Femtocell Equipment Vendor Matrix

ABI Research evaluates vendors on the basis of innovation and implementation by selecting multiple criteria related to product/company characteristics that serve as proxies for the vendors' performance in these two areas. Upon evaluation, vendors are assigned numerical scores that are aggregated and analyzed to provide overall rankings of each vendor on the Innovation and Implementation axes.

The Femtocell Equipment Vendor Matrix compares femto OEM vendors and ranks them based on various criteria linked to Innovation and Implementation. The criteria specific to the evaluation of femtocells include:

Implementation

  • End-to-End Solution Capability and Ecosystem Partnerships
  • RFP, Trial, and Rollout Activity
  • Ability to Scale and Commoditize Quickly
  • Carrier Relationships
  • Overall Financial and Organizational Health
  • Silicon Strategy/Partnerships
Innovation
  • Cost
  • Interference Mitigation Techniques
  • Standards-Compliant Network Interface
  • Gateway IOT
  • Handset IOT
  • Solution Maturity
  • Hand In/Out
  • Module Support
  • Multimode Support
  • Future-proof Upgrade Path
  • Scalability
  • Femtozone Service/Application Framework Support
  • Support for Multiple Form Factors
Ubiquisys Ltd comes out on top of the vendor matrix yet again in terms of both Innovation and Implementation. Ubiquisys has the momentum going for it with multiple operator trials and rollouts across the world, including commercial rollouts with Softbank in Japan and the upcoming launch with T-Mobile in Germany. Ubiquisys has seen its partnership strategy with NEC work to its advantage, enabling it to deliver end-to-end solutions. The company has also shown commitment to the market and its ability to scale by expanding its silicon supplier chain, bringing in Percello in addition to Picochip. Ubiquisys is in the driver’s seat in terms of introducing innovation and seems to have a long-term vision with its commitment to developing a framework for femtozone application developers. Ubiquisys ticks in all the boxes in terms of a healthy femtocell strategy and is expected to remain a strong player in the market.

Ubiquisys is followed by ip.access, which has seen its partnership and close relationship with Cisco Systems bear fruit. ip.access has moved up from third to second place. The ip.access-Cisco partnership could be seen as an emerging front in the femtocell market competing with Ubiquisys-NEC. Cisco's portfolio also includes gateway vendor Linksys and set-top box vendor Scientific Atlanta, which should help ip.access with its femto integration strategy. ip.access has built on its innovation and R&D expertise and is now in close competition with Ubiquisys for much of the interference mitigation and sniffing features that are necessary aspects in femtocells today.

Closely following ip.access is Airvana, which has risen two positions from last year and is now third in the vendor matrix rankings. Airvana has improved its position immensely compared to last year with an increasing number of partnerships and being indirectly involved in both the UMTS and CDMA markets. Airvana has built its strategy around partnering with larger, more influential vendors and has created a strong position for itself. Its modular approach allows the company to integrate with multiple form factors and it is one of the leading femto module suppliers to gateway vendors.

Huawei is another vendor that has moved up in the vendor matrix, largely due to its presence in most RFP proposals and trial activity around the world as well as its ability to be an end-to-end supplier.

In general, vendors that have followed a strategy of increasing their partnerships in the ecosystem have gained and cemented their positions as strong players. The ability to deliver an end-to-end solution for femtocells is becoming crucial and vendors that do not have the right partnerships are likely to suffer.  Although femto standardization levels the playing field slightly, the partnership equation is a determining factor for end-to-end solution capability. The vendor matrix is also reflective of which vendors are most active in the RFP and trial stage as we see operators slowly rolling out commercial solutions. Another differentiating factor that is likely to play a more crucial role in the future is the ability to support femtozone applications and provide a framework for implementing them. Vendors that recognize the importance of femtozone applications and build frameworks and ecosystems around them, are bound to benefit in the long run.

Rankings



After individual scores are established for Innovation and Implementation using the above criteria, an overall company score is established using the Root Mean Square (RMS) method:




The resulting overall scores are then ranked and used for percentile comparisons.

The RMS method, in comparison with a straight summation or average of individual innovation and implementation values, rewards companies for standout performance.

For example, using this method a company with an innovation score of 9 and an implementation score of 1 would score considerably higher than a company with a score of 5 in both areas, despite the mean score being the same. ABI Research believes this is appropriate as the goal of these matrices is to highlight those companies that stand out from the others.