Huawei's autonomous network management and control system — iMaster NCE — was the only WAN SDN controller ranked leader for four consecutive times, according to leading data insight provider GlobalData's WAN SDN Controller: Competitive Landscape Assessment report released earlier this month.
Compared with the mid-year report from last year, this edition offers even more comprehensive research and assessment. It has found that WAN SDN solutions have become mainstream and are deployed in conjunction with orchestration and automation as operators look for ways to reach quantifiable efficiency gains quickly. Lack of interoperability and legacy support remained an obstacle, however.
According to GlobalData's market assessment, vendors with the following capabilities are more competitive: Automation Support and AI; Integration with NMS and Orchestration; Multi-Layer, Multi-Domain, Multi-Vendor Control; and Synergies with Telemetry and Analytics. Huawei iMaster NCE is rated highly in all these aspects.
The report evaluated 12 vendors from six dimensions: product scope, open environments, network performance, major system components, solution breadth, and deployment readiness, and provided more in-depth ratings for the top eight vendors. They defined five levels for each dimension: Leader, Very Strong, Strong, Competitive, and Vulnerable. GlobalData highlighted the key strengths of Huawei iMaster NCE, including:
- Wide portfolio of domain controllers, covering transport, DC, WAN, and IoT.
- High-availability and multiple security options.
- Wide range of open APIs.
- Outstanding analytics capability led by machine learning and AI.
In September 2020, Huawei announced upgrades to its IP Network solutions, introducing big data analytics and adding southbound APIs to iMaster NCE. The report rated Huawei iMaster NCE as Leader in terms of network performance, solution breadth, and deployment preparation, and Very Strong in other dimensions. Overall, Huawei was the only vendor to be rated Leader in the industry for its competitiveness in the WAN SDN controller industry.
