The Works - DSL, Softswitches Partner for Complete Local-Phone Solution

Posted 06/2000

DSL, Softswitches Partner for Complete Local-Phone Solution
By Charlotte Wolter

CopperCom Inc.'s (www.coppercom.com) March acquisition of softswitch maker DTI Networks (www.dtinetworks.com) combines two of the hottest new technologies in the access arena: voice over DSL (VoDSL) and softswitches.

The combination of the two companies' technologies--the CopperCom CopperComplete gateway and DTI's Telecommunication Services Portal (TSP)--makes possible an exciting and potentially revolutionary new solution for CLECs: a platform that can deliver both local-loop connectivity and a full slate of telephone applications. All of this can be done without the cost and complexity of purchasing traditional TDM Class 5 infrastructure.

The merged company, called CopperCom, will retain its headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., with development and support facilities in both Santa Clara and Boca Raton, Fla.

The integration of VoDSL gateways and softswitches could create a powerful new weapon for competition with ILECs. "That is the name of the game--creating local dial tone," says Steve Byars, principal analyst of carrier infrastructure at telecommunications research firm Current Analysis Inc. (www.currentanalysis.com). "The big driver is eliminating the cost of a Class 5 switch. The starting price is $2 million to $3 million. If they can eliminate that cost and create local dial tone, that will really empower some of these local service providers to get started in new territories."

In a report on the merger, Current Analysis says, "These new capabilities promise to lower the cost of local exchange switching, enable the delivery of differentiated services, and ease the migration to end-to-end packet voice networking."

CopperCom and DTI are not the only two companies getting together for a DSL/softswitch combination. TollBridge Technologies Inc. (www.tollbridgetech.com) has joined telecom technologies Inc.'s (www.telecomtechnologies.com) INIP- powered (INtelligent IP) program. INIP is designed to promote interoperability among softswitches, media gateways, IP telephone terminals and tele- phone applications.

TollBridge has submitted its voice gateway and CPE to telecom technologies' INIP-Powered Laboratory, where the two companies will work to establish interoperability with telecom technologies' INtelligentIP softswitch. Once interoperable with the softswitch, the TollBridge gateway and CPE will support voice over both DSL and cable modem, as well as provide interconnection to legacy Class 5 switches.

"Being able to partner with them and being able to offer a complete solution all the way from the customer premise through the gateway to the softswitch, and, with some of our other partners, adding value-added services, we see a lot of value there," says Tracy Venters, director of product marketing for telecom technologies Inc.

How It Works

In VoDSL, multiple DSL lines are physically terminated by a DSLAM, and voice is separated from data according to ATM cells (or IP packets in the case of TollBridge). The voice cells are sent to a gateway to be converted back to time-division multiplexed (TDM) voice, and then sent to a Class 5 switch through a GR-303 interface (which makes the DSL gateway look like a DLC system to the Class 5 switch). In this scenario, a CLEC can offer VoDSL, but must purchase its own Class 5 switch or pay the incumbent carrier for the use of its Class 5 switch.

In the new paradigm of VoDSL and softswitch combined, a softswitch takes the place of the Class 5 switch. The media gateway sends a request to the softswitch, and the softswitch can terminate the call to the PSTN or route it over another infrastructure. "The softswitch really doesn't know that the voice is [coming from] DSL," says Venters.

If the service provider already has a Class 5 switch, the softswitch can still be used to provide extra capacity or special services. That configuration is one that is enabled by BroadSoft Inc. (www.broadsoft.com), which creates applications for softswitches.

For business solutions, telecom technologies Inc. will have an IAD at the customer's premises. "Typically, today boxes just add Internet access onto the local loop," Venters says, "but what we are coming out with for business is using an IAD that can add not just data, but multiple voice lines over [the] same copper local loop."

The architecture where a DSL voice gateway sits behind a DSLAM is "an interim solution," says Byars. "Ultimately, the softswitch will talk through the DSLAM and with the DSLAM directly to a device on the customer premises," such as a smart telephone. Also, DSLAMs will gain more processing power. DSLAMs don't have the processing power to handle the signaling of voice calls and to allocate bandwidth to preserve QoS. "That is why it is going to be interesting to see whether gateway vendors say they need to sit behind the DSLAM and terminate the signaling," Byars says.

DSLAMs are already getting smarter, Byars says. For example, the device made by Nortel Networks Inc.'s (www.nortelnetworks.com) acquisition of Promatory, which could acquire the ability to communicate directly to a softswitch, signaling the bandwidth required for QoS. In Nortel's architecture, it also could add an IP multi-service switch from another acquisition--Shasta Networks--behind the DSLAM to provide IP services, such as VPNs and firewalls.

The issue in making this whole architecture work is being sure the DSLAM or gateway can talk to the softswitch. Today, telecom technologies Inc. is using only media gateway control protocol (MGCP) for communication between the DSL gateway and the softswitch. "We haven't implemented H.323 because none of our customers have asked for it," Venters says. She says most in the industry see session initiation protocol (SIP) as the long-term solution for signaling between softswitches and end devices. "H.323 is just too hard to code. SIP is a lot easier and more extensible for adding functions going forward. That is why Sprint is endorsing SIP."

The TollBridge gateway uses MGCP to route calls, and its management software uses both MGCP and SIP to communicate with softswitches and service creation environments.

The cost savings to the service provider from this new architecture are substantial because it is not necessary to purchase a Class 5 infrastructure, which can require an investment of several million dollars to initiate service in a new metropolitan area.

"It is a complete end-to-end solution, and it doesn't cost $20 million," says Venters. "CLECs can be selective of where they go. They can select cities where they can get a decent percentage of the business lines and can offer the services that businesses want most and that are the highest revenue producers."

Service providers also have the freedom to locate a softswitch anywhere in their network; it does not have to be collocated with gateways because only signaling is passed between the two. CLECs and DLECs (DSL local exchange carriers) "can stick a softswitch in wherever it makes sense and can send all their signaling back to the softswitch," Venters says. "So, it allows them to use a smart-build strategy and employ a softswitch only as they need it."

The estimates of return on investment by telecom technologies are that the softswitch can pay for itself in as little as eight months, depending on the volume and type of deployment.

Carrier-class products that combine VoDSL and softswitches for a complete solution will not be available overnight. The field of contenders, particularly in softswitches, is very large, and considerable winnowing is likely before a few winners emerge.

Also, because a service provider would be betting its entire business on this capability, Byars cautions, "a lot of testing will be required before anyone starts to roll this out in a major way. The most we will see throughout the rest of this year is some very limited trials. Look how long it has taken to get voice over DSL gateways working, and that is still using the Class 5 switches."

Applications

"The more interesting aspect to all this," Byars continues, "is being able to create enhanced services. The whole model for the softswitch is that they provide an application program interface on the top layer that allows the service providers themselves or third parties to customize the service offerings." He adds, "That is going to be the name of the game going forward with the proliferation of service providers. The CLECs need ways to differentiate services."

Xavier Wartelle, vice president of marketing and business development at startup softswitch vendor NetCentrex Inc. (www.netcentrex.net), says, "With this technology, service providers can build a pure Internet telephone company. They can provide a [regular] telephone number through ADSL [asymmetric DSL], but they need this platform to provide services." NetCentrex, which has concentrated on Centrex and PBX kinds of feature applications, has obtained blocks of phone numbers through GTE Corp. (www.gte.com) for its customers.

Santera Systems Inc. (www.santera.com), also a new softswitch vendor, includes a VoDSL gateway as an integral part of the product. Santera, whose chairman and co-founder, Wu-Fu Chen, is a telecom innovation legend, offers what it calls "superclass" switching, a platform that supports many forms of voice and data switching.

One of the issues in estimating the value of the DSL/softswitch combination is how significant enhanced services will be in attracting business customers and consumers, except for a few familiar products, such as call waiting. "There is something of a lack of demand," Byars admits, "especially for unified messaging."

Unified messaging "unfortunately has taken on a nerd quality where the consumer really doesn't know what it is providing, doesn't understand the value of this high-tech term called unified messaging," Byars says. The product most companies now call unified messaging "is going to have to be rebranded," he says, and the "one-size-fits-all" approach of today will have to change. "There will be instead specific services that will be broken out," Byars says.

As it prepares to deploy a telecommunications network based on softswitches, gateways and feature servers, Convergent Communications Inc. (www.converg.com) is implementing a security solution by Argus Systems Group Inc. (www.argus-systems.com) that is different from the classic methods of firewalls and intrusion detection widely employed by ISPs.

Convergent looked to Argus for security solutions because of that company's experience in industries such as banking, where computing system security is mission critical. Also, Argus employs a methodology that takes into account that the next-generation telephone networks are based on open Unix computing platforms, rather than the closed, highly specialized systems that support Class 5 switches.

"The new switches become kind of targets for telecom-oriented hackers," says Greg Tennant, senior vice president of enterprise broadband services at Convergent Communications. "You can create some level of protection with firewalls, but you can't encrypt voice traffic because it would ruin performance. So you have to find a way to protect this new platform that is sitting in a relatively open environment and keep people from attacking it and bringing it down." Convergent plans to deploy softswitches and gateways by Cisco Systems Inc. (www.cisco.com) as it debuts a new nationwide service aimed at business customers.

Widely deployed methods, such as firewalls, "apply security in the application space and ignore the operating system," says Randall Sandone, president and CEO of Argus. Most hacker attacks involve the use of "mobile code," small applications that travel over networks. "It is an incontrovertible fact that any security that is put into an application or any security application can be rendered completely useless by a successful attack on the operating system." The main Argus product, PitBull, is designed to work with Sun platforms.

The Argus approach also involves limiting access to the operating system, not just by unwanted code but also by service provider staff. In most systems, operators get a blanket "administrator" status, and there is no hierarchy of access. Operators making simple changes to the system have the same powers as the chief IT officer. Argus provides a way to give very limited access to a system and to give widely varied levels of access.

Besides operating system security, Argus recommends a strong authentication system as well as encryption of traffic where possible. Convergent has combined the Argus system with fraud detection software in order to understand what kinds of hacking activities are occurring.

A new intrusion system for detecting and "fingerprinting" potential hackers was announced in March by GTE Federal Network Systems (FNS), a unit of GTE Corp. (www.gte.com). GTE FNS' NetFacade system confuses unauthorized intruders by creating false network services that mimic actual network services. It also gathers information on attack methodologies to help administrators change firewalls to repel the new intruders.

Tennant says Convergent is still considering how to offer the Argus technology to its customers, but will have a portfolio of security measures. "We do offer customers a series of enterprise-enabled services as well as e-business services, where we are evaluating the use of this platform. Security is like insurance. Customers will insure themselves to the level where they want protection. They can start with basic insurance, such as password protection up to basic firewalling up to elaborate state-based firewalling up to encryption, and then we can get to a more-robust secure operating system approach, such as Argus."

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