Author: Ron Westfall

September 28, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Note

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Takes the High-Performance Computing Road

OCI significantly bolsters its competitive prospects in the cloud HPC domain, through its agile array of semiconductor and HPC partnerships and clear-cut ability to use price/performance differentiators to win new business. Now AWS, Azure, GCP, and IBM must directly counter the rising OCI threat or risk erosion in their cloud HPC market position.

Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, Infrastructure, and Operations, Processors

September 23, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Note

MATRIXX Software Provides Cloud Native Keys to Innovative 5G Charging

MATRIXX is gaining a time-to-market advantage in capturing mind share among CSPs during the early stages of their cloud native charging implementations through the latest cloud native enhancements to MATRIXX Digital Commerce. At least rivals will now need to stress their portfolio development goals in supporting CNCF graduated projects such as Prometheus and Fluentd to lessen MATRIXX’s ability to gain a differentiation edge. Now MATRIXX must show it can translate early mind share gains into tangible market share gains against foes in the 5G CCS and BSS realms.

5G, Cloud, Communications Networks, Hybrid Cloud, Infrastructure, and Operations

September 23, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Note

Nokia Zeroes in on Boosting 5G Operations Efficiency

Nokia’s Cognitive SON targets aiding service providers in their quest to efficiently manage 5G complexity through ML-powered low-touch automation and real-time resolution of operations problems. Now Nokia must show its well-differentiated SON solution will become a difference maker in accelerating CSP 5G builds as well as bolstering the company’s 5G competitive outcomes.

5G, Communications Networks

September 16, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Note

Cisco Commits to Closing Digital Divide with Robust Rural Broadband Push

Cisco’s rural broadband network solutions for services providers is fundamentally focused on closing the digital divide, a fast emerging imperative for government decision makers and all of society. The necessary move to more remote working and learning is proving that access to affordable, reliable internet access is essential to fulfilling the unique demands of rural communities in top-priority areas such as public safety, public health, education, and communications. Cisco is making the full business case warrant for rural communities to join the emerging digital workforce and ecosystem in order to survive and prosper.

Unified Communications

September 14, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Note

ADTRAN Goes FWA to Broaden Residential Broadband Mass Appeal

ADTRAN’s new MetNet 60GHz solution is providing exactly what CSPs require to push residential broadband to their most challenging to serve customers and environments. ADTRAN’s MetNet 60 GHz solution is not gated by the underlying physical infrastructure, which has limited the deployment range of fixed access broadband technologies like FTTH. Fixed wireless services are becoming an invaluable compliment to fiber and fiber extension networks in terms of reaching any potential residential or business customer with gigabit capable services, no matter where they are located.

Communications Networks

September 9, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Report

Unified Communications and Collaboration: The Primacy of Security, Privacy and Trust

Collaboration Devices and Services, Security, Unified Communications

September 9, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Report

Unified Communications and Collaboration: The Essential Differentiators for 2020 and Beyond

Unified Communications

September 8, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Note

Marvell and TSMC Show that Size Does Matter

The Marvell-TSMC collaboration is set to pay long-term dividends for both companies. Marvell fortifies its ability to further differentiate the OCTEON portfolio in areas such as gate density, performance, and power efficiencies to drive innovation across the data infrastructure market. In turn TSMC validates its 5nm foundry credentials to further boost its supply chain influence throughout the semiconductor market – a win-win collaboration for both companies.

Processors, Semiconductors and Components

August 27, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Note

ONF Preps SD-RAN for Open Source 5G Prime Time

ONF’s new SD-RAN project is a work in progress after a flourishing start. Founding members, including especially major operators AT&T, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, and NTT, need to demonstrate their mobile ecosystem clout and pull through more support from key industry players such as Open RAN and 5G chipset suppliers. Overall ONF has the ecosystem pull and open source pedigree required to make the SD-RAN project a long-term success.

5G, Communications Networks

August 26, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Note

Clearfield Clears More Field for 5G and Broadband with StreetSmart Portfolio Expansion

Clearfield is enabling CSPs to cost-effectively drive fiber deeper into their networks, particularly in support of 5G. The new StreetSmart Small Count Fiber Hand-off Box allows CSPs to use an easy-to-deploy, slim form-factor to support protected hand off from fixed to mobile connections in demanding 5G and DAS environments. Clearfield’s steady quarterly and year-over-year growth, based on fiscal Q3 results, among its three largest customer segments – community broadband providers, national carriers, and cable operators – attests to its ability to consistently deliver differentiated fiber management solutions against formidable competition as well as meet new CSP fiber management requirements amidst the distinct challenges of the global C-19 pandemic.

5G, Communications Networks

August 22, 2020

Ron Westfall

Research Note

AppDynamics SAP Peak Enables Enterprises to Handle the Truth about their SAP Landscapes

AppDynamics significantly bolsters its ability to make further inroads into the larger enterprise and SMB market segments of the global APM market with the SAP Peak launch. The offering enables AppDynamics and parent company Cisco to quickly differentiate and steal sales and marketing thunder from rivals in fulfilling the latest and most pressing SAP monitoring demands of enterprises and businesses. SAP Peak augments both companies’ Central Nervous System vision of driving the AIOps journey for business while also advancing Cisco’s strategic goal of developing an applications-driven portfolio that expands its software and services revenue streams.