By Oystein Bergmann, Bureau Chief, Scandinavia

Ericsson has been recognized as the leader for its core portfolio in the Market Landscape: Core Vendors 2024 analysis from Omdia. Within the category, Ericsson also achieved the highest scores for core portfolio breadth, cloud native readiness, automation and policy and charging.

Omdia’s analysis considered two dimensions – business performance and portfolio – with Ericsson coming out top of the portfolio category, and second placed in the business performance scoring.

For the portfolio dimension, Omdia took several subcategories into consideration, such as the portfolio breadth, cloud native readiness, signaling, automation, core as SaaS, and policy and charging for 5G Core.

Omdia noted particularly that it believes core portfolio breadth and cloud native readiness are the most important categories. Ericsson achieved the maximum score in core portfolio breadth (which includes both 4G/LTE and 5G network functions), and the highest ranking in cloud native readiness, meaning it is viewed as most advanced in terms of the work done to deliver 5G Core containerized network functions (CNFs).

Ericsson also scored highest in two additional subcategories. In Automation, Omdia notes that Ericsson ”obtained the top position in this category for the work it has done on its product upgrade automation solution.” Omdia also awarded Ericsson the top spot in the Policy and Charging subcategory, reflecting the dominant strength of its offerings in these key areas.

In both dimensions evaluated, Ericsson shows strong positive growth from last years analysis – highlighting the focus it has put into portfolio evolution and delivering true value to its Communication Service Provider customers.

Head of Solution Area Core Networks, Ericsson Monica Zethzon says: ”This recognition is a testament to Ericsson’s commitment to innovation, high-performance and automation in the 5G era. Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core, and wider Cloud Core portfolio, is designed to help our CSP customers transform to take advantage of cloud-native and automation technologies so they can operate the best core network possible, delivering superior services and supporting business growth through differentiated connectivity and network APIs.“

In its analysis, Omdia noted: ”Ericsson is a strong vendor with good business performance in terms of core revenue market share and number of live 5G core deployments. Its strengths in portfolio dimension include cloud native readiness and policy and charging.”

Today, Ericsson powers 34 of the 60+ commercially live 5G SA networks with its RAN solutions and its cloud-native dual-mode 5G Core solution, and recently it was recognized as a leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CSP 5G Core Network Infrastructure Solutions. Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G core solution is built to offer telecom operators a flexible and dynamic platform for network slicing, service orchestration, and automated management. The company’s comprehensive portfolio also supports seamless migration from 4G to 5G, enabling operators to evolve their networks efficiently and cost-effectively.