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Femtocell Equipment Vendor Matrix
Vendor Matrix
- Release Date
- 3Q 2010
- Product Code
- VM-FEMT-104
- Price
- Login
Introduction
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 Access Point Vendor Matrix compares femto access point 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: measures ability of vendor to provide end-to-end solutions from chipset access point through to system integration.
- RFP, Trial, and Rollout Activity: measures commercial activity of vendor including participation in RFPs, trials, and commercial rollouts, with larger weight for live commercial rollouts.
- Ability to Scale and Commoditize Quickly: measures ability to scale operations to match upcoming spikes in demand for femto access points.
- Carrier Relationships: measures existing relationships with carriers— including Tier 1, 2 and 3 carriers— with larger weightage for Tier 1 carriers.
- Overall Financial and Organizational Health: measures financial health of the vendor.
- Silicon Strategy/Partnerships: measures the silicon strategy, silicon partnerships, or internal ability of a vendor to develop silicon.
- Software Stack Capabilities: measures the software stack strategy, software stack partnerships, or internal ability of a vendor to develop software stack.
Innovation
- Cost: measures innovation and effort in reducing the cost of the femto access point.
- Interference Mitigation Techniques: measures innovation and techniques involved in reducing interference from femtocells.
- Standards-Compliant Network Interface: measures efforts to provide a standards-compliant femtocell, including participation and submission to the standards themselves.
- Gateway/Handset IOT: measures effort of vendor in terms of handset and gateway IOT.
- L2/L3 Software Stack: measures innovation on the L2/L3 software stack.
- Hand In/Out Support: measures effort and innovation to provide hand-in/hand-out support on femtocells.
- Module Support: measures the ability of a vendor to provide modular versions of its femtocell that can integrate into third-party platforms.
- Femtozone Service/Application Framework Support: measures innovation and development of a femtozone services and application framework.
- Support for Multiple Form Factors: measures innovation and capability in providing multiple form factors (DSL/Wi-Fi integrated, set-top box integrated femto).
- Enterprise Femto Capability: measures innovation and capabilities for enterprise/business grade femtocells.
- Metro Femto Capability: measures innovation and capabilities for metro grade femtocells.
Ubiquisys retains its position as the leading femtocell access point vendor for the third year in a row. While there have been significant operator launches from its closest competitors such as Alcatel Lucent (Vodafone UK) and Cisco (AT&T), which have provided the impetus for market in 2010, Ubiquisys has focused on its core competence as a femtocell specialist. Ubiquisys has transformed itself from a box vendor to a femto software engine supplier, providing the blueprint necessary for mass-market sub $100 femtocells. As the driving force behind SoftBank's free femtocell offering, and having enabled the world’s first metro femtocell from Public Wireless, Ubiquisys has gained recognition as a leader and innovator in the marketplace.
Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei are ranked #2 and #3 respectively. Alcatel-Lucent has a lion’s share of the Vodafone rollouts across Europe, followed by Huawei, which has been present in most operator trials but has seen moderate success so far. Alcatel-Lucent is the one vendor that could threaten Ubiquisys's position as the leading femtocell vendor in the coming year as it expands its reach as an end-to-end supplier, with the size and scale that operators like to see. Huawei is still seen as a force to contend with, especially in the Chinese and European markets, due to its capability as an end-to-end supplier. Cisco is just behind Huawei at #4, losing out in terms of implementation because of its reliance on AT&T as the sole operator, while Huawei has a wider operator reach. While ip.access is closely tied into Cisco, in this matrix both are individual vendors in their own right. While ip.access is still seen as an innovative vendor that has been in the marketplace since the very beginning, it loses out to Cisco in terms of its scale, carrier outreach, enterprise Wi-Fi, IP, and core network capabilities.
Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei are ranked #2 and #3 respectively. Alcatel-Lucent has a lion’s share of the Vodafone rollouts across Europe, followed by Huawei, which has been present in most operator trials but has seen moderate success so far. Alcatel-Lucent is the one vendor that could threaten Ubiquisys's position as the leading femtocell vendor in the coming year as it expands its reach as an end-to-end supplier, with the size and scale that operators like to see. Huawei is still seen as a force to contend with, especially in the Chinese and European markets, due to its capability as an end-to-end supplier. Cisco is just behind Huawei at #4, losing out in terms of implementation because of its reliance on AT&T as the sole operator, while Huawei has a wider operator reach. While ip.access is closely tied into Cisco, in this matrix both are individual vendors in their own right. While ip.access is still seen as an innovative vendor that has been in the marketplace since the very beginning, it loses out to Cisco in terms of its scale, carrier outreach, enterprise Wi-Fi, IP, and core network capabilities.
The two vendors that are worth keeping an eye on are Airvana and AirWalk. Both vendors are primarily CDMA femtocell suppliers and have ties to Sprint and Verizon, both of which are planning 3G femtocell rollouts in late 2010-early 2011. Airvana and AirWalk’s current positions in the vendor matrix are a reflection of the delayed 3G femto rollouts from Sprint and Verizon. However, both vendors do rank high on innovation and outrank Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, and Cisco in that category.
The middle range of the vendor matrix consists of many of the integrated femtocell suppliers, most of which are tied to femtocell module vendors such as Airvana or Ubiquisys. At the same time,- they are femtocell vendors in their own right and have been measured in terms of their capabilities as femtocell access point suppliers. They can also be classified as femtocell product integrators due to their expertise in the broadband or Wi-Fi router space. In this category vendors like Argela and Technicolor are well positioned because of their focus on enabling a framework or building APIs for femtozone applications. This could be a key differentiator for integrated femtocell suppliers.
The middle range of the vendor matrix consists of many of the integrated femtocell suppliers, most of which are tied to femtocell module vendors such as Airvana or Ubiquisys. At the same time,- they are femtocell vendors in their own right and have been measured in terms of their capabilities as femtocell access point suppliers. They can also be classified as femtocell product integrators due to their expertise in the broadband or Wi-Fi router space. In this category vendors like Argela and Technicolor are well positioned because of their focus on enabling a framework or building APIs for femtozone applications. This could be a key differentiator for integrated femtocell suppliers.
Most of the vendors in the bottom half of the ranking do not have any significant ongoing operator engagements, or have not upgraded their femtocell product line in the last 12-18 months.