First VoLTE equipment spending buoys carrier VoIP market in 1Q12; Alcatel-Lucent doubles share

Campbell, CALIFORNIA, May 21, 2012—Market research firm Infonetics Research today released excerpts from its first quarter 2012 (4Q12) Service Provider VoIP and IMS Equipment and Subscribers vendor market share and forecast report.

“In the first quarter of 2012 we saw the largest order of IMS core equipment and application server licenses on record, secured by Alcatel-Lucent -- a clear sign that operators in North America are gearing up for voice over LTE (VoLTE) deployments. While commercial VoLTE services have yet to launch, this is a taste of what is to come as operators push forward over the next 5+ years. That said, large equipment orders will be sporadic and the IMS market will continue to be lumpy,” explains Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research.

Myers adds: “1Q12 was an unusually good quarter for the service provider VoIP and IMS equipment market not only because of the big IMS order for VoLTE, but also because of continued fixed-line network transformation, fixed-mobile convergence, and voice over broadband (VoBB) projects over IMS worldwide.”

SERVICE PROVIDER VOIP AND IMS MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

• Thanks to exceptionally strong IMS equipment spending, the overall service provider VoIP equipment market bucked its traditional down first quarter by inching up 3.5% to $739 million over 4Q11
• Globally, the overall market is up 18% in 1Q12 from the year-ago first quarter -- despite continued declines in legacy trunk media gateway and softswitch sales -- driven by strong IMS core equipment, session border controller (SBC), and voice application server sales
• In 1Q12, Alcatel-Lucent more than doubled its service provider VoIP and IMS revenue and market share, propelling them to the #1 position for worldwide market share, ahead of perennial leaders Huawei and GENBAND
• North America led the quarter, with carrier VoIP and IMS spending up 18% quarter-over-quarter and up a strong 76% year-over-year
• Infonetics expects the number of mobile and fixed-line subscribers on IMS networks to grow 42% in 2012 to top 250 million worldwide

SERVICE PROVIDER VOIP AND IMS REPORT SYNOPSIS

Infonetics’ quarterly Service Provider VoIP and IMS Equipment and Subscribers report provides worldwide and regional vendor market share, market size, forecasts, and analysis for multiple categories of trunk media gateways, session border controllers, media servers, Class 4 and Class 5 softswitches, voice application servers, IMS core equipment (HSS, BGCF, MGCF, CSCF servers), IMS application servers, and VoIP and IMS subscribers. The report provides a comprehensive look at the trends shaping the market as it shifts from next-gen network VoIP to IMS, including an IMS Deployment Tracker by service provider, country, vendor and number of IMS subscribers. Vendors tracked: Acme Packet, Alcatel-Lucent, AudioCodes, BroadSoft, Dialogic, Ericsson, GENBAND, Huawei, Italtel, Mavenir, MetaSwitch, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, RadiSys, Sonus, Technicolor, Tekelec, Xener, ZTE, and others. Contact Infonetics' Sales to buy report.

CLIENT CONFERENCE CALL

Diane Myers’ client conference call with highlights from this report is June 11, 11:00 a.m. Eastern.

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UPCOMING RESEARCH

See SERVICE PROVIDER VOIP AND IMS at http://www.infonetics.com/login for report highlights, tables of contents, etc.

• Log in to download Infonetics’ 2012 Research Publication Calendar: http://bit.ly/zwjcRs
• Service Provider VoIP and IMS Equipment and Subscribers – Full Analysis
• Mobile VoIP Services and Subscribers Market Size and Forecasts
• IMS Service Strategies, Product Features, Vendor Leadership: Service Provider Survey
• EMEA Business VoIP Service Leadership Scorecard
• VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers Market Share and Forecasts
• UC Deployment Strategies: North American Enterprise Survey

TO BUY REPORTS, CONTACT SALES:

• N. America (West), Asia, Latin America: Larry Howard, larry@infonetics.com, +1-408-583-3335
• N. America (East), Texas, Midwest: Scott Coyne, scott@infonetics.com, +1-408-583-3395
• Europe, Middle East, Africa: George Stojsavljevic, george@infonetics.com, +44-755-488-1623
• Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete more effectively.

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