Soft Switches: Sonus Going for Business at Verizon; Look out for Ericsson at AT&T

Implications: 1.Sonus is already a  soft switch provider to Verizon in its wireless and long haul networks. 2.Once Sonus gets through the Telcordia OSMINE process, it could become a  favorite to get a  revenue on the RBOC’s access side as well. 3. Ericsson has been able to overcome any prejudice around its historic performance in the U.S. landline market for AT&T to strongly consider the Swedish supplier for soft switches.

Analysis:  

It does not hurt Sonus that Verizon’s new COO, and just announced CTO, both come from the RBOC’s wireless business – as they are both fans of its product.  It is suspected that the product is easier to operate, manage, and maintain than solutions from Nortel or Alcatel-Lucent.

Several drawbacks have been found on the Nortel soft switch. While various rumors have been circulated, Verizon has never fully confirmed these issues. The same questions have apparently also been asked about the Alcatel - Lucent solution. 

There is a key concern in building networks for compatibility – and so there is a natural reluctance to use a different manufacturer. The RBOC may apparently have sufficient confidence in Sonus making the necessary technological changes and offering the required future releases. It certainly takes a while to get to the point of having the fundamental workings of a next-generation switch settled. In the case of digital switches, there were probably updates annually for the first 15 years of deployment. After that period of time, the number of major changes substantially declined.

Concerning Ericsson, the industry should be on the watch for inroads being made by the supplier for soft switches at AT&T. Ericssson’s gradual penetration at the RBOC – selected as the second GPON vendor -- as well as winning a couple of other small contracts – might eventually lead to greater awards.