All Access

TP Deep Dive: Alianza Acquires Metaswitch

February 14, 2025 by Dave Michels

In this Deep Dive report, TalkingPointz examines Alianza’s acquisition of Metaswitch. This is a significant deal to occur in what has become a sleepy Softswitch market. Sleepy because the VoIP revolution has largely played out…. or has it? TalkingPointz expects the maturity of VoIP and UCaaS to trigger a new wave for service provider voice. This report reviews the market conditions, the expected shift away from OTT providers, and. how this acquisition will impact Alianza and VoIP SPs.

Research notes and Deep Dives are for TalkingPointz subscribers only. This report is 10 pages of text in TalkingPointz outline format. There are 8 sections. The final section is Dave’s Thoughts, which begins on page 4 and contains 56 points.

In this Deep Dive report, TalkingPointz examines Alianza's acquisition of Metaswitch. This is a significant deal to occur in what has become a sleepy Softswitch market. Sleepy because the VoIP revolution has largely played out.... or has it? TalkingPointz expects the maturity of VoIP and UCaaS to trigger a new wave for service provider voice. This report reviews the market conditions, the expected shift away from OTT providers, and. how this acquisition will impact Alianza and VoIP SPs.

Research notes and Deep Dives are for TalkingPointz subscribers only. This report is 10 pages of text in TalkingPointz outline format. There are 8 sections. The final section is Dave's Thoughts, which begins on page 4 and contains 56 points.

Alianza Acquired Metaswitch Assets From Microsoft

Alianza’s acquisition of Metaswitch from Microsoft is a significant development in the telecommunications industry.
Microsoft acquired Metaswitch in 2020, intending to move telco customers toward a cloud-delivered future. However, Microsoft’s priorities appear to have changed.
The acquisition does introduce some uncertainty and risks for Alianza. For example, facilitating it will require unspecified costs, distraction costs, and many new technical and operational challenges.
The acquisition is driven by a desire to address the stagnation of SP revenue and the rise of over-the-top (OTT) communication providers.
TalkingPointz believes a shift toward service provider voice (and away from OTT apps) is beginning. This acquisition further validates this shift.
Among Alianza’s motivations is that it intends to become the default upgrade path for the base of Metaswitch customers. However, that group has many (subscription) options.
In June of 2024, Microsoft’s Azure for Operators announced it would exit the network functions business, and it implemented an associated RIF. This sparked sales initiatives from many softswitch competitors (including Alianza), which found these customers more receptive to alternatives.
The acquisition was announced on December 10, 2024, and the transaction is expected to close within a few months.

LoginorBecome a Member to Continue Reading

Not everything in life is free.

TalkingPointz has no ads, so some content and reports are limited to subscribers. It’s an exclusive club, yet is currently accepting new members. Subscriber content is unfiltered and opinionated. Can you handle it?

There are several ways to stay informed:

Visit this site regularly.
Receive new posts in your email once a week.
Become an Insider or All Access Subscriber for alerts and access to uncensored content.

Become a Member from $49 / month

By Dave Michels

Dave is an independent analyst and founder of TalkingPointz which is focused on enterprise communications. In addition to this (free and paid) content on TalkingPointz, he contributes to industry sites, can be found at major industry events, and provides advisory services to vendors and financial analysts.