critical capabilities us wireline telecom services 3.12.13

Critical Capabilities for U.S. Wireline Telecom Services

12 March 2013 ID:G00246282

Analyst(s): Danellie Young, Robert F. Mason, Daniel O'Connell

VIEW SUMMARY

Network managers and sourcing professionals need to evaluate wireline telecom service vendors by

specific product capabilities and use cases. Use this research to assess providers' offerings and the

vendors of such services as Multiprotocol Label Switching, Session Initiation Protocol and Ethernet.

Overview

Key Findings

Execution (e.g., service delivery and postsales support) and quality are key differentiators for

wireline providers.

Pricing is becoming more disciplined and less deal-specific for voice and virtual private network

(VPN) services, because discounting is now more consistent.

Providers are starting to respond to strong enterprise demand for Ethernet services; however,

their offerings are still immature. Network managers are also pushing Ethernet adoption further

down market to supplant legacy access that is less flexible and reliable.

Nearly all service providers support large, midsize and branch office use cases, but deployment

costs and pricing models vary; focused providers aggregate more broadband alternatives, offering

broader coverage and more comprehensive customer premises equipment programs.

Recommendations

Network managers and sourcing professionals that need a deep bundle of wireline services should

focus on using Tier 1 providers, because they support more services.

If you need select capabilities, consider Tier 2 vendors where they compete aggressively. These

providers' prices are often 15% lower than those of Tier 1 providers, offer superior customer

support and are ideal for midsize enterprises.

Although this research covers larger, regional and national providers, evaluate smaller regional

network service providers (NSPs) for smaller regional WANs or in-region optical connectivity.

What You Need to Know

This document was revised on 25 March 2013. For more information, see the Corrections page.

of 21Critical Capabilities for U.S. Wireline Telecom Services

4/4/2013http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1EO067X&ct=130326&st=sb

As WAN technology matures, service provider differentiation has shifted from strictly the technical

capabilities to service delivery, change management and the quality of postsales support, essentially

from order entry and design to implementation, trouble reporting and amelioration. As providers bring

additional efficiencies from their sales operations and consolidate back-office systems and personnel,

account team responsiveness has become a focus area.

Gartner's seven critical capabilities for vendor evaluation provide criteria to help network planners

develop a shortlist of vendors and select the services that best meet their specific organizational and

networking requirements. Use the scoring of these vendors as part of an objective selection process.

Buyers should weight criteria according to their own business, technology, and operational

requirements and plans for their enterprise network architectures.

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Analysis

Introduction

Wireline telecom services remain foundational for the enterprise, supporting the connectivity needed to

manage all converged applications that transit two or more sites. Increasing enterprise reliance on

infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and software as a service (SaaS), as well as reliable third-party

connectivity, magnify the critical role that WANs play.

However, as enterprises determine how best to support these dynamic network needs, questions arise

about how to manage disparate users, locations and devices more effectively and efficiently. This is

especially important as WAN service prices and service margins continue to erode. With less revenue,

NSPs have reduced support personnel, resulting in lapses in ongoing performance and trouble

resolution. This has reduced customer satisfaction, as seen in both JD Powers surveys and Gartner's

client inquiries. Because wireline telecom services represent as much as 20% of an enterprise's IT

budget, network strategists and managers must make prudent decisions concerning the contracting,

procurement and management of voice and data networks and services.

This research provides a way for telecom managers and sourcing professionals to evaluate which NSPs

are best-suited for providing specific services in the context of relevant use cases. This research

examines the vendors' wireline voice and data services that support real-time and non-real-time

applications. Specific applications and nontraditional wireline services — e.g., cloud, data center and

unified communications — are assessed in other research.

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Product Class Definition

For this Critical Capabilities assessment, Gartner defines NSPs offering wireline services specific to the

U.S. as entities that provide telecommunication service for fixed, voice and/or data, and all their

variations (video is included in data) for purchase and use by enterprises. The focus is on assessing a

carrier's ability to provide these services directly to midsize and large enterprises, in single-service and

multiservice WAN (i.e., blended or "hybrid") fashion. Although this research does not evaluate

consumer services and products, the extent to which the providers participate in these areas is taken

into account in applicable select criteria, such as financial viability.

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Critical Capabilities Definition

To help clients determine which providers can best meet their requirements, Gartner has identified

seven key areas of critical capabilities:

MPLS Services — Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a private Layer 3 IP networking

service, based on label-switched paths, that offers class of service (CoS) attributes. MPLS can be

delivered over a variety of last-mile access types, including DS-1 and DS-3 access, fiber and

copper-based Ethernet access, broadband/DSL and wireless/3G/4G.

SIP Trunking/IPTF/On-Net Voice — Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking consists of

virtual voice trunks, typically sold as concurrent calls delivered over an IP network (most

enterprise-class offerings rely on MPLS). SIP trunking consists of call paths delivered over private

or public IP tributaries, while traditional voice leverages time division multiplexing (TDM)

infrastructures. Not surprisingly, SIP trunking is less mature than MPLS, Primary Rate Interface

(PRI) and public switched telephone network (PSTN) services. Traditional on-net voice services

use dedicated DS-1/DS-3 access to the NSP, bypassing the switching and feature functions of the

local phone company altogether.

Dedicated Internet — Dedicated Internet includes traditional point-to-point Internet capacity

from the carrier's public IP backbone. These services are typically available from subrate T1 up to

10 Gbps port speeds.

Metro Private Line (SONET, Wavelength, Ethernet) — High-bandwidth private line

connectivity includes Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), wavelength and Ethernet services to

interconnect regional endpoints. These services include both point-to-point and multipoint

connections, with speeds as fast as 10 Gbps.

Managed and Redundant Broadband — Aggregated and managed NSP broadband connectivity

includes ADSL, SDSL, cable and satellite.

Ethernet WAN — Carrier Ethernet solutions include point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and

multipoint services, with port speeds ranging from 1 Mbps to 10 Gbps. They support the easy

sharing of data-intensive documents and enhance collaboration across geographically dispersed

teams. These services include Ethernet Private Line, Ethernet Virtual Private Line and Virtual

Private LAN Service.

Managed Routers — Management of routers on the customer premises provides a range of

functionality extending from "monitor and notify" through full physical and logical management.

For each of these service areas, Gartner has factored in providers' ability to execute, in-service delivery

and postsales customer support, technology, price competitiveness and coverage/reach. Ratings were

determined based on relative strength against similar services from other providers, as well as relative

maturity in the market.

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Use Cases

This research identifies a set of characteristic use cases (see Table 1) that group product capabilities to

fit specific enterprise requirements:

Overall — This is the general enterprise use case with a neutral weighting that serves as the

baseline.

Large Enterprise (Unmanaged) — This buyer is a business with more than 1,000 employees

and buys a combination of voice and data services. This buyer prefers to use transport-centric

WAN and telecom services (versus those proactively managed), and manages customer premises

equipment (CPE) internally. The buyer has elected to monitor WAN connectivity and performance,

and to notify the NSP in the event of performance degradation. This buyer is typically highly

technically competent and/or routinely makes many granular changes in CPE or telecom services.



Large Enterprise (Managed) — This buyer may be a purchaser of voice or data services, but is

looking for the solution, including the router, to be managed by the provider. This buyer is defined

as a business with more than 1,000 employees.

Midsize Enterprise — This buyer is defined as a business with between 500 and 999 employees,

is in the market for voice or data services, and is typically self-managed.

Hybrid WAN Network — This is an enterprise topology that relies more heavily on a mix of

Internet VPN and MPLS, rather than focusing solely on private WAN services (MPLS and Ethernet).

Branch Office — These wireline services require the branch office to connect with other corporate

sites, often including the headquarters or a data center. A typical branch office supports 25 to 50

employees.

Critical Product

Capabilities

Total Large

Enterprise

Unmanaged

Large

Enterprise

Managed

Midsize

Enterprise

Hybrid

WAN

Network

Branch

Office

MPLS 40.0% 40.0% 35.0% 30.0% 20.0% 15.0%

SIP Trunking, IPTF

and Dedicated

Voice

25.0% 30.0% 25.0% 25.0% 25.0% 20.0%

Dedicated Internet 10.0% 10.0% 10.0% 15.0% 25.0% 20.0%

Metro (SONET,

Wavelength and

Ethernet)

10.0% 12.0% 10.0% 3.0% 3.0% 0.0%

Managed and

Redundant

Broadband

7.0% 3.0% 5.0% 13.0% 15.0% 20.0%

Ethernet WAN 5.0% 5.0% 5.0% 10.0% 12.0% 7.0%

Managed Routers 3.0% 0.0% 10.0% 4.0% 0.0% 18.0%

Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Table 1. Weighting for Critical Capabilities in Use Cases

Source: Gartner (March 2013)

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Inclusion Criteria

Products covered in this research come from vendors included in prior Gartner research and are based

on carriers discussed in inquiries. The following criteria were used to qualify vendors for inclusion in this

research:

Previous year (FY11) U.S. revenue — More than $250 million

Percentage of network-oriented revenue — More than 25% derived from enterprise-class

transport services, such as MPLS

Retail revenue (versus wholesale) — More than 50%

Minimum percentage of U.S.-based retail revenue — 25%

Percentage of enterprise-oriented retail revenue — More than 10%



Percentage of enterprise clients — More than 10%

Enterprise-dedicated sales force — Required

Enterprise hardware sold (e.g., routers or IP PBXs) — Required

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Critical Capabilities Rating

Each of the service offerings that meet our inclusion criteria has been evaluated on several critical

capabilities (see Table 2 and Figure 1), on a scale from 1.0 (lowest ranking) to 5.0 (highest ranking).

Product Rating AT&T CenturyLink Level

3

Sprint tw

telecom

Verizon Windstream XO

MPLS 4.5 3.5 3.5 4.0 3.0 4.0 3.0 3.5

SIP Trunking, IPTF and

Dedicated Voice

4.0 3.0 3.5 3.5 2.5 4.0 2.5 3.5

Dedicated Internet 4.5 4.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 4.5 3.0 3.5

Metro (SONET/

Wavelength/

Ethernet)

5.0 3.5 3.5 3.5 4.0 4.5 2.5 3.5

Managed and

Redundant Broadband

4.5 2.5 1.0 3.0 1.0 4.0 2.0 2.0

Ethernet WAN 4.5 3.5 3.5 1.0 3.5 4.0 3.0 3.5

Managed Routers 4.0 3.0 3.0 3.5 3.0 4.0 3.0 3.0

Table 2. Product Rating on Critical Capabilities


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Figure 1. Overall Score for Each Vendor's Product Based on the Nonweighted Score for Each Critical

Capability




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To determine an overall score for each product in the use cases, the ratings in Table 2 were multiplied

by the weightings shown in Table 1. These scores are shown in Table 3.

Use Cases AT&T CenturyLink Level

3

Sprint tw

telecom


Overall 4.4 3.3 3.4 3.4 2.9 4.1 2.8 3.4

Large Enterprise

Unmanaged

4.4 3.3 3.5 3.4 3.0 4.1 2.8 3.4

Large Enterprise

Managed

4.4 3.3 3.4 3.4 2.9 4.1 2.8 3.4

Midsize Enterprise 4.4 3.2 3.3 3.5 2.8 4.1 2.7 3.2

Hybrid WAN Network 4.4 3.2 3.3 3.5 2.8 4.1 2.6 3.2

Branch Office 4.4 3.1 3.1 3.5 2.7 4.1 2.6 3.1

Table 3. Product Score in Use Cases




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Product viability is distinct from the critical capability scores for each product. It is our assessment of

the vendor's strategy and its ability to enhance and support a product throughout the product's

expected life cycle; it is not an evaluation of the vendor as a whole. Four major areas are considered:

Strategy

Support

Execution

Investment

Strategy includes how a vendor's strategy for a particular product fits in relation to the vendor's other

product lines, its market direction and its business overall. Support includes the quality of technical and

account support, as well as customer experiences with that product. Execution considers a vendor's

structure and processes for sales, marketing, pricing and deal management. Investment considers the

vendor's financial health and the likelihood of the individual business unit responsible for a product to

continue investing in it. Each product is rated on a five-point scale from poor to outstanding for each of

these four areas, and it is then assigned an overall product viability rating (see Table 4).

Vendor/Product

Name

AT&T CenturyLink Level

3

Sprint tw

telecom


Product Viability Excellent Good Good Good Good Good Good Good

Table 4. Product Viability Assessment


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The weighted capabilities scores for all use cases are displayed as components of the overall score (see

Figure 2).

Figure 2. Vendors' Product Scores for Overall Use Case




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Figure 3 shows the large enterprise unmanaged use case.

Figure 3. Vendors' Product Scores for Large Enterprise Unmanaged Use Case




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Figure 4 shows the large enterprise managed use case.

Figure 4. Vendors' Product Scores for Large Enterprise Managed Use Case




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Figure 5 shows the midsize enterprise use case.

Figure 5. Vendors' Product Scores for Midsize Enterprise Use Case




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Figure 6 shows the hybrid WAN network use case.

Figure 6. Vendors' Product Scores for Hybrid WAN Network Use Case




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Figure 7 shows the branch office use case.

Figure 7. Vendors' Product Scores for Branch Office Use Case




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Vendors

AT&T

AT&T: Average Product Rating, 4.4; Overall Use Case, 4.4

Financial strength and diameter of product portfolio continue to be important attributes for AT&T, as

enterprise clients balance cost optimization with the increasing criticality of private and public WAN

connectivity. AT&T has a strong presence in high-capacity networking across wavelength, SONET and

metro Ethernet offerings. It has targeted private data services for both midsize and large enterprises.

Although AT&T has done better than its peers in service delivery in 2012, many Gartner inquiry

customers continue to demand that AT&T be more responsive to network upgrade requests, including

physical and logical port changes.

AT&T's overall rating reflects its depth of product capabilities across the portfolio and explicit strengths

in such areas as metro and optical networking and managed broadband, where competitors' offerings

are not as mature or as broadly deployed. Enterprises of all sizes should strongly consider AT&T for all

of the key use cases presented in this research (see Table 5).

Table 5. Critical Capabilities Rating for AT&T's Networking Services



Critical Capability Product/Service Name and Brief Description Rating

MPLS AT&T leads with AVPN, and offers PNT for smaller domestic enterprises and

managed EVPN. Rich offerings in features and reach, including support for 4G

Long Term Evolution (LTE).

4.5

SIP Trunking/

IPTF/Dedicated Voice

Robust suite over the MPLS and IP service networks that fully integrates with

unified communications (UC), IPTF, contact centers and conferencing. Dense

metropolitan service area (MSA) coverage for traditional voice.

4.0

Dedicated Internet Consistent, high-performing network, with speeds up to 10 Gig. Excels at

attaching Internet services to colocation and hosting, as well as managed

gateways.

4.5

Metro (SONET,

Wavelength,

Ethernet)

Portfolio includes GigaMAN, DecaMAN, switched services along with EPLS-

MAN OPT-E-WAN for out-of-footprint requirements.

5.0

Managed and

Redundant

Broadband

Provides ADSL, SDSL, ADSL2+, VDSL, Cable and MIS via 1,700 providers to

support managed VPNs, Wi-Fi deployments and wireless backup.

4.5

Ethernet WAN Offers Ethernet Private Line, Switched Ethernet and Virtual Private LAN

Service (VPLS) services on a metro, national and global scale.

4.5

Managed Routers Flexible management options for all networking services, with a strong base

of referenceable large enterprise deployments.

4.0


CenturyLink

CenturyLink: Average Product Rating, 3.3; Overall Use Case, 3.3

CenturyLink's business services portfolio consists of legacy Qwest MPLS, Ethernet, IP voice and

managed services. CenturyLink's acquisitions have provided it with a more mature IP network service

portfolio, with sufficient coverage to address the midsize to large enterprise market. With numerous

announcements in 2012 regarding integrated cloud, high-capacity network architecture, IP, CoS

enhancements, and newly developed voice and data bundles, CenturyLink has remained fairly active in

new capabilities.

Despite internal reorganizations and business unit integration, Gartner continues to hear from clients

that CenturyLink's customer service and overall services performance appear to be steady and

consistent. CenturyLink's overall use case rating reflects coverage across most key product categories

and effective execution, especially in midsize VPN deployments. Higher-rated competitors exhibited

more market traction with advanced services and more visible penetration in the large enterprise

market, as evidenced by Gartner inquiries.

Midsize enterprises with primarily U.S. sites should consider CenturyLink, because they are likely to find

strong portfolio breadth, competitive rates, and consistent support and performance (see Table 6).


MPLS Breadth of services to appeal to various price points and service-level

tolerances.

3.5

Table 6. Critical Capabilities Rating for CenturyLink's Networking Services




SIP Trunking/


Enhancements to SIP continue, while its hosted voice over IP (VoIP) offering

has been expanded to include the BroadSoft platform, with both a hosted

and a fully managed solution.

3.0

Dedicated Internet Full range of Internet speeds from Fractional T1 up to 10 Gig. 4.0

Metro (SONET,

Wavelength, Ethernet)

Portfolio includes traditional SONET-based and Ethernet over SONET

interfaces, Optical Wavelength and metro Ethernet services.

3.5

Managed and

Redundant Broadband

DSL is offered as a Layer 3 access option for a private MPLS environment

via Megapath. Satellite access is offered through partnerships with Hughes

and Spacenet.

2.5

Ethernet WAN VPLS is available globally for Layer 2 Ethernet capabilities. 3.5

Managed Routers Complete suite of managed services is available throughout its markets. 3.0


Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Communications: Average Product Rating, 3.2; Overall Use Case, 3.4

With the completion of the Global Crossing acquisition, Level 3 has rationalized its product portfolio and

its go-to-market strategy to focus consistently on enterprise (versus wholesale) customers. Level 3

finds itself with a broad wireline suite that encompasses traditional voice and TDM, as well as more-

strategic IP-based services. Level 3 has also demonstrated success with high-capacity services that

require "always on" responsiveness for customers in the financial services sector that typically have a

great deal of technical expertise. Overall, its execution is good, and customers are experiencing

consistent postsales customer support.

Although Level 3's network is growing globally, most of its customers continue to look to Level 3

primarily for U.S. requirements, often while sourcing from a secondary provider to meet footprint

needs. Level 3 lags in providing the breadth of managed and redundant broadband solutions that are

being offered by some of its competitors. Midsize enterprises should consider Level 3 for all transport

services. Large enterprises should consider Level 3 for targeted services, especially SIP trunking and

dedicated Internet (see Table 7).


MPLS Competitive MPLS offering, including comprehensive portal capabilities. Level

3 targets healthcare, finance and manufacturing through its vertical

strategy.

3.5

SIP Trunking/


Leverages leading-edge SIP technology with TDM voice capabilities. Gaining

traction and visibility in several large enterprise accounts in 2012, and

actively transitioning TDM voice customers.

3.5

Dedicated Internet Global Internet reach and scalability. 4.5

Metro (SONET,


Complete set of private line, wavelength and Ethernet transport for low-

latency requirements. Metro services always delivered via third-party

agreements.

3.5

Table 7. Critical Capabilities Rating for Level 3's Networking Services




Managed and

Redundant Broadband

DSL access offered for networking services. 1.0

Ethernet WAN Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) and VPLS available with a wide range of

speeds and bandwidth configurations.

3.5

Managed Routers Support for Cisco and Adtran CPE equipment via third party, Presidio. 3.0


Sprint

Sprint: Average Product Rating, 3.2; Overall Use Case, 3.4

Client feedback was consistently positive in 2012 for Sprint, as was its ability to deliver a consistent

customer experience, although Sprint's ability to acquire new customers is less prominent. Sprint's

focus continues to be primarily on wireless services; however, it has increased its investment in the

wireline business by 53% in 2012. Sprint is often chosen as a secondary or backup provider for wireline

services, particularly for data services. Wireline renewals remained strong in 2012 for midsize accounts,

with VPN customers extending their footprint and adding services such as SIP trunking. There is

renewed interest in Sprint's international services.

Sprint touts its single sales face and customer care support team for both wireless and wireline

services, which improves the end-to-end experience for the full range of services. With little or no

owned access facilities, Sprint relies heavily on third-party access for service delivery. With its

impending acquisition by Softbank, Sprint and its customers may see greater investment and focus on

its wireline assets and services. Enterprise clients that are looking for standard MPLS and Internet,

along with voice services, will find Sprint a strong choice, although Sprint's lack of an available Ethernet

WAN capability hurts its composite score (see Table 8).


MPLS Simplistic pricing approach, with CoS included for all ports. All access

into the MPLS cloud is via third parties.

4.0

SIP

Trunking/IPTF/Dedicated

Voice

SIP trunking and SIP toll-free offered. 3.5

Dedicated Internet Expansive IP network, with rich Web reporting and self-service portals,

consistent with Sprint's WAN services.

4.0

Metro (SONET,


Metro Private Line, SONET and Wavelength are offered for very high

bandwidth requirements.

3.5

Managed and Redundant

Broadband

Business DSL and wireless for primary and secondary connectivity.

Early entrant carrier to offer 3G/4G to wireline services.

3.0

Ethernet WAN Dedicated and aggregated Ethernet access, with speeds ranging from

2M to 1,000M is plentiful. Sprint offers a broad range of fractional

subrates. High-speed Wave private line services (10G, 40G, 100G) are

planned, but are not currently available.

1.0

Table 8. Critical Capabilities Rating for Sprint's Networking Services




Managed Routers Simple pricing, with one worldwide rate per device for all domestic and

global locations. Consistently available across the networking services

globally, although lower attach rate to WAN than its larger peers.

3.5


tw telecom

tw telecom: Average Product Rating, 2.9; Overall Use Case, 2.9

Gartner has found tw telecom squarely focused on its customers' core networking requirements, with

priority on its high-speed circuits and services in the U.S. Customer interest in MPLS continues to grow,

and competition with the larger global vendors has become more common. The company continues to

grow its on-net business, building footprint in the regions it supports. It continues to engage in custom

builds where sufficient customer demand exists, with reasonable execution against the promised due

dates. The company continues to shine with its Ethernet portfolio and its rich application-aware

functionality. Midsize enterprises with U.S. locations should consider tw telecom for local and long-haul

MPLS and Ethernet, or for backup data services (see Table 9).


MPLS Coverage in major MSAs, with owned infrastructure; however, its lack of

deep coverage in secondary markets limits the ability of tw telecom to

match competitive offers.

3.0

SIP Trunking/


Rich SIP trunking suite available, although no IP toll-free; tw telecom offers

traditional PSTN toll-free connection over its SIP trunk access.

2.5

Dedicated Internet Dedicated IP backbone, with T1 up to 10 Gbps access options available. 3.5

Metro (SONET,


Wide range of TDM services — from T1 to OC-192, wavelengths at 2.5G

and 10G. E-LINE also available from 2 Mb to 10 Gig.

4.0

Managed and

Redundant Broadband

Wireless access strategy using 3G/4G is offered to provide a disaster

recovery option. No consumer broadband service such as xDSL or cable

modem available.

1.0

Ethernet WAN E-LAN and VPLS offered over its fiber network. 3.5

Managed Routers Managed services available for WAN services. No a la carte management

available.

3.0

Table 9. Critical Capabilities Rating for tw telecom's Networking Services


Verizon

Verizon: Average Product Rating, 4.1; Overall Use Case, 4.1

Verizon continued to deliver a broad range of transport solutions in 2012, gaining significant traction on

private IP services over LTE, which is a growing alternative to wired broadband. SIP trunking and IP toll

-free services have also been differentiators for Verizon in key vertical industries, such as finance,

healthcare and utilities. Although Verizon gets consistently strong feedback for the quality of presale

design and engineering, Gartner customers continue to report frustration with service delivery of high-

bandwidth connectivity, as well as network availability in large multisite deployments, which is reflected

in their lower scores. Enterprises of all sizes should strongly consider Verizon for each of the key use



cases presented in this research; however, midsize enterprises may find better responsiveness and

pricing from smaller carriers (see Table 10).


MPLS Private IP provides expansive reach in the U.S. and beyond, offering rich

features and capabilities, including dynamic bandwidth and a wide range of

access.

4.0

SIP Trunking/

IPTF/Dedicated

Voice

Verizon offers VoIP to its U.S. customers in more than 360 local metropolitan

markets by leveraging its local switches/infrastructure. In areas in which it lacks

a local footprint, it offers only offer long-distance service.

4.0

Dedicated Internet Full breadth of port speeds on a dedicated IP backbone. 4.5

Metro (SONET,

Wavelength,

Ethernet)

Point-to-point solutions at speeds from OC3 to OC192 on a metro basis,

between local access and transport area (LATA) and internationally. 1G, 2.5G,

and 10G waves as unprotected (linear) or protected point-to-point or hub and

end-link service are also available. SONET rings are available at speeds of OC3

to OC192.

4.5

Managed and

Redundant

Broadband

Verizon delivered DSL and partner broadband services, such as ADSL, SDSL and

cable broadband services, are delivered by partners, such as Covad (Megapath)

and New Edge Networks.

4.0

Ethernet WAN VPLS and EVPL are available in the U.S. as part of the Verizon Ethernet WAN

Services, offering point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and multipoint Layer 2 VPN

configuration options.

4.0

Managed Routers A range of managed devices is supported in-house, with a variety of

management options available.

4.0

Table 10. Critical Capabilities Rating for Verizon's Networking Services


Windstream

Windstream: Average Product Rating, 2.7; Overall Use Case, 2.8

After successfully rolling up a series of regional competitive local-exchange carrier (CLEC) businesses,

Windstream completed the acquisition of PAETEC. It has now added a concerted focus on enterprise

services, along with a larger footprint designed to meet the needs of the higher education market. The

company does not have the network density or the broad portfolio of services typical of the leaders

covered in this research, but it has sought service differentiation via simplification. Targeted at small

and midsize businesses (SMBs), the IP Simple offering is an example of this approach, delivering fully

managed VoIP services, including transport, CPE, handsets and call control platforms for a per-seat

rate.

Windstream continues to gain traction with midsize enterprises, although it has still has challenges with

service delivery, as evidenced by Gartner inquiries. Windstream should be considered primarily by

midsize enterprises looking for competitive voice and data services. Large enterprises should consider

Windstream for redundant Internet or backup data services (see Table 11).

Table 11. Critical Capabilities Rating for Windstream's Networking Services




MPLS Recognized by Gartner customers as a viable MPLS WAN and voice supplier to

midsize enterprises; however, it has less traction in large enterprise data

opportunities, as evidenced by Gartner inquiries.

3.0

SIP Trunking/

IPTF/Dedicated

Voice

Windstream's MSA coverage is comprehensive for most U.S. enterprises, and

the product portfolio includes both SIP trunking and IPTF services. Although

visible in midsize VoIP opportunities Windstream has not demonstrated as

much traction in VoIP services with large enterprises, as observed through

Gartner inquiries.

2.5

Dedicated Internet Windstream offers a full range of dedicated Internet connectivity. Service

delivery and presales technical expertise have challenged Windstream in 2012

for this category, as observed in Gartner inquiries.

3.0

Metro (SONET,

Wavelength,

Ethernet)

Fiber presence is more concentrated in the eastern U.S., with limited optical

capillarity outside major market cities.

2.5

Managed and

Redundant

Broadband

Windstream has deployed account-specific implementations of DSL access to

MPLS, but does not have a standard offering in this area that is specific to DSL,

cable or satellite.

2.0

Ethernet WAN A combination of network-to-network interfaces (NNIs) and owned

infrastructure enables Windstream to reach customers with a range of Ethernet

offers. VPLS is available, but not via partner NNI extensions.

3.0

Managed Routers Attachment of managed routers is below the peer group average. Although its

portal capabilities are being enhanced, they do not offer the level of reporting

detail provided in competitive offerings.

3.0


XO Communications

XO Communications: Average Product Rating, 3.2; Overall Use Case, 3.4

This company has penetrated midsize enterprises and several key large enterprises with a

comprehensive set of transport offers and some of the industry's most straightforward contract

vehicles. In the large enterprise segment, XO has been especially visible in wavelength and SIP

trunking services, and competes aggressively on a combination of price, service integration and

postsales execution. Although XO uses partners in its SIP solution, it has the advantage of deployment

flexibility and depends less than its larger peers on legacy voice services infrastructures. Its composite

score stems from good marks for network services, although it is below average on managed and

redundant broadband, as well as support for managed routers.

Midsize and distributed enterprises should strongly consider XO for voice and data, while large

enterprises should focus on XO offerings for dedicated Internet, SIP trunking and optical interconnect

(see Table 12).


MPLS This vendor is less visible than its larger peers in large enterprise MPLS

contracts, but it continues to succeed in midsize (fewer than 50 sites)

VPN deals, especially hybrid WAN networks.

3.5

Table 12. Critical Capabilities Rating for XO's Networking Services




SIP

Trunking/IPTF/Dedicated

Voice

This vendor has gained traction in several key verticals with its SIP

offering. Unlike many of its competitors, XO does not mandate its own

VPN transport as a precondition for deploying its SIP services.

3.5

Dedicated Internet It competes on a combination of price and converged services to

deliver dedicated Internet to midsize enterprises and a growing

number of large enterprises.

3.5

Metro (SONET, Wavelength,

Ethernet)

Competing aggressively on price and geographically targeted

connectivity, XO has secured wavelength contracts with several large

financials.

3.5

Managed and Redundant

Broadband

This vendor does not actively pursue managed broadband

opportunities as part of an MPLS extension or hybrid WAN strategy,

nor does it leverage its fixed wireless network.

2.0

Ethernet WAN This vendor leverages Ethernet over copper and a set of NNI

relationships to deliver Layer 2 services in the U.S. market as

tributaries as low as 3 Mb/s.

3.5

Managed Routers Managed routers are attached to approximately one-third of all XO

MPLS circuits (primarily monitor and notify), which is slightly below the

market average.

3.0


Critical Capabilities Methodology

Critical capabilities are attributes that differentiate products in a class in terms of their quality and

performance. Gartner recommends that users consider the set of critical capabilities as some of the

most important criteria for acquisition decisions.

This methodology requires analysts to identify the critical capabilities for a class of products. Each

capability is then weighted in terms of its relative importance overall, as well as for specific product use

cases. Next, products are rated in terms of how well they achieve each of the critical capabilities. A

score that summarizes how well they meet the critical capabilities overall, and for each use case, is

then calculated for each product.

Ratings and summary scores range from 1.0 to 5.0:

= Poor: Most or all defined requirements not achieved1.

= Fair: Some requirements not achieved2.

= Good: Meets requirements3.

= Excellent: Meets or exceeds some requirements4.

= Outstanding: Significantly exceeds requirements5.

Product viability is distinct from the critical capability scores for each product. It is our assessment of

the vendor's strategy and its ability to enhance and support a product over its expected life cycle; it is

not an evaluation of the vendor as a whole. Four major areas are considered: strategy, support,

execution and investment. Strategy includes how a vendor's strategy for a particular product fits in

relation to its other product lines, its market direction and its business overall. Support includes the

quality of technical and account support, as well as customer experiences for that product. Execution

considers a vendor's structure and processes for sales, marketing, pricing and deal management.

Investment considers the vendor's financial health and the likelihood of the individual business unit

responsible for a product to continue investing in it. Each product is rated on a five-point scale from



poor to outstanding for each of these four areas, and it is then assigned an overall product viability

rating.

The critical capabilities Gartner has selected do not represent all of the capabilities of any product.

Therefore, they may not represent those that are most important for a specific use situation or business

objective. Clients should use a critical capabilities analysis as one of several sources of input about a

product before making an acquisition decision.

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