BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The need to automate and manage the network alongside cloud computing and storage is becoming acute, and as networking and the cloud converge, market advantage is tipping back in favor of network equipment vendors over IT vendors as providers of the overarching orchestration layer for the cloud, according to the latest report from Heavy Reading Service Provider IT Insider (www.heavyreading.com/servsoftware), a paid research service of Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com).

Real-Time OSS for SDN & the Cloud looks at both vendor and operator approaches to the next-generation management of service provider infrastructure and the new imperatives for OSS as that infrastructure is transformed by cloud, SDN and network functions virtualization (NFV). It also profiles nine leading vendors and two leading operators in this market.

For a list of companies analyzed in this report, http://twimgs.com/audiencedevelopment/AA/Light_Reading/spiti0213_companies.pdf

"Communications service providers regard enterprise cloud services as a key money-spinner for the future, with the potential to compensate for declining revenues elsewhere," says Caroline Chappell, Analyst at Heavy Reading and author of the report. "As they ramp up their cloud businesses, however, the chasm between the abstraction and automation capabilities they have on the IT side of the house and the inflexible, unvirtualized network yawns ever wider."

The converged cloud infrastructure will depend heavily on emerging SDN and NFV developments, Chappell says. "However, it will take a long time for such developments to become ubiquitous across most operators' networks," she continues. "Vendors are also seizing on the real-time OSS opportunity, especially network equipment vendors that are promoting SDN and NFV and that believe they can insert themselves into the cloud management/OSS value chain."

Key findings of Real-Time OSS for SDN & the Cloud include:

• Vendors' main competitors for real-time OSS that orchestrate the management of cloud and network are operators.
• Equipment vendors and new entrants are gaining the upper hand over IT OSS vendors, as cloud management increasingly means managing SDN and virtualized network functions.
• Alcatel-Lucent leads in orchestrating cloud and WAN, but Ericsson will launch a rival capability in 2013 and VMware has big plans for converged cloud and network management.
• Modeling application cloud requirements is key to policy-driven orchestration of infrastructure.

Real-Time OSS for SDN & the Cloud is available as part of an annual single-user subscription (six issues) to Heavy Reading Service Provider IT Insider, priced at $1,595. Individual reports are available for $900 (single-user license).

To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: www.heavyreading.com/servsoftware. For more information on all of Heavy Reading's Insider services, please visit www.heavyreading.com/research.

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

Jeff Geddes
Account Manager
Heavy Reading
303-997-9135
jeff.geddes@ubm.com

Press/analyst contact:
Jennifer Baker
Marketing Director, Light Reading Communications Network
617-747-4110
jennifer.baker@ubm.com

About Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com)
Heavy Reading is an independent research organization offering deep analysis of emerging telecom trends to network operators, technology suppliers, and investors. Its product portfolio includes in-depth reports that address critical next-generation technology and service issues, market trackers that focus on the telecom industry's most critical technology sectors, exclusive worldwide surveys of network operator decision-makers that identify future purchasing and deployment plans, and a rich array of custom and consulting services that give clients the market intelligence needed to compete successfully in the global telecom industry. As a division of UBM Tech (tech.ubm.com), Heavy Reading contributes to the only integrated business information platform serving the global communications industry.

SOURCE Heavy Reading