looks at the practical need for observability, and the consequences of not having full observability in the cloud-native network. The key takeaway is that telcos should have a clear strategy for observability in their cloud-native network and the steps to achieve this change. However, this change can be evolutionary and is practically achievable by all telcos.

This research is available to subscribers to our Observability & Data Management module. 

For details of all our research modules, click here. 

Analysis of ONAP, its status, potential impact on the marketplace, and recommendations for Service Provides and Suppliers.

For Open RAN to succeed, it must find a way to reconcile the additional complexity that it introduces with mobile operators’ need for a manageable number of options, and for end-to-end management – especially of performance. These remain strong selling points for providers of conventional RAN.

The emergence of ecosystems of vendors is a key sign that the Open RAN community is responding to this challenge. In this extensive market outlook we review what considerations are shaping these ecosystems, how different ecosystems emphasize different aspects of the RAN (and Open RAN) challenge, and call out the most notable examples in market today – anchored by the likes of NTT, NEC, Rakuten Symphony, Samsung, Nokia, Mavenir, Dell, Intel, AWS, Azure.

Scroll down to see the Table of Contents.

This research is free to subscribers to our Open & Disaggregated Networks research module (login required). 

Appledore believes the mobile telecom industry is on an open RAN trajectory. In this report, we look at the Open RAN leadership and the standards ecosystems that have already formed or are being formed. Ecosystems which, by definition, we believe will have greatest influence on the speed of transition to Open RAN. This report complements our analysis of the value of Open RAN for operators in our Open RAN Value Market Outlook.

The use of open source software has historically been viewed with some caution in telecom, but that is changing rapidly. Under the auspices of the Linux Foundation and others, open source software initiatives have gained new levels of respectability among telcos and vendors. But not all open source software is the same, and users in telecom especially should be alert to the pros and cons of investing time and effort in an initiative.

In this Research Note, we look at the different forms of open source in telecom, some historical examples (including ONAP), and the distinct domains where it has more (or less) traction. We also provide a set of criteria that CSPs and vendors can use to evaluate any given initiative against, and so make an informed decision about committing time and resources.

This research is available free to subscribers to our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure Management research (login required). 

The emergence of low-cost, low earth orbit (LEO) satellites introduces a new way to address the problem of connecting hard-to-connect locations – such as oceans and remote areas. But translating that technical capability into an operational business model also needs considerable innovation on the supporting systems that conventional telcos rely on.

In this whitepaper, developed in partnership with Netcracker, Appledore how the operational needs of satellite comms (and LEO operators in particular) differ fundamentally from conventional telecom OSS and BSS, explores the implications for operators, and looks at how Netcracker’s Digital Satellite Solution and overall approach addresses the challenges.

This whitepaper is available as a free download, courtesy of Netcracker. 

Appledore subscribers can also access the whitepaper directly (no download) via their Automation & Orchestration or Operator Strategies & Vision research subscriptions (login required).

Optiva is a provider of BSS and real-time charging systems to telecom operators. Since its founding as Redknee almost 25 years ago, it has evolved significantly with both organic and inorganic growth periods, attracting a notable base of telco customers. Today, it is a reconfigured, more streamlined, focused vendor, with a distinct proposition in the BSS market.

Principal Analyst John Abraham profiles the company and its solution as part of our Digital Enablement research module.

This report is available free, courtesy of Optiva. Registration details will only be used for download will not be shared with any third party. 

At a two-day event at held at Oracle’s Redwood HQ, Oracle provided a comprehensive update to analysts on its strategy. Of particular relevance to Appledore customers is the work of the Oracle Communications business unit alongside vertical business units, as well as Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. AI and GenAI featured strongly. Patrick Kelly provides the summary and key takeaways in this 11-page research note.

This research is available free to subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance research module (login required).

Oracle Communications provided a mid-year update on its market progress. In this Research Note we summarize the developments and offer our own, independent commentary on the significance for Oracle, its customers and competitors.

This profile is available to subscribers to our Digital Enablement, Automation & Orchestration, and Observability and Data Management research modules.

Oracle, along with the likes of ServiceNow, Salesforce, Microsoft or Dell, HPE (and a growing number of analytics and AI firms), is a good example of a major IT supplier for whom telecom is only a fraction of its business. Not only that, but there are several industry segments in which it is the leading provider of industry-specific application software.

This Research Note provides our independent perspective on how Oracle’s telecom business unit is combining with its applications and other business units to address the needs and opportunities for telecom within industry verticals.

This report is available to subscribers (login required) to our Digital Enablement, Observability and Data Management or Strategy & Vision research modules.

Despite Oracle already being one of the best-known brands in the world, we think that their last 2-3 years or so in the telecom space warrants a closer look. Something has been quietly going on in Oracle Communications, and how telecom regards it could be due a reboot.

This 8-page Research Note offers a new perspective on Oracle’s position in telecom, highlighting organizational and other developments that provide evidence of Oracle’s fresh new ambition – and heading – in telecom.

This solution profile is part of a series of profiles that accompanies our market outlook report on the inventory management market.  This profile focuses on Oracle’s Unified Inventory Management and Topology solution, part of Oracle’s wider portfolio of business and operations support offerings.

This profile is one in a series available to subscribers to our Network Data Management and Observability research module.

Note: Existing subscribers can access the report from their Digital Locker. Click here to log in/access the locker

Service providers need extra sophistication to enhance their offerings to customers, but that the added complexity this brings tends to slow the rate at which they actually bring new offerings to market. In this 15-page paper, we explore the concept of “Orchestrated Innovation” as a way for CSPs to resolve this conflict, and profile a vendor that is realizing the concept with real-world deployments of its innovative platform: Inmanta.

Anyone with an interest in service orchestration, automation or innovation should read this paper for a new perspective on all three.

Note that this report is FREE to download, courtesy of Inmanta. However, your registration details will not be shared.

When the dust at OpenAI finally settles (or the revolving doors to the CEO’s office stop turning), how will the AI landscape have changed – and who will be shaping the future of the industry?

This research note is available free to subscribers to our AIOps, Analytics and Assurance or Operator Strategies & Vision research module (login required). 

A wonder-tool for sure, but it’s necessary to put GenAI into context before deciding which jobs it’s the right tool for. In this research note John Abraham and Grant Lenahan explore some background concepts to help explain GenAI in the context of adjacent uses of AI and Machine Learning in telecom. By way of example, they highlight briefly how three major suppliers to telcos – Microsoft, Amdocs and Nokia – are evolving their strategies in light of GenAI’s remarkable capabilities.

Given the significance of the topic, this research is published across multiple research modules: existing subscribers can access it via AIOps, Assurance, Analytics Research; Automation & Orchestration or Digital Enablement research modules.

For most operators, the question is not whether to start moving towards autonomous networks, but how. Specifically, how to manage the evolution of today’s networks and operations (brownfield) into radically different versions.

Part 1 in this series introduced the eight best practices as a blueprint for the end state. In this companion analysis, we set out the route map for how to manage the evolution to the future. The report offers recommendations not only for CSPs, but also for vendors aiming to position their solutions as enablers for achieving new levels of network automation and autonomy.

The document offers a definitive routemap and guidance points for the journey to autonomous networks, and will be both a reference guide for architects and strategists, as well as a way for the telco C-suite to understand its vital role in this era-defining transformation.

Scroll down for the full table of contents.

The full report is available free to subscribers to our Automation and Orchestration research module.

RADCOM provides automated assurance solutions to tier-1 CSPs in North America, Asia, and Europe. This profile focuses on RADCOM’s ACE assurance platform.

This report is free to download. Appledore does not share download or registration details with any third party. 

Rakuten Symphony has rapidly established itself as a fully-fledged supplier to the global telecom industry, backing up its disruptive vision of cloud-native networks with the software required to plan, build and operate them at scale, automatically: Symworld. In September 2022, it unveiled its offering for end-to-end Service Assurance, together with data points from several years of live operation at Rakuten Mobile.

In this profile, we assess what Symphony Service Assurance is, and how it makes possible some radical ideas about how to assure services – not only for cloud-native networks.

This profile is essential reading for:

• CSPs with an interest in evolving their assurance to respond to new operational and customer challenges.
• Suppliers in the service assurance market including fault management, performance management, configuration management.
• Systems Integrators in network automation software (NAS)

Independently researched by Appledore analysts, this download is free, courtesy of Rakuten Symphony. Details used for download from the Appledore website will not be shared. 

In this profile, we look at how one company, Rakuten Symphony, is building a new type of data platform, one that can support the movement of CSPs from physical networks to one fundamentally on the cloud.

“When you have to make real-time decisions, you need the information to be 100% correct and you want information to be live”

Observability in general is now a well-trodden path in hyperscale cloud. Observability in the context of a telecom-focused infrastructure is barely charted. By proving the observability framework at scale in Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Symphony is in the vanguard of enabling this change in telcos.

Symworld Cloud Observability provides a cloud-enabled, cloud-neutral solution, for telemetry data management that is already proven in a Rakuten Mobile in Japan. Symworld Observability Framework is a critical part of the data infrastructure of the Symworld platform and provides a single environment for the consistent management of telemetry data from the Rakuten network cloud.

Independently researched by Appledore analysts, this download is free, courtesy of Rakuten Symphony. Details used for download from the Appledore website will not be shared. 

Squeezing in between TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World and MWC Las Vegas, Rakuten’s annual Optimism event might not have received the attention it deserved from the telecom community. But make no mistake: the update on Germany’s 1&1 offered important new insights on Rakuten Symphony’s progress in enabling telecom industry disruption beyond its native Japan.

In conversation with Symphony CEO Tareq Amin, Chief Revenue Officer Rabih Dabbousi, 1&1 CEO Michael Martin gave new details of 1&1’s progress and thinking on key aspects of its plans.

As well as highlighting achievements to date at 1&1, the discussion offered insights into industry-wide concerns including security and energy optimization.

Appledore attended the official launch of the Rakuten Symphony Open RAN Experience Center, at Weybridge, Surrey, UK on 28^th March 2023.

Part test center, part showcase, this new facility is an impressive addition to the company’s efforts to take its technology and partner ecosystem to a global market.

In this research note we look at the context and drivers behind Rakuten’s new facility.

This research note is available free to subscribers to our Disaggregation, Open RAN and Ecosystems research module.

Note: Subscription clients can access the report from their Digital Locker. Click here to log in/access the locker, or contact us with any queries. 

In this profile, we look at how Rakuten Symphony has built a new type of data platform, a platform with an inventory that can support the movement of CSPs from physical networks to fully cloud-native.

Symworld Inventory provides a cloud-enabled, cloud-neutral solution, for network topology that is already proven at Rakuten Mobile in Japan.

“Rakuten is putting a single inventory at the heart of every operational process”

Rakuten Symworld Inventory, part of the Symworld platform, is a modern inventory solution that supports the need of recording the physical state of the network and the ever-changing logical state of the network through time. However, unlike many current OSS today, in Symworld everything goes through a single common inventory. Inventory touches every module in the Symworld platform. This is a subtle, but significant change in the role of the inventory in OSS.

Independently researched by Appledore analysts, this download is free, courtesy of Rakuten Symphony. Details used for download from the Appledore website will not be shared. 

As part of a much larger group of digital services companies, Rakuten Symphony has more access than most to AI know-how and the all-important data. It is now leveraging that expertise and technology, together with OpenAI, to “reinvent telecom”.

In this Research Note, we preview Rakuten AI, in the context of a revamped OSS strategy and portfolio.

This research note is free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research. Authorized users can access the report from here (login required). 

This is Appledore Research Group’s major “framework” report on automated, next-generation assurance. It complements “The Role of Closed Loop Automation in Virtualized Networks” and serves ad the foundation for many profiles and future documents.

RCR Wireless took its Live! series to London, exploring the reinvention of telcos with a full day’s worth of A-list speakers. Francis Haysom provides his takeaways from across the wide range of topics covered.

You can also hear Robert Curran and Francis Haysom discussing the event on the Appledore podcast. 

Note: Existing subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision module can access the report from their Digital Locker. Click here to log in/access the locker

In this updated paper, we look at the evolution of Oracle’s approach to the management of real time network topology.

Oracle has traditionally focused on inventory to support the order to cash fulfilment-centric processes. Now with its acquisition of Federos, it can provide an integrated inventory platform, capable of supporting fault to resolution assurance-centric processes, a stepping stone on the road to network autonomy. The Oracle inventory platform will provide a real-time federation of the network from existing management system data and data taken directly from devices.. This provides a foundation on which AI/ML assurance intelligence can be built, making it an enabler for the transformation of network assurance and analytics for a telco, an enterprise, or their customers.

CSPs require an evolutionary approach to adopting cloud native networks and their automated operational approach. Federation, the aggregation of existing data and systems, is a key enabler of an evolutionary approach to network transformation and automation. It allows CSPs, with existing multivendor networks and hybrid physical and virtual networks, to gain a single view of the network and forms the basis for Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) on top of the real world network.

This Appledore paper is free to download, courtesy of Oracle. Registration details will not be shared. 

Red Hat is bridging the gap between the potential benefits of open source cloud native applications, and the operational reality of telecommunication networks. It examines Red Hat’s offerings and its value for the telecommunications sector, providing a detailed analysis of the potential benefits and challenges associated with their solutions.

Red Hat is a key player in telecom’s shift to cloud-native architectures, 5G, and edge computing. With a strong open source foundation and deep partnerships, Red Hat is well-positioned to address the challenges telcos face in digital transformation. Its dedicated telecom engineering team and focus on Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat OpenStack Services on OpenShift are crucial for driving modernization across the infrastructure, from DC to Edge.

This research is available free for subscribers to our Distributed Cloud Infrastructure research module (current subscription and login required). 

“Telco saved us during Covid, but it has not changed the dial for the telco.”

A common theme is emerging across most of the telco events Appledore attends. Lots of patting on the back for a good job done in Covid. Lots of talk about the challenging profitability of telco and the commoditization of its major services. Plenty of talk about innovation and transformation, but limited evidence of anything that really changes the dial for CSPs: a slightly better core and a slightly better, slightly more flexible, lower-cost RAN, but doing something different is missing.

Similarly, there is hope for new opportunities from cloud-based networks, cloud-native applications, and AI. Lots of desire to become relevant to enterprises with new private networks. However, most CSP projects in this area remain either science projects or where the enterprise application value remains stuck in delivering connectivity.

In all these areas there is a disconnect between what is painted as a huge opportunity for telco and actual progress on the ground. An industry that is involved in lots of small projects, but no sense of how this business scales. An industry still waiting for the new killer use case.

This research takes this “industry in the doldrums” narrative and tries to offer some answers as to what telco innovation could really be. It looks at the need for increased clarity of the role that telcos can take, both individually and combined with others in addressing customer problems.

This report is available for single copy purchase below or FREE for subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research (login required). 

“Amdocs makes a smart buy in acquiring MYCOM OSI and catapults itself into the automated assurance market, giving it a viable path to network autonomy”- Patrick Kelly 

Amdocs announced on May 24, 2022, that it intends to acquire MYCOM OSI a private supplier of service assurance solutions for $188 Million in an all-cash deal.

Amdocs is sending a clear signal to the market that it intends to provide the full suite of solutions necessary to automate operations in telecommunication networks. With Mycom OSI, Amdocs gains credibility in the network and service assurance market. Mycom OSI also complements the broader solution focused on customer experience. 

In this 4-page Research Note, we look at the implications of this acquisition for CSPs and vendors alike. The report looks at the market impact on assurance vendors like Netscout, Infovista, TEOCO and Accedian. As well as the opportunities and challenges for full suite OSS competitors like Netcracker and Oracle.

“NEC is aiming to solve three fundamental challenges in the market today for Open RAN. Reduce complexity, validate performance, and provide carrier-grade stability” – Patrick Kelly 

Appledore Research visited the NEC Open RAN Center of Excellence in London on May 12, 2022. 

The London CoE is one of six NEC CoEs around the globe. The others are focused on Radio (in Japan, India, and the US) and IP & Transport networks (in Turkey and Brazil). As such, NEC’s CoE is no mere lab, but a genuine hub for global knowledge sharing, based on its active open RAN projects as well as supporting the market introduction of new offerings (or new partnerships). The team at the CoE is expanding rapidly and is currently home to around seventy-five staff. The CoE site is dedicated to supporting the full Open RAN lifecycle, from pre-release product testing all the way through to live, in production sites. 

In this 8-page Research Note, we look in detail at the NEC lab and NEC’s strong ambition to lead the validation of truly open disaggregated Open RAN solutions.

As 5G deployments take hold, NWDAF brings us closer to realizing a new era of automation and insights that the industry has been foreshadowing for the past decade. At the same time NWDAF will disrupt the classic service assurance market.

In this 6-page Research Note we look at what NWDAF is, and summarize the offerings from suppliers including Amdocs, Ericsson, Huawei, Guavus, InfoVista, NEC, Netscout, Nokia, Rakuten Symphony, Samsung, Sandvine, Spirent and Viavi. 

This Research Note reviews Arden Media’s Private Networks Forum event from May 2021, with Appledore commentary and analysis on themes and presentations from a range of companies including Altiostar, Bosch, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Ford, Google Cloud, Mavenir, Radisys, Viavi and Vodafone.

This Research Note provides an overview of the concept of spectrum-as-a-service, and a short profile of Federated Wireless, a leader in this field with a platform enabling novel commercial opportunities for telcos and other players such as neutral hosts and towercos.

This profile of Swisscom shows how they have evolved their enterprise architecture successively through generations, ultimately establishing a modern framework for supporting a future as a digital services provider (DSP).

“The industry should pat itself on the back for a job well done. However…” – Francis Haysom

TelecomTV’s annual Digital Service Providers (DSP) Leaders event gathers the great and the good from across the industry to talk turkey in a more intimate setting, but was the mood of self-congratulation shared? Appledore was there to join the discussion.

Subscription clients can access this research directly via their Digital Locker. For help or queries, contact us.

“The deployment by Vodafone of Cardinality, on the Google Cloud Platform, is a significant industry development” – Francis Haysom

Appledore sat down with Prashant Kumar, CTO of Cardinality.io, at Futurenet World in May 2022. We discussed their strategy and their recent successful deployment of a pan-European network performance platform at Vodafone on the Google Cloud Platform.

Subscription clients can access this research directly via their Digital Locker. For help or queries, contact us.

This Research Note provides initial analysis and commentary on the acquisition of Wind River by Aptiv.

How is service assurance changed by the demands of 5G, with its service-based architecture, telco cloud context and emphasis on new kinds of distributed services?

This Appledore research note is free to download, courtesy of Rakuten Symphony. Download details (email address) will not be shared. 

The launch of Nokia’s FP5 highlights how carrier-grade IP routing is about more than raw power. In this short Research Note we look at what the FP5 silicon offers, and what it means for CSPs and other buyers of high-capacity IP networking equipment.

Appledore subscribers will find this Research Note already in their Digital Lockers – log in for access.

How operators connect with each other, with their enterprise customers, and with third party suppliers, has long been a topic for industry discussion and various efforts to standardize. ServiceNow’s Service Bridge offering is an important solution to the problem. In this profile, we assess the challenges and ServiceNow’s response, including a SWOT analysis.

This research is available to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision module (login here). 

For details of all our research modules, click here. 

This profile offers an evaluation of ServiceNow’s network inventory solution. Although ServiceNow is a new player in the telco inventory market, it has gained a competitive advantage through its partnerships with major carriers like AT&T. The recent Tokyo release provides a telco inventory solution that is user-friendly and tailored to the needs of telcos. To learn more about ServiceNow’s telecom network inventory offering, read this 14-page analysis.

This research is available to subscribers to our Observability & Data Management module. 

For details of all our research modules, click here. 

This profile looks at ServiceNow’s network inventory solution TNI. Although ServiceNow was a new player in the telco inventory market, it has gained a competitive advantage through its partnerships with major carriers like AT&T. The report details the progress of the TNI solution since its first Tokyo release.

TNI provides a telco inventory solution that is user-friendly and tailored to the needs of telcos within a wider “as a service” solution. ServiceNow TNI is rapidly achieving function parity with traditional inventory players, all embedded in one of the leading enterprise process management applications.

This research is available free to subscribers to our Observability & Data Management module. 

For details of all our research modules, click here. 

Reliance on speciality silicon is increasing in telecom, both in its volume and its variety. This has implications higher up in the stack, and into even into operations.

This research note explores some of the operational implications of deploying specialty silicon. In particular, on the scope and capabilities of orchestration.

This research note is available free for subscribers to our Automation & Orchestration research module (current subscribers can login here). 

SK Telecom is one of the world’s largest operators, and one of its most progressive and innovative. In August 2023, it announced an additional $100m investment in San Francisco-based Anthropic, a GenAI startup also backed by Alphabet/Google. Together with other recent announcements on AI with telco peers, what does this signify about telecom’s relationship and ambition for AI in general – and GenAI in particular?

This research note is available free to subscribers to our Operator Strategies & Vision research module. 

Slurp’it network discovery aims to deliver the key foundations to network automation that are not in place in many enterprises and CSPs: network visibility, inventory accuracy, and ultimately Network Observability. Network discovery has long been a key concern for enterprises and telcos. The idea of a fully accurate network inventory is understood, but its implementation has always proved both problematic and its achievement impossible to objectively validate. Slurp’it aims to provide discovery that does not require complex interface development and yet still provides the breadth of device coverage normally only achievable through custom scripts. It aims to solve the network visibility issue by moving from ad-hoc custom data scripts to a consistent data-driven approach.

Existing subscribers can access the report here (login required). The report is part of our Observability and Data Management research module. If you need help or have any questions, please contact us.

“Amdocs has made dramatic changes to its forward-looking product line, branded Amdocs Intelligent Networking Suite.” – Grant Lenahan

Amdocs needs no introduction. Synonymous with telecom software, its engagements span the globe and the industry.

Based on an extensive detailed technical questionnaire, presentations, and many hours of robust discussion this 12-page report takes a deep dive on Amdocs’ End-to-End Service & Network Orchestration offering for cross-domain service orchestration (CDSO). The report includes a SWOT analysis making it essential reading both for telcos considering end-to-end service orchestration offerings, and for other vendors looking to establish a distinct and competitive market position.

This report is FREE to download, courtesy of Amdocs. Registration details will only be used to deliver the download, and are not shared with any third party. 

Subscription clients can access this research directly via their Digital Locker. For help or queries, contact us.

Blue Planet, a Ciena company, has been making steady headway in the inventory management market. This 8-page profile examines the company’s offering, notable customers and provides our own SWOT analysis, based on criteria from our wider inventory market outlook report.

This report is available free for subscribers to Appledore’s Observability and Data Management research module.

Blue Planet, a Ciena company, through a combination of acquisition and organic development has established a comprehensive orchestration offering under the “Multi-Domain Service Orchestration” banner. In this Solution Profile we look at MDSO in the context of our research on offerings, best practices and principles in cross-domain service orchestration.

The report includes a SWOT analysis, making it essential reading both for telcos considering end-to-end service orchestration offerings, and for other vendors looking to establish a distinct and competitive market position.

Ericsson makes extensive use of AI across its offerings from products to managed services. In this profile, we look at Ericsson’s current footprint of AI-enabled engagements, and future strategy. We call out strengths and potential risks for Ericsson and its customers in the still-early shift to more intelligent, automated operations.

For more on our coverage of Ericsson (including free-to-view content), see here.

This mini-profile summarises Ericsson’s involvement and interests in the Open RAN movement.

This profile provides an overview of Google Anthos, the software platform that Google hopes to make the Android of telecom network applications – a common environment that allows seamless deployment and lifecycle management for all telecom workloads, even the most demanding.

The profile includes a technical overview, looks at strategy, ecosystem & partnerships, key customer announcements, and provides a high level SWOT analysis of Anthos.