A new competitive ranking by global technology intelligence firm ABI Research provides a thorough, in-depth, and unbiased examination of the solutions offered by nine network automation and orchestration software suppliers. Broadly speaking, vendors in this competitive ranking fall under the following automation supplier groups: network hardware vendors investing in building an automation software business, network automation and orchestration software vendors, and new, emerging software vendors.

The suppliers are, in order of overall ranking, as follows:

Market Leaders: Amdocs, Netcracker Mainstream: Ciena Blue Planet and HPE Followers: Cisco, Juniper, Comarch, Itential, and Cloudify

Amdocs leads the implementation rankings due to a strong services business. Netcracker leads the innovation rankings due to a very competitive set of automation solutions that benefit from a unified cloud foundation among other technology pillars. “For this duo of suppliers, automation and orchestration software continues to be their base business. They offer industrial-strength automation and orchestration solutions. These suppliers continue to be highly entrenched in the market; they have a large install- base for single- and cross-domain automation projects and stand behind some large-scale network transformation deals in the industry. This set of competitive advantages continues to serve them well in winning business,” explains Don Alusha, Senior Analyst at ABI Research. However, they face fierce competition from suppliers investing to diversify their mainstream business.

For example, in ranking order, Ciena, HPE, Cisco, and Juniper have a healthy network and server equipment business. For these vendors, automation and orchestration is arguably one part of a larger hardware-based offering. According to Alusha, “That may well mean that (automation) software does not help these vendors drive revenue in how their mainstream organization is structured to drive revenue. So, unless there is an arrangement in place that separates the interface between mainstream (hardware) business and (new) high-growth network automation software market opportunity, these vendors’ processes sharpened for mainstream business may have to be adapted to make judgment calls needed for an automation software business correctly.”

Key software vendors continue to exploit disruptive innovation to redefine the trajectory of serving the market. Itential is a vendor that fits the bill. Itential, alongside Comarch, are vendors who continue to innovate their offering to win market share in a constantly developing and changing Telecoms marketplace. The vendors likely to dominate are those that support CSPs revisiting the resources that helped them build a winning position anchored to hard-to-duplicate network infrastructure in the past. Today and in the future, the commercial challenge lies in creating a winning position based on cloud tools, software, and new working practices.

“There will be a radical change in how AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Dish Networks, Telefónica, and Verizon, among other CSPs, model, build, and operate networks. Vendors who facilitate that change in an end-to-end fashion - across all layers within a single domain or across all layers in a cross-domain setting - will win business with automation, AI, big data analytics, and professional services. Suppliers that stand to reign supreme will be those that develop network automation software that does not just serve CSPs’ network requirements, but also supports them come to grips with the relentless, discontinuous change that software products create,” Alusha concludes.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Cloud-Native Network Automation and Orchestration Software Market competitive ranking report. This report is part of the company’s 5G Core & Edge Networks research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights. Competitive Ranking reports offer a comprehensive analysis of implementation strategies and innovation, coupled with market share analysis, to offer unparalleled insight into a company’s performance and standing compared to its competitors.