[VoiceOps] Acquire MetaSwitch

Wed Aug 14 18:39:05 EDT 2024

That's interesting -- as a Ribbon customer, in the past ~ 10 years 90% of
their new features, etc. in the C15 are because AT&T (non wireless)
invested heavily in the platform.  Of course it helps that the C15
integrates with all of the legacy DMS10 hardware (line bays, MVIE, etc.).
The big brother to the C15, the C20 does similar (or so I am told) with
legacy DMS100 gear.

Also as a NG-911 aggregator in $dayjob (we house one of the 3 selective
routes for our state) 90% of the legacy carriers (AT&T legacy and wireless,
Verizon, Spectrum, CenturyLink et al, etc) want TDM trunks.  None of them
will even consider SIP as an option.  Even though we interconnect with
ethernet / fiber in multiple places, etc.  All of them will 100% order TDM
circuits.

On Wed, Aug 14, 2024 at 6:08 PM Jeff Brower via VoiceOps <
voiceops at voiceops.org> wrote:

> Peter-
>
> What I think you're saying is that Microsoft acquired Metaswitch because
> of their cloud native communications technology, and they still like that,
> but are now shedding the physical equipment part of the business.
>
> That makes business sense for Microsoft Sr management, but there is
> revenue in non-Azure edge communications and AI, maybe not M$ level of
> multiple billions, but substantial and growing. Retail surveillance,
> robotics in factories, automated vehicles, etc need communications and
> inference specifically not in the cloud -- cheap, instant response, 100%
> fail-safe reliable, and private. I find it hard to see Metaswitch guys who
> spent 25+ years building a successful combined hardware + software
> business, who were very good at it and for whom AI is a natural fit with
> their signal processing and HPC background, watching it and their customer
> base disappear. But as you say, maybe they are happy with it.
>
> -Jeff
>
> Quoting Peter Rad via VoiceOps <voiceops at voiceops.org>:
>
> That's not happening.  The Metaswitch employees I know that are left are
> happy taking marching orders from M$.
>
> The problem the softswitch industry had was that the pie was stable. It
> wasn't growing, so you weren't selling new logos. You were just supporting
> customers - and that isn't a growth business nor is it a profitable
> business.
>
> The problem is that of the 900 operators using Metaswitch in the US, most
> are mom and pop and rural. That doesn't convert to "Going Azure."
>
> These mom-and-pop's will have to make due with what they have for the next
> 5 years - and use that 5 years as a runway for an exit strategy.
>
> The largest Metaswitch white-label provider just went to CXDO, so the
> writing on the wall that I have been seeing for 2 years, others are now
> seeing.
>
> Regards,
>
> Peter @ RAD-INFO
> On 8/13/2024 3:54 PM, Jeff Brower via VoiceOps wrote:
>
> Not sure about Affirmed, but I know some of the original MetaSwitch guys,
> and a few still at Microsoft. They were, and I suspect still are, extremely
> dedicated and capable. My guess is they will find a way to spin out /  buy
> out MetaSwitch in some form it will continue.
>
> -Jeff
>
> Quoting Jawaid Bazyar via VoiceOps <voiceops at voiceops.org>:
>
> I have a use case. The use case is, be in a position to take customers
> tomorrow on a 5/9's platform.
>
> One alternative is Ribbon: that solution is out of my price range, and,
> likely out of price range of every rural ILEC I know.
>
> A second is Squire, but, I'm not willing to risk it w/o getting my hands
> on a long-term trial which was requested but not offered.
>
> The final alternative is to throw into developing one, likely in two
> phases. The orchestration and front end of the Elephant Talk project is
> complete, now just need to settle on a production backend.
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 3:33 PM Alex Balashov via VoiceOps <
> voiceops at voiceops.org> wrote:
>
>> I suppose this all raises the question of why on earth you'd want to
>> acquire a Metaswitch, but you've clearly got an angle.
>>
>> -- Alex
>>
>> > On Aug 13, 2024, at 3:20 PM, Jawaid Bazyar via VoiceOps <
>> voiceops at voiceops.org> wrote:
>> >
>> > "Microsoft's end game is for every operator to have a big pipe to Azure
>> to access Metaswitch, vSBC, Teams and other components."
>> >
>> > My question is, can you actually run a MetaSwitch CFS in Azure? Because
>> to my knowledge, you cannot.
>> >
>> > I would be very interested if I was wrong about this.
>> >
>> > Jawaid
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 12:56 PM Peter Rad via VoiceOps <
>> voiceops at voiceops.org> wrote:
>> > Besides getting rid of their Max UC softphone (to make MS Teams THEE
>> softphone), they did EOL a lot of the Meta product.
>> >
>> > We - RAD-INFO, ECG and Andrew Ward - did a webinar about it in May. You
>> can watch the recording here:
>> https://info.ecg.co/webinar-recording-broadworks-metaswitch-netsapiens-ribbon
>> >
>> > Microsoft's end game is for every operator to have a big pipe to Azure
>> to access Metaswitch, vSBC, Teams and other components.
>> >
>> >
>> > Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.  Thank you.
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> >
>> > Peter Radizeski
>> > RAD-INFO INC
>> > Telecom Consultant
>> > Bandwidth * Voice * Cloud * Data Center * Internet * CyberSecurity
>> > (813) 963-5884
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On 8/13/2024 8:41 AM, Mike Hammett via VoiceOps wrote:
>> >> "Given the MetaSwitch products are no longer sold, and Microsoft is
>> EOLing them, and not taking new support contracts..."
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> That's news to me.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> -----
>> >> Mike Hammett
>> >> Intelligent Computing Solutions
>> >> http://www.ics-il.com
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Midwest Internet Exchange
>> >> http://www.midwest-ix.com
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> From: "Jawaid Bazyar via VoiceOps" <voiceops at voiceops.org>
>> >> To: "voiceops" <voiceops at voiceops.org>
>> >> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2024 7:23:05 AM
>> >> Subject: [VoiceOps] Acquire MetaSwitch
>> >>
>> >> Hello,
>> >>
>> >> We are in the market to acquire / take over a MetaSwitch CFS. In
>> particular, we're looking for the virtual edition that runs purely in
>> VMWare.
>> >>
>> >> The components we'd need are:
>> >>     CFS
>> >>     MRS (Media Resource Server)
>> >>     Perimeta
>> >>     SAS (Service Assurance Server)
>> >>     MetaView Server
>> >>
>> >> These are fairly common components.
>> >>
>> >> Given the MetaSwitch products are no longer sold, and Microsoft is
>> EOLing them, and not taking new support contracts, we're not talking about
>> a big cash up front kind of deal, but, instead a revenue share kind of
>> arrangement.
>> >>
>> >> Anyone that has one and is interested, contact me directly off-list.
>> >>
>> >> Cheers,
>> >>
>> >> Jawaid
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >>
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>> --
>> Alex Balashov
>> Principal Consultant
>> Evariste Systems LLC
>> Web: https://evaristesys.com
>> Tel: +1-706-510-6800
>>
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