How Hatteras Sees Itself as Differentiated from Adtran, Actelis, Zhone, Etc.

Implications: 1.      In addition to some advantages mentioned in earlier analyses, Hatteras claims that it has substantially differentiated itself from the competition in the Ethernet over Copper (EoC) market. 2.      Hatteras criticizes Adtran’s solution for just being an aggregator – and that the value proposition of the TA 5000 is that all one needs is a dumb Ethernet pipe. 3.      The supplier is concerned about Chinese vendors getting into the space.

Analysis: Hatteras claims that it distinguishes itself in the EoC space in that it delivers a full Layer 2 Ethernet switch.  The supplier argues that Adtran does not have any Ethernet switching capabilities at all – and that its approach is to do all of its QoS and management at the CPE and then come up to a dumb aggregator.  Hatteras states that Adtran is only capable of something like an E-Line point-to-point service -- so it relies completely on the upstream with switches or routers from Cisco Systems, etc.  

Hatteras acknowledges that Actelis has a much broader switching capability and that the latter is closer to the former at an enterprise level – in being able to do ELAN and E-Line services.  However, Hatteras asserts that Actelis still has to rely on upstream switches and routers because the latter does not have the VLAN processing capabilities of the former.  

Another aspect that Hatteras says is really critical is that it does QoS at both ends -- an egress and ingress quality of service.  According to the competitor, in Adtran’s case, in managing everything at the CPE, it is only good when the traffic is going upstream, but it does not provide any QoS downstream.   

Also, Hatteras declares it has the highest density platform in the industry and that its product is the most resilient – while stating that Adtran has no resiliency.  In addition, it is Hatteras’ view that it has the most extensive features and tools to be able to operationalize service delivery -- including an integrated time domain reflectometer.   

Moreover, Hatteras believes that Zhone’s customers are not very happy with its CLI and that they get frequent software releases because of many bugs.  

  In terms of other potential entrants, Hatteras is apprehensive of the Chinese suppliers with their load of engineers and money – as a big potential threat.