Middleware wars escalate to the telecoms platform

First Thoughts: The telcos are moving towards the all-IP converged world and the key software platform, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), but this will be a complex and expensive shift. This leaves many carriers looking for an interim solution, and they are finding it in the form of the Service Delivery Platform. This is being adopted particularly by telcos looking to aggregate, manage and provision applications for enterprise customers, which are increasingly turning to telcos to outsource the creation and deployment of the mobile enterprise.

The evolution of the SDP is allowing enterprise software houses to transfer their core skills in middleware, service oriented architectures and web services to a new base - IBM with WebSphere and various levels of application delivery leading up to its full IMS; and Microsoft with its Converged Services Framework, now adopted by AT&T.

Final Thoughts: The new requirements of the telcos to deliver complex combinations of IP applications is drawing new suppliers into their orbit, and escalating the long established middleware wars in the enterprise base to the telecoms sector. As in the corporate world, the fiercest battle will be between solutions based on IBM WebSphere/Java and Microsoft .Net.