Metaswitch buys AppTrigger service broker
Continuing the recent wave of SDP vendor activity, the deal targets carriers' need for gradual migration to IMS
Published: 11 March, 2010
READ MORE: M&A | Core Network | IMS
Service delivery platforms (SDPs) have become increasingly strategic to carriers, helping them to provision and deploy new services quickly and so keep their end up in the battle against open web apps. The new prominence of these systems has sparked a wave of vendor activity and M&A, the latest being Metaswitch's acquisition of service broker specialist AppTrigger.
This follows in the footsteps of similar purchases by Oracle, which bought service broker vendor Convergin, and Amdoc's takeover of JNetx. Metaswitch will sell AppTrigger's Ignite product standalone and will also incorporate it into its VoIP/IMS platforms. While the acquirer is mainly known in wireline and VoIP markets, and the US, its new unit has succeeded primarily with non-US wireless carriers.
This is the first major purchase for Metaswitch, which aims to become a major player in the softswitch and IP apps platforms markets. The service broker helps the migration of legacy voice-oriented networks to IP, by providing a piece of software that sits between the control layer and the service layer.
Andy Randall, VP of marketing for carrier systems at Metaswitch, told ConnectedPlanet: "Service brokers by definition allow carriers to more easily deploy services that span a variety of network architectures, covering up differences in areas such as signaling and legacy IN applications." And it is becoming increasingly important that service brokers and SDPs are not just standalone systems, but can be integrated in future into IMS.
Though progress to full IMS is slow, operators are starting to show more interest, especially in IMS-based approaches to individual key services, such as the VoLTE initiative for voice. Randall argues that service brokers may not be included in the IMS standard, but they are essential to real world deployment, as they handle the interworking between different app servers and the core network, providing a conversion layer between the legacy network and the SIP-based core.
Similar motives drove Amdocs' purchase of JNetX for $50m last fall. The larger firm made the buy to create a more complete platform to span its TDM and IP platforms. JNetX offers a Java-based system with a reusable set of application creation and provisioning tools that work across multiple services and networks.
That deal, and the AppTrigger purchase, remove two of the few independent SDP vendors left standing in the market. This sector has seen a wave of acquisitions over the past three years, and some casualties, including Microsoft's efforts. Ericsson has been particularly active and in 2007 bought SDP specialist Drutt, shortly after Oracle had acquired Hotsip, billing specialist Portal Software and applications development firm Net4Call, to create its own carrier challenge. And smaller players have been merging too - Aepona bought Sweden's Appium in 2007 to gain greater weight in SDPs and web services frameworks, and then went on to acquire Valista this year, to add payments and settlement facilities.
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