Competitive Landscape Sessio 219613

G00219613

Competitive Landscape: Session BorderControllersPublished: 1 December 2011

Analyst(s): Deborah Kish, Jay Lassman, Akshay K. Sharma

Session border controllers (SBCs) offer a set of functions that addressservice delivery problems caused by the creation of Internet Protocol (IP)network islands. In general, these problems are related to security, quality ofservice (QoS) management and network interoperability. SBC functions aretypically implemented as stand-alone network elements or as integratedfunctions of existing network elements such as a router or gateway. SBCimplementations enable separate IP networks to connect securely and cost-effectively, without compromising quality.

Key Findings■ The value of SBCs and IP services will be increased when customers (businesses and

individuals) need to reach anyone, anywhere, anytime.

■ Network connections between and among service providers and end users, as well asintraenterprise and interenterprise connections and connections between enterprises and endusers, are creating unique issues that must be managed on a session basis.

■ As service providers have begun to offer and manage end-to-end real-time services overheterogeneous IP networks, many unique technical needs have emerged that are beingaddressed by the SBC. Vendors with road maps regarding security, IPv4/IPv6 support, qualityof experience (QOE) support and policy-based control, along with regulatory compliance inSBCs, will be well positioned.

■ SBCs can play a significant role with newer applications with collaborative features emergingbetween enterprises — such as telepresence and unified communications as a service (UCaaS)— and the increase in mobile data traffic causing the need for higher capacity signaling.

Recommendations■ Vendors with enterprise solutions should have carrier-grade solutions with robust security

protection, including encryption, and IPv4/IPv6 support. These features will be important for

future-proofing networks for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking, mobility and unifiedcommunications (UC) adoption.

■ Vendors with service provider solutions should be ahead of the technology curve and includethe Diameter protocol, as well as analytics and policy control, as part of their product roadmaps.

■ Committed vendors to the SBC market will have a clear understanding of technology trends,capacity constraints, mobile communications and the impact that mobility will have onnetworks, the greater need for security, and of carrier plans regarding cloud computing.

Table of Contents

Analysis..................................................................................................................................................3

Session Border Control Started in the Carrier Networks................................................................... 3

Extended Interest From the Enterprise..............................................................................................4

Enterprise SBC Overview..................................................................................................................4

The Critical Issues Addressed by the SBC.................................................................................. 6

Baseline Session Border Control Functions................................................................................ 7

Market Drivers............................................................................................................................ 8

Market Size and Forecast......................................................................................................... 11

Competitive Situation and Trends................................................................................................... 12

Market Players................................................................................................................................13

The Future of Competition.............................................................................................................. 13

Competitive Profiles (Carrier Focused)............................................................................................ 15

Acme Packet............................................................................................................................15

Alcatel-Lucent.......................................................................................................................... 16

Genband.................................................................................................................................. 17

Huawei..................................................................................................................................... 18

Metaswitch Networks............................................................................................................... 19

Sonus.......................................................................................................................................20

Competitive Profiles (Enterprise Focused)....................................................................................... 20

AudioCodes............................................................................................................................. 20

Avaya....................................................................................................................................... 21

Cisco........................................................................................................................................22

Dialogic.................................................................................................................................... 23

RedShift Networks....................................................................................................................24

References and Methodology.........................................................................................................26

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List of Tables

Table 1. Market Drivers for Session Border Controllers......................................................................... 10

List of Figures

Figure 1. Where an Enterprise Session Border Controller Can Be Located in a Network.........................5

Figure 2. Session Border Controller Market Size and Forecast by Type, 2010-2015.............................12

Analysis

Session Border Control Started in the Carrier Networks

New services based on investments in IP technology are creating opportunities for many kinds ofcommunications service providers (CSPs). As market acceptance of next-generation servicesbecomes more widespread, new implementation challenges are arising; for example, security,network-address translation (NAT) traversal, QoS and QOE. We also see issues associated withdevices accessing the Internet, multivendor environments leading to an increase in the need forIPv6 addresses and topology hiding. SBCs are proving to be useful in enhancing theimplementation of networks used to deliver IP services for both carrier and enterprise environments,thereby optimizing the opportunities for service providers to capitalize on new sources of demand.

We define session border control as a feature set that complements service providers' IPMultimedia Subsystem (IMS) strategies. IMS is a next-generation control architecture. Within itsarchitecture, applications can be controlled and changed, regardless of the kind of network orplatform on which they run. It promises to bring flexibility, operational effectiveness, openness andstandardization to the delivery of applications across fixed and mobile networks. It specifies a SIP-based control layer with open interfaces to the transport and service layers above, and has acentralized end-user profile depository. IMS promises improved interoperability between networksand offers carriers control over applications on a per-session basis, for increased flexibility. Here theSBC can become a SIP proxy in IMS, acting as a:

■ Proxy call session control function (P-CSCF).

■ Interconnect Border Control Function (IBCF).

■ Interconnect Border Gateway Function (I-BGF)/Border Gateway Function (BGF).

Additional features include:

■ Call admission control and media path reservation.

■ Transcoding of voice codecs.

■ Security features, topology hiding and interworking with non-IMS networks.

Gartner, Inc. | G00219613 of 27

■ Regulatory compliance for lawful intercept.

■ Billing.

■ Policy-based control and traffic shaping.

■ Least-cost routing.

■ A means to achieve resiliency with service restoration over backup networks.

■ An aggregation hub for femtocells and Wi-Fi access points to support offload.

Extended Interest From the Enterprise

SIP is a foundational component of a UC enterprise environment that supports voice, IM, presence,video, unified messaging and collaboration. The implementation of SIP trunks and session bordercontrol can help the IT organization to support an increasing number of secure, low-cost, reliablecommunications channels with high transmission quality. Using SIP trunks as the transport withinpublic and private networks can help an enterprise to:

■ Improve the security, reliability and performance of communications systems.

■ Optimize costs.

■ Deploy location-independent UC services and applications.

Gartner estimates that the annual savings projection for North American users would be 28% lowerfrom the use of SIP trunks than with Primary Rate Interface (PRI) transport with equivalentthroughput. Cost optimization can also be gained by aggregating large numbers of SIP trunks intostrategically chosen centralized locations. Furthermore, centralizing contact center call treatmentenables better customer service, leveraging contact center staff, and can minimize disruption tocustomer-facing branch staff. (See "How to Leverage SIP Trunks, Session Border Control andSession Management for Cost Savings and UC Deployment.")

Enterprise SBC Overview

Enterprise SBCs (E-SBCs) provide a secure, controlled connection for points between networks thatprovide interactive, IP-based communications, such as SIP-based UC. The E-SBC is usually foundat the border between the enterprise communications network and the service provider's SIPtrunking network, which can constitute a combination of the SIP trunking border and hostedservices border.

Gartner estimates that 85% of SBCs installed in industry and government sites have been deployedby service providers in conjunction with their provisioning of SIP trunks. The purpose has beenprimarily to meet customer requirements for protecting private networks from security threats thatcould be present in the networks of service providers, and vice versa. However, SBCs have alsobeen deployed by enterprises at interconnection points to support interoperability with a mix ofother private and public networks.


As organizations increasingly consider the economies of SIP trunks for UC and large-scale contactcenter applications, Gartner recommends that IT personnel consider deploying an E-SBC for thestrongest possible security. E-SBCs focus on SIP protection, including SIP-based anomalydetection and SIP-based signatures, while also supporting the ability for organizations to prioritizetraffic and route sessions, all of which can complement the service provider's SBC.

Figure 1 shows the implementation of an E-SBC. While it's likely that software-based SBC solutionswill eventually emerge, it's also likely that these will initially be niche solutions deployed to satisfyrequirements in remote offices with low traffic at relatively lower costs.

Figure 1. Where an Enterprise Session Border Controller Can Be Located in a Network

An E-SBC connects multiple sites in a private enterprise network, enables secure access to UC services for remote users and connects the enterprise to the service provider's voice and video services.

Enterprise

RemoteUC Access

SIPTrunk

Data Center

Video-conferencing

Services

VoiceNetwork

ServiceProvider

Private IP Network

Site 1

Site n

Internet

E-SBC = enterprise session border controllerIP = Internet ProtocolSIP = Session Initiation ProtocolUC = unified communications

Source: Gartner (December 2011)

SBCs can:

■ Control signaling and media streams involved in setting up, conducting and tearing downtelephone, video or other interactive media communications.

■ Be used to control and secure communications between internal sites and networks.


■ Provide security and address many issues inherent in interconnecting communicationsnetworks, including protocol and media interworking, ensuring connection quality, andmanaging network-related costs and regulatory compliance.

SBCs work in parallel with data firewalls that handle non-SIP traffic. They provide stronger securityprotection than a SIP application layer gateway (ALG) firewall. SBCs are often deployed inconjunction with data firewalls. SBCs provide critical control functions to deliver high-qualityinteractive communications that support voice, video and multimedia sessions across IP networkborders. By controlling and normalizing traffic at the border, SBCs enable optimal performance forthe UC infrastructure. SBCs are deployed by enterprises, contact centers and government agenciesto improve interoperability, secure enterprise infrastructure, services, applications and information,and improve the reliability of IP-based communications. Although service providers often installSBCs at the edge of their networks where they interconnect with customers, these SBCs areconfigured to protect the service provider's network and deliver a single service to multiplecustomers. They cannot be configured to resolve interoperability problems with enterprise-basedcommunications equipment, and do not secure the enterprise from threats that emanate from theservice provider's network or from other customers that share the SBC. (See "Q&A: What YouShould Know About Session Border Controllers, but Were Afraid to Ask.")

SBC pricing models differ considerably from vendor to vendor. It is important to consider the totalcost of the solution, including all features, capacity needs, high-availability requirements andunderlying hardware costs. Ask the vendor if these features are included with the SBC product, or ifthey cost extra.

Service contracts are typically priced at 8% to 20% of the list price, depending on the vendor,service plan selected and total deal size.

The Critical Issues Addressed by the SBC

As new IP-based services have developed, network implementations have been patchy, withubiquitous availability being rare. The value of these IP services will be increased when customers(businesses and individuals) can use them to reach anyone, anywhere, anytime. New interactiveservices need to extend over multiple IP networks — business, residential, mobile, wireline, wirelessand cable — to become as universal as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Networkbuild-outs are now connecting disparate network segments to create end-to-end availability of real-time network services. Network connections between and among service providers and end usersare creating unique issues that must be managed on a session basis (defined as a specificoccurrence of a particular application/service traversing the network). SBCs are addressing theseissues and are being applied in four areas of the network:

■ Between the business user and the service provider's network.

■ Between service providers' networks.

■ Between the small office/home office and residence, and the service provider's network.

■ At the edge of enterprise networks.


SBCs use the Rx interface, which is the prescription to communicate with the Policy and ChargingRules Function (PCRF) and the Resource and Admission Control Subsystem (RACS) during callinitiation and renegotiation to ensure that a call conforms to policy. Diameter is the protocol ofchoice and is an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) protocol. It is an enhancedversion of the Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) protocol, which had issues ofsecurity and resiliency solved by Diameter, and it is used in the IMS architecture developed by theThird Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

When the Diameter protocol is implemented on a network, the PCRF acts as the Diameter server,and the application function in this case resides within the SBC, as a Diameter client. The SBCperforms the functions of an IMS Rx Diameter client application and handles policy information andmedia reservations at the border of an access network.

As service providers have begun to offer and manage end-to-end real-time services over IPnetworks, many unique technical needs have emerged that are being addressed by the SBC.Several of these unique needs have become benchmarks that all SBC elements must address.

Baseline Session Border Control Functions

The functions required to connect IP networks vary widely between the different networkimplementations and architectures. However, some stand out as the mandatory set. They are:interoperability/peering, QoS and security. Many different terms are used to describe thesefunctions, most created merely to establish market position by competing vendors, such as AcmePacket and Genband.

IP Network Interoperability/Peering

Network interoperability, or peering, refers to the functions required to connect IP networks that areseparately owned and managed. While SBCs facilitate peering, they are mainly IP to IP only, withIP-PSTN peering requiring specialized gateways (both signaling and media).

Specific issues addressed include protocol conversion and signaling interoperability. Protocolconversion can mean many things, including conversion between varying voice compressionschemes for voice over IP (VoIP). Signaling interoperability deals mainly with SIP, H.323 andSignaling System 7 (SS7) interoperability.

VoIP is the most widely deployed real-time application over today's IP networks. With VoIP, manyinteroperability or peering arrangements use PSTN gateways and time division multiplexing (TDM)circuits. This works fairly well for IP-PSTN voice via gateways, providing security for other traditionalvoice functions, but it introduces other impairments (for example, multiple codec conversions) andis not well suited to other real-time applications, such as true VoIP (IP-to-IP networks),videoconferencing and video streaming.


QoS Enforcement or Service Assurance

To maximize the opportunity presented by real time, providers of end-to-end IP services (such asVoIP) must be able to allocate and manage network resources on a per-session basis. Thetraditional method of overprovisioning bandwidth is becoming increasingly unsatisfactory as anapproach to this requirement due to its costly nature. To adequately perform network resourcemanagement, network service providers must understand information from both the signaling andmedia streams of the session. SBCs provide this intelligence, while collecting appropriate QoSmeasurements to ensure the enforcement of SLAs.

IPv4 and IPv6 Interworking

IPv4 addresses are quickly being depleted. As the trend toward connectivity increases, the need formore IP addresses also increases. The number of Internet-connected devices is not limited tosmartphones and tablets, but will extend to cars, household appliances and home control devices,as well as smart-grid city meters.

Security Enforcement

Perhaps the most critical function provided by SBCs is security — identifying and managing the"border of trust" when network interconnect is essential to delivering on the promise of convergedIP networks. SBCs typically provide security functionality with NAT/firewall traversal, denial ofservice (DoS) and other attack prevention.

NAT and Firewall Traversal

Firewalls and NAT have proved to be extremely useful in building large-scale data networks.However, they present two problems when it comes to interconnecting IP networks to provide end-to-end, real-time services: firewalls make it difficult for incoming calls to connect, and NAT distortsthe information needed to route calls through the IP network.

Intrusion Protection and Topology Hiding

IP networks are notoriously unsecure unless proper strategies are used to make them secure. In thecase of interconnected IP networks, the critical issues are service attacks and topology hiding.SBCs minimize the exposure of call control and processing elements (like softswitches andapplication servers) and prevent attackers from accessing the network.

Market Drivers

For more than a decade, CSPs have been migrating their networks to IP and, more recently, haveplans for the deployment of Long Term Evolution (LTE), which relies on an all-IP architecture inorder to provision enhanced services to their customers, save on capital expenditure and operatingexpenditure, and increase revenue. Other factors should be taken into consideration, such asenterprise interest in SIP trunking, leading to UC and collaboration (UC&C) adoption, and theincrease in end-user devices creating increased mobile data traffic, as well as the need for more IP


addresses as we become more Internet connected, leading to a stronger need for security incommunications. Today, we see SIP trunking being adopted as a cost-saving measure provisioningvoice service. We expect SIP trunks to be used for enhanced services in the 2014 to 2015 timeframe, while the enterprise evaluates the necessity of SBCs and vendors in the space. Table 1 liststhese market drivers.


Table 1. Market Drivers for Session Border Controllers

SBC Market Drivers Description

SIP Trunking Enterprises have been moving toward SIP trunking and away from expensiveISDN BRI and PRI trunks for economic reasons, as well as in seeking moreways of accessing more compelling services from CSPs. SBCs provide theinterconnection and conversion point between the enterprise network and theCSP.

Unified CommunicationsAdoption

It is expected that enterprises will soon be adopting SIP trunking for more thanjust voice in the coming years to save on access costs, as well as for theability to access new service options. Enterprises have, over the years, beenlooking for ways for employees to be more mobile and accessible, thereforeSIP services for conferencing, collaboration, fixed-mobile convergence andintegration with social networking applications — such as Facebook andSkype — will become more apparent.

IPv4/IPv6 Growth in the number of devices and "things" that touch the Internet, includingsmart meters, cars, home appliances and telecommunications devices, whichwill be IPv6 ready because the need for IPv6 addresses will growexponentially. Migration toward home control will require IPv6 addresses, soall the new technology migration in the core means that many morecapabilities will be necessary for the access network and the edge. SBCs willplay a role here.

Policy and Analytics Analytics and definition of policies are becoming very important for carriers, astheir VoIP/UC networks become more sophisticated and their clients/customernetworks also become more sophisticated and unmanageable. Increasing thenumber of smartphones and devices makes this more difficult. Some vendorsare including this functionality in SBC products.

Interoperability SBCs were mainly designed for protocol translation, as the move toward IPand SIP became more apparent. Additionally, with open standards providingthe opportunity for CSPs to not have to rely on a single vendor and givingthem the choice of best-of-breed equipment, multivendor environmentsbecame standard practice. SBCs allow CSPs' multivendor environments to"talk" to one another.

Regulatory Compliance SBCs have become an important part of regulatory compliance with CALEA,and E911 and Lawful Intercept.

Security Security aspects are exposed when providing SIP services, increasing IPaddresses that ultimately CSPs and enterprises would want to hide. SBCfunctions include security, interoperability, SLA assurance, revenue and costmanagement, regulatory compliance, and future VoIP application brokering toapplication servers and perhaps some load-balancing capabilities for moreefficient network management. Also, IP inherently has not been considered themost secure protocol but, throughout the past decade, there has been a moveaway from TDM toward IP.


BRI = Basic Rate InterfaceCALEA = Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement ActCSP = communications service providerIP = Internet ProtocolISDN = Integrated Services Digital NetworkPRI = Primary Rate InterfaceSBC = session border controllerSIP = Session Initiation ProtocolTDM = time division multiplexingUC = unified communicationsVoIP = voice over Internet Protocol


Market Size and Forecast

With the competitive environment growing and vendors having a focus on both camps, enterpriseand carrier, we expect that the total SBC market will grow at a compound annual rate of 23.1%between 2010 and 2015. The carrier space represents approximately 80% of the total market andwe expect that SBCs in the enterprise will gain momentum later in the forecast period, when SIPtrunks will be used for services other than just voice. For more information on market size andanalysis, see "Forecast: Carrier Network Infrastructure, Worldwide, 2008-2015, 3Q11 Update" and"Forecast Analysis: Carrier Network Infrastructure, Worldwide, 2008-2015, 3Q11 Update." Figure 2shows the expected growth in SBCs in the enterprise versus carrier environments.


Figure 2. Session Border Controller Market Size and Forecast by Type, 2010-2015

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1,000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Millions of Dollars

Enterprise SBC Carrier SBC

SBC = session border controller


Competitive Situation and Trends

Several types of SBC implementation have emerged — stand-alone elements, integrated solutionsand protocol stacks for integration — with each vendor touting the unique benefits of its product(see Competitive Profiles section). As with most emerging technologies, there is plenty of promiseand more than a little hype.

In the early days, consolidation occurred, with several SBC vendors being acquired by larger,established vendors. For example, Juniper Networks acquired Kagoor Networks, and Genbandacquired Nextpoint (the result of a combined NexTone and Reef Point). Both companies had plansto integrate into their existing product lines or for continued product development — and Genbanddid continue product development.

Today, more vendors are developing their own stand-alone solutions that were part of an existingsolution, such as Sonus' announcement of its NBS5200, Alcatel-Lucent with the IP border controller5060 and Metaswitch Networks' Perimeta, which falls in line with its former parent company, DataConnection, which manufactures protocol stacks.

In addition, the E-SBC space has been gaining attention and becoming more attractive throughnewer vendors such as Edgewater Networks, NET and RedShift Networks, as well as vendorstargeting the enterprise space with acquisitions, such as AudioCodes (acquired Netrake), Acme


Packet (through its Covergence acquisition, as well as with Avaya in the Aura product as asoftware-only model), and Avaya with its recent acquisition of Sipera, hence the competitivelandscape has grown considerably in the past three years. Large incumbent vendors such as NokiaSiemens Networks and Ericsson also offer SBC solutions. Nokia Siemens Networks also offers anSBC as part of its network core portfolio, which is based on Acme Packet and built in adecomposed fashion, composed of a Border Control Function (BCF) and a BGF. Ericsson offers anSBC as a blade.

Market Players

We have identified and distinguished the major players for both the carrier and enterprise marketsdue to the gray line between them. While E-SBCs tend to be lower capacity in terms of concurrentsessions, the requirement for carrier grade exists. Therefore, some vendors in this space cater to orspecialize in enterprise networks, while other vendors sell to both. We have included vendors suchas Alcatel-Lucent, Sonus and Metaswitch as they have the most recent direct competing productsin the stand-alone SBC space.

The Future of Competition

The SBC marketplace has witnessed huge growth with Acme Packet and Genband's products. Butit has had casualties as well, with former players disappearing or morphing into other productsthrough mergers, such as Kagoor Networks being acquired by Juniper, Jasomi Networks beingacquired by Ditech, and Netrake being acquired by AudioCodes and revectored as an E-SBC.

The original winners were companies such as Acme Packet and Genband that supported adistributed architecture, decoupling the bearer from signaling on the same chassis. Casualties werefirms that didn't scale where both the bearer and signaling were occurring on the same port.Committed vendors to the SBC market will have a clear understanding of technology trends,capacity constraints, mobile communications and the impact mobility will have on networks, thegreater need for security, and of carrier plans concerning cloud computing.

Winning vendors in the carrier SBC space will be those with high capacity, robust security andflexible platforms. Additionally, vendors that have road maps concerning the Diameter protocol,load balancing and policy management will also be well positioned.

Vendors with a focus on the enterprise will have solutions that:

■ Have been thoroughly tested and documented as an integral part of the enterprise UC solution,including common use cases, such as SIP trunking, remote worker, remote contact centeragent and video.

■ Have been incorporated into the certification configurations of the enterprise UC solution withthe SIP trunk service provider.

■ Provide support and maintenance services for UC and UC application security.


■ Have a large installed base in the service provider market, ensuring that the enterprisedeployment of the SBC will mesh well with the service provider's SBC.

■ Provide a full set of security features, including prevention of DoS, distributed DoS (DDoS)attacks and botnet attacks, and analytics to include user behavior patterns and compliance.

■ Support UC infrastructure resiliency and disaster-recovery features.

■ Scale well from about 25 to many thousands of concurrent sessions in two specific use cases:

■ In small sites, such as remote branches, and large sites, such as centralized data centers.

■ During early-stage deployments, with planned growth for later-stage deployments.

■ Can be deployed in a stand-alone configuration for data networking applications, or forconverged voice and data applications.

■ Support high-traffic, high-availability enterprise and contact center use cases.

■ Offer pricing and a licensing model that enable cost-effective future growth.

■ Support interoperability with a range of session manager and voice platform vendors.

■ Support IPv4/IPv6 interworking.

Newer entrants are looking at taking distributed topologies to another level:

■ Geographic distribution to support resiliency.

■ Regional distribution to support localized routing.

■ Wi-Fi offload and femtocell aggregation to support more inexpensive cellular offload.

■ Distributed media control and centralized policy control.

■ Distributed load sharing with newer pay-for-use business models.

Newer features supported:

■ Rich Communications Suite Enhanced (RCS-e): Rich Communications Suite (RCS) withcollaborative applications.

■ UCaaS mediation for voice, IM, applications and interworking to hosted solutions, such asMicrosoft's Lync.

■ Business intelligence analytics with deep packet inspection support for over-the-top traffic,such as Skype, and future videoconferencing support.

The market for SBCs will continually evolve. Acme Packet maintains its leadership position in thecarrier space, followed by Genband, although the gap between the No. 1 and No. 2 vendors is wide.The increase in the number of market players will soon narrow the gap. Vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent, Sonus and Metaswitch will be well positioned to close the gap due to their existing long-term relationships in the carrier space, their strong ties to TDM networks and their installed base,which, in effect, leads to effective contract negotiation and the ability to become more price


competitive. Vendors with close relationships to the enterprise, such as Avaya, Cisco andAudioCodes, will be well positioned in the enterprise space, essentially for those reasons and asthey have more specialized solutions that cater to the needs of businesses looking for cost savings,as well as more mobile-focused, robust and secure applications.

Competitive Profiles (Carrier Focused)

Acme Packet

Among networking equipment manufacturers, Acme Packet is one of the most widely known SBCvendors. Its flagship product, the Net-Net Session Director (SD), controls voice, video andmultimedia sessions across IP network borders. The Net-Net SD has traditionally been gearedtoward service providers and has been particularly successful with Tier 1 and Tier 2 carriers,although the company also has significant deployments with enterprise customers.

The Net-Net SD satisfies security, interoperability, reliability and regulatory requirements in fixed-line, mobile and enterprise networks. These deployments support: all applications, from trunking tohosted enterprise and residential services; all signaling protocols (SIP, H.323, Diameter, MediaGateway Control Protocol [MGCP] and H.248); and all border points (peering, access network anddata center). It can be deployed in networks using a wide range of technologies and architectures,including VoIP and UC, 3GPP IMS, Telecommunications and Internet converged Services andProtocols for Advanced Networking (TISPAN) IMS, PacketCable 2.0, fixed-mobile convergence(FMC) and wireless LAN, the Electronic Numbering (ENUM) standard, GSMA IP eXchange (IPX) andSIP trunking. In IMS networks, the Net-Net SD supports functional elements such as P-CSCF,access BGF (A-BGF), core BGF (C-BGF), I-BGF, IBCF, Interworking Function (IWF), Local PolicyDecision Function (L-PDF) and Service-based Policy Decision Function (SPDF).

Beyond the Net-Net SD, Acme Packet offers application-specific SBC configurations. Its SIPMultimedia-Xpress (SMX) configuration adds core session management functions, including servingCSCF (S-CSCF) and interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF). The Net-Net Transcoding Gateway is a media-only SBC configuration that delivers high-capacity transcoding for a wide range of wideband andnarrowband codecs used in fixed, mobile and enterprise networks.

Consistent with its strategy of helping customers build "session delivery networks," Acme Packethas continued to leverage its core competency in controlling real-time communications (RTC)sessions, enhancing its service provider SBC with products such as the Net-Net Session Routersession routing proxy and the Net-Net Security Gateway multiservice security gateway. Otherrecent additions include the Net-Net Application Session Controller and Interactive SessionRecorder products, which help enterprises and service providers to integrate RTC and complianceinto traditional business processes. Acme Packet has also recently announced voice over LTE(VoLTE) improvements to support LTE second generation (2G)/third generation (3G) voice callcontinuity, transcoding and high-capacity encryption coprocessing for its 1U Net-Net 3820 and4500 systems, and a new high-capacity platform called the Net-Net 14000, based on industry-standard Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA).


While Acme Packet's traditional solutions have typically been more cost-effective for very largeapplications, the company appears to be focusing on smaller enterprises as well, through Avayaand other OEM partners that can now integrate Acme Packet SBC software onto their own serverproducts. Flexibility such as this is particularly relevant in SIP trunking applications.

Acme Packet sells direct and through partners, and has a comprehensive channel sales strategythat uses a combination of network equipment vendors and other regional CSP channels, such asAlcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Italtel, NEC and Samsung. Acme Packet alsohas relationships with distributors such as Westcon and Catalyst Telecom.

More than 1,525 customers in 107 countries have deployed over 13,000 Acme Packet systems,including 90 of the top 100 service providers and 36 of the Fortune 100. Like those of itscompetitors, Acme's deployments are largely in North America and Asia/Pacific. Named customersinclude AT&T, Verizon, KDDI, NTT, Global Crossing, Korea Telecom, France Telecom, Telefonicaand Telenor.

Alcatel-Lucent

The Alcatel-Lucent 5060 IP Border Controller-4 (5060 IBC-4) offers integrated SBC functionality forVoIP, multimedia and next-generation presence-based applications for wireline and wireless IMSand pre-IMS networks. The 5060 IBC-4 supports SBC functionality and features, including security,far- and near-end firewall/NAT traversal, IPv4/IPv6 interworking, call admission control, sessionrouting, overload protection, interoperability between heterogeneous endpoints, QoS and regulatorycompliance. It supports voice, fax, video and multimedia sessions, including video calling, videosharing and video mail, as well as Message Session Relay Protocol (MSRP)-based data sessions.The 5060 IBC-4 also enables regulatory compliance for carriers by supporting emergency services(for example, Enhanced 911), Government Emergency Telecommunication Service and LawfulInterception (for example, Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act [CALEA])requirements. The 5060 IBC-4 is a fully redundant 4U ATCA stand-alone SBC. It is designed forservices beyond voice, such as RCS and presence. The high-capacity signaling plane is better ableto handle these signaling-intensive applications than existing SBCs. The 5060 IBC-4 supports atotal capacity of 200,000 subscribers, 50,000 SIP sessions and 32,000 media sessions, with a 4GB/sec media throughput, based on a typical carrier deployment traffic model.

The 5060 IBC-4 is aligned with the company's broader IMS and LTE portfolio, and is based on anATCA platform. It shares the same platform software as the 5450 IP Session Controller (S-CSCF, I-CSCF, emergency CSCF [E-CSCF], Breakout Gateway Control Function [BGCF], Access GatewayControl Function [AGCF], SPDF and P-CSCF), the 5060 Media Gateway Controller-8 (MGC-8)(IBCF, Media Gateway Control Function [MGCF], SPDF) and the 5420 Converged Telephony Server.

Alcatel-Lucent targets the 5060 IBC-4 at fixed, cable and mobile service providers of all sizes thatare deploying or have deployed next-generation network (NGN) or IMS networks, and it plans to sellto larger enterprises for network interconnect in 2012. Alcatel-Lucent sells the 5060 IBC-4 directthrough its sales teams. Channel partners will be considered in the future for the enterprise market.

Alcatel-Lucent has plans for the 5060 IBC-4 to support IP Peering Border, which will be availabletoward the end of December 2011 for fixed, cable and mobile carriers, as well as an introduction to


large enterprises. By mid-2012, plans include increased capacity, LTE support (Access TransferControl Function [ATCF]/Access Transfer Gateway [ATGW], IMS Centralized Services for LTE) andtranscoding, in addition to normal, ongoing enhancements to security features.

Alcatel-Lucent has been deploying its decomposed IP border control solutions since 2003, anddeployments for its decomposed solution include China Mobile, China Telecom, VNPT, UTK, twocarriers in Mexico and one carrier in France, all being on the fixed side of the operators' business.Alcatel-Lucent has indicated that, since the introduction of the 5060 IBC-4 in February 2011, it hassuccessfully completed two trials (in North America and Europe, and the Middle East and Africa)and has two more under way (one in each of North America and Asia/Pacific) and four planned tostart before the end of 2011.

Genband

Genband's S3 is a feature-rich, intelligent SBC that provides adaptive security, insightful policyenforcement, any-to-any seamless interworking, and advanced session routing capabilities for fixedand mobile networks. The S3 SBC is delivered on a carrier-grade highly redundant platform,deployed in over 500 operators worldwide and has over six million deployed sessions. Genbandoffers two hardware variations of the S3 — one built on Genband's ATCA GENiUS platform andanother on the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) 2U server form factor — both supporting commonsoftware. Overall, the S3 delivers a full set of capabilities for IP Interconnect, IPX, hosted UC, SIPbusiness trunking, VoLTE and RCS. The S3 also supports the IMS functions P-CSCF (with IMSApplication Level Gateway [ALG]), BGCF, E-CSCF, Access SBC, IBCF/IWF and Media ResourceFunction Controller (MRFC) for operators that have plans to deploy IMS.

The Genband S3 supports the major protocols, such as SIP, SIP with encapsulated ISDN user part(ISUP) (SIP-I), SIP for telephones (SIP-T), H.323, RADIUS, Diameter, ENUM and DNS. It deliverssecurity, service interworking and operational control including:

■ SIP Back-to-Back User Agent (B2BUA).

■ Call admission control.

■ DoS/DDoS protection.

■ Multistage rate limiting.

■ Dynamic blacklisting.

■ Virtual LAN tagging.

■ Seamless signaling and media normalization via programmable manipulation policies.

■ IPv4 and IPv6 network interworking.

■ Proactive voice quality monitoring.

■ Enhanced cost, profitability, and usage-based session routing.

■ Regulatory compliance for lawful intercept and emergency call prioritization.


■ Advanced multimedia support for voice, video, IM and RCS-e services.

Accompanying the S3 is a built-in protocol analyzer, its Real-time Session Manager (RSM). TheRSM provides visibility into the traffic that traverses the network edge and adds the analyticalcapabilities to modify call-routing behavior based on a combination of business policies, networkQoS or subscriber usage patterns. As a combined S3 and RSM solution, Genband supportsadaptive network performance-based routing, QoS monitoring and reporting, business reportinggiving visibility into the most or least profitable routes, and advanced session diagnostics.

Genband's target market for the S3 is fixed and mobile operators, IPX providers, wholesaleproviders, cable multiple system operators (MSOs), large and midtier enterprises, and over-the-topservice providers. Its sales model is direct, as well as through partners and channels.

Genband continues to make significant R&D investments to evolve border control functions, andprovide high scale and performance in its solutions, through engineering hardware and software toachieve higher and, when needed, lower capacities, and also through new methods of handling andmanaging traffic at scale. It is also working toward virtualization and leveraging multicore computingarchitectures to combine key products for more tailored deployment topologies.

Genband's S3 has been deployed by several marquee Tier 1 and Tier 2 service providers in NorthAmerica, Europe, Asia/Pacific and Central America/Latin America (CALA). While North Americacontributes the major portion of Genband's SBC revenue, it has been gaining traction in EMEA,CALA and Asia/Pacific.

Huawei

Huawei's SessionEngine family includes the SessionEngine2600, SessionEngine2300 andSessionEngine2310 products, which can be deployed at the edge of networks for residential,business and mobile VoIP service access ("A-SBC"), between service providers for interconnections("I-SBC"), or within the enterprise for enterprise service ("E-SBC"). The SessionEngine2600 offershigh levels of performance, availability and capacity to the service provider. One subrack supports600,000 subscribers, 60,000 simultaneous sessions and 2,400 call attempts per second (CAPS).The SessionEngine2300/SessionEngine2310 is for small to midsize service providers, small tomidsize enterprises, and smaller sites within larger organizations. The SessionEngine2600 andSessionEngine2300/2310 products are based on the same software and the same hardware as theNE series platform (Huawei's router hardware platform), so that much hardware and softwaresharing is available to operators that deploy both systems. The SBC products that are supportive inmultiple Huawei solutions — such as NGN, IMS, RCS, VoLTE and interconnection — providesecurity (one subrack can defend 15,000 CAPS SIP DoS attacks), interoperability, serviceassurance (multiple techniques, such as Bidirectional Forwarding Detection [BFD] millisecond classdetection), Eth-Trunk, 1+1 board hot backup and dual equipment hot backup will ensure 99.999%carrier-class reliability, and cost and revenue management functionalities. Based on the unifiedplatform, Huawei can also provide an I-SBC and A-SBC colocation solution to simplify the networkstructure and save deployment costs.

Huawei's SBC is aligned with its switching portfolio including its SoftX3000, MSoftX3000,CSCF3300, RM9000 Policy Control Resource Function, NE40 (router), iCG9815 Charging Collection


Function (CCF), UMG8900, IP Gateway (IGW), M2000 (network management system) and MC8200(video terminal) devices as a part of an end-to-end solution that will avoid new integration risk, saveinteroperability testing cost and reduce the time to market. It is also interoperable with othervendors' IMS and switching solutions, such as the IMS cores of Nokia Siemens Networks, Ericsson,Alcatel-Lucent and ZTE. It is also interoperable with other vendors' IP PBX solutions, such as thosefrom Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent.

The company's target market for its SBC solutions includes fixed and mobile VoIP operators, andenterprises with broadband activities. It relies on a direct sales model.

Huawei's SBC solutions have been deployed in the networks of: T-Mobile, Vodafone, FranceTelecom, OTE and Telecom Italia in Europe; Telkom Indonesia, SingTel and China Mobile in Asia/Pacific; America Movil, Telmex and Axtel in Latin America; and MTN, Saudi Telecom and Etisalat inAfrica and the Middle East. In 1Q11, Huawei indicated that more than 100 operators had deployedits SBC solutions.

Metaswitch Networks

Metaswitch's SBC, Perimeta, is built on an ATCA COTS platform, based on open standards, and iscomposed of two components: a signaling session controller (SSC) and a media session controller(MSC), which can be deployed separately or as an integrated appliance. It conforms to 3GPPspecifications for decomposed SBC functions and enables independent, cost-effective scaling ofthe control elements. Metaswitch offers Perimeta in a three-rack unit, two-slot and 13-rack unit, and14-slot chassis form factors.

Metaswitch has integrated a session detail and call flow capturing capability in which every SIPmessage, H.248 message, and data on every call is captured and reported to a central server, theService Assurance Server, as part of its SBC solution. Detailed end-to-end call and session tracescan be viewed using a Web browser, where each message can be expanded to show fully decodedviews. SIP message flow details are visible, even if sessions are encrypted between the SIPendpoint and SBC, which can be used for diagnostics and troubleshooting.

Metaswitch's target market for Perimeta is global service providers, including Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier3 mobile and fixed-line operators, MSOs/cable operators, competitive local-exchange carriers(CLECs) and interexchange carriers. It is sold through both direct and indirect (channels andpartners) models.

The company was originally founded as Data Connection, providing telecommunications softwareand protocol stacks to OEM customers, including Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco and Nokia SiemensNetworks. The company has plans to continue its R&D road maps to include the Diameter protocoland additional IMS functionality, such as P-CSCF and BCF.

While Metaswitch formally announced the Perimeta SBC in mid-September 2011, it had beenshipping the product since July to over 30 customers, including Tier 1 fixed and mobile serviceproviders, small and large independent operating companies, MSOs and CLECs.


Sonus

Sonus established itself in 2003 with the chassis-based NBS9000 and expanded its presence in2010 with the announcement of its NBS5200 stand-alone SBC for service providers and enterprisedeployments supporting advanced services, such as IPX, RCS and high-definition voice around theworld. The NBS9000 can be configured as an SBC, a TDM media gateway or both —simultaneously — in the same chassis. The NBS5200 is a carrier-class SBC packaged in a smallappliance form factor, delivering industry-leading performance and scalability optimized for IP-onlyapplications. The NBS9000 can scale to serve up to 30,000 sessions and the NBS5200 up to64,000 sessions.

The Sonus SBC approach serves TDM market segments and IP-only segments, and can bedeployed in a hybrid solution where legacy TDM access (such as PRI and Central AuthenticationService [CAS]), peering (ISUP) and IP access/peering essentially need to be on the same box. Anexample of this approach is the Sonus NBS9000 when simultaneous TDM/IP connectivity isrequired. The NBS5200 can be used in an IP-to-IP-only solution, when there is no need for TDMand IP connectivity to coreside in the same edge device.

Sonus differentiates its SBC with:

■ A "networked" view of routing/policy management.

■ High performance under overload conditions (while under attack).

■ Advanced media services.

■ Sonus-developed Digital Signal Processor firmware.

Sonus' target markets for its NBS5200 are wireline and wireless Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 CSPs, andenterprises. Its sales model includes direct sales, augmented by local partners to expand itspresence into new geographies and markets. Sonus is enhancing its Global Partner Program toenable expanded service provider and enterprise coverage. This major initiative is a centralcomponent to efforts aimed at broadening NBS sales to Tier 2 and Tier 3 service provider andenterprise customers.

Sonus has over 100 SBC customer deployments, including Bluemile, CenturyLink, XOCommunications, IntelePeer, Peerless Network, KDDI and KVH in Japan, KPN in the Netherlands,Tata Communications and a large bank and an airline.

Competitive Profiles (Enterprise Focused)

AudioCodes

AudioCodes' family of Mediant E-SBCs provides businesses with the interoperability, survivability,security and quality assurance required to connect to service providers over the Internet, using SIPfor signaling. Based at the business premises, AudioCodes' E-SBCs act as the point of demarcationbetween the business' VoIP network and the service provider's SIP-based services, such as SIPtrunking and hosted UC applications. The E-SBCs support remote workers' connectivity by solvingNAT traversal issues. In addition, the E-SBCs provide VoIP survivability to branch offices without IP-


PBX in case of WAN connection failure, and connection to the PSTN for fallback and localemergency calling. AudioCodes' E-SBCs cover the main aspects of business connectivity, includinginteroperability, scalability, transcoding, the PSTN interface, end-to-end QOE and security.

AudioCodes not only provides stand-alone E-SBCs for midsize organizations, but is also leveragingits large presence in the gateway market by offering cost-effective approaches that enable the sameplatform to support gateways and E-SBC capabilities. AudioCodes Hybrid Gateway/E-SBCapproach allows businesses a gradual migration path from TDM to IP by upgrading existinggateways with E-SBC software licenses. Enterprises can select from a range of products that scaleto meet site-specific requirements. AudioCodes is also certified to interoperate in a Microsoft Lyncor Office Communications Server (OCS) environment, as well as in a network that includes aMicrosoft Lync/OCS deployment interconnected with other telephony platforms and SIP trunkingservice providers.

Target customers include small and midsize businesses and large enterprises worldwide. Inaddition, its target market includes SIP trunking and IP Centrex service providers that need E-SBCsfor their business connectivity solutions. Deployment scenarios include SIP trunking connectivity,UC island connectivity, contact centers, branch-office VoIP survivability, and remote workers'connectivity to the enterprise. The company's go-to-market model is mostly indirect through serviceproviders, with a channel network of distributors and value-added resellers (VARs).

AudioCodes' E-SBC road map is focused on increasing scale, capacity and performance. The goalis to offer customers a pay-as-you-grow flexibility based on their actual needs, along with the abilityto serve any size of organization, from a small or midsize business to a very large enterprise. Thecompany also invests development efforts in catering to the specific needs of OEM customers andcontact centers. It will continue to test and certify its E-SBCs with the leading UC and IP-PBXvendors, and with large SIP trunking service providers worldwide. AudioCodes plans to expand intothe video market to enable interoperability and secured connectivity between different types ofendpoints and networks. Its E-SBC customers include BT Global Services, Georgia Military Collegeand Triton Technologies.

Avaya

The Avaya Aura SBC was developed jointly with Acme Packet. The offering requires its own serverand software, and is specifically targeted to work in an Avaya Aura enterprise environment thatrequires up to 750 simultaneous sessions and supports active/standby redundancy. The company'srecent acquisition of Sipera is intended to give Avaya a more solid foundation of security for itsAvaya Aura product. Additionally, it has gained intellectual property on which it can build and canpotentially provide its customers with a lower price point than other vendors' solutions.

The Avaya portfolio is available with a standard feature set that meets the needs of a typical E-SBCcustomer. An enhanced feature set (UC-Sec) is available for an additional fee, targeted at muchmore intensive security applications. It offers the features required in more complex and alternativescenarios.


The Avaya SBC and UC security solution is a software product with flexible, fit-for-purpose, small ormidsize business and enterprise architecture:

■ E-SBC — basic SBC for SIP trunk implementation.

■ UC-Sec — advanced security capabilities for trunk and line side implementation:

■ Remote workers are supported on UC-Sec.

■ Supports small to large single and distributed enterprise deployments. Avaya uses partnershipsto support very large and service provider networks.

■ Avaya is to expand its target market and integrate into Avaya reference platforms.

■ The software is extensible, from very small enterprises up to large enterprises.

■ It can be virtualized to combine applications/platforms.

■ Up to 2,000 simultaneous sessions per server.

■ It has multivendor interoperability, with support for various vendor call servers, endpoints andnetworks.

■ The SIP Trunk Integration Module (STIM) simplifies the interworking between the serviceprovider and the enterprise call server.

Avaya's target market includes global small or midsize businesses and midsize to large enterprises.Avaya engages in both direct and indirect sales through channels and partners. Part of its go-to-market strategy is focused on its security feature set through the acquired Sipera.

Sipera's SBC has been deployed in service environments and small hosted service providerenvironments in North America/EMEA, and in vertical markets such as universities, healthcare andfinancial institutions.

Cisco

Cisco has developed SBC functionality within its Internetwork Operating System (IOS) softwareoffering. SBC functions in IOS can, therefore, be implemented on a number of platforms. Thisallows Cisco to offer a stand-alone network element by enabling IOS SBC functions in only a givenimplementation, or an integrated element by enabling multiple IOS capabilities. Cisco UnifiedBorder Element (CUBE) Enterprise Edition is based on Cisco IOS and interconnects independentVoIP and video-over-IP enterprise networks for data, voice and video transport, and is generallydeployed in all-Cisco environments. CUBE includes a full set of standard SBC features to providesession control, security, interworking and demarcation between the enterprise and the serviceprovider. As part of Cisco's broader portfolio, CUBE is available on both the Integrated ServicesRouter (ISR) and Aggregation Services Router (ASR), thereby delivering SBC functionality across allits router models.

By being part of its routing platforms, Cisco can leverage existing router deployments, as CUBE canbe added to existing router configurations through a software upload. The increase in real-timevoice and video communication will make up a large percentage of traffic between private and


public IP networks, and control of the traffic can be provided by SBCs. The existing router providesthe QoS, packet routing, route filtering and service advertisement features, and the CUBE featuresthe session control, interworking, security and demarcation needed to deliver high-quality, high-density, real-time voice and video communication, which can be complementary to the router.

With an increase in interest in SIP trunking from the enterprise, Cisco's UC&C solutions — includingCisco Unified Communications Manager and Session Management Edition, Hosted CollaborationSolution (HCS), Virtual Experience Infrastructure (VXI), Unified Call Center (UCC), TelePresence andWebEx — will be widely deployed and are tied closely with its SBC solution. The aforementionedsolutions require VoIP interworking and demarcation between the enterprise and CSP network,where CUBE can play a role and has specific points of integration with the various Cisco UC&Csolutions.

Cisco has long been a strong vendor in the enterprise space, therefore the CUBE caters mainly tobusiness users, ranging from small or midsize business customers with fewer than 15 SIP trunks, tothe largest enterprises requiring thousands of SIP trunks distributed across multiple locations, toCSPs that offer hosted telephony services. Its overall global sales model is through all saleschannels, including Cisco direct sales, through Cisco VARs and through service providers, either asa managed or hosted service.

Cisco's R&D efforts in its router portfolio continue to involve manufacturing strong routing platformsto include capacity and integration with UC&C services, such as media recording, telepresence,mobility, interactive voice response, automated speech recognition and Web conferencing tooptimize the overall network performance for these services. It is also evaluating a number of majorthemes for development.

CUBE customers include a broad range of industry segments, including service providers,healthcare, industrial, finance, retail, transportation and federal, state and local governments.

Dialogic

Dialogic's ControlSwitch Integrated SBC was developed as part of the ControlSwitch softswitchplatform and provides SIP and H.323 peering security. The Integrated SBC is based on a distributedmodel in which the media handling and signaling security functions are separated. In the case of theControlSwitch Integrated SBC, the media handling functions are built into its I-Gate 4000 Edge andPro media gateways, while the signaling security is a software function that runs on a separate SunMicrosystems server. H.248 is used between the signaling function and the media gateways forcontrol.

The ControlSwitch Integrated SBC has been available for several years and has been deployed inmultiple ControlSwitch networks for both H.323 and SIP security. The key advantages of theIntegrated SBC are leveraging existing I-Gate 4000 media gateways that include already supportedservices, such as bandwidth optimization and transcoding, as well as the media and signaling trafficbeing separated, therefore managed and optimized independently.


Dialogic's SBC product portfolio also includes the BorderNet 500, 2020 and 3000. The 500 is aspecific enterprise SBC for placement in the customer premises equipment. It is an integrated SBCand gateway. It has been available since late 2010 and its benefits include flexibility in connectingSIP and PSTN trunks, as well as legacy, hybrid and IP-PBXs. The 2020 is an access SBC thatspecializes in handling mediation and multimedia transcoding. The 3000 is a stand-alone, low-density SBC targeted at the CSP. It has been deployed for peering and access applications, and italso leverages existing deployments of the I-Gate 4000 platform.

Dialogic's SBC solutions are targeted at peering/wholesale CSPs, Class 5 VoIP CSPs, and value-added service providers. It has specific solutions targeted at midsize and large enterprises. Its salesmodel includes direct sales, partners and channels/distributors.

Dialogic has committed significant resources to developing its SBC portfolio and continues toenhance it based on customer feedback, industry trends and requirements for new deployments. Inthe next 12 months, the majority of that investment will be focused on another product launchrelated to the SBC portfolio. Its SBC service provider customers are primarily existing ControlSwitchwireline and VoIP providers around the globe. It is targeting a large Asian carrier at the end of 2011.The company expects to obtain wireless service providers in 2012.

RedShift Networks

A relatively new vendor in the SBC space, RedShift began shipping its Unified CommunicationsThreat Management (UCTM) products in 2009. It focuses its products on IP voice, video and UC&Capplications in response to SIP trunking deployments becoming mainstream. It helps to connectenterprise VoIP/UC environments direct to the CSP network, providing rich communicationmodalities, such as IM, presence, desktop conferencing and videoconferencing, collaboration, filetransfers and application sharing at significantly lower costs.

The RedShift UCTM appliances can be installed as enterprise UC gateway or E-SBC solutionsbetween the enterprise edge and the Internet telephony service provider. The core summaryincludes:

■ A simple-to-install appliance that provides out-of-the-box protection against, and visibility of,common vulnerabilities and threats to today's UC applications, infrastructure and servers in thenetwork and in the cloud.

■ Intuitive analytics to all communication flows, users, devices, networks, servers, downtimes,threat activity, compliant/noncompliant flows and services used.

■ Protection and monitoring of user behaviors and frauds, UC&C application state, protocolcompliance, access control, policies, media flows and UC&C-specific anomalies at all layersand intrusions at Layer 4 to layer 7.

■ Protection against zero-day UC&C application and server vulnerabilities and threats — IP-PBX,presence, conferencing, collaboration, unified messaging, interactive voice response/automaticcall distributor (ACD), contact center, telepresence, video and chat/IM, SIP applications usinginnovative UC-aware deep packet inspection behavioral learning engine and session awareprotocol analysis.


■ Extensive reporting and logging features that provide valuable information on normal andanomalous UC&C user, endpoint, network and application analytics.

■ SIP, Simple Client Control Protocol (SCCP), SIP/Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Real-TimeTransport Protocol (RTP)/Secure RTP (SRTP) for processing both clear text and encryptedsignaling and media traffic.

■ NAT traversal, protocol normalization and topology hiding to anonymize internal network, userinformation and privacy.

■ Provision of visibility, control and security at all three layers — user, application and network —of the UC&C network from a single management console.

■ Innovative UC-aware access control list (ACL) framework for easy zoning, segmentation, devicecontrol and network/VoIP/UC services control.

■ Fully synchronized 1+1 redundant system high-availability applications.

RedShift has the following product families and each product family is deployed in different types(small, midsize and large enterprise, and carrier) of customer networks:

■ RedShift Falcon UCTM — for small and midsize enterprises with 50 users. This could also besold to the branch offices of larger enterprise customers.

■ RedShift Hawk UCTM — for midsize enterprises and some regional offices of larger enterpriseswith 100 to 2,000 users.

■ RedShift Eagle UCTM — for large enterprises and small/midsize carrier accounts, from 2,000 to50,000 users.

■ The future RedShift Condor UCTM — this product on the company's road map is for very largeenterprises or large carrier customers with more than 50,000 users.

The company is initially targeting enterprises where security is a primary issue when deploying newUC, IP telephony and collaboration applications with its deep security-focused E-SBC. Verticalmarkets such as finance, government and healthcare customers are very concerned about potentialsecurity breaches due to compliance and regulatory pressures, as well as actual breaches andattacks. The company is also targeting Tier 1 to Tier 3 carriers that offer UC&C cloud services, suchas Internet telephony service providers, both in the U.S. and internationally. Security, analytics anddefinition of policies are critical for these carriers, as their VoIP/UC networks become moresophisticated, and their clients/customer networks also become more sophisticated and harder tomanage.

RedShift sells both in the North American and global markets. Within North America, the companysells its products direct to carriers or resellers/channels that resell the solutions to their enterprisecustomers. Some of the carriers use RedShift's UCTM solutions to protect their own networks.

Internationally, RedShift sells through VARs or system integrators. The VARs and system integratorsprovide both sales and marketing, and technical support. RedShift is also engaged in an OEMstrategy and is in the final stages of signing such a contract with a Tier 1 global telecommunications


company. The company expects that it will have several of these OEM relationships, both in NorthAmerica and in international markets.

RedShift's customers include Korea Cable Telecom, IFX Networks, federal police, Telmex/Pemex,Orange Business Services and Fastweb (Swisscom in Italy).

References and Methodology

Gartner conducted research for this report, which is based on primary and secondary sources.Primary sources include vendor briefings, feedback from CSPs' customers and Gartner discussionsrelated to Magic Quadrant data, as well as community discussions.

This document is published in the following Market Insights:Carrier Network Infrastructure WorldwideMobile Communications Worldwide


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Competitive Landscape Sessio 219613

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