New Genband 2Pager
I recently attended what will likely be the last ever Genband Perspectives.*
It’s been a good series of events. This was the first time they upgraded to a west coast venue.
Genband is a complex company with a diverse portfolio -some of which is interesting.
To me, the two most interesting things in the past were Nuvia and Kandy. Sometime last year these two things became the same thing.
The Nuvia brand is gone, at least in North America , and Kandy has been expanded from its CPaaS roots to include other services. Kandy offers a broad catalog of services now organized into three groups:
- Kandy Consumer Services
- Kandy Business Services
- Kandy CPaaS
Despite the names “consumer” and “business” these are wholesale services for providers and ISVs. Kandy isn’t available directly to enterprises or developers.
The consumer services are for creating consumer-facing apps that might feature messaging, voice, and video.
The business services include both UCaaS and CPaaS, or CPaaS can be obtained separately.
The remaining parts of Genband are chunks of carrier infrastructure including SBCs and NFV plumbing fixtures.
The merger with Sonos adds excellent wireless audio for music on hold – oops, actually they are merging with Sonus which makes all kinds of network plumbing fixtures such as Diameter signaling controllers, Class 5 softswitches, and its flagship series of SBCs.
Genband had little to say about its upcoming merger, and it was mostly out of bounds at this event. The new company will be public, which means Kandy skips its IPO. It will be a top contender in Class 5 Softswitch software and SBCs. Its primary competitor is likely Huawei which means it will be avoiding China and doubling-down on NA. The two companies appear to complement each other in carrier-focus and regional footprints.
To download the free 2Pager on Genband, click here.
*My assumption is that once the Sonus/Genband merger completes, they will rename the annual conference.