According to new research by RHK, long-term fundamentals for service provider spending on fault and service management (FSM) in North America remain strong. Fault and service management software will account for one third of the telecom OSS service assurance software market in 2001, reaching $1 billion by year's end. While service providers are deferring OSS purchases because of the current economic environment, long term, this market is projected to grow at 18 percent CAGR, reaching $1.7 billon by 2004.
"With millions of network elements to manage, carriers need fault and service management applications to detect quality issues and report network and system outages," says Patrick Kelly, Senior Analyst for RHK's Telecom OSS Service Assurance program. "Service assurance applications such as fault and service management become a priority when carriers look to control these elements and also provide services such as voice, instant messaging, and Internet commerce."
According to RHK, the strongest demand for fault and service management applications will come from IXCs, ILECs, cable operators, and wireless service providers. RHK finds that carriers are looking to use these solutions to lower operating costs, improve operational efficiency, and enhance customer service quality. There are opportunities for new entrants in the FSM market, as service providers have multiple requirements that no one supplier can satisfy.
"With the rapid pace of technology advancements embedded in newly deployed equipment, service providers are searching for OSS systems that allow them to differentiate services and at the same time effectively manage a multi-vendor, multi-technology network," according to Kelly. "This creates opportunities for new entrants to solve problems that incumbent FSM suppliers have not addressed. We have found many installations where more than one fault management system has been deployed even in the same operations center."
Detailed analysis of the fault and service management market is available from RHK's Telecom OSS - Service Assurance: Global program. This continuous information service from RHK's STARTRAX product offering provides market share and analysis reports, market forecasts, and vendor and service provider profiles, in addition to other standard program deliverables.
About RHK:
RHK Inc. is a global industry market research and consulting firm specializing in the analysis of advanced technologies for the public telecommunications network. For more information, visit www.rhk.com.