Telcos Still Need a Plan for Application Delivery, Heavy Reading Finds

NEW YORK, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Although all telecom network operators must transform themselves into providers of applications for enterprise customers, little progress has been made in planning for application delivery, with fundamental issues regarding technologies and approaches still to be resolved, according to the latest report from Heavy Reading Services Software Insider (www.heavyreading.com/servsoftware), a paid research service of TechWeb's Light Reading (www.lightreading.com).

Telco Application Delivery: The Network vs. IT Power Struggle analyzes the next-generation application delivery challenges now faced by telcos, as well as the technology and deployment options available from IT-focused suppliers and network-focused vendors. The report identifies and evaluates the role of internal network and IT departments in developing an effective application delivery infrastructure, and profiles and analyzes ten leading suppliers of telco application delivery solutions. The report also pinpoints strategies that technology suppliers can take to win business in this emerging and vital market sector.

For a list of companies analyzed in this report, please see:  http://img.lightreading.com/ssi/pdf/ssi0610_companies.pdf

The telco application delivery infrastructure market represents a large opportunity for vendors, but most are not addressing this sector effectively at present, says Caroline Chappell, research analyst with Heavy Reading Services Software Insider and author of the report. "Application delivery is still a loosely defined term that embraces a wide range of technologies, and telcos are trying to sort out which vendors are best placed to provide them with the right solutions," she notes. "These may not be the traditional suppliers of application delivery technology associated with the data center/corporate network application delivery."

The challenges involved in application delivery are giving rise to a large number of disparate technology solutions, each aimed at solving a piece of the puzzle, Chappell reports. "Technology consolidation is underway in the market for enterprise IT application delivery, where data center and corporate network solutions are converging," she says. "Similar technologies for application delivery are increasingly rubbing up against each other at the network edge on either side of the IT/network divide. Increasingly, these technologies will need to work together to give the end-to-end picture and management of application delivery that telcos need."

Key findings of Telco Application Delivery: The Network vs. IT Power Struggle include:

• The telco application delivery infrastructure market represents a large opportunity for vendors, but most are not addressing it effectively at this point.
• Traditional suppliers of application delivery technology associated with the data center/corporate network are meeting increasing competition from vendors with similar technologies bubbling up from the IP network domain in the battle for the edge.
• Application delivery architectures need to be better defined, embracing WAN optimization, security, XML processing, content caching, and other technologies that are often not included in this category.
• Radware and Zeus are emerging as the vendors with the best strategies for meeting telco application delivery challenges.

Telco Application Delivery: The Network vs. IT Power Struggle is available as part of an annual single-user subscription (six issues) to Heavy Reading Services Software Insider, priced at $1,595. Individual reports are available for $900 (single-user license).

To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: www.heavyreading.com/servsoftware. For more information on all of Heavy Reading's Insider services, please visit www.heavyreading.com/research.

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About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) is the leading online media, research, and focused event company serving the $3 trillion worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technological and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, and TelcoTV Asia, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Europe, and The Tower Summit @ CTIA, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives in the US, Europe, India, and China. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

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SOURCE Heavy Reading Services Software Insider