The News: Alianza, a cloud communications platform for service providers, announced a multiyear strategic collaboration agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to transform how communication service providers (CSPs) deliver and monetize voice and cloud communications services. Read the full press release on the Alianza website.
Alianza and AWS Accelerate Cloudification of Telecom Communications
Analyst Take: Alianza and AWS are working together to build and scale cloud communications experiences for CSPs. The solution is generally available in North America and has already been deployed by more than 100 CSPs including top-tier and nationwide operators such as Lumen, Brightspeed, Bluepeak, Xplore, and Viasat.
I see the partnership directly addressing, accelerating, and expanding CSP demand to implement the next generation of voice and communications products as their voice infrastructure reaches end-of-life and the softswitch era winds down. The combination of Alianza and AWS is solidly positioned to deliver competitive benefits to CSPs such as improved customer experience (CX), new product innovation, reduced cost of ownership, and simplified operations.
For instance, the Alianza Cloud Communications Platform enables CSPs to replace their entire softswitch-based VoIP networks and TDM legacy hardware to launch new UCaaS and cloud communication products in accord with AWS’ commitment to support telco modernization by migrating workloads to a trusted cloud environment. Plus, CSPs deploying retail services based on Alianza and AWS can retain complete control over CX, including brand identity, pricing, and market positioning.
The research and development teams at Alianza will collaborate with AWS to develop solutions specifically for CSPs, including use of generative AI services, such as Amazon Bedrock, that provide a fully managed service from AI specialists accessible through an API to build and scale generative AI applications. This collaboration augments Alianza’s software as a service (SaaS) approach geared to delivering the full range of voice and next-generation communications services.
From my view, the Alianza Cloud Communications Platform delivers competitive advantages today by enabling CSPs to distinctly target the phone-centric midsize business, small business, and residential segments through support of SIP trunking, specialty lines, analog/Centrex, and home phone capabilities alongside offering full UCaaS, CCaaS, hosted PBX, and video collaboration solutions aimed at large/medium enterprises.
In contrast, main rivals Zoom and RingCentral alongside Microsoft Teams are heavily focused on the large enterprise and UC-centric midsize segments and lack support for voice-specific small and midsize business (SMB) and residential options. Specifically, RingCentral displaces the CSP’s brand by not allowing white labeling or custom branded solutions and is a UC-only solution with no residential or voice-only offerings.
Through Microsoft Teams, CSPs can also fulfill the UC-centric requirements of large enterprises and medium businesses. As such, Alianza is strongly positioned to enable CSPs to meet the demands of the phone-centric SMB and residential segments in accord with supporting UC-centric organizations.
Key Takeaway: Alianza and AWS Elevate CSP Cloud Communications
Overall, I believe Alianza is sharply differentiated in offering a cloud-based communications platform targeted at traditional telecom services in combination with supporting comprehensive UC-centric applications. As such, the combination of Alianza’s full-stack communications platform with AWS’ proven cloud infrastructure can fulfill the topmost demands of CSPs as they transform their networks in meeting the swiftly evolving demands of their customers from residential through large enterprise.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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Author Information
Ron is an experienced, customer-focused research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets, working with businesses to drive consistent revenue and sales growth.
He is a recognized authority at tracking the evolution of and identifying the key disruptive trends within the service enablement ecosystem, including a wide range of topics across software and services, infrastructure, 5G communications, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), analytics, security, cloud computing, revenue management, and regulatory issues.
Prior to his work with The Futurum Group, Ron worked with GlobalData Technology creating syndicated and custom research across a wide variety of technical fields. His work with Current Analysis focused on the broadband and service provider infrastructure markets.
Ron holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from University of Nevada — Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Arts in political science/government from William and Mary.
