Network test equipment market booms

The market for network test and measurement equipment has grown as networks move to deliver next generation services to their consumers and retain their client base, according to market analyst Frost and Sullivan. As the quality of end-user experience (QoE) assumes greater importance among service providers, they find that test and monitoring solutions give them a competitive edge by helping to resolve problems quickly.

The analyst's report on the World Multiplay and Next Generation Services Test & Monitoring Equipment Market finds that the integrated triple play test & monitoring equipment market earned revenues of $181.5 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach $ 834.5 million in 2016.

"Fear of customer churn and increased technical support call volume with QoE concerns drive the need for monitoring solutions," says Olga Yashkova, industry analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "A holistic view of the network and end-to-end applications monitoring is absolutely necessary to deliver a positive customer experience, prevent customer churn and thereby, drive the demand for multiplay monitoring solutions."

However, considering the large number of network technologies available at present, test & monitoring solutions providers are hard pressed to support the breadth of technologies that can meet the monitoring and management needs of an application end to end, across the entire network.

With fixed mobile convergence making a splash in the market, telecom companies continue to deploy converged wire line and wireless networks that support multiple services such as voice, video, and data, over common infrastructure networks, on a single platform. This convergence is expected to make the solution more efficient and user friendly.

"Service providers see tremendous cost benefits in bundling services, as it saves time and money for both the customer and the operator," notes Yashkova. "The integrated triple play market is expected to show significant signs of recovery and witness rising demand from 2010 and the need for integrated triple play test equipment is expected to increase."