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Tag: vendors

  • ADVERTORIAL: WiMAX Forum MENA '09 – Explore and Resolve the Commercial and Strategic Challenges


    Operators in Middle Eastern and North African markets are starting to make progress with acquiring spectrum and finance for WiMAX networks.

    At the same time they are beginning to encounter challenges associated with identifying profitable business models and the practicalities of operating a WiMAX network.

    So it’s a crucial time for the region’s operators – which makes attending this year’s WiMAX Forum MENA on 23-24 June in Dubai all the more essential.

    This highly commercially-focused two-day event has been thoroughly researched to address the key strategic and technical issues that are pertinent to all Middle Eastern and North African operators investing in WiMAX in 2009 and beyond.

    Top industry experts, including 20 leading regional operators and vendors, are among the 30 plus speakers.

    Attendees will be able to hear keynotes and take part in discussions on a wide range of topics, including the business case for WiMAX and assessments on the technological roadmap for WiMAX.

    This year, the conference features a number of leading speakers from North Africa, including Mohsen Ebeid, Director of implementation, Egynet, and Kai Wuff, CEO, Kenya Data Networks, Kenya, as well as Jatem Bamatrof and Dr Ahmed Abbas Sindi, CEO, GO Ethiad Atheeb Telecom ( Saudi Arabia) who will share their experiences and insight with the participants.

    Helen Ponsford, conference manager for the WiMAX Forum Congress Series, said that, as in other emerging markets, the low level of fixed-line broadband penetration in the MENA region provides a strong opportunity for WiMAX.

    Informa forecasts that there will be 1.85 million portable WiMAX subscriptions and 650,000 mobile WiMAX subscriptions in the MEA region in 2012.

    There are now over 12O 802.16d and 16e based WiMAX networks deployed or in planned deployment across the Middle East and Africa regions.

    "Informa Telecoms & Media are bringing together regional representatives of the whole WiMAX community to explore and resolve the commercial and strategic challenges that lay ahead at this year’s WiMAX MENA event," she said.

    "This event is sure to provide a much needed forum for regional operators, regulators, investors and equipment vendors to come together to share experiences, formulate strategies to support the commercial launch of services, plan for network infrastructure evolution and exchange valuable new contacts across the industry."

    WiMAX Forum Mena is the only event supported by the WiMAX Forum, dealing with WiMAX deployment realities and allowing delegates to learn from the most advanced operators in the Middle East, North African and Persian Gulf region.

    Among the many issues being discussed this year are the commercial imperative to launch WiMAX sooner rather than later in MENA, the impact the global credit crisis having upon an operator’s ability to secure funding for WiMAX, and optimising all elements of a go to market strategy.

    There will also be panel discussions of issues such as what rollout strategy makes the most sense for WiMAX operators and the lessons that have been learnt about delivering indoor coverage in different environments.

    Full details on the conference and how to register are available here.

    WiMAX Forum Mena
    23-24 June 2009, Movenpick Bur Hotel, Dubai
    Day 1: 9 – 5.30pm
    Day 2: 9 – 4.45pm

  • Growth in HDTVs Driving Demand for HD STBs


    Shipments of set-top boxes are expected to peak this year, at least in mature markets, and then commence a gradual decline.

    However the rolling series of analog TV shutoffs in countries around the world, combined with the strong uptake of HDTV sets, mean that HD STBs will form a growing fraction of the total market, according to ABI Research.

    HD STBs are expected to account for about 30 per cent of all STB shipments as soon as 2010.

    Michael Inouye, ABI Research industry analyst, said this will be accompanied by a progressive movement from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 for content delivery.

    He said a growing affinity for HD boxes over SD is closely related to MPEG-4.

    "As more HDTVs find their way into homes, the demand for HD content grows in kind," he said.

    "Anticipating this demand, some countries and operators have elected to support the more efficient standard up front or to begin deployments of upgraded CPE."

    Inouye said the price points of boxes are converging.

    So much so that he said MPEG-4 and in some cases HD are getting sufficiently inexpensive that some operators will be providing them to their customers by default.

    While some STB vendors feel that demand for standard models will be around for a long time, reports from infrastructure vendors suggest a push towards MPEG-4 encoders, according to Inouye.

    So he said vendors will have to support MPEG-4.

    In markets primarily served by digital terrestrial broadcasts where most sales of STBs are retail, especially those with a large MPEG-2 installed base, this means that vendors will have to encourage consumers to switch by reducing the prices of upgraded boxes.

  • IP Desktop Market Revenues to Decline Until 2011


    The IP telephony endpoint market will be affected by the economic downturn – despite the fact an increasing number of enterprises are recognizing the benefits of both IP desktop phones and enterprise soft clients.

    That’s the conclusion of Melanie Turek, principal analyst at Frost & Sullivan, which has just released its latest global study of the sector’s enterprise market.

    She says that IP desktop phones are rapidly proliferating in the enterprise, displacing their analog and digital predecessors.

    Today, this is largely due to declining prices and clear productivity benefits, according to Turek.

    "Last year, we anticipated that PC soft phones offered a natural transition to more sophisticated UC clients," she said in her No Jitter blog.

    Melanie Turek, principal analyst Frost & Sullivan

    "Today, we can confirm that this new generation of soft clients is quickly penetrating the market, often replacing their old counterparts."

    Turek said that thanks to the strong case around UC and the continued shift from hardware-based to software-based solutions, more telephony vendors are aggressively pursuing bundling strategies.

    This includes combining platforms, server software, advanced UC clients, and access to either a-la-carte or bundled applications.

    She said this has considerably boosted the penetration of enterprise soft clients such as PC desktop soft phones, advanced desktop UC clients, and mobile clients (FMC and UC).

    The world enterprise IP desktop phone market continued to grow in 2008, generating USD $2.57 billion in total revenues, a 3.1 per cent increase over 2007, according to the Frost & Sullivan report.

    Steady revenue decline is expected until the end of 2010, but the market is expected to gradually recover by 2011 and continue with a healthy growth pattern until at least 2015.

    Turek said the world enterprise IP soft client market has more than doubled its size, from 1.0 million units shipped in 2007, to almost 2.4 million clients in 2008.

    "This prominent increase in client shipments has been driven not so much by a swell of customer demand, but rather by the effective penetration strategies that many IP telephony providers have been implementing," she said.

    As a result, Frost & Sullivan estimates that less than 45 per cent of total enterprise soft clients shipped in 2008 are being used as a primary tool for voice communications.

    Although PC desktop softphone revenues are expected to considerably decrease over time as UC offerings penetrate the market, the higher profit margins granted by advanced UC clients and mobile FMC/UC clients are expected to largely offset this revenue decline.