Huawei and ZTE: young, hungry, and ready to compete on innovation

ZTE and Huawei held their annual analyst conferences last month in Shenzhen. Ovum sent 5+ analysts to each event, as these two vendors are key to our ongoing telecom research. In this report, we discuss briefly some of the technology and industry trends stirred up at the two events. Most important: simplifying product portfolios through ”unified” multipurpose platforms and delivering more intelligence through common modules and software; the rise in importance of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications or “the Internet of things”; telecom vendors’ creep into adjacent markets, including enterprise and home networking, multimedia devices, and even application store enablement; and energy efficiency. An overall theme that cut across the two events is the optimism and ambition of the Chinese vendors.



Report Highlights

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Executive summary
In a nutshell
Ovum view
Optimism and ambition prevailed
Return of the ‘god box’: simpler portfolio, more complex products
Inventing another hockey-stick curve: M2M/Internet of Things
Ambition or insanity: vendors march into consumer electronics, home/enterprise networking, ICT services, and web applications
Green is about saving money: energy efficiency techniques
Chinese vendors not a homogeneous class
Market context: 2009 vendor results
Where to go for a Huawei and ZTE primer
Huawei and ZTE claimed 12% and 5%, respectively, of global telecom network infrastructure revenues in 2009
Infrastructure vendor share shifts in 2009: Huawei and ZTE were the biggest winners
Unified platforms, golden pipes, and other ambitions for Huawei and ZTE
Single platforms aka ‘god boxes’ – never as good as they sound
Access and transport
Common management software
Moving away from customization
Transport network perspectives
Unified approach based on OTN/WDM
IP microwave - the next wave
Look over your shoulder Infinera
Wireless networks
End-to-end offerings with hopes to reach the top
Services growing in concert with wireless networks
Machine to machine and the ‘Internet of things’
Being green
Goals for the future: beyond telecom?





List of Figures
Figure 1: Vendor shares of 2009 telecom network infrastructure market
Figure 2: Change in vendor share from 2008 to 2009, telecom network infrastructure revenues
Figure 3: ZTE’s Uni-network solution
Figure 4: Places, people, and things in an M2M world
Figure 5: M2M service value chain
Figure 6: Hybrid power supply to base station in China
Figure 7: Android iPad? Huawei’s SmaKit terminal


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