RDMA04 Subscriber Data Management Outlook Jun2009

Global Telecom Software Market Analysis
By
Peter Mottishaw
Subscriber Data Management
Outlook
June 2009
Global Telecom Software Market Analysis
2 2009 Analysys Mason Ltd
Subscriber Data Management Outlook
Table of Contents
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Contents
Executive Summary............................................................................... 6
Figure 1: 2008-2013 Global subscriber data management spending
forecast .................................................................................................. 6
Deployment Scenarios .......................................................................... 7
Market Share ......................................................................................... 9
Figure 2: Subscriber data management market share .......................... 9
Alcatel-Lucent ........................................................................................ 9
Bridgewater Systems........................................................................... 10
Ericsson ............................................................................................... 10
HP ........................................................................................................ 11
Huawei................................................................................................. 11
NSN ..................................................................................................... 11
Forecast .............................................................................................. 13
Figure 3: 2008-2013 Global subscriber data management forecast ... 13
Figure 4: 2008-2013 Breakout of legacy and next generation subscriber
data management forecast .................................................................. 14
Forecast by Region ............................................................................. 15
Figure 5: 2008-2013 Global subscriber data management forecast by
region................................................................................................... 15
Market Drivers ..................................................................................... 17
Drivers ................................................................................................. 17
Inhibitors .............................................................................................. 17
High subscriber growth in emerging markets
Operational cost saving drives HLR consolidation
Operational cost saving drives broader database consolidation
Competitive pressures drive subscriber profling
Flat rate data tariffs drive the need for subscriber policy management
Partner access to subscriber data and enabling new business models
IMS deployment
Pricing pressure
Trust and privacy issues
Business Environment ......................................................................... 21
Figure 6: Proliferation of subscriber data in CSP operational and network
infrastructure ....................................................................................... 22
Market Defnition.................................................................................. 23
Figure 7: SDM in Analysys Mason segmentation ................................ 23
SDM Defnition..................................................................................... 24
Figure 8: Subscriber data management functional components ......... 25
Defnition of legacy SDM and next-generation SDM ........................... 25
Deployment Scenarios ........................................................................ 26
Scenario 1: Network database silos
Figure 9: Scenario 1: Network database silos ..................................... 27
Scenario 2: Network database consolidation
Figure 10: Scenario 2: Network database consolidation scenario ...... 28
Scenario 3: Cross network consolidation
Figure 11: Scenario 3: Cross network consolidation .......................... 29
Scenario 4: SDM platform
Figure 12: Scenario 4: SDM platform ................................................. 30
Vendor Summaries .............................................................................. 31
Alcatel-Lucent
Amdocs
Blueslice
Bridgwater Systems
Ericsson
HP
IBM
Motorola
Nokia Siemens Networks
Nortel
Oracle
Sun
Xeround
ZTE
Suppliers.............................................................................................. 39
Table 1: Comparison of evolved IN and next generation telecom
application server suppliers ................................................................ 39
Recommendations............................................................................... 40
Executive summary
A detailed understanding of customer behavior and the ability to
respond in real-time to customer needs can dramatically increase the
competitiveness of a business. In principle communications service
providers (CSPs) have very detailed knowledge of how their customers
use their services and they have platforms that can be adapted in real-
time to customer needs. However, the customer or subscriber data is
often unavailable because it exists in many different silos often with little
support for open access. The vision of subscriber data management
(SDM) is to provide a platform with open interfaces to real-time
subscriber data and manages the location, service settings, preferences
and policies for each subscriber.
The current reality for SDM solutions is that CSPs manage subscriber
data in many silos to support different operational requirements.
Network databases such as HLRs and AAA servers maintain subscriber
profles for authentication and service confguration to support real-time
execution of services. Real-time charging systems manage subscriber
account information in real-time to support pre-paid services. Customer
care systems maintain records of customer interactions and service
subscriptions to support customer service representatives and customer
self-care. Identity management systems manage customer access to
web portals and web services. These are a few examples of how and
why subscriber data is used in different silos.
Figure 1: 2008-2013 Global subscriber data management spending
forecast
Source: Analysys Mason
CY2008 CY2009 CY2010 CY2011 CY2012 CY2013
NG SDM (CAGR 33%) $268 $321 $399 $551 $810 $1,096
Legacy SDM (CAGR -19%) $803 $749 $679 $597 $436 $274
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Executive Summary
Analysys Mason forecasts that the overall subscriber data management
market will grow from $1.07 billion in 2008 to $1.37 billion in 2013 at
a CAGR of 5%. The modest growth rate refects the transition that is
occurring from high cost legacy network databases silos, such as legacy
HLRs, to lower cost next-generation subscriber data management
platforms (NG SDM). This transition is captured in Figure 1. Spending
on next-generation subscriber data management platforms (NG SDM)
will grow at a dramatic 33% CAGR from $268 million in 2008 to $1.10
billion in 2013. While spending on legacy SDM will decline from $803
million in 2008 to $274 million in 2013 at a CAGR of -19%.
Revenue estimates in this report include product software revenues
(license, maintenance and product related services), but excludes
hardware and general system integration and consulting services. We
also include deployments of SDM to support both mobile and fxed
services, but mobile is the dominant area of deployment.
In our new SDM coverage we will focus on platforms that are designed
to manage subscriber data in real-time and near real-time independently
from specifc applications. This is an area of strategic importance to
CSPs as they try to improve their ability to customize, personalize and
target new services based on subscriber characteristics.
One major trend contributing to this is the replacement of legacy HLR
deployments with a distributed logical subscriber database that supports
multiple front-end applications including HLR, HSS, AAA, EIR and MNP.
This is important because it decouples the network database application
from the subscriber data management and can be extended to support
the applications such as single sign-on for web portals or dynamic
profling of subscriber behavior. Most HLR vendors are pursuing this
opportunity, but with different degrees of success.
Another key trend is the adoption of IT and web concepts such as
federation of subscriber data, dynamic profling of behavior, policy
management and identity management. This broadens the scope of
SDM to exploit existing systems and support new requirements.
Deployment scenarios
CSPs are deploying SDM in a number of different scenarios. The
market drivers section provides a more detailed view on the business
drivers behind these scenarios. The market defnition section provides a
detailed description of these scenarios. The most important deployment
scenarios are:
Network database silos: traditional deployment model of stand- 1.
Executive Summary
alone network databases (often deployed as mated pairs for
resilience).
Network database consolidation: consolidate to a logical sub- 2.
scriber database supporting network database as a front end.
Cross network consolidation: extension of scenario 2 to include 3.
different types of network databases and different access net-
work types.
SDM platform: extension of scenario 2 or scenario 3 to support 4.
a north bound access to subscriber data and support third party
access to data.
Executive Summary
Market share
The market share for subscriber data management is shown in Figure 2.
The overall spend was $1.1 billion in 2008. The top six suppliers account
for 87% of the market. This is a highly concentrated market dominated by
the big four network equipment manufacturers (NEMs). Nokia Siemens
Networks (NSN) is the market leader with 25% market share followed
by Ericsson, 24%, Alcatel-Lucent, 15%, Huawei, 14%, HP 5% and
Bridgwater, 4%.
Figure 2: Subscriber data management market share
Full summaries of the SDM suppliers are provided in the Vendor
summaries section towards the end of the report. Here we focus on the
strength of the market leaders.
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent has brought together the HLR and network database
businesses of Alcatel and Lucent and has a strong next-generation SDM
offering. Lucent had invested in next-generation SDM products early and
these have formed the basis of Alcatel Lucents next-generation SDM
offering the 8650 SDM. Alcatel-Lucent continues to support the installed
base of HLRs, but is well advanced in transitioning customers to the
new platform. Alcatel-Lucent also offers its 8660 Data Grid Suite that
supports the federation of data across multiple data sources. It has tier-1
CSP deployments where Data Grid is being used to federate data across
HLR, HSS, AAA, LDAP databases and pre-paid platforms.
Nokia Siemens
Networks
25%
Ericsson
24%
Alcatel-Lucent
15%
Huawei
14%
HP
5%
Bridgewater
4%
Other
13%
2008 SDM Revenue = $1,071 million
Market Share
Alcatel-Lucent claims more than 200 SDM customers and supports more
than 775 million subscribers on its SDM solutions. Its success is based
on a comprehensive SDM product offering, but it is behind Ericsson and
NSN because of its smaller presence in the mobile infrastructure market.
Bridgewater Systems
Bridgewater Systems is the leading subscriber data management
specialist. It has built a strong installed base with CDMA CSPs in North
America addressing the needs of mobile data services. It claims more
than 150 million subscribers; with more than 70 million of these from
Verizon Wireless. Bridgewater has grown consistently and is in good
fnancial shape. It has expanded beyond its original core market by
addressing GSM, HSPA, UMTS, WiMAX and LTE requirements. In
the WiMAX market it has 25 global customers including Sprint and its
XOHM network. Bridgewaters growth strategy is to expand beyond basic
subscriber data management and address some of the new opportunities
for mobile personalization, third party ecosystem enablement, customer
profling and targeted advertising. It has invested in the Subscriber Data
Broker product to enable this.
Ericsson
Ericsson is the market leader in providing mobile infrastructure to CSPs
and it has the most widely deployed HLR platform. It claims that more
than 1.7 billion subscribers are supported on its HLR platform with 218
customers. It is strongest in Europe and Asia with less presence in
North America. Ericssons HLR platform is built on Ericssons proprietary
AXE platform and was originally introduced in the early 1990s. Ericsson
offers a separate HSS node to support IMS and WCDMA requirements.
This uses Ericssons TSP platform a Linux-based real-time blade server
introduced in 2001.
Ericsson has been the long term leader in the SDM segment based on
its leadership in HLR deployments, but has been slow to address the NG
SDM requirements of CSPs. NSN took market leadership in 2008 with
the acquisition of Apertio. This took NSN signifcantly ahead of Ericsson
in terms of its NG SDM offering. Ericsson has been developing its NG
SDM strategy and recently began offering a User Data Consolidation
solution that supports centralization of subscriber data in a Centralized
User Database (CUDB). This supports front ends for HLR, AUC and for
mobile number portability. The solution does not yet have any signifcant
installed base.
Market Share
HP
HPs HLR platform was one of the earliest to be offered on an IT platform
rather than a specialized telecom platform. It uses HPs high availability
Integrity NonStop platform. HP has established HLR market leadership
in North America and is deployed with both AT&T Wireless and Verizon
Wireless. It has also won business in emerging markets with Reliance
in India and Vivo in Brazil. Overall HP now has more than 250 million
subscribers on its SDM platform.
HP has addressed the NG SDM requirements with its Profle Manager
introduced in 2007. It can be used as the primary centralized database
for subscriber profle data, supporting HLR, HSS, AAA and other SDM
functions as front ends. The HP Profle Manager supports centralization
and federation strategies for subscriber data. It also provides support for
access from application platforms and four third-party services.
Huawei
Huawei has recently established itself as one of the top four suppliers of
telecoms equipment globally and a credible competitor to Ericsson, NSN
and Alcatel-Lucent. Huawei has a strong subscriber data management
installed base in China, Asia-Pacifc, Africa and Eastern Europe. It has
been particularly successful in high-growth emerging and developing
markets. It has proven that it can successfully deploy and support tier-1
CSPs such as China Mobile with installations supporting more than
100 million subscribers. This provides essential credibility as Huawei
competes for business in emerging and mature markets.
Huawei currently has 170 customers for its SDM products and is
supporting 900 million subscribers globally. Huawei has invested in a
next-generation subscriber data management platform that supports full
consolidation of the network database applications, including HLR, HSS,
AAA, EIR and MNP, onto a single logical database. It launched this next
generation SDM platform in early 2008 and 350 million of its subscribers
are currently on this new platform. Huawei was the fastest growing of
the leading SDM suppliers and poses a major threat to the top three
suppliers.
NSN
NSN has built its SDM market position from the HLR business of
Siemens and Nokia. It signifcantly enhanced its position in the SDM
market with the acquisition of Apertio in early 2008. Siemens had been
delivering HLR consolidation projects using the Apertio platform for a few
years notably a large-scale project for T-Mobile in Europe. The Apertio
Market Share
acquisition has gone well and NSN has adopted the Apertio One-NDS
platform as its next generation subscriber data management solution.
NSN has continued to grow the SDM business with particular success
in transitioning its existing Nokia and Siemens HLR installed base to the
new platform. This led to overall leadership in the SDM market in 2008.
NSN claims more than 845 million subscribers using its One-NDS
product including fve deployments supporting more than 40 million
subscribers and one with more than 55 million subscribers. Overall NSN
has 66 customers for the One-NDS product line in 43 countries with
28 references. It has added 33 new customers since the acquisition
of Apertio in January 2008. NSN states that the legacy HLR products
support more than 1.5 billion subscribers. Approximately one quarter
of these subscribers has migrated to the One-NDS architecture. The
main source of growth for the One-NDS business is the migration of this
installed base to the new platform. However, NSN has won new business
outside this installed base. Notably the success at Time Warner Cable
as part of an overall IP multimedia subsystems (IMS) solution due to be
deployed in 2009.
Others include specialist SDM providers, IT companies such as IBM,
Oracle and Sun, and other NEMs such as Motorola, Nortel and ZTE.
Market Share
Forecast
Analysys Mason forecasts that the overall subscriber data management
market will grow from $1.07 billion in 2008 to $1.37 billion in 2013 at
a CAGR of 5% (see Figure 3). The modest growth rate refects the
transition that is occurring from high cost legacy network databases
platforms to lower cost NG SDM. The global economic recession will also
reduce the level of SDM spending in 2009 and 2010 as CSPs take longer
to evaluate projects and delay some SDM spending.
Figure 3: 2008-2013 Global subscriber data management forecast
Legacy network database platforms are deployed as separate silos,
either singly or as mated pairs, to support a particular set of subscribers.
The GSM HLR is the most common legacy network database and a
single HLR mated pair will support a few million subscribers. An operator
with 20 million subscribers may deploy 10 to 15 mated pairs each of
which has to be provisioned and managed independently. Legacy SDM
products are often supported on proprietary hardware and software
platforms and have a higher price per subscriber then next generation
SDM platforms.
Next-generation SDM platforms support a single logical subscriber
database with multiple front-end applications such as HLR, EIR, AAA and
MNP. They are often implemented on COTS hardware platforms with
a lower price per subscriber. They have signifcantly lower operational
CY2008 CY2009 CY2010 CY2011 CY2012 CY2013
SDM (CAGR 5%) $1,071 $1,070 $1,078 $1,147 $1,245 $1,370
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Forecast
costs than legacy platforms and greater fexibility and openness. They
can also support new applications such as subscriber profling, identity
management, subscriber policy management, personalization, third-party
access and targeted advertising. A more detailed description is provided
in the market defnition section along with some deployment scenarios.
The revenue from the legacy and the next generation product categories
is broken out in Figure 4. Next generation subscriber data management
will grow rapidly, with spending of $268 million in 2008 growing to $1.10
billion in 2013 at a CAGR of 33%. This extremely rapid growth is mainly
driven by the replacement of legacy platforms, but towards the end of
the forecast spending on next-generation SDM solutions to support new
applications will become a signifcant growth driver. See the market
drivers section for a more detailed analysis of growth drivers.
Figure 4: 2008-2013 Breakout of legacy and next generation sub-
scriber data management forecast
Legacy SDM spending is mainly on maintenance contracts to support
existing infrastructure. This spending will decrease rapidly from $803
million in 2008 to $274 million in 2013 at a CAGR of -19%. The decrease
is driven by the termination of maintenance contracts as equipment that
has reached end of life is replaced by NG SDM deployments.
CY2008 CY2009 CY2010 CY2011 CY2012 CY2013
NG SDM (CAGR 33%) $268 $321 $399 $551 $810 $1,096
Legacy SDM (CAGR -19%) $803 $749 $679 $597 $436 $274
$-
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Forecast
Forecast by region
Figure 5 shows the SDM forecast in each of the four major regions.;
North America, Europe (NA), Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Central
and Latin America (CALA) and Asia Pacifc (APAC). Spending on
subscriber data management in North America will grow from $243
million in 2008 to $268 million in 2013 at a CAGR of 2%. North America
is a mature telecom services market with limited opportunity for
subscriber growth. CSPs will continue to invest in next generation SDM
solutions to consolidate HLR, AAA, EIR and other network databases,
but this will be offset by a continuing decline in maintenance spending on
legacy SDM as legacy HLRs are retired from service. In the later years of
the forecast growth will be driven by opportunities to expand the use of
subscriber data in support of new applications and third-party access
.
Spending on SDM in EMEA will grow from $419 million in 2008 to $506
million in 2013 at a CAGR of 4%. The mature markets of Western Europe
are pursuing similar strategies to North America with limited subscriber
growth opportunity. They will invest further in next generation SDM to
consolidate databases and reduce operational costs. They will also start
to spend on new ways to exploit subscriber data. In Eastern Europe,
Middle East and Africa investment in SDM is driven more by subscriber
growth and there will be rapid growth in spending on next-generation
SDM solutions to address scalability and performance requirements.
Figure 5: 2008-2013 Global subscriber data management forecast
by region
CY2008 CY2009 CY2010 CY2011 CY2012 CY2013
NA (CAGR 2%) $243 $238 $235 $243 $254 $268
EMEA (CAGR 4%) $419 $417 $418 $439 $470 $506
CALA (CAGR 9%) $91 $94 $98 $108 $123 $143
APAC (CAGR 7%) $318 $321 $327 $357 $398 $453
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Forecast
Spending on SDM in CALA will grow from $91 million in 2008 to $143
million in 2013 at a CAGR of 9%. This is the fastest growing market,
driven by high subscriber growth rates in countries like Brazil and
Mexico. CSPs will invest in next generation SDM to meet scalability
requirements, but they will also explore new ways to use subscriber data.
Spending on SDM in APAC will grow from $318 million in 2008 to $453
million in 2013 at a CAGR of 7%. This is driven by high subscriber
growth rates in countries like China and India. In mature markets such as
Japan, Australia and Singapore, CSPs are investing in subscriber data
management to achieve operational cost savings and explore new ways
to use subscriber data, but these mature markets make up a smaller
percentage of the telecoms spending than in other regions.
Forecast
Market drivers
SDM is an essential function in the CSPs service infrastructure. In
the last few years it has been realized that considerable value can be
delivered if the CSP moves from the standalone network database
approach to a holistic subscriber data management approach. With this
evolution SDM can add signifcant value by providing a consolidated
view of subscribers and their behavior. It can also deliver effciencies by
reducing the number of subscriber data management silos.
The diffcult economic climate that we expect to persist through 2009 and
most of 2010, will change CSP spending priorities; shifting the emphasis
to cost reduction business cases and away from risky new revenue
streams. However, the attractiveness of new revenue opportunities will
reassert themselves in 2011 and 2013.
Drivers
Flat rate data tariffs drive the need for subscriber policy management
Partner access to subscriber data and enabling new business mod-
els
IMS deployment
Inhibitors
Pricing pressure
CSP organizational challenges
In emerging markets, particularly in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America
and emerging Asia, CSPs are still experiencing strong mobile subscriber
growth rates. The global recession will slow growth in 2009 and 2010,
but growth rates are still high and will accelerate as the recession comes
to an end. This growth will be the single biggest driver for spending on
SDM solutions. Pricing of SDM solutions is based partly on the number
of subscribers supported and CSPs will need to spend money on SDM
simply to support the new subscribers. In addition, the performance and
scalability requirements well drive CSPs to invest in updating to the latest
SDM platforms.
Market Drivers
CSPs are under increasing pressure to save operational and capital
expenditure as the top line comes under pressure from the recession
and competition from more effcient service provider increases. CSPs
with legacy HLR infrastructure can reduce operational costs by more
than half by consolidating to a next generation SDM solution. A typical
tier-1 mobile operator with 25 million subscribers and 20 mated pairs
of legacy HLRs can move to a single logical database and reduce the
number of platforms managed, simplify provisioning and move to a lower
cost COTS hardware. This transition is well underway in the industry with
most tier-1 CSPs in the process of implementing HLR consolidation.
CSPs can achieve further cost savings by consolidating multiple SDM
functions onto a single SDM solution. A CSP that operates a GSM/UMTS
network can consolidate the HLR, AAA, MNP and HSS functions onto a
single SDM platform. This extends the cost savings of HLR consolidation
and many operators will choose to do this when they consolidate legacy
HLR platforms. CSPs that operate multiple network types can also
consolidate SDM functions across networks. An operator with a CDMA
and GSM network for example, can consolidate all SDM functions
onto a single SDM solution. In the longer term, as CSPs consolidate
mobile, fxed and Internet services are SDM platforms will be extended
to support common identity, policies and personalization should across
multiple services.
In mature markets, such as North America, Western Europe, parts of
the Middle East and Asia, competition will continue to put increasing
pressure on CSPs to improve customer experience, reduce churn and
fnd new sources of revenue. In these markets there are normally three
or more CSPs to choose from when purchasing mobile or broadband
services. The entry of non-traditional competitors from adjacent
industries into telecom services has further increased the competitive
pressure.
Search and information portal providers such as Google and Yahoo are
aggressively exploiting the shift of advertising dollars from traditional
media outlets to the web. Device manufacturers such as Apple and Nokia
are also offering mobile services that limit the opportunity for existing
CSPs. These companies are a strategic threat because of their ability to
disrupt the value chain.
CSPs are responding by improving their ability to understand and
Market Drivers
respond to customer behavior. SDM systems are starting to support
these requirements by providing real-time access to subscriber profles
to support new applications such as real-time business intelligence,
personalization of services and targeted advertising. These trends will be
increasingly important towards the end of the forecast period.
Flat rate data tariffs drive the need for subscriber policy
management
Competitive pressures are driving mobile and broadband CSPs to offer
fat rate data tariffs. As a consequence CSPs are seeing dramatic growth
in data traffc with insuffcient revenue growth to support the required
infrastructure build-out. In some cases relatively few subscribers are
making a disproportionate contribution to data growth through sharing of
large media fles.
SDM can help CSPs address this issue by supporting subscriber
specifc policies. This enables the CSP to offer a number of fat rate
data tariffs with differing caps on bandwidth, overall data volume
and allowed services. This requirement can be addressed without a
separate SDM function, but a next generation SDM solution is a good
platform for managing subscriber policies independent of the application
implementing those policies.
Partner access to subscriber data and enabling new business
models
CSPs will increasingly recognize the importance of third parties
and new value chains in delivering new and innovative services.
Internet companies such as Amazon, eBay, Google and Yahoo, have
demonstrated the attractiveness of a business model based on fexible
personalization of services and tracking of customer preferences.
CSPs are exploring the opportunities for providing similar levels of
personalization and tracking of customer behavior. They are also starting
to provide access to service enablers within their own infrastructure
to third parties. This has the potential to create new value chains and
enable CSPs to participate in some of the Internet value chains.
Subscriber data is potentially very attractive to third parties to enhance
the services they can offer using the CSPs infrastructure. It can also be
provided in an anonymized format to advertisers.
IMS deployment
IMS provides a more fexible and lower cost control layer for both
wireless and wireline services. It provides access to a rich set of service
enablers. The number of IMS deployments will increase steadily over
the forecast period and this will drive spending on SDM solutions. IMS
Market Drivers
requires a specifc SDM function, the home subscriber server (HSS).
CSPs that have not already done so will choose to consolidate and
upgrade SDM functions as part of the IMS deployment.
Pricing pressure
The price per subscriber of SDM solutions has declined steadily and will
continue to do so over the forecast period. This is driven by the move
to COTS hardware platforms and by increased competition between
vendors. Huawei and ZTE in particular are driving costs down further
based on low-cost development in China. There is a risk that pricing
pressure will increase further, which is attractive to CSPs, but will reduce
the overall spending on SDM.
The use of subscriber data to profle customer behavior can be
controversial and the public perception may prove to be an inhibitor to
some next generation SDM opportunities. It is an issue when the data
is shared with third parties or used to support targeted advertising. The
recent experience with using Phorm in the UK is an indication of the
problems. The EU Commission has started proceedings against the
UK government because of concerns that Phorm has been used by UK
CSPs in a way that infringes privacy and personal data protection rules.
This is an area where CSPs will need to be very careful about public
perception. Most issues can be addressed by ensuring that the customer
opts in before any profling data sharing occurs.
Providing incentives such as discounts or service announcements should
be enough to encourage most customers to opt in. If CSPs manage this
poorly the regulatory framework is likely to restrict their ability to extract
value from subscriber data.
CSP organizational challenges
A signifcant inhibitor for the broader SDM consolidation projects is the
organizational challenges they face. CSPs are typically organized in
silos with ownership for separate parts of the service infrastructure.
SDM consolidation will eventually require business units responsible
for mobile, fxed and Internet services to work together and use a
common SDM infrastructure. Where operators are organized as separate
operating companies in each country there is a similar challenge.
These barriers will slow some of the more ambitious SDM consolidation
projects, but in most cases the cost savings will be compelling. The
current recession is also likely to reduce objections to consolidation of
infrastructure.
Market Drivers
Business environment
SDM is becoming a broad requirement for the real-time and near
real-time management of customer data. Originally it evolved from an
embedded function of telephone switches to become an independent
network database and is now evolving into a distributed platform
supporting multiple network and service level functions. Major drivers
in this evolution were the need to manage mobility and authentication.
The GSM networks deployed by CSPs in the early 1990s included a
home location register to maintain subscriber data essential to mobility
management. Along with the AUC and EIR it supported the need for
identity management, authentication, mobility management and some
server settings for the GSM service. At the same time the growth in
residential broadband services drove the deployment of AAA network
databases to support authentication and accounting needs.
These network databases evolved to support specifc protocols and
requirements. They were deployed as stand-alone network nodes or
as mated pairs with one database acting as a redundant hot standby.
Most of the network databases deployed were built on special purpose
telecom hardware platforms. The operational and capital costs of this
approach started to become an issue in the early part of this decade
and most vendors began developing next generation solutions that
used standard IT software and hardware platforms. They also looked at
new multi-layer architectures that could deliver improved scalability and
resilience through a distributed approach.
In parallel with these developments real-time and near real-time
requirements were becoming more important to the service offered by
operators and the customer experience they needed to deliver. Pre-paid
services are a good example of this. Originally targeted at customers
with low credit ratings, they have evolved to provide real-time account
management for most mobile consumer customers. The web has also
contributed to the expectation of near real-time management of services,
whether it is a Yahoo e-mail account or updates to a Facebook account.
The potential areas of the OSS, BSS and SDP infrastructure requiring
real-time or near real-time SDM are indicated in Figure 6. Most of these
are currently supported by separate databases, which are loosely
synchronized using the fulfllment processes. There is a long term need
for a common dedicated SDM function that can meet the needs of each
of the application areas.
Business
Environment
Figure 6: Proliferation of subscriber data in CSP operational and
network infrastructure
As the SDM function evolves it will enable new services and capabilities.
CSPs are aware of the potential value of the customer data embedded
in their many subscriber database silos. The move towards a common
platform will make it easier to provide a holistic near real-time view of
customer behavior. This can include account balance, location, services
in use, device type and status giving a very complete picture of the
subscribers preferences and interests. This type of data can be used
to target offers of new services, advertising and adapt existing services
to better suite subscriber needs. Clearly there are many regulatory and
privacy issues that must be addressed, but Amazon, Google and others
have demonstrated how a business model can be enhanced by detailed
knowledge of user preferences.
Business
Environment
Market defnition
Analysys Mason uses the buying behavior of CSPs to defne market
segments. CSPs are purchasing subscriber data management solutions
to consolidate subscriber data onto fewer platforms and to open up
subscriber data to support new applications and business opportunities.
Figure 7 below illustrates the 23 functional categories of
telecoms software analyzed by Analysys Mason grouped under
their major segments: Service Assurance, Service Fulfllment,
Billing, Customer Care, Service Delivery Platforms and Network
Management Systems. The subscriber data management segment is
currently not part of one of the major segments. We plan to include
it in broader coverage of the service layer at a future date.
Figure 7: Subscriber data management in Analysys Mason
segmentation
Market Defnition
SDM defnition
In this report, we defne SDM as the software product that supports
real-time and near real-time access to subscriber data to support the
execution of services. The real-time requirement is driven by services
such as voice that have a tight latency budget of the order of 250
milliseconds. The look up to the subscriber database should take less
than 50 milliseconds of that budget. Other less sensitive services can
be supported with near real-time performance of up to a few seconds.
The subscriber data that is managed includes identity information
such as IMSI and IMISDN, authentication information, personalization
information, policy settings and settings for specifc services. The
requirement for real-time response requires the subscriber data to be
simple and specifc to the services supported.
In the revenue and market share estimates we exclude revenue from
hardware and general system integration and consulting services.
Hardware is of decreasing signifcance as vendors move to use COTS
hardware.
An area of confusion is that subscriber data is managed in many different
parts of the CSPs OSS, BSS and network infrastructure. Pre-paid
charging platforms for example provide subscriber data management in
real-time. These are not included in our defnition of the SDM segment
because they are not providing a general purpose SDM function that is
available to any service or application. The SDM they provide is tied to
the particular application they support. One of the architectural trade-
offs is whether a piece of subscriber data should be stored in the SDM
system, or with the application that requires it. As a general rule, if the
data is likely to be used by more than one application it should be in
the SDM system. We are already seeing a migration of subscriber data
from other platforms such as messaging platforms, pre-paid platforms,
telecoms application servers and web portals to the SDM platform.
We include a subscriber management sub-segment within the customer
care segment in Figure 7. This is distinguished by not supporting the
real-time requirements of network services and being focused on
supporting only the customer care operation.
The major functional areas included in the subscriber data management
segment are illustrated in Figure 8.
Market Defnition
Figure 8: Subscriber data management functional components
Defnition of legacy SDM and next-generation SDM
Legacy network database platforms are deployed as separate silos,
either singly or as mated pairs, to support a particular set of subscribers.
The GSM HLR is the most common legacy network database and a
single HLR mated pair will support a few million subscribers. An operator
with 20 million subscribers may deploy 10 to 15 mated pairs each of
which has to be provisioned and managed independently. Legacy SDM
products are often supported on proprietary hardware and software
platforms and have a higher price per subscriber then next generation
SDM platforms.
Next-generation SDM platforms support a single logical subscriber
database with multiple front-end applications such as HLR, EIR, AAA and
MNP. They are often implemented on COTS hardware platforms with
a lower price per subscriber. They have signifcantly lower operational
costs than legacy platforms and greater fexibility and openness. They
can also support new applications such as subscriber profling, identity
management, subscriber policy management, personalization, third-party
access and targeted advertising.
Market Defnition
Deployment scenarios
CSPs are deploying SDM in a number of different scenarios. The market
drivers section provides a more detailed view on the business drivers
behind these scenarios. The most important deployment scenarios are:
Scenario 1: Network database silos: traditional deployment model of
standalone network databases (often deployed as mated pairs for
resilience).
Scenario 2: Network database consolidation: consolidate to a logical
subscriber database supporting network database as a front end.
Scenario 3: Cross network consolidation: extension of scenario 2 to
include different types of network databases and different access
network types.
Scenario 4: SDM platform: extension of scenario 2 or scenario 3
to support a north bound access to subscriber data and support 3
rd

party access to data.
CSPs tend to evolve from one scenario to the next, but this happens
at different rates for different service infrastructure and operating
companies.
Market Defnition
Scenario 1: Network database silos
The traditional deployment paradigm for network databases, such as
HLRs, is for each HLR (or HLR mated pair) to operate independently
with responsibility for a subset of the subscriber base (see Figure 9). An
HLR mated pair provides geographical resilience by duplicating the HLR
functionality in two different locations. The provisioning (or fulfllment)
system is responsible for partitioning the subscriber base and confguring
individual subscriber settings (see Service Fulfllment Market Review,
April 2008, OSS Observer ).
In this report this type of deployment is classifed as legacy SDM
because it does not provide a platform for the broader requirements of
SDM.
Figure 9: Scenario 1: Network database silos
Market Defnition
Scenario 2: Network database consolidation
In the last few years vendors have started to offer SDM solutions that
consolidate subscriber data into a single logical database or back end
platform (see Figure 10). The front end platforms support the required
network interfaces and cache subscriber data dynamically. This provides
immediate benefts with more effcient use of resources on the front end
platforms and greater fexibility in offering resilience to failures. It also
simplifes the provisioning process.
In this report scenario 2 deployments are categorized as next
generation SDM because it is the frst step to supporting broader SDM
requirements.
Figure 10: Scenario 2: Network database consolidation scenario
Market Defnition
Scenario 3: Cross network consolidation
Further effciencies can be achieved by supporting multiple front end
applications from the same back end database. In a mobile network,
for example, HLR, AAA, Mobile Number Portability (MNP) and HSS
front ends can be supported from the same back-end system. This
provides greater effciency in resource utilization and also supports the
consolidation of operational processes. The approach can be extended
to a common platform that supports SDM across multiple networks (see
Figure 11).
In this report scenario 3 is classifed as next generation SDM.
Figure 11: Scenario 3: Cross network consolidation

Market Defnition
Scenario 4: SDM platform
The fnal scenario is normally an evolution of scenario 2 or scenario 3.
It provides support for other applications to access subscriber data in
real-time (see Figure 12). This includes applications that respond in real-
time to subscriber behavior and potentially for access from third-party
service providers. It also supports the migration of subscriber databases
from application servers and real-time charging platforms to the common
subscriber data management platform.
This is classifed as a next-generation SDM deployment and is typically
the vision that many CSPs have when investing in upgrading existing
network databases to support broader subscriber data management
requirements.
Figure 12: Scenario 4: SDM platform
Market Defnition
Vendor summaries
The following provides short summaries of the market position and
products of selected subscriber data management vendors.
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent has the broadest SDM offering of any of the vendors.
It includes network databases, next-generation SDM, personalization,
identity management, subscriber policy management, consolidation of
network databases and federation of subscriber data. Its next-generation
SDM solution is the 8650 Subscriber Data Manager. The Alcatel-Lucent
HLR solutions, the 1430 ngHLR and the 1440 USDS, can be seamlessly
upgraded to the 8650 SDM. The 8650 SDM creates a single, virtual data
store to enable the management of subscriber profle data and support
HLR/SLF/HSS/AAA/MNP/EIR applications across multiple networks.
By centralizing the subscriber data, it allows mobile service providers to
evolve their networks without replacing the SDM solution, for example,
moving from a GSM/UMTS network to LTE, IMS and all-IP network.
In addition to the 8650, which is focused on subscriber profle
data, the Alcatel-Lucent 8661 Directory Server supports subscriber
personalization, identity and privacy preferences. The 8661 Directory
Server is an open repository of data that can also simultaneously support
multiple applications. It has been deployed to support messaging
applications, friends and family data for pre-paid/post-paid applications
as well as personalization of portals and other identity and web-based
services.
Alcatel-Lucent also offers the 8660 Data Grid Suite (DGS). Its
virtualization ability blends data from multiple domains including the
IT and real-time network domains as well it federates data from third-
party resources such as marketing partners. The 8660 DGS is able
to simultaneously support multiple protocols to multiple data sources
to extract needed data records including HLR/HSS/AAA information
from the 1430 ngHLR, 1440 USDS and 8650 SDM or other third-party
HLR/HSS/AAAs. It simplifes the enablement and integration of new
applications into a service provider environment. The 8660 DGS handles
the multiple queries and protocols to the multiple data sources to return
the required information in real-time.
Amdocs
Amdocs is the leading telecom software supplier. It provides near real-
time subscriber data management in a number of its products, but
does not provide a standalone subscriber data management solution.
Vendor Summaries
It provides a master data management solution for customer data that
can provide near real-time analysis of subscriber behavior. This is
based on the IBM platform. Amdocs recently acquired ChangingWorlds
that provides a specialist platform, which adapts to mobile subscriber
behavior in real-time.
Blueslice
Blueslice is a specialist SDM vendor offering a common next-generation
SDM platform that supports HLR , HSS and AAA requirements. It is
focused on the HLR/HSS opportunity, particularly the replacement of
legacy platforms. It claims 15 CSP customers and has a partnership with
Comverse. Signifcant customers include BT and VimpelCom.
Bridgwater Systems
Bridgewater Systems built its success around the AAA requirements
for CDMA operators in North America. These requirements are
addressed by its Service Controller product. Bridgewater does not
provide the HLR function, but provides subscriber data management
for the associated mobile data services. Bridgewater has added a
policy controller that controls subscriber access to network resources,
applications, and quality of service. It has also added the Subscriber
Data Broker that supports access by third parties to subscriber data.
This enables Bridgewater to address the needs of a number of different
types of mobile operators. For example, for CDMA EV-DO markets,
they may deploy the Service Controller (AAA), Policy Controller, and
Subscriber Data Broker. In WiMAX deployments the Service Controller
and Subscriber Data Broker are deployed. For LTE deployments,
Bridgewaters suite includes an HSS, 3GPP-AAA (Service Controller),
PCRF (Policy Controller), and Subscriber Data Broker function.
Bridgewater supports both consolidation of subscriber data and
federation where the business case for replacing existing platforms is not
compelling. The Subscriber Data Broker supports federation enabling
the deployment of a mixture of consolidation and federation to meet
CSP requirements. The Subscriber Data Broker also enables service
providers to open the mobile ecosystem and deliver a wide range of
personalized services and applications to subscribers. It brings together
dynamic subscriber data with the tools to broker that data securely to
third-party application providers to support new business models and
revenue sources, such as mobile advertising. This is a major strategic
focus for Bridgewater.
Vendor Summaries
Ericsson
Ericsson is the market leader in providing mobile infrastructure to
CSPs and it has the most widely deployed HLR platform. It claims that
more than 1.7 billion subscribers are supported on its HLR platform. Its
HLR installed base is strongest in Europe and Asia with little presence
in North America. The HLR platform supports both HLR and AUC
specifcations on a single node. It is built on Ericssons proprietary AXE
platform and was originally introduced in the early 1990s. Ericsson offers
a separate HSS node to support IMS and WCDMA requirements. This
uses Ericssons TSP platform a Linux-based real-time blade server
introduced in 2001.
Ericsson has been developing its NG SDM strategy and recently started
to offer a User Data Consolidation solution that supports a layered
architecture. This includes centralization of subscriber data in a CUDB.
This supports front ends for HLR, AUC and of mobile number portability.
Existing HLR and HSS can be used as front end servers so that the
existing installed base can be transitioned to a layered architecture. The
architecture enables high availability with pooled Front End Servers and
clustered redundancy in the CUDB. The CUDB is intended to provide a
centralized single data access for CSP applications. The CUDB is based
on a generic computing and database platform.
HP
HP has been providing SDM solutions for CSPs since the mid-1990s. Its
original success was with the Tandem HLR product it acquired with the
Compaq acquisition. This is part of HPs OpenCall portfolio of telecoms
platforms and it runs on HPs high availability Integrity NonStop platform.
This was initially successful with CDMA operators in North America, but
HP has expanded to address GSM/UMTS requirements and become
the leading supplier of HLR platforms in North America with AT&T and
Verizon Wireless as customers. It has also won business in emerging
markets with Reliance in India and Vivo in Brazil. Overall HP now has
more than 250 million subscribers on its SDM platform.
HP has addressed the NG SDM requirements with its Profle Manager
introduced in 2007. It can be used as the primary centralized database
for subscriber profle data, supporting HLR, HSS, AAA and other SDM
functions as front ends. The HP Profle Manager supports centralization
and federation strategies for subscriber data. It also provides support for
access from application platforms and four third-party services.
Vendor Summaries
Huawei
Huawei is the leading supplier of SDM solutions in China and has
extensive deployments in emerging and developing markets. Huawei
introduced its frst HLR in 1998 and replaced it with the ngHLR in 2002
based on compact peripheral component interconnect (PCI) platform.
These HLR products have been widely deployed, but each HLR is
a separate platform requiring provisioning and redundancy. Huawei
addressed this issue when it launched its Unifed Subscriber Centre
(USC) early in 2008. The objective was to deliver added value to
operators by converging all of the subscriber information in a centrally-
accessible database that can be used for traditional telecoms functions
such as HLRs and newer functions such as HSS. It also supports
integration with emerging services spanning the Internet and telecoms.
The USC separates the front-end real-time application from the back-
end database. The USC is deployed on Huaweis ATCA platform.
Huawei supplies front-end applications to support HLR, HSS, AAA,
AUC, EIR, MNP and identity management. The back-end platform is
based on Oracle 9i and provides a unifed view across multiple front-end
applications. The back-end platform provides a common provisioning
interface and supports open interfaces for subscriber profling by third-
party applications.
IBM
IBM provides a range of products and solutions related to next
generation SDM, but does not provide network database products such
as HLR or HSS. IBM positions SDM as part of its SDP solution. SPDE
3.0 is the most recent release of the IBM SDP offering. The deployment
at Bharti Airtel in India is the biggest SPDE deployment and IBM
deployed and operates the SDP.
IBM has many products that support SDM requirements including the
Tivoli identity management and directory products (Directory Server,
Access Manager, Federated Identity Manager and Directory Integrator),
the InfoSphere master data management products and the solidDB
in memory database. It has signifcant subscriber data management
deployments at AT&T, Bell Canada and Bharti Airtel. The Bharti
deployment supports more than 90 million subscribers and uses the
Tivoli directory products to support access to subscriber data from
applications for near real-time requirements.
IBM also provides software components to the NEMs for their SDM
products. SolidDB is an in-memory database used in a number of third
party SDM products.
Vendor Summaries
Motorola
Motorola provides subscriber data management as part of its core
infrastructure offering. It has offered legacy network databases such as
HLR and AUC for many years. It started offering a next-generation SDM
solution in the form of its home location server in 2006 and had some
early success. However, this is based on the Apertio One-NDS platform
and the acquisition of Apertio by NSN has undermined this strategy.
NSN is a major NEM that has provided SDM HLR and other network
databases since the early 1990s. It acquired SDM specialist Apertio
early in 2008. Siemens had been delivering HLR consolidation projects
using the Apertio platform for a few years notably a large-scale project
for T-Mobile in Europe. The Apertio acquisition has gone well and NSN
has adopted the Apertio One-NDS platform as its next generation SDM
solution.
The acquisition of Apertio provided NSN with a leading edge subscriber
data management solution. Apertio was a start-up focused on SDM
that had developed an X.500 based network directory server to support
consolidation of multiple network databases onto a single logical
database. The One-NDS architecture provides a core subscriber
database with applications that support specifc service logic and network
protocols. These include HLR, HSS, MNP, EIR and AAA. NSN claims
that the One-NDS architecture can be scaled to at least serve 250 million
subscribers. Its largest current deployments are in excess of 50 million
subscribers.
NSNs vision is to expand the scope of the Apertio platform to address
the broader opportunity in SDM. This includes supporting open interfaces
to subscriber data to support CSPs in developing applications that
use dynamic profling of subscriber behavior. It also includes identity
management and support for a consolidated view of the subscriber
across multiple network database front ends.
NSN has also started to win non-traditional telecoms business with
machine-to-machine deployment with iMetrik. It also continues to expand
existing One-NDS deployments with new applications such as identity
management and subscriber profle. NSN has sponsored the Subscriber
Profle User Group (SPUG) to share practical experience and develop
industry best practice on the design, implementation and operation of
subscriber profle centric networks. Members include AIS, Bharti, , Sprint,
T-Mobile, Vodafone and 3. SPUG has a road map of more than 100
applications that can use the One-NDS platform.
Vendor Summaries
Nortel
Nortel was a signifcant supplier of HLRs, but has slipped a long way
behind other NEMs over the last fve years. This is mainly as a side
effect of its lack of success in winning new GSM network business and
its failure in the WCDMA equipment market. As a consequence it does
not provide a NG SDM product. It has continued to win business in the
GSM-R niche and provides its existing HLR to support this.
Oracle
Oracle provides a number of products that support next-generation
subscriber data management, but does not provide network databases
such as HLR, HSS or AAA.
Oracle supports SDM from three different perspectives. The frst
perspective is focused around virtualiziation of subscriber profle data
from multiple subscriber profle data stores (such as HSS, HLR, LDAP,
RDBMS) and providing a unifed API to that data. The current product
delivering this approach is the Universal Subscriber Profle (USP)
component of the Oracle Communications Converged Application Server.
The second approach is focused on creating a dedicated, real-time,
distributed data services tier at the application services layer, a data
caching layer and a data integration layer. The vision is for a data
services grid, which employs a data integration layer to pull subscriber
profle data from disparate data stores such as HSS, LDAP, HLR,
RDBMS, and storing it into the data caching tier. This will allow
applications at the services layer to retrieve profle data around such
things as presence, location, and group lists in real-time, without having
to query the back-end data stores. Oracle currently delivers this by
integrating a number of different products to meet specifc customer
requirements.
The third approach is focused on securely exposing subscriber profle
data to third party developers within the operators third party partner
ecosystem. This approach allows operators to maintain tight control
over the subscribers privacy, while at the same time, allowing third
party partners to use the operators charging and payment facilities to
charge the operators end-users for using their applications and content.
This capability is currently supported and delivered via the Oracle
Communications Services Gatekeeper. It provides facilities to implement
subscriber-specifc SLAs and policies, which can be enforced at runtime
for each type of end-user requests for specifc network services.
In addition Oracle has a dedicated identity management product family
Vendor Summaries
called Oracle Identity Management Suite, which is deployed by a
number of CSPs, but mainly for identity management within their own
organization.
Oracle also supplies its relational and in-memory databases as
components for suppliers of network databases and SDM products.
Oracle TimesTen in-memory database is used for subscriber
management in real-time charging systems, network databases and
telecom application servers. Public references are Bridgwater Systems,
BroadSoft and Sylantro.
Sun
Sun does not provide network databases directly, but is a major supplier
of hardware and software components to NEMs and other SDM solution
providers. Its main product is the MySQL Cluster Carrier Grade Edition
an open source distributed relational database that can support the real-
time requirements of HLR and HSS platforms. It is used by a number
of major NEMs and has the attractiveness of being an open source
platform. Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Nortel are customers for the
MySQL Cluster Carrier Grade Edition platform.
Tekelec
Tekelec is the leading supplier of signaling and control infrastructure for
the telecom network. The Eagle platform is the most widely used SS7
signaling transfer point. Tekelec has invested in the next generation
SIP signaling infrastructure and has a well thought through strategy
of smoothing the migration for CSPs from legacy SS7 to the next
generation IP network. Tekelec does not provide a general purpose
SDM solution but addresses some subscriber data management
requirements with embedded capabilities on its signaling platform. This
gives signifcant performance advantages for certain applications. Mobile
number portability and optimizing the routing of signaling traffc to HLRs
are examples.
Xeround
Xeround is a start-up focused on real-time subscriber databases for
CSPs. Xerounds Intelligent Data Grid enables virtualization of desperate
subscriber data in real-time. It has deployments at Pelephone in Europe
and T-Mobile USA. Deployments are in support of specifc subscriber
management requirements (e.g. Call center routing) rather than
replacement of existing network databases.
Vendor Summaries
ZTE
ZTE provides a next-generation SDM solution with a common back-end
supporting front ends for HLR, HSS, EIR, AAA and others. This can be
offered as an upgrade to its legacy network database deployments.
It provides common subscriber data management across multiple
technologies including PHS, GSM, UMTS, TD-SCDMA, CDMA, IMS
and WIMAX. ZTE claim 1 billion subscribers for its legacy HLR and 340
million for its next generation SDM platform. ZTE have been particularly
successful in China and Africa.
Vendor Summaries
Suppliers
We have identifed 16 SDM suppliers in Table 1. We believe these
companies are suffciently important to be worth serious consideration
by CSPs. Leadership qualities include market penetration by region,
telecom segment, and application area. Relative market strength is
categorized as either market leader; signifcant player or present.
Vendors we have designated as leaders in a particular market segment
or sub-segment are those that attract the most revenue in the segment
and that we predict will continue to do so. Those we judge to be
signifcant have recognition in the indicated segment due to signifcant
sales. Those we have indicated as merely present offer products in the
indicated segment, but we have no indication of signifcant sales.
Table 1: Comparison of evolved IN and next generation telecom ap-
plication server suppliers
C
o
m
p
a
n
y

O
v
e
r
a
l
l

N
A
E
M
E
A
C
A
L
A

A
P
A
C

Alcatel-Lucent
Amdocs
Blueslice
Bridgewater
Ericsson
HP
Huawei
IBM
Motorola
Nortel
Oracle
Sun
Tekelec
Xeround
ZTE
Source: Analysys Mason & company briefngs
= has a presence in the market = has a notable presence in the
market = market leader
Suppliers
Recommendations
CSPs in mature and emerging markets should have a strategy of how
they will migrate remaining legacy SDM silos in their infrastructure to a
next generation SDM platform. The business case for replacing ageing
network databases with a next-generation SDM platform is compelling
because of the savings in operational expenditure (OPEX) that come
from a simplifed, low cost, horizontal platform. It also brings advantages
in terms of fexibility and future scalability. In other words, CSPs should
move from scenario 1 to scenario 2 as legacy platforms approach end
of life and to deliver cost savings. Scenario 3 is also attractive in terms
of OPEX savings, but more complex to implement. There is a solid
business case for moving to scenario 3, but the timing of the move
depends on the details of existing infrastructure.
CSPs in mature markets should evaluate scenario 4. This opens up
opportunities to support a broader range of applications from the NG
SDM platform. Some of these involve the migration of subscriber data
from existing platforms such as messaging platforms, telecom application
servers and pre-paid charging platforms. These choices depend on the
details of the specifc infrastructure, but there are strategic advantages
in having widely used subscriber data in a common NG SDM platform.
Individual business cases should be evaluated for each platform.
CSPs should evaluate the more exciting opportunities generated by
scenario 4, such as subscriber profling and targeted advertising. CSPs
must think carefully about customer perception of acceptable use of the
data and the various regulatory requirements. There are potentially some
attractive new revenue streams, but CSPs must proceed carefully.
Over the last year, we have seen an increasing number of CSPs
providing web services access to service enablers to enable third-party
service providers to offer new services. This is strategically important
because of the potential for stimulating an ecosystem of innovative
partners that will help CSPs compete with Internet players such as
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and the myriad of smaller Internet innovators.
Subscriber data is a key service enabler and scenario 4 opens up the
possibility of including subscriber data as part of the third-party interface.
This would be very attractive to third parties, but raises many issues.
Subscriber data can be anonymized to address some of these issues,
but it is still an area of sensitivity.
CSPs in emerging markets should also have scenario 4 in mind when
selecting vendors and making architectural choices, but for the forecast
period dealing with subscriber growth will be a much higher priority.
The growth opportunities in the next generation SDM market have gotten
Recommendations
the attention of many vendors, but the attractiveness of this opportunity
depends on a vendors current position in the market. NEMs such as
Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia Siemens Networks who
have a signifcant installed base of network databases should invest
heavily in supporting the migration of customers to a next-generation
SDM platform. They are well positioned to be the leading vendors of
next-generation SDM platforms. NEMs can maximize the value of their
platforms by providing standard open interfaces to subscriber data and
establish partnerships with application vendors who can address needs
for business intelligence, subscriber profling, targeted advertising and
other new opportunities.
The major IT vendors have many products and platforms that support
functions closely related to SDM, but were developed for enterprise
IT rather than the specialist needs of the telecoms vertical. Examples
include identity management, business intelligence, master data
management and real-time databases. Companies such as HP, IBM,
Oracle and Sun should invest in enhancing these to support the next
generation SDM requirements. However, they should generally avoid
direct competition with the NEMs and focus on the new opportunities
enabled by a next-generation SDM platform. They should also look to
offer building blocks to the NEMs such as the real-time databases IBM
and Oracle already offer.
Specialist vendors should also look for adjacent opportunities enabled
by next-generation SDM platforms. They have the advantage of greater
fexibility and responsiveness to customer needs and market opportunity.
They can also address smaller market opportunities than the big NEMs
and IT vendors. Apertio and Bridgewater Systems have demonstrated
that specialist vendors can build a strong business in the SDM segment.
In the coming years the opportunity will be in leading the market with
support for subscriber profling, subscriber policy management, targeted
advertising, real-time business intelligence and other leading edge
capabilities.
Recommendations

RDMA04 Subscriber Data Management Outlook Jun2009

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Global Telecom Software Market Analysis

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