Metaswitch is one of the recognised market leaders in the development of incredible high-performance and cloud-native solutions for communications software. The company’s software solutions accelerate, equip, and transform communication platform and service providers around the world. Today, the company is experiencing incredible growth, driven by a powerful view of the market, and the ability to adapt to current industry trends.
We caught up with the Metaswitch team and Chris Carabello, Senior Director, Product Marketing, to learn more about how Metaswitch has evolved over the years, and what the company is striving to accomplish today.
How Has Metaswitch Transformed Over the Years?
Metaswitch has always been a company committed to developing software solutions that underpin service provider platforms for the evolving landscape. The cloud-native virtual network functions for Metaswitch are designed to run on commodity hardware in a range of hybrid, public, and private clouds. Flexibility is a crucial component of the Metaswitch portfolio.
Carabello told me that Metaswitch has now been in operation for a total of 37 years, and over that time, the company has established a powerful position in the marketplace, earning a great deal of customer loyalty.
“We started off developing data protocol stacks that have been designed into the product lines of more than 250 OEMs.”
Gradually, Metaswitch evolved to suit the needs of a changing market, making its way into the landscape of unified communications and mobile solutions. Today, the company has a leadership position not just in fixed solutions, but also in mobile and UC services too.
“Our commitment to software and virtualisation from day one has helped us to become a powerful company in this space. We’re a steadily profitable and growing brand.”
What are Metaswitch’s Focus Areas?
Over 37 years, Metaswitch has achieved phenomenal growth, with more than 700 customers, and now over 800 employees. It has one of the highest NPS scores in the field and consistent profitability. I was interested to learn where Metaswitch focuses its efforts in the communication landscape. Chris told me that Metaswitch now sells in three areas. The first area is the “fixed” environment, where Metaswitch provides software to migrate fixed voice lines to cloud and VoIP solutions. “Fixed has been the bread and butter of where we started as a brand and while we continue to drive innovation here with capabilities like our Q-Call Robocall Blocking Solution, we are now very much focused on applications and mobility to drive our growth.”
Now, Metaswitch’s other two areas of focus, UC and mobility, are the fastest-growing parts of the business. The company has seen a 68% growth in its Mobile and UC solutions, and the opportunities keep growing. This year, Metaswitch worked with Nokia to help the Wind Tre business to launch it’s new Office Smart mobile and fixed integrated solution to let companies tap into cutting-edge tech with flexibility and ease. The Office Smart solution makes it easy to organise meetings and make video calls in real-time.
Through mobile native UC, Metaswitch is giving companies the support they need to access cloud-native support and accelerate their path to the cloud. Companies also have the benefit to access a lower TCO with enhanced performance and efficiency. “We’re operating and growing at an incredible rate, working with global service providers. Additionally, the enterprises that use our services through our customers are growing too. We have attracted a range of high-level companies, like Papa Johns, ConocoPhillips and Howard University.”
What Kind of Success is Metaswitch Seeing?
Service providers from all backgrounds are beginning to embrace the flexibility that Metaswitch has to offer when it comes to unlocking the benefits of cloud and mobile communications. For instance, the largest wireless carrier in Indonesia, Telkomsel recently revealed that it had selected the MaX UC portfolio from Metaswitch to deliver unified communication and collaboration services to a broader market.
The new virtual PBX solution offered by Telkomsel is also powered by Metaswitch, allowing for rapid deployment of immersive and flexible telephony applications. According to the brand, they chose Metaswitch because of its incredible feature set, and ability to offer mobile-native capabilities along with unbeatable performance. Metaswitch stands out as capable of providing a unique approach to mobile connectivity.
“The UC part of our business is now our largest; From all angles, we’re in a really good position to continue growing, particularly given the market position and the rapid movement towards the cloud”
“There’s still a lot of opportunities out there. Cloud penetration for business communications currently stands at only at 12.5%, so there’s a long way to go before cloud communications is fully implemented.”
According to Carabello, the cloud has clearly won the war for communication solutions. However, the winners in the space when it comes to market share are yet to be defined. “My job is to enable service providers to win. Some of the competition is selling direct to enterprises and service providers at the same time, but we’re focusing exclusively on the service provider whose control of the network gives it a competitive advantage to deliver the reliability, security, and user experience that business users in particular demand.”
The Metaswitch decision to focus specifically on the communication service provider eliminates the risk of channel conflict and allows for its customers’ long-term margin expansion. Additionally, Metaswitch differentiates itself in the current space with a unique mobile native UX and the ability to influence innovative growth for each partner.
What Market Trends are You Noticing?
As a dedicated partner for today’s service providers, Metaswitch has an ongoing commitment to providing an open and immersive platform for the companies that it works with. Its approach to the market means that Metaswitch is an excellent position to see how the trends of the marketplace are changing. Chris noted that the adoption of apps for mobile UC is still very low.
“We can see that the satisfaction and adoption of UC in mobility solutions need to be a core focus. Additionally, companies need to recognise that one size doesn’t fit all anymore. You need something that’s going to be relevant to different business markets.”
According to Carabello, the communication marketplace is evolving thanks to trends like digital transformation and growing demand for flexible collaboration tools in the cloud. Mobile-native generations are now exploring new opportunities that allow them to work more conveniently on the go. Businesses are searching for solutions that allow them to better serve emerging work styles where the gig economy and freelance working is becoming more popular.
Chris also noted that there’s a lot of opportunities available in the Frontline worker and common-area space these days. Growing mobile and independent workers mean that companies need to reconsider their approach to mobile communication. “A lot of employees are using mobile devices these days, and they’re accustomed to getting thing done by mobile. However, people are not utilizing clumsy and low-quality over-the-top business communications apps and instead use their native dialer and personal identity, to deliver the kind of reliability and convenience that they need.”
Mobile-native UC technology available through the MaX UC portfolio from Metaswitch will allow companies to access a true native dialer UC experience with all the added collaboration capabilities that business users require.
What is the MaX UC Solution?
To support its quest to deliver the most complete UC solution to service providers, Metaswitch recently rebranded its full business solution as the MaX UC portfolio by Metaswitch. “We have a comprehensive solution that includes everything from rapid deployment and user onboarding with app store access, to provisioning and fulfilment.”
The MaX UC portfolio includes access to web applications and APIs to enhance back-end systems and workflow integrations, SIP device provisioning for rapid and reliable CPE deployment, and delegated multi-level administrator services. Companies can tap into enterprise business intelligence, management and operation services, and more, all in the same environment. “Our customers get one platform that delivers everything they need to accelerate their communication strategy. Some of our customers might access the full UC stack, while others will just pick and choose the specific services that they need.”
From group communications to SIP trunking, contact centre packages, and best-in-class collaboration tools, the MaX UC offering is custom-made to offer something for everyone in a growing industry. “It’s all mobile native too. That means delivery of network voice, ensuring to ensure users receive the highest quality, security, and reliability..”
A Comprehensive Experience for Service Providers
The MaX by Metaswitch platform ensures that service providers can access everything from mobile network integration to native dialer experiences, multi-identity voice, and network AI in the same environment. All of the UC functions that companies need are available to execute from the native dialler, and there’s no need to jump into different apps. “We believe that this approach is solving the problem of low adoption of mobile UC and OTT apps.”
Chris also noted that the solution works well with integrations across other partners. Metaswitch has a broad and powerful partner ecosystem and a lot of software solutions designed to enhance the Metaswitch experience.
People can learn more about these partner offerings at the Metaswitch Forum in 2020. On May 11th to the 14th, the Forum will offer an insight into the MaX UC solution and the Metaswitch brand at the Aria in Las Vegas.
