Directing Analyst for Service Provider Next Gen Voice & Mobile Core Stéphane Téral said, “Lucent solidifies Alcatel's position in the broadband and optical markets, sure, but not in the next gen voice space. The $2 billion trunk media gateway and softswitch market is currently led by Nortel, Siemens, and then Huawei. Lucent and Alcatel don't even show up on the leader board. At best, combined they'll only move up to number 6 or 7. The only way they'll gain market share and become a leader in this space is if they acquire a strong independent like Sonus.
Meanwhile, Cisco is strong in trunk media gateways but weak in softswitches, so if they want to be big in the carrier next gen voice market, they need a softswitch player to fill the gap. Cisco is watching what Nortel and Siemens are doing, the number-one and -two players in the combined trunk media gateway and softswitch market. Siemens may get rid of its communications group, and Nortel is in deep trouble. But a Siemens and Nortel combination - now that would create a VoIP equipment giant.
Infonetics analyst Jeff Heynen commented, “In the world of broadband, this is a match made in heaven because Alcatel is the market share leader in wireline broadband access deployments, and Lucent is very strong in wireless CDMA deployments. Together, they're a very solid player in the fixed wireless convergence field. With service providers fully committed to converging their fixed and mobile networks, and high-speed data and video services being deployed across both networks, the combined entity of Alcatel and Lucent will become a one-of-a-kind one-stop shop for service providers around the world.”