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GartnerExtract from Gartner's Cool Vendors in Network Services, 2005

© Lisa Unden, Gartner - 31 March 2005

We profile seven innovative vendors of network services. They offer products in areas such as connectivity, Internet data centers, VoIP services and the "triple play" of telephony, Internet access and video services.

Management Summary

This research does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors in any given technology area but rather is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Gartner defines a cool vendor as a vendor that offers technologies or solutions that are:

  • Innovative — enable users to do things they couldn't do before
  • Impactful — have, or will have, business impact (not just technology for the sake of technology)
  • Intriguing — have caught Gartner's interest or curiosity in the past six months or so

The seven "cool vendors" chosen by Gartner's network services analysts range from recognized service providers to startups working at, and with, the leading edge of technology. Some vendors, like Strohl Systems, are building on long-term strengths to deliver increased value to clients. Other vendors, like Lumidigm, are attempting to redefine their market segments.

These seven vendors have two things in common — they are using and offering technologies and services to help users of network services to obtain a cheaper and enhanced service that is more closely aligned to actual requirements. They are also using these technologies to provide real-world business value.

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5.0 Nexagent

Nexagent, Reading, United Kingdom (www.nexagent.com) — Nexagent provides technology and services to facilitate the integration of multiple carrier Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks, giving cost savings for carriers, systems integrators (SIs) and network integration organizations, as well as speeding up time to market.

Typically, it is expensive and challenging for organizations to have, or create, a single global carrier IP solution in this highly fragmented market without:

  • facing costly challenges in multi-carrier network integration
  • facing challenges associated with mapping of class of service (COS) and quality of service (QOS)
  • being able to provide end-to-end service assurance monitoring
  • negatively affecting service-level agreements (SLAs)
  • matching operational process and issues between different carriers

Nexagent helps to solve some of these problems by taking care of connectivity and interoperability issues (like security, QOS and COS mapping) at the network level, making it easier and cheaper to integrate networks. It assists with more rapid fault isolation, which reduces downtime and costs to all parties (but it doesn't address the direct issues of the physical network integration, flow through provisioning or fault resolution). It isolates faults by using service control devices and peering architecture that maps QOS and COS on public peering points where inter-carrier connections can be made. Nexagent is also licensing its underlying software, the Multi Carrier Interconnect System (MCIS) and the Lifecycle Management System (LCMS), to carriers that want to maintain QOS agreements with a private group, which directly enables the carriers and SIs to automate their own configurations, rather than on a public peering point.

Nexagent targets global SIs and carriers, and licenses its technology so that these providers can set up their own private and multilateral, multi-carrier IP VPN peering points and connect their own private clubs of carriers.

For carriers where Nexagent's technology is used, it increases a carrier's network reach to better meet the demands of global organizations, and facilitates in achieving efficient IP VPN MPLS end-to-end SLAs globally or regionally, with minimum investment. Nexagent helps SIs to strengthen partnerships with carriers cost-effectively and flexibly, which helps them to achieve global platforms for outsourced service delivery on a wider scale. Ultimately, this increases the range of viable carriers, SIs and services available to organizations globally. This also positively affects carrier and SI revenue.

Overall, Gartner believes Nexagent has resolved some key problems facilitating multi-carrier integration, opening up opportunities for carriers, SIs and organizations. But challenges remain. Nexagent's brand awareness is still limited. Some organizations are unwilling to outsource their global WAN, and some tend not to outsource the complete management of their global networks to service providers unless they see significant benefit in doing so. Nexagent needs carrier buy-in to increase revenue growth, rather than a threat to enhance competitor strength. Therefore, Nexagent must continue to raise its visibility in the market. To expand as the markets for global connectivity evolve, it must showcase studies of where carriers, SIs and organizations have directly benefited.

By Lisa Unden

Gartner.com