Ubiquisys Tops New ABI Research Femtocell Vendor Matrix Ranking

So for the third year running the highly respected analyst firm ABI Research has rated Ubiquisys as the number one femtocell vendor in the world. This year we are in first place for both dimensions of the study: Innovation and Implementation. Well known firms like Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and Samsung were on the list, as were smaller companies like ip.access and Airvana.

This is not an accolade we take for granted, because we know that ABI does its research with mobile operators and with vendors very throughly, and uses a comprehensive and highly disciplined methodology. I've listed the categories that they analyse to give an insight into the breadth of the study.

Implementation
End-to-End Solution Capability and Ecosystem Partnerships
RFP, Trial, and Rollout Activity
Ability to Scale and Commoditize Quickly
Carrier Relationships
Overall Financial and Organizational Health
Silicon Strategy/Partnerships

Innovation
Cost
Interference Mitigation Techniques
Standards-Compliant Network Interface
Gateway IOT
Handset IOT
Solution Maturity
Hand In/Out
Module Support
Multimode Support
Future-proof Upgrade Path
Scalability
Femtozone Service/Application Framework Support
Support for Multiple Form Factors

We might not be seeing it in the press yet, but the UMTS femtocell market has fundamentally changed in 2009 as operators start their commercial launches. The focus on femtocells is now all about what I call deployment-ready. Simple for consumers, scalable, fit for purpose and operationally proven for operators, with effective interference management, the legacy handset issues dealt with (heads up guys - this one was non-trivial), and primed for consumer applications.

For a while now I have seen immature femtocell products hidden behind the reputations of their company names. In 2009 these vendors will have to stand behind their products for the first time. And remarkable deployment-ready products will get the recognition they deserve.