VoIP Growth Sparks New Interest in SBC Testing Tools

As more businesses move from conventional voice services to VoIP-based offerings, the need for testing tools to ensure the reliable operation of session border controllers (SBCs) is growing among both enterprises and providers of VoIP services, according to the latest report published by Light Reading's VoIP Services Insider (www.lightreading.com/entvoip), a subscription research service from TechWeb's Light Reading (www.lightreading.com).

VoIP Growth Poses New Challenges for SBC Testing examines the SBC testing market, focusing on the network operator sector. It includes a comparative analysis of solutions that looks at specific tests provided, technologies utilized, competitive differentiators, and partners for each company. The report examines current and future market drivers, savings that can be achieved with the testing solutions, the benefits of testing solutions, and the challenges the market faces. This report also provides a competitive analysis of eight top vendors in the industry, including trends each vendor expects in the future.

  For a list of companies covered in this report, please see:
  http://img.lightreading.com/evi/pdf/vsi0909companies.pdf

"While SBCs have been deployed by network operators for a number of years now, they are experiencing a surge of interest at the enterprise level, as corporations of all sizes continue their migration toward VoIP and other IP-based applications," says Denise Culver, research analyst with Light Reading's VoIP Services Insider and author of the report. "As the number of installations grows, it is imperative that SBCs stay at the top of their game in terms of keeping networks secure, handling tasks such as network address translation (NAT) and firewall traversal issues, protocol transcoding, and managing access to network resources by external traffic for service providers and enterprises."

Key findings of VoIP Growth Poses New Challenges for SBC Testing include the following:

  --  SBC vendors vary greatly in terms of how developed their testing
      solutions are and how they are utilized
  --  QoS, security issues, and SLA compliance are some of the market
      drivers behind the adoption of SBC testing
  --  Two of the top cost-saving measures from SBC testing are improved
      performance and reduced time to revenue
  --  SBC testing helps identify and isolate faults in the lab, keeping
      costs down

  --  As the SBC testing market matures, demand will grow for testing
      applications using more realistic network applications and traffic

VoIP Growth Poses New Challenges for SBC Testing is available as part of an annual subscription (six issues) to Light Reading's VoIP Services Insider, priced at $1,295. Individual reports are available for $900.

To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: www.lightreading.com/entvoip. For more information about other Light Reading Insider research services, please visit: www.lightreading.com/research.

To request a free executive summary of the report, or for details on multi-user licensing options, please contact:

  Jeff Claudino
  Director of Sales
  Insider Research Services
  619-229-9940
  claudino@lightreading.com

  Press/analyst contact:

  Dennis Mendyk
  Managing Director
  Insider Research Services
  201-587-2154
  mendyk@heavyreading.com

  About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) is the leading online media, research, and focused event company serving the $3 trillion worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Expo London, The Tower Summit @ CTIA, and Optical Expo, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About TechWeb

TechWeb (techweb.com/aboutus), the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network, Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, Wall Street & Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services ranging from next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research, and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

  * 13.3 million business decision-makers: based on # of monthly connections

  About United Business Media Limited

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities - from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists - with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/.

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SOURCE: Light Reading's VoIP Services Insider

CONTACT: Jeff Claudino, Director of Sales, +1-619-229-9940,
claudino@lightreading.com; or Press/analysts, Dennis Mendyk, Managing
Director, +1-201-587-2154, mendyk@heavyreading.com, both of Insider Research
Services