Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks were again virtually tied for second place. Managed services led the way for Alcatel-Lucent, as large contracts won in previous quarters led to an increase of more than 20%. On the other hand, network and systems integration declined due to cuts in capex, and maintenance and deployment services were down as well. Nokia Siemens Networks reaped the benefits of its multi-year consolidation and investment in remote services and its consulting and integration expertise. New NSN CEO Rajeev Suri is expected to optimize and expand remote operations, as well as further integrate professional services into the company’s sales and delivery model for products and solutions.

In terms of year-to-year TIS revenue growth, Huawei and ZTE grew sales faster than their peers due to the continued buildout of 3G in China, where the firms are the dominant suppliers. Huawei’s market-leading 27% growth was also the result of revenue delivered from its Global Technology Services and growth in professional and managed services. ZTE grew 18% due to growth in China and emerging Asian markets, despite struggling in Africa and mature markets in Europe and the Americas. Nokia Siemens Networks took a distant third-place position, up 6% as a result of growth in emerging markets, gaining managed services contracts in India and Brazil, and mature contracts in Europe. According to TBR analyst Michael Sullivan-Trainor, “Ericsson began to benefit from the Sprint contract and Nortel acquisition to lead North America growth, while Huawei advanced further in EMEA and Asia and NSN leveraged key deals in Latin America.”

Sullivan-Trainor reports that “Ericsson, Cisco and HP increased their market strengths through game-changing acquisitions, while IBM increased its alliances to counter competitors.” IBM managed to translate its IT strengths, Netcool portfolio and many alliances into services business, as the company introduced its Service Provider Delivery Environment 3.0 framework to cover all capability areas in 2009. IBM delivered managed services to Research in Motion for its Blackberry Enterprise Solution, announced a strategic agreement with Sybase to deliver on-premise and hosted mobile commerce solutions and announced a partnership with Qwest to deliver bundled services such as managed security, unified communications and infrastructure management. The company also announced a $100 million investment in messaging applications and acquired online messaging provider Outblaze.

HP’s revenue was driven by its new Communications and Media Solutions (CMS) group, formed in February 2009. The new group creates a solutions focus to better leverage combined products and consulting & integration services. HP’s major 2009 impact in North America among announced contracts was the rollout of cloud computing through the Computing-as-a-Service (CaaS) offering by Verizon. HP is among the best-positioned suppliers to capture market share in service provider cloud offerings. The company gained ground in managed services for the year, largely based on EDS-related business, scoring volume contracts in applications management with companies like Telstra and Optus in Australia and Telfort in the Netherlands.

While addressing all segments of TIS across all technologies is crucial for Tier 1 suppliers, Tier 2 leaders can be successful addressing segment strategies. For example, Oracle and NEC focused on acquisitions to bolster their telecom bases, increasing their TIS share, while Microsoft rolled out more of its own platforms catering to service providers.

Systems integrators Wipro and Capgemini attempted to expand business into the telecom vertical as IT business slowed. These moves made the space crowded for Tech Mahindra, which already addresses the industry with significant revenue in OSS/BSS integration. Equipment suppliers such as Cisco, Fujitsu and Juniper Networks remained focused on product attached services, garnering their share of the Tier 2 marketplace.

In addition to analyst inquiry time, custom projects and industry benchmarking, TBR’s NBQ quarterly reports provide an in-depth view of the leading equipment vendors and service providers in the network, telecom and mobility value chains, including Accenture, Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T Wireless, Cisco, Ericsson, HP-EDS, Huawei, IBM, Motorola, Nokia, Nokia Siemens, Nortel, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless, and ZTE. TBR NBQ covers key segments such as telecom infrastructure services, network equipment, software and enabling platforms and wireless terminals. We analyze how companies’ strategies, actions and results change each quarter, and what might be expected in coming quarters. TBR puts the information in context by presenting how the company has performed historically, along with how it fares when benchmarked against competitors.

Technology Business Research, Inc., headquartered in Hampton, N.H., is recognized as one of the leading high-tech market research and consulting firms specializing in the analyses of computer, software, networking equipment, wireless, portal and professional services companies, as well as customer satisfaction studies. Serving a domestic and international clientele of high tech manufacturers, IT professionals, end users and financial executives, TBR provides timely and accurate market research and business intelligence in a format that is uniquely responsive and tailored to clients’ needs. TBR analysts are available to further address client specific issues or information needs on an inquiry or proprietary consulting basis.