Ribbon Communications: Tying It All Together

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Ribbon Communications makes customer connections that matter

For more than five decades, many of the world’s largest telecom operators – including BT, Bharti Airtel, Softbank, Telefonica, Rogers and Verizon, and the most demanding enterprises, including the U.S. Department of Defense, Novant Healthcare, and the University of Texas at Austin – have trusted Ribbon Communications (Nasdaq: RBBN) to help transform, future-proof, and secure their communications networks.

Their interoperable software-based solutions, which are deployed in communications networks around the world, deliver carrier-grade reliability; advanced IP automation that easily scales to meet today’s increasing bandwidth and transport requirements for 5G and beyond; and best-in-class security.

When it comes to addressing each customer’s unique needs, the enterprise takes a “no agenda” collaborative approach and works with them to customize their solutions to address their specific network challenges.

For example, Ribbon’s IP Wave IP Optical portfolio uses best-in-breed software that enables service providers to automate operational processes gradually and at their own pace. IP Wave combines analytics, workflow engines, and closed loop processes. It leverages cloud-native Software Defined Networking (SDN) orchestration software with DevOps to customize applications to customers’ specific needs.

Meeting the Needs of the Many

In a connected society, ensuring everyone has access to broadband internet is absolutely essential. A recent FCC Broadband Report found that 19 million people in this country still lack access to broadband internet, with approximately 14.5 million of these individuals living in rural locations.

“The pandemic really spotlighted the need for good broadband infrastructure and has accelerated growth in areas like remote and immersive education, e-health, and cloud gaming,” said David Stokes, Ribbon’s Head of IP Solutions and Portfolio Marketing.

“High-capacity access pipes, provided by fiber rollouts and 5G mobile are a great first step in helping to bridge the digital divide, but service providers also need to increase the capacity in their backbone networks to support this increased access capacity,” he added.

Stokes stressed that next-generation services need guaranteed network performance in terms of latency, capacity, security, and availability – meaning that communications networks need to be service-aware and able to meet these requirements or Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on a service-by-service basis.

With Ribbon’s advanced service-aware automation capabilities, services are aggregated and transported over the backbone network without the need for costly overbuild or over-engineering, and without compromising on service performance.

The Ribbon solutions are well suited for supporting traditional service providers and cable operators. “However, in helping to bridge the broadband connectivity gap, we see an emerging role and opportunity for alternative service providers such as Independent Operating Companies (IOCs) and Utelcos,” Stokes noted. “They are well positioned to fill a void where the more traditional communications service providers lack network penetration.”

Ribbon has a longstanding history with these IOCs and Utelcos and for decades have serviced and supported their voice networks. They have worked closely with providers like Pineland Telephone Cooperative, Tombigbee Electric Cooperative, Georgia Transmission, Eastern Slope Rural Telephone, and Dakota Central to upgrade their IP Optical networks, allowing them to deliver next-generation high-speed services to their rural customers.

Telco Cloudification

Many service providers are actively transitioning their networks and key network functions to the cloud for the ability to deliver services to their customers faster and realize a quicker time to revenue.

The transition to the cloud drives new revenue streams from the deployment of 5G and other advanced services, expedites service delivery, and leverages automation for more cost-effective operations. Cloudification of networks and key network functions also helps extend the geographic reach to deliver services and the ability to meet new service performance requirements such as low latency.

“Ribbon’s cloud-native software enables secure cloud-based voice communications services delivered over private, public, and hybrid cloud network environments,” said Dan Teichman, the firm’s Director of Solutions Marketing. Ribbon’s Telco Cloud solutions provide secure voice communications, service assurance, network monitoring, and fraud prevention while taking advantage of cost-efficient and automated operations using advanced cloud-native approaches.

“So whether our customers are leveraging their own networks, using public clouds like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud, or a mixture of both, our solutions can help transform and secure their communications networks,” Teichman said.

Innovation, Adaptation, and Inclusion

The pandemic ushered in a hybrid model that fundamentally changed the way we work. At the onset of the pandemic many of Ribbon’s customers urgently needed additional bandwidth capacity to meet the unprecedented demand of a remote workforce.

According to Teichman, “We were able to work closely with customers like Bandwidth and LogMeIn (GoToMeeting) to ensure they could easily meet this dynamic change in demand and continue delivering the advanced services their customers have come to expect.”

Ribbon has also strengthened its relationships with partners like Microsoft and Zoom to help support the explosive growth in their Microsoft Teams and Zoom Phone platforms. They recently announced an extension of their partnership with Microsoft to enhance how service providers can streamline the ability for their enterprise customers to transition to cloud-based Microsoft Teams for their office telephony systems.

Transitioning legacy phone systems to Teams for voice calling and other collaboration services helps enterprises dramatically improve the overall employee communications experience while also improving productivity and the bottom line.

Innovation is at the core of everything Ribbon does. “Without innovation we would not be able to meet the needs of our customers, nor would we be able to successfully compete against some of the most well-known brands in the technology industry,” said Petrena Ferguson, Senior Vice President of Human Resources.

Fostering innovation requires diverse ideas from a diverse group of professionals. As a company that employs people in more than 80 offices worldwide, located in over 30 different countries, cultural diversity is one of Ribbon’s building blocks.

The company firmly believes that the only way to build a successful organization that thrives on innovation and helping customers maintain their dominance in the communications value chain, is to build and foster a diverse workforce comprised of different voices from around the world.

As Ferguson put it, “Our goal is to be a leader in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by constantly striving to promote equity for all in an inclusive, hardworking, fun, and flexible environment that also provides great opportunities for professional growth and development.”