EXFO's IP acquisition spree

Optical test equipment and service-assurance supplier EXFO made two acquisitions this month: Brix Networks, which focuses on voice over IP in provider networks, and Navtel Communications, which focuses on IP multimedia subsystem equipment in vendor labs. EXFO hopes to see IP-based technologies from their birth in the lab to their use in the field.

Étienne Gagnon, vice president of product management and marketing for EXFO, described the company's plan to Telephony.

On Brix: Brix has centered a lot on VoIP, the first service based on IP convergence. But there's a huge wave of IPTV and triple-play service-monitoring [coming]. It's not a big market; it's only the early days, but that's definitely where the growth is going to come from. The market is rationalizing. Early players are getting acquired because you need critical mass and relationships with big players.

On Navtel: Navtel is active in the IMS world, in the load- and stress-testing of edge switches and session border controller (SBC) testing. It's on the opposite end of the spectrum from Brix, at the bleeding edge of technology in the R&D of [network equipment manufacturers]. It strengthens our position in the world of Ciscos and Alcatel-Lucents and allows us to see future technologies coming. With IP convergence, things are happening much faster today, especially when you talk about IMS.

On spreading out: Typically the deployment and troubleshooting phase requires a lot of test equipment. Eventually when the technology becomes more mature, you start seeing service assurance requirements, when [carriers] know what to measure and monitor. We've been doing a lot of work in the deployment phase, so service assurance was a natural extension; we have an early indication of what's going to be needed. And there's definitely a great benefit for us to be there with the NEMs while they're designing their new services and testing them to the limit. That's eventually going to be deployed into our test equipment. We want to be there early and make sure we're maximizing the use of a new technology from the beginning to the end of its life, from design to deployment and eventually monitoring and service assurance.

On IMS: IMS as it stands today may never happen. It's a wild dream — a huge, all-encompassing thing. You won't see a fully IMS-controlled network for 10 years. When we say we work in IMS, we specifically work on SBCs and testing. That's the way these things are going to be deployed: part by part. On the VoIP side, it's fairly well-managed today. On IPTV, you'll probably start seeing some, I won't say IMS compatibility, but interoperability next. IMS is going to be critical because it brings a level of interoperability to these systems. We're working worldwide, and it's a mess. If you want to deploy, let's say, Microsoft, you have a totally proprietary system that doesn't work with anything else. For us, it's a nightmare. I'm testing Bell Canada, Verizon — nothing looks the same. IMS will codify how IPTV will work, as SIP did with voice.

IMS TEST AND MONITORING MARKET

2007 $274 million

2013 $1200 million

Source: Frost & Sullivan