WIRELESS MEDIA GATEWAYS ON THE VERGE OF PROLIFERATION

The market for softswitches and media gateways in wireless networks has thus far been the domain of wireless-focused vendors such as Winphoria Networks and Starent Networks, but recent news indicates it could be the next competitive hot zone.

Sonus Networks, to date a softswitch and media gateway supplier for wireline networks, made its first foray into wireless last week by launching the GSX 9000 Wireless Media Gateway as part of its new SMARRT Wireless strategy. The product is targeted at gateway mobile switching center (GMSC) applications as wireless carriers confront an increasing amount of data traffic on their networks.

In this application, the public network would forward all calls intended for a roaming user to a GMSC, which would query the home location register (HLR) on the user's current location, and then route calls to the switching center nearest the user.

The GSX 9000 is based on Sonus' GSX 9000 Open Services Switch and Open Services Architecture designed for wireline Class 4 applications. Sonus' wireless strategy also addresses wireless transit, long-distance and backhaul applications. “Wireless is simply another avenue for us,” said Michael O'Hara, vice president of marketing at Sonus.

The announcement comes just a few weeks after Lucent Technologies said it would start reselling a Cisco Systems mobile data media gateway product. Meanwhile, InStat Research recently suggested that investments in the mobile segment could be a key growth driver for the softswitch and media gateway market in the years to come.

However, the recent vendor moves are getting under the skin of a core group of wireless vendors.

Ash Dahod, co-founder, president and CEO of wireless media gateway firm Starent Networks, said, “You can't take a wireline media gateway and retrofit it to wireless, and that's what some companies are trying to do.”

In addition to the technical support of various wireless network protocols and roaming standards, wireline vendors will approach wireless with a “lack of focus” about the real needs of wireless carriers. “There are some softswitch and gateway products [in wireless] that support services like voice instant messaging and push-to-talk, which wireline companies aren't familiar with,” Dahod said.

Shamim Naqvi, founder and chief architect at Winphoria Networks, added, “The set of protocols you need to support for wireless is different, so the software loads are going to be different.”

Sonus said it supports all 2G and 2.5G network standards, including IS-41 and GSM-MAP interfaces to HLRs, and that it will support 3G standard later this year. The company also said its GMSC solution would be interoperable with existing wireless softswitches like Winphoria's.

Still, wireline softswitch and media gateway companies will likely need partnerships with major radio technology companies to make an impression on mobile carriers, Naqvi said. “A huge problem these companies may face is knowing that their equipment interoperates with the gear of radio vendors,” he said. Winphoria currently has an alliance with Motorola, which Naqvi said allows either company to market a complete softswitch-radio access solution.

Both Dahod and Naqvi said they are not surprised wireline vendors have begun targeting wireless. “It is obvious that Class 4 growth hasn't been spectacular the last few years, and it was apparent to us that these companies eventually would move into wireless,” Naqvi said.

Dahod added, “Everyone's been hearing that [capital expense budgets] have not been getting cut as much in wireless as in wireline.”

Though his company will face increased competition as a result, Starent also has benefited from the hope that its market is due for a spending boom. It closed a $23 million third round of funding earlier this month that Dahod said will carry the company through to profitability.