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Competitive Landscape: Session Border Controllers

Published: 1 December 2011 Analyst(s): Deborah Kish, Jay Lassman, Akshay K. Sharma

Session border controllers (SBCs) offer a set of functions that address service delivery problems caused by the creation of Internet Protocol (IP) network islands. In general, these problems are related to security, quality of service (QoS) management and network interoperability. SBC functions are typically implemented as stand-alone network elements or as integrated functions of existing network elements such as a router or gateway. SBC implementations enable separate IP networks to connect securely and costeffectively, 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 as intraenterprise and interenterprise connections and connections between enterprises and end users, 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 over heterogeneous IP networks, many unique technical needs have emerged that are being addressed by the SBC. Vendors with road maps regarding security, IPv4/IPv6 support, quality of experience (QOE) support and policy-based control, along with regulatory compliance in SBCs, will be well positioned. SBCs can play a significant role with newer applications with collaborative features emerging between 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 unified communications (UC) adoption.

Vendors with service provider solutions should be ahead of the technology curve and include the Diameter protocol, as well as analytics and policy control, as part of their product road maps. 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 on networks, 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 of communications service providers (CSPs). As market acceptance of next-generation services becomes more widespread, new implementation challenges are arising; for example, security, network-address translation (NAT) traversal, QoS and QOE. We also see issues associated with devices accessing the Internet, multivendor environments leading to an increase in the need for IPv6 addresses and topology hiding. SBCs are proving to be useful in enhancing the implementation 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' IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) strategies. IMS is a next-generation control architecture. Within its architecture, applications can be controlled and changed, regardless of the kind of network or platform on which they run. It promises to bring flexibility, operational effectiveness, openness and standardization to the delivery of applications across fixed and mobile networks. It specifies a SIPbased control layer with open interfaces to the transport and service layers above, and has a centralized end-user profile depository. IMS promises improved interoperability between networks and offers carriers control over applications on a per-session basis, for increased flexibility. Here the SBC 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.

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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 border control can help the IT organization to support an increasing number of secure, low-cost, reliable communications channels with high transmission quality. Using SIP trunks as the transport within public 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% lower from the use of SIP trunks than with Primary Rate Interface (PRI) transport with equivalent throughput. Cost optimization can also be gained by aggregating large numbers of SIP trunks into strategically chosen centralized locations. Furthermore, centralizing contact center call treatment enables better customer service, leveraging contact center staff, and can minimize disruption to customer-facing branch staff. (See "How to Leverage SIP Trunks, Session Border Control and Session Management for Cost Savings and UC Deployment.")

Enterprise SBC Overview

Enterprise SBCs (E-SBCs) provide a secure, controlled connection for points between networks that provide interactive, IP-based communications, such as SIP-based UC. The E-SBC is usually found at the border between the enterprise communications network and the service provider's SIP trunking network, which can constitute a combination of the SIP trunking border and hosted services border. Gartner estimates that 85% of SBCs installed in industry and government sites have been deployed by service providers in conjunction with their provisioning of SIP trunks. The purpose has been primarily to meet customer requirements for protecting private networks from security threats that could be present in the networks of service providers, and vice versa. However, SBCs have also been deployed by enterprises at interconnection points to support interoperability with a mix of other private and public networks.

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As organizations increasingly consider the economies of SIP trunks for UC and large-scale contact center applications, Gartner recommends that IT personnel consider deploying an E-SBC for the strongest possible security. E-SBCs focus on SIP protection, including SIP-based anomaly detection and SIP-based signatures, while also supporting the ability for organizations to prioritize traffic 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 solutions will eventually emerge, it's also likely that these will initially be niche solutions deployed to satisfy requirements in remote offices with low traffic at relatively lower costs.
Figure 1. Where an Enterprise Session Border Controller Can Be Located in a Network

Enterprise Service Provider

Site 1 Private IP Network SIP Trunk Voice Network Videoconferencing Services

Internet Site n Data Center Remote UC Access

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.
E-SBC = enterprise session border controller IP = Internet Protocol SIP = Session Initiation Protocol UC = unified communications

Source: Gartner (December 2011)

SBCs can:

Control signaling and media streams involved in setting up, conducting and tearing down telephone, video or other interactive media communications. Be used to control and secure communications between internal sites and networks.

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

SBCs work in parallel with data firewalls that handle non-SIP traffic. They provide stronger security protection than a SIP application layer gateway (ALG) firewall. SBCs are often deployed in conjunction with data firewalls. SBCs provide critical control functions to deliver high-quality interactive communications that support voice, video and multimedia sessions across IP network borders. By controlling and normalizing traffic at the border, SBCs enable optimal performance for the UC infrastructure. SBCs are deployed by enterprises, contact centers and government agencies to improve interoperability, secure enterprise infrastructure, services, applications and information, and improve the reliability of IP-based communications. Although service providers often install SBCs at the edge of their networks where they interconnect with customers, these SBCs are configured to protect the service provider's network and deliver a single service to multiple customers. They cannot be configured to resolve interoperability problems with enterprise-based communications equipment, and do not secure the enterprise from threats that emanate from the service provider's network or from other customers that share the SBC. (See "Q&A: What You Should 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 total cost of the solution, including all features, capacity needs, high-availability requirements and underlying hardware costs. Ask the vendor if these features are included with the SBC product, or if they 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, with ubiquitous 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 interactive services need to extend over multiple IP networks business, residential, mobile, wireline, wireless and cable to become as universal as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Network build-outs are now connecting disparate network segments to create end-to-end availability of realtime network services. Network connections between and among service providers and end users are creating unique issues that must be managed on a session basis (defined as a specific occurrence of a particular application/service traversing the network). SBCs are addressing these issues 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.

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SBCs use the Rx interface, which is the prescription to communicate with the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) and the Resource and Admission Control Subsystem (RACS) during call initiation and renegotiation to ensure that a call conforms to policy. Diameter is the protocol of choice and is an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) protocol. It is an enhanced version of the Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) protocol, which had issues of security and resiliency solved by Diameter, and it is used in the IMS architecture developed by the Third 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 SBC performs the functions of an IMS Rx Diameter client application and handles policy information and media reservations at the border of an access network. As service providers have begun to offer and manage end-to-end real-time services over IP networks, 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 network implementations and architectures. However, some stand out as the mandatory set. They are: interoperability/peering, QoS and security. Many different terms are used to describe these functions, most created merely to establish market position by competing vendors, such as Acme Packet and Genband. IP Network Interoperability/Peering Network interoperability, or peering, refers to the functions required to connect IP networks that are separately owned and managed. While SBCs facilitate peering, they are mainly IP to IP only, with IP-PSTN peering requiring specialized gateways (both signaling and media). Specific issues addressed include protocol conversion and signaling interoperability. Protocol conversion can mean many things, including conversion between varying voice compression schemes for voice over IP (VoIP). Signaling interoperability deals mainly with SIP, H.323 and Signaling System 7 (SS7) interoperability. VoIP is the most widely deployed real-time application over today's IP networks. With VoIP, many interoperability 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 traditional voice functions, but it introduces other impairments (for example, multiple codec conversions) and is not well suited to other real-time applications, such as true VoIP (IP-to-IP networks), videoconferencing and video streaming.

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QoS Enforcement or Service Assurance To maximize the opportunity presented by real time, providers of end-to-end IP services (such as VoIP) must be able to allocate and manage network resources on a per-session basis. The traditional method of overprovisioning bandwidth is becoming increasingly unsatisfactory as an approach to this requirement due to its costly nature. To adequately perform network resource management, network service providers must understand information from both the signaling and media streams of the session. SBCs provide this intelligence, while collecting appropriate QoS measurements to ensure the enforcement of SLAs.
IPv4 and IPv6 Interworking

IPv4 addresses are quickly being depleted. As the trend toward connectivity increases, the need for more IP addresses also increases. The number of Internet-connected devices is not limited to smartphones 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 converged IP networks. SBCs typically provide security functionality with NAT/firewall traversal, denial of service (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 endto-end, real-time services: firewalls make it difficult for incoming calls to connect, and NAT distorts the 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 the case 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 and application 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, have plans for the deployment of Long Term Evolution (LTE), which relies on an all-IP architecture in order to provision enhanced services to their customers, save on capital expenditure and operating expenditure, and increase revenue. Other factors should be taken into consideration, such as enterprise interest in SIP trunking, leading to UC and collaboration (UC&C) adoption, and the increase in end-user devices creating increased mobile data traffic, as well as the need for more IP

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

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Table 1. Market Drivers for Session Border Controllers SBC Market Drivers SIP Trunking Description Enterprises have been moving toward SIP trunking and away from expensive ISDN BRI and PRI trunks for economic reasons, as well as in seeking more ways of accessing more compelling services from CSPs. SBCs provide the interconnection and conversion point between the enterprise network and the CSP. It is expected that enterprises will soon be adopting SIP trunking for more than just voice in the coming years to save on access costs, as well as for the ability to access new service options. Enterprises have, over the years, been looking for ways for employees to be more mobile and accessible, therefore SIP services for conferencing, collaboration, fixed-mobile convergence and integration with social networking applications such as Facebook and Skype will become more apparent. Growth in the number of devices and "things" that touch the Internet, including smart meters, cars, home appliances and telecommunications devices, which will be IPv6 ready because the need for IPv6 addresses will grow exponentially. Migration toward home control will require IPv6 addresses, so all the new technology migration in the core means that many more capabilities will be necessary for the access network and the edge. SBCs will play a role here. Analytics and definition of policies are becoming very important for carriers, as their VoIP/UC networks become more sophisticated and their clients/customer networks also become more sophisticated and unmanageable. Increasing the number of smartphones and devices makes this more difficult. Some vendors are including this functionality in SBC products. SBCs were mainly designed for protocol translation, as the move toward IP and SIP became more apparent. Additionally, with open standards providing the opportunity for CSPs to not have to rely on a single vendor and giving them the choice of best-of-breed equipment, multivendor environments became standard practice. SBCs allow CSPs' multivendor environments to "talk" to one another. SBCs have become an important part of regulatory compliance with CALEA, and E911 and Lawful Intercept. Security aspects are exposed when providing SIP services, increasing IP addresses that ultimately CSPs and enterprises would want to hide. SBC functions include security, interoperability, SLA assurance, revenue and cost management, regulatory compliance, and future VoIP application brokering to application servers and perhaps some load-balancing capabilities for more efficient network management. Also, IP inherently has not been considered the most secure protocol but, throughout the past decade, there has been a move away from TDM toward IP.

Unified Communications Adoption

IPv4/IPv6

Policy and Analytics

Interoperability

Regulatory Compliance

Security

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BRI = Basic Rate Interface CALEA = Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act CSP = communications service provider IP = Internet Protocol ISDN = Integrated Services Digital Network PRI = Primary Rate Interface SBC = session border controller SIP = Session Initiation Protocol TDM = time division multiplexing UC = unified communications VoIP = voice over Internet Protocol Source: Gartner (December 2011)

Market Size and Forecast

With the competitive environment growing and vendors having a focus on both camps, enterprise and 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 and we expect that SBCs in the enterprise will gain momentum later in the forecast period, when SIP trunks will be used for services other than just voice. For more information on market size and analysis, see "Forecast: Carrier Network Infrastructure, Worldwide, 2008-2015, 3Q11 Update" and "Forecast Analysis: Carrier Network Infrastructure, Worldwide, 2008-2015, 3Q11 Update." Figure 2 shows the expected growth in SBCs in the enterprise versus carrier environments.

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Figure 2. Session Border Controller Market Size and Forecast by Type, 2010-2015
Millions of Dollars 1,000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2010 2011 2012 Enterprise SBC
SBC = session border controller

2013 Carrier SBC

2014

2015

Source: Gartner (December 2011)

Competitive Situation and Trends

Several types of SBC implementation have emerged stand-alone elements, integrated solutions and 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 promise and 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 Genband acquired Nextpoint (the result of a combined NexTone and Reef Point). Both companies had plans to integrate into their existing product lines or for continued product development and Genband did continue product development. Today, more vendors are developing their own stand-alone solutions that were part of an existing solution, such as Sonus' announcement of its NBS5200, Alcatel-Lucent with the IP border controller 5060 and Metaswitch Networks' Perimeta, which falls in line with its former parent company, Data Connection, which manufactures protocol stacks. In addition, the E-SBC space has been gaining attention and becoming more attractive through newer vendors such as Edgewater Networks, NET and RedShift Networks, as well as vendors targeting the enterprise space with acquisitions, such as AudioCodes (acquired Netrake), Acme
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Packet (through its Covergence acquisition, as well as with Avaya in the Aura product as a software-only model), and Avaya with its recent acquisition of Sipera, hence the competitive landscape has grown considerably in the past three years. Large incumbent vendors such as Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson also offer SBC solutions. Nokia Siemens Networks also offers an SBC as part of its network core portfolio, which is based on Acme Packet and built in a decomposed fashion, composed of a Border Control Function (BCF) and a BGF. Ericsson offers an SBC as a blade.

Market Players
We have identified and distinguished the major players for both the carrier and enterprise markets due to the gray line between them. While E-SBCs tend to be lower capacity in terms of concurrent sessions, the requirement for carrier grade exists. Therefore, some vendors in this space cater to or specialize in enterprise networks, while other vendors sell to both. We have included vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent, Sonus and Metaswitch as they have the most recent direct competing products in the stand-alone SBC space.

The Future of Competition

The SBC marketplace has witnessed huge growth with Acme Packet and Genband's products. But it has had casualties as well, with former players disappearing or morphing into other products through mergers, such as Kagoor Networks being acquired by Juniper, Jasomi Networks being acquired 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 a distributed architecture, decoupling the bearer from signaling on the same chassis. Casualties were firms 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, the greater 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 and flexible 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 center agent and video. Have been incorporated into the certification configurations of the enterprise UC solution with the SIP trunk service provider. Provide support and maintenance services for UC and UC application security.

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Have a large installed base in the service provider market, ensuring that the enterprise deployment 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 for converged 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) with collaborative applications. UCaaS mediation for voice, IM, applications and interworking to hosted solutions, such as Microsoft'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 the carrier 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 AlcatelLucent, Sonus and Metaswitch will be well positioned to close the gap due to their existing longterm 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
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competitive. Vendors with close relationships to the enterprise, such as Avaya, Cisco and AudioCodes, will be well positioned in the enterprise space, essentially for those reasons and as they 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 SBC vendors. Its flagship product, the Net-Net Session Director (SD), controls voice, video and multimedia sessions across IP network borders. The Net-Net SD has traditionally been geared toward 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 fixedline, mobile and enterprise networks. These deployments support: all applications, from trunking to hosted enterprise and residential services; all signaling protocols (SIP, H.323, Diameter, Media Gateway Control Protocol [MGCP] and H.248); and all border points (peering, access network and data 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 and Protocols for Advanced Networking (TISPAN) IMS, PacketCable 2.0, fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) and wireless LAN, the Electronic Numbering (ENUM) standard, GSMA IP eXchange (IPX) and SIP 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 Policy Decision Function (L-PDF) and Service-based Policy Decision Function (SPDF). Beyond the Net-Net SD, Acme Packet offers application-specific SBC configurations. Its SIP Multimedia-Xpress (SMX) configuration adds core session management functions, including serving CSCF (S-CSCF) and interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF). The Net-Net Transcoding Gateway is a mediaonly SBC configuration that delivers high-capacity transcoding for a wide range of wideband and narrowband codecs used in fixed, mobile and enterprise networks. Consistent with its strategy of helping customers build "session delivery networks," Acme Packet has 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 Router session routing proxy and the Net-Net Security Gateway multiservice security gateway. Other recent additions include the Net-Net Application Session Controller and Interactive Session Recorder products, which help enterprises and service providers to integrate RTC and compliance into traditional business processes. Acme Packet has also recently announced voice over LTE (VoLTE) improvements to support LTE second generation (2G)/third generation (3G) voice call continuity, transcoding and high-capacity encryption coprocessing for its 1U Net-Net 3820 and 4500 systems, and a new high-capacity platform called the Net-Net 14000, based on industrystandard Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA).

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While Acme Packet's traditional solutions have typically been more cost-effective for very large applications, the company appears to be focusing on smaller enterprises as well, through Avaya and other OEM partners that can now integrate Acme Packet SBC software onto their own server products. Flexibility such as this is particularly relevant in SIP trunking applications. Acme Packet sells direct and through partners, and has a comprehensive channel sales strategy that uses a combination of network equipment vendors and other regional CSP channels, such as Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Italtel, NEC and Samsung. Acme Packet also has 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 its competitors, Acme's deployments are largely in North America and Asia/Pacific. Named customers include AT&T, Verizon, KDDI, NTT, Global Crossing, Korea Telecom, France Telecom, Telefonica and Telenor.

Alcatel-Lucent
The Alcatel-Lucent 5060 IP Border Controller-4 (5060 IBC-4) offers integrated SBC functionality for VoIP, multimedia and next-generation presence-based applications for wireline and wireless IMS and 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, session routing, overload protection, interoperability between heterogeneous endpoints, QoS and regulatory compliance. It supports voice, fax, video and multimedia sessions, including video calling, video sharing 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 Lawful Interception (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 for services beyond voice, such as RCS and presence. The high-capacity signaling plane is better able to handle these signaling-intensive applications than existing SBCs. The 5060 IBC-4 supports a total capacity of 200,000 subscribers, 50,000 SIP sessions and 32,000 media sessions, with a 4 GB/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 an ATCA platform. It shares the same platform software as the 5450 IP Session Controller (S-CSCF, ICSCF, emergency CSCF [E-CSCF], Breakout Gateway Control Function [BGCF], Access Gateway Control 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 that are deploying or have deployed next-generation network (NGN) or IMS networks, and it plans to sell to larger enterprises for network interconnect in 2012. Alcatel-Lucent sells the 5060 IBC-4 direct through 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 available toward the end of December 2011 for fixed, cable and mobile carriers, as well as an introduction to
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large enterprises. By mid-2012, plans include increased capacity, LTE support (Access Transfer Control Function [ATCF]/Access Transfer Gateway [ATGW], IMS Centralized Services for LTE) and transcoding, in addition to normal, ongoing enhancements to security features. Alcatel-Lucent has been deploying its decomposed IP border control solutions since 2003, and deployments for its decomposed solution include China Mobile, China Telecom, VNPT, UTK, two carriers 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 has successfully 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 to start before the end of 2011.

Genband
Genband's S3 is a feature-rich, intelligent SBC that provides adaptive security, insightful policy enforcement, any-to-any seamless interworking, and advanced session routing capabilities for fixed and 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. Genband offers two hardware variations of the S3 one built on Genband's ATCA GENiUS platform and another on the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) 2U server form factor both supporting common software. Overall, the S3 delivers a full set of capabilities for IP Interconnect, IPX, hosted UC, SIP business trunking, VoLTE and RCS. The S3 also supports the IMS functions P-CSCF (with IMS Application Level Gateway [ALG]), BGCF, E-CSCF, Access SBC, IBCF/IWF and Media Resource Function 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 delivers security, 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.

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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). The RSM provides visibility into the traffic that traverses the network edge and adds the analytical capabilities to modify call-routing behavior based on a combination of business policies, network QoS or subscriber usage patterns. As a combined S3 and RSM solution, Genband supports adaptive network performance-based routing, QoS monitoring and reporting, business reporting giving 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, wholesale providers, cable multiple system operators (MSOs), large and midtier enterprises, and over-the-top service 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, and provide high scale and performance in its solutions, through engineering hardware and software to achieve higher and, when needed, lower capacities, and also through new methods of handling and managing traffic at scale. It is also working toward virtualization and leveraging multicore computing architectures 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 North America, Europe, Asia/Pacific and Central America/Latin America (CALA). While North America contributes 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 and SessionEngine2310 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 offers high levels of performance, availability and capacity to the service provider. One subrack supports 600,000 subscribers, 60,000 simultaneous sessions and 2,400 call attempts per second (CAPS). The SessionEngine2300/SessionEngine2310 is for small to midsize service providers, small to midsize enterprises, and smaller sites within larger organizations. The SessionEngine2600 and SessionEngine2300/2310 products are based on the same software and the same hardware as the NE series platform (Huawei's router hardware platform), so that much hardware and software sharing is available to operators that deploy both systems. The SBC products that are supportive in multiple Huawei solutions such as NGN, IMS, RCS, VoLTE and interconnection provide security (one subrack can defend 15,000 CAPS SIP DoS attacks), interoperability, service assurance (multiple techniques, such as Bidirectional Forwarding Detection [BFD] millisecond class detection), 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 unified platform, Huawei can also provide an I-SBC and A-SBC colocation solution to simplify the network structure 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

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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, save interoperability testing cost and reduce the time to market. It is also interoperable with other vendors' 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 those from Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent. The company's target market for its SBC solutions includes fixed and mobile VoIP operators, and enterprises with broadband activities. It relies on a direct sales model. Huawei's SBC solutions have been deployed in the networks of: T-Mobile, Vodafone, France Telecom, 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 in Africa and the Middle East. In 1Q11, Huawei indicated that more than 100 operators had deployed its SBC solutions.

Metaswitch Networks
Metaswitch's SBC, Perimeta, is built on an ATCA COTS platform, based on open standards, and is composed 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 3GPP specifications for decomposed SBC functions and enables independent, cost-effective scaling of the control elements. Metaswitch offers Perimeta in a three-rack unit, two-slot and 13-rack unit, and 14-slot chassis form factors. Metaswitch has integrated a session detail and call flow capturing capability in which every SIP message, H.248 message, and data on every call is captured and reported to a central server, the Service Assurance Server, as part of its SBC solution. Detailed end-to-end call and session traces can be viewed using a Web browser, where each message can be expanded to show fully decoded views. SIP message flow details are visible, even if sessions are encrypted between the SIP endpoint 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 Tier 3 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 and partners) models. The company was originally founded as Data Connection, providing telecommunications software and protocol stacks to OEM customers, including Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco and Nokia Siemens Networks. The company has plans to continue its R&D road maps to include the Diameter protocol and additional IMS functionality, such as P-CSCF and BCF. While Metaswitch formally announced the Perimeta SBC in mid-September 2011, it had been shipping the product since July to over 30 customers, including Tier 1 fixed and mobile service providers, small and large independent operating companies, MSOs and CLECs.

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Sonus
Sonus established itself in 2003 with the chassis-based NBS9000 and expanded its presence in 2010 with the announcement of its NBS5200 stand-alone SBC for service providers and enterprise deployments supporting advanced services, such as IPX, RCS and high-definition voice around the world. 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 small appliance form factor, delivering industry-leading performance and scalability optimized for IP-only applications. The NBS9000 can scale to serve up to 30,000 sessions and the NBS5200 up to 64,000 sessions. The Sonus SBC approach serves TDM market segments and IP-only segments, and can be deployed in a hybrid solution where legacy TDM access (such as PRI and Central Authentication Service [CAS]), peering (ISUP) and IP access/peering essentially need to be on the same box. An example of this approach is the Sonus NBS9000 when simultaneous TDM/IP connectivity is required. The NBS5200 can be used in an IP-to-IP-only solution, when there is no need for TDM and 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, and enterprises. Its sales model includes direct sales, augmented by local partners to expand its presence into new geographies and markets. Sonus is enhancing its Global Partner Program to enable expanded service provider and enterprise coverage. This major initiative is a central component to efforts aimed at broadening NBS sales to Tier 2 and Tier 3 service provider and enterprise customers. Sonus has over 100 SBC customer deployments, including Bluemile, CenturyLink, XO Communications, 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 SIP for signaling. Based at the business premises, AudioCodes' E-SBCs act as the point of demarcation between the business' VoIP network and the service provider's SIP-based services, such as SIP trunking and hosted UC applications. The E-SBCs support remote workers' connectivity by solving NAT traversal issues. In addition, the E-SBCs provide VoIP survivability to branch offices without IPPage 20 of 27
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PBX in case of WAN connection failure, and connection to the PSTN for fallback and local emergency calling. AudioCodes' E-SBCs cover the main aspects of business connectivity, including interoperability, 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 leveraging its large presence in the gateway market by offering cost-effective approaches that enable the same platform to support gateways and E-SBC capabilities. AudioCodes Hybrid Gateway/E-SBC approach allows businesses a gradual migration path from TDM to IP by upgrading existing gateways with E-SBC software licenses. Enterprises can select from a range of products that scale to meet site-specific requirements. AudioCodes is also certified to interoperate in a Microsoft Lync or Office Communications Server (OCS) environment, as well as in a network that includes a Microsoft Lync/OCS deployment interconnected with other telephony platforms and SIP trunking service providers. Target customers include small and midsize businesses and large enterprises worldwide. In addition, its target market includes SIP trunking and IP Centrex service providers that need E-SBCs for 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 service providers, 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 goal is to offer customers a pay-as-you-grow flexibility based on their actual needs, along with the ability to serve any size of organization, from a small or midsize business to a very large enterprise. The company also invests development efforts in catering to the specific needs of OEM customers and contact centers. It will continue to test and certify its E-SBCs with the leading UC and IP-PBX vendors, and with large SIP trunking service providers worldwide. AudioCodes plans to expand into the video market to enable interoperability and secured connectivity between different types of endpoints and networks. Its E-SBC customers include BT Global Services, Georgia Military College and Triton Technologies.

Avaya
The Avaya Aura SBC was developed jointly with Acme Packet. The offering requires its own server and software, and is specifically targeted to work in an Avaya Aura enterprise environment that requires up to 750 simultaneous sessions and supports active/standby redundancy. The company's recent acquisition of Sipera is intended to give Avaya a more solid foundation of security for its Avaya Aura product. Additionally, it has gained intellectual property on which it can build and can potentially 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-SBC customer. An enhanced feature set (UC-Sec) is available for an additional fee, targeted at much more intensive security applications. It offers the features required in more complex and alternative scenarios.

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The Avaya SBC and UC security solution is a software product with flexible, fit-for-purpose, small or midsize 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 partnerships to 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 and networks. The SIP Trunk Integration Module (STIM) simplifies the interworking between the service provider 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-tomarket 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 provider environments in North America/EMEA, and in vertical markets such as universities, healthcare and financial institutions.

Cisco
Cisco has developed SBC functionality within its Internetwork Operating System (IOS) software offering. SBC functions in IOS can, therefore, be implemented on a number of platforms. This allows Cisco to offer a stand-alone network element by enabling IOS SBC functions in only a given implementation, or an integrated element by enabling multiple IOS capabilities. Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) Enterprise Edition is based on Cisco IOS and interconnects independent VoIP and video-over-IP enterprise networks for data, voice and video transport, and is generally deployed in all-Cisco environments. CUBE includes a full set of standard SBC features to provide session control, security, interworking and demarcation between the enterprise and the service provider. As part of Cisco's broader portfolio, CUBE is available on both the Integrated Services Router (ISR) and Aggregation Services Router (ASR), thereby delivering SBC functionality across all its router models. By being part of its routing platforms, Cisco can leverage existing router deployments, as CUBE can be added to existing router configurations through a software upload. The increase in real-time voice and video communication will make up a large percentage of traffic between private and
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public IP networks, and control of the traffic can be provided by SBCs. The existing router provides the QoS, packet routing, route filtering and service advertisement features, and the CUBE features the session control, interworking, security and demarcation needed to deliver high-quality, highdensity, 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 including Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Session Management Edition, Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS), Virtual Experience Infrastructure (VXI), Unified Call Center (UCC), TelePresence and WebEx will be widely deployed and are tied closely with its SBC solution. The aforementioned solutions 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&C solutions. Cisco has long been a strong vendor in the enterprise space, therefore the CUBE caters mainly to business users, ranging from small or midsize business customers with fewer than 15 SIP trunks, to the largest enterprises requiring thousands of SIP trunks distributed across multiple locations, to CSPs that offer hosted telephony services. Its overall global sales model is through all sales channels, including Cisco direct sales, through Cisco VARs and through service providers, either as a managed or hosted service. Cisco's R&D efforts in its router portfolio continue to involve manufacturing strong routing platforms to include capacity and integration with UC&C services, such as media recording, telepresence, mobility, interactive voice response, automated speech recognition and Web conferencing to optimize the overall network performance for these services. It is also evaluating a number of major themes 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 softswitch platform and provides SIP and H.323 peering security. The Integrated SBC is based on a distributed model in which the media handling and signaling security functions are separated. In the case of the ControlSwitch Integrated SBC, the media handling functions are built into its I-Gate 4000 Edge and Pro media gateways, while the signaling security is a software function that runs on a separate Sun Microsystems server. H.248 is used between the signaling function and the media gateways for control. The ControlSwitch Integrated SBC has been available for several years and has been deployed in multiple ControlSwitch networks for both H.323 and SIP security. The key advantages of the Integrated SBC are leveraging existing I-Gate 4000 media gateways that include already supported services, such as bandwidth optimization and transcoding, as well as the media and signaling traffic being separated, therefore managed and optimized independently.

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Dialogic's SBC product portfolio also includes the BorderNet 500, 2020 and 3000. The 500 is a specific enterprise SBC for placement in the customer premises equipment. It is an integrated SBC and gateway. It has been available since late 2010 and its benefits include flexibility in connecting SIP and PSTN trunks, as well as legacy, hybrid and IP-PBXs. The 2020 is an access SBC that specializes in handling mediation and multimedia transcoding. The 3000 is a stand-alone, lowdensity SBC targeted at the CSP. It has been deployed for peering and access applications, and it also leverages existing deployments of the I-Gate 4000 platform. Dialogic's SBC solutions are targeted at peering/wholesale CSPs, Class 5 VoIP CSPs, and valueadded service providers. It has specific solutions targeted at midsize and large enterprises. Its sales model includes direct sales, partners and channels/distributors. Dialogic has committed significant resources to developing its SBC portfolio and continues to enhance it based on customer feedback, industry trends and requirements for new deployments. In the next 12 months, the majority of that investment will be focused on another product launch related to the SBC portfolio. Its SBC service provider customers are primarily existing ControlSwitch wireline 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 Communications Threat Management (UCTM) products in 2009. It focuses its products on IP voice, video and UC&C applications in response to SIP trunking deployments becoming mainstream. It helps to connect enterprise VoIP/UC environments direct to the CSP network, providing rich communication modalities, such as IM, presence, desktop conferencing and videoconferencing, collaboration, file transfers and application sharing at significantly lower costs. The RedShift UCTM appliances can be installed as enterprise UC gateway or E-SBC solutions between the enterprise edge and the Internet telephony service provider. The core summary includes:

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 the network 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, protocol compliance, access control, policies, media flows and UC&C-specific anomalies at all layers and 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/automatic call distributor (ACD), contact center, telepresence, video and chat/IM, SIP applications using innovative UC-aware deep packet inspection behavioral learning engine and session aware protocol analysis.
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Extensive reporting and logging features that provide valuable information on normal and anomalous UC&C user, endpoint, network and application analytics. SIP, Simple Client Control Protocol (SCCP), SIP/Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP)/Secure RTP (SRTP) for processing both clear text and encrypted signaling and media traffic. NAT traversal, protocol normalization and topology hiding to anonymize internal network, user information 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, device control 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 be sold to the branch offices of larger enterprise customers. RedShift Hawk UCTM for midsize enterprises and some regional offices of larger enterprises with 100 to 2,000 users. RedShift Eagle UCTM for large enterprises and small/midsize carrier accounts, from 2,000 to 50,000 users. The future RedShift Condor UCTM this product on the company's road map is for very large enterprises or large carrier customers with more than 50,000 users.

The company is initially targeting enterprises where security is a primary issue when deploying new UC, IP telephony and collaboration applications with its deep security-focused E-SBC. Vertical markets such as finance, government and healthcare customers are very concerned about potential security breaches due to compliance and regulatory pressures, as well as actual breaches and attacks. The company is also targeting Tier 1 to Tier 3 carriers that offer UC&C cloud services, such as Internet telephony service providers, both in the U.S. and internationally. Security, analytics and definition of policies are critical for these carriers, as their VoIP/UC networks become more sophisticated, and their clients/customer networks also become more sophisticated and harder to manage. RedShift sells both in the North American and global markets. Within North America, the company sells its products direct to carriers or resellers/channels that resell the solutions to their enterprise customers. 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 integrators provide both sales and marketing, and technical support. RedShift is also engaged in an OEM strategy and is in the final stages of signing such a contract with a Tier 1 global telecommunications

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company. The company expects that it will have several of these OEM relationships, both in North America 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 discussions related to Magic Quadrant data, as well as community discussions.

This document is published in the following Market Insights:

Carrier Network Infrastructure Worldwide Mobile Communications Worldwide

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