T&M: The Best Isn't Here Yet

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The enterprise and telecom network test and measurement (T&M) equipment market in India has failed to match the kind of growth that network equipment market has registered in the past couple of years. The rate of growth has not lived up to the expectations of many vendors. T&M tools are either considered very expensive or too complex too be handled. Besides, many potential users of T&M in both the telecom and enterprise segment have been deferring deployment of T&M tools or are not quality conscious enough to take them seriously.

However, notwithstanding all this, T&M vendors argue that despite the hiccups, the Indian market is yet to see its best and believe it offers huge potential. For them, the tremendous growth in the Indian telecom sector driven by the surge in mobile user base, the launch of broadband services and the investments being made by enterprises in mission critical applications and new networks holds the key to the growth of T&M market in India.

Communication T&M: Wireless and Broadband Drivers
Wireless and broadband is what T&M equipment vendors believe is going to drive the market for communications T&M products and solutions in India. Even though network elements have become smarter with more built in intelligence, telecom operators are likely to invest in T&M at different levels.

As for the currently popular products-tools in India, spectrum analyzers, base station testers, power meters, return loss test sets and drive test tools are important on the wireless service side. On the wireline side MPLS testers, router testers, traffic generators, BER testers, SDH analyzers are the important tools. Besides this electronic counters, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, network analyzers, multi-meters, high frequency LCR meters etc. are also popular with service providers.

"Wireless Broadband technologies like WiMax, 3G, etc. are all going to open up opportunities for T&M vendors"
Jairam Pillai, MD, National Instruments India

"Wireless segment is growing very rapidly. Wireless subscriber base this year has overtaken the wireline subscriber base. In keeping with this trend, the T&M products for wireless network deployment application had a very strong business growth overall," says Shankar Roy Chowdhury, general manager (Marketing), Agilent Technologies India. With the changes happening on the core network, which is gradually migrating from SDH to NGN architecture, a lot more testing will be done at the protocol level. This will ultimately bring in a big shift, adds Roy Chowdhury.

Jairam Pillai, managing director, National Instruments India says that the communications industry has been a driving force in the worldwide T&M market, and the Asia Pacific region in particular is seeing a more rapid CAGR than other regions. "This trend is likely to continue for the next 5-6 years, and India's rapid development in this space can be counted on to sustain this trend," he adds. Pillai mentions another trend. He points out that the convergence of multi domain functionalities into devices is one of the most interesting trends. "Take the examples of mobile phones. Even a mid range phone today features the convergence of voice, video, broadband, wireless connectivity protocols, PDA functionality, etc. Testing such convergent technologies in modern devices will throw up opportunities in this segment," Pillai says.

The launch of broadband services by telecom operators like BSNL, MTNL, Bharti and Tata besides the forthcoming launch by Reliance is expected to open up new opportunities for T&M vendors. There are a variety of aspects that promise growth, right from testing link QoS related parameters to testing of devices like cable modems, set top boxes, and other terminating equipment. Agilent's Roy Chowdhury says that with the growth in broadband network, large number of handheld tools will be required for the access network testing. There will be requirement for ADSL testers, fiber break locators, OTDRs etc. "Another interesting trend is the increasing tendency of broadband access going wireless. Wireless broadband technologies like WiMax, 3G, etc are all going to open up opportunities for T&M vendors," National Instruments' Pillai says.

Enterprise T&M: Applications Will be Key Drivers
Enterprise segment is also on a strong growth mode. However, the growth here is not uniform. While enterprises that run mission critical applications are investing in tools and solutions, enterprises for whom network is a lifeline are not doing so surprisingly. Many enterprises find cost of T&M tools prohibitive and often decide to do without them or rely on their network integration partners to help them out. CAT 5/ CAT 6 cable testers, voice quality testers, network security tools, network performance monitoring tools, oscilloscopes and logic analyzers are in demand among enterprises.

"T&M products for wireless network deployment had a very strong business growth"
Shankar Roy Chowdhury, GM (Marketing), Agilent Technologies India

"In the installation phase the system integrators use tools to check out the quality of cable network. However, there is a big scope of using voice quality testers in call centers that they are not using so much. As the call centers sign up SLA with their end customers, VQT is the only tool that allows them to determine voice quality in a quantitative manner. They need to monitor network up time as well which can be tracked through software tools," Roy Chowdhury says. "Voice quality and network up time are key parameters for the enterprise network manager. He needs to provide these details to his customers as part of the SLA, hence measure them. He needs to also monitor network security as these threats can cripple his operation," he emphasizes.

However as more enterprises deploy mission critical applications and feel the need for highly available networks necessitated by business, they are very much likely to invest in T&M. In other words, even if they would not like to invest in them now, they would surely need to in future. Deployment of gigabit networks, VoIP and new applications would drive enterprises to invest in T&M.

Boost from Manufacturing
Setting up of manufacturing presence in India by global vendors like Nokia, LG, Flextronics, Elcoteq and others is also likely to fuel the growth T&M market in India. "The big demand would come when equipment that demand testing is locally manufactured. Overall manufacturing would be the biggest growth driver. Growing R&D activities in India would also drive growth," says Roy Chowdhury.

Observing that the communications industry is poised to drive the T&M equipment market from the perspectives of revenue, technology, and innovation, Pillai says that India is well positioned to benefit from this trend because of the progressive shift in manufacturing and now R&D facilities of global giants to India. "In addition, another heartening aspect is that there are a good number of design start ups that will contribute to this growth. Provided their requirements are met and their concerns are addressed, we can expect sustained growth," he adds.

What Lies Ahead?
While wireless and broadband would be key drivers of communications T&M, in the enterprise space new technologies like gigabit networking and VoIP are likely to necessitate investments in T&M. In the telecom sector, T&M vendors with strong service provider offerings and understanding of key emerging technologies like 3G and WiMax can also look forward to getting into services business. There would surely be demand for consulting services from service providers. Moreover, T&M vendors can also look forward to an increasing scope of consulting services in the enterprise space as well. They can, for instance, offer such services to start up companies, especially on network planning, optimization and for training new employees. Consulting on areas such as network audit etc can also be promising.

Ravi Shekar Pandey