Ericsson Tops IMS Vendor Matrix Ranking

Ericsson has been ranked at the top of the latest Vendor Matrix released by ABI Research, maintaining the position it held in the last edition of this Matrix. Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks claimed the second and third spots in the companyÃ's new evaluation of worldwide IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) infrastructure vendors. Alcatel-Lucent showed a stellar rise compared to its #6 rank in the previous Matrix, while Nokia Siemens held its previous position.

"Ericsson led the overall rankings because the company has the most IMS contracts - 50 commercial IMS contracts - while its competitors had 30 or fewer," comments senior analyst Nadine Manjaro. "Many of its customers are Tier 1 operators, the company provides a comprehensive suite of products, and it invested over $4.8 billion in research and development in 2007."

The Vendor Matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendorsÃ' positions in specific markets. Vendors are assessed on the important parameters of "innovation" and "implementation" across several criteria unique to each vendor matrix.

For this particular matrix, under "innovation," ABI Research examined the system vendorsÃ' R&D budgets and the number of their IMS industry partnerships; their support of wireline and wireless networks; and the number of innovative services.

Under "implementation," ABI Research scrutinized the following criteria: how well each vendor is equipped to supply a complete system (either alone or with partners); its announced orders or trials; its abilities as a system integrator; the number of Tier 1 operators that are customers; the number of elements provided; and the number of applications provided or supported.

Posted to the site on 28th July 2008