network equipmenT strategy

Network equipment vendors span a large domain ranging from Radio Access Network (RAN) vendors such as Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, etc. to Routing and Switching gear vendors such as Cisco, Juniper, etc. to BTS Antenna vendors such as Kathrein, Comba, Amphenol, and others.

Across the board, network equipment vendors are facing reduced or stunted CAPEX budgets from their carrier and enterprise customers with the key industry challenge being the shift toward Software Defined Networking (SDN) and early moves toward 5G. Our research shows that most main-line players have faced and overcome this challenge and have been able to carry their customer relationships into next-generation networks and match their customers' architecture evolution with their core networking expertise.

In our view, most network equipment vendors still need to increase their multiyear service contracts, penetrate into growing and strategic markets such as security, managed services, converged infrastructure, integrated 'whitebox' solutions, and will need to transform from SDN to Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs).

Another continuing trend among both CSPs and large enterprises is the demand for managed network services. Here, factors such as limited technical resources, a focus on efficiency and cost, and leveraging of scale and scope have caused even the largest CSPs around the world to outsource their network services to network equipment vendors. Managed services have therefore become one of the fastest-growing components of the network services market segment. Following this trend, cloud-based services, managed security services, WAN Optimization, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and IP telephony are being implemented by network equipment vendors as logical extensions of the CPE-based portfolios of CSPs globally.

IEMR's Network Equipment Practice team has worked with all segments of the Network Equipment value chain to address their challenges in transforming their businesses from hardware channels to services and software channels. We help top management make breakthrough decisions that generate profitable growth through judicious acquisition of technologies, improved cost positions, and increased efficiency.           

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