Harris Stratex takes on network management

In the growing business of managed services, Harris Stratex won’t be stepping on too many toes since the large vendors focus primarily on the large operators, but the large vendors may seek to go after the small operators, too. Ericsson already provides managed backbone and SMS services for small wireless operators around the country. And as Ericsson and NSN scale their own network management operations in the US, it will need to bring in other carriers large and small to gain outsourcing efficiencies.

Donahue, however, said Harris Stratex has one advantage over the big boys if it comes down to head-to-head competition for smaller contracts. Harris Stratex has its own  network management platform, NetBoss XT, which it has sold to operators globally for more than a decade, Donahue said. Ericsson and NSN have to get their platforms from IBM (NYSE:IBM) and HP (NYSE:HPQ), while Harris Stratex can leverage its own technology, Donahue said. The fact that the vendor has its own platform convinced it to get into the managed services space in the first place, he added.

For the last few years, Harris Stratex has quietly been transforming itself from an IP backhaul company to a full-service network vendor, a process which has accelerated under new CEO Harald Braun. In addition to managed services and network management software, Harris Stratex has branched out into the radio access business, purchasing WiMax base station vendor Telsima, and is even preparing to enter the network core by developing its own access service network (ASN) gateway. Braun appears to be remaking the company in the image of his former charge, Siemens Communications, by offering end-to-end network solutions to its customers rather than merely selling a single backhaul component. The big difference, though, is that Harris Stratex is targeting operators in emerging markets and smaller operators in developed markets, carriers which Braun believes are very similar.

“In some areas in North America, broadband conditions are very much like the emerging markets,” Braun said in a recent interview. “Many people just have dialup modem or no access to data services whatsoever. … We see drivers of the emerging market and the drivers of broadband stimulus as being the same: lack of infrastructure, the lack of availability of high-end multimedia. Both the emerging markets and rural America share the same desire to participate in the communications world.”