Softswitch Vendors Add, Enhance Support for IP

Posted 07/15/2001

Softswitch Vendors Add, Enhance Support for IP

By Paula Bernier

Softswitch and other voice over X vendors at SUPERCOMM added IP support to existing circuit- and ATM-based solutions, while others in the space added new QoS mechanisms to existing IP-based products.

Ericcson Inc. (www.ericcson.com) debuted its Open Network Gateway (ONG), which the company says is its first step toward providing carriers with all-IP based solutions, including multimedia services like voice, data and video streaming.

"Engine is Ericsson's overall next-generation network solution," explains Rolando Mia, product marketing manager. "Within Engine there are ATM and IP tracks--two tracks. ONG is our first IP product out of Engine."

SS7 data offload--that is, moving SS7 traffic from traditional dedicated narrowband networks that run on top of circuit-switched connections to ride along with other data traffic on IP connections--is the first available application for the ONG. By the end of the year, Ericsson expects to expand the product for voice offload to IP networks.

mediaWays GmbH (www.mediaways. net), Germany's second-largest ISP and a subsidiary of the Telefonica Group, is the first company announced that has committed to use the Megaco-based ONG commercially. The three-year, EU20 million agreement will provide around 1 million subscribers with next-generation Internet services.

Meanwhile, CopperCom (www.coppercom. com) announced plans during SUPERCOMM to deliver a VoIP blade for its softswitch sometime during the first quarter of 2002.

Although some might say CopperCom is introducing the VoIP blade "fashionably late," concedes Stefan Knight, director of product marketing, he says service providers really won't need that kind of capability until next year anyway.

"What's happening in the core of the network is exciting, but it doesn't touch these folks until the first part of next year," Knight explains. To date, CopperCom's softswitch has been used in circuit- and ATM-based applications.

In the near future, carriers may want to use the company's products to interconnect to new IP networks like that of Level 3 Communications Inc. (www.level3.com) and Qwest Communications International Inc. (www.qwest.com). A second application for the VoIP blade is to enable service providers to optimize backbone connections between switching sites. The third application will allow IP-based CPE to connect into the Class 4/5 switching system. That's becoming more important as IP PBXs gain in popularity, says Knight.

Convergent Networks Inc. (www. convergentnetworks.com) also announced plans to add IP and Class 5 functionality to its Cohesion product line. To date, the company has focused on TDM-ATM interworking in ATM tandem applications or applications doing DSL over ATM. The IP addition will target IP packet tandem switching applications for voice call trunking from TDM or ATM networks to IP backbones.

Scheduled to be available during the fourth quarter, IP functionality will be added to the company's products through a 100mbps Ethernet hardware blade that inserts into the existing boxes, and software enhancements including support for DiffServ, MPLS and RTF. The blade starts at $49,000, while the software is available through software maintenance agreements.

In other SUPERCOMM news, Convergent debuted a Class 5 solution that includes a softswitch, media gateway and signaling gateway, which Sally Bament, vice president of marketing and product management, says is the first complete solution of its kind. Telcordia Technologies Inc. (www.telcordia. com) is considered the first with a next- generation Class 5 softswitch, but that's just the softswitch piece, says Bament, whereas Convergent delivers the entire system.

The company also demonstrated call forwarding, call waiting and Caller ID functions on the solution. Included as part of the demonstration were IADs from Accelerated Networks Inc. (www.acceler atednetworks.com), Efficient Networks Inc. (www.efficient.com, now a Siemens subsidiary), Polycom Inc. (www.polycom.com) and various vendors' DSLAMs.

"We've collapsed a CopperCom-type product into a single packet-based softswitch at a fraction of the cost," says Bament, adding the complete solution sells for $10 to $12 per Class 5 subscriber line. General availability is expected this month.

Softswitch vendor COMGATES Ltd. (www.comgates.com) debuted two new solutions that address the common problems of service quality and multiprotocol interoperability in VoIP networks.

The company has expanded its softswitch with additional equipment and functionality that enables it to offer layer 5 QoS at the session layer. It can work with other QoS protocols like MPLS, RSVP and others that reside at the physical layer, but does not require them, says Benjamin Bar-Ness, COMGATES' vice president of business development and marketing.

In this new QoS application, the softswitch with its SSW call control software is connected to the company's policy- executor software, known as Q-Brain, which sits on a separate server. Also part of the solution is a probe, called cNaps, which sits behind the gateway and collects information about the quality of voice link, including delay, jitter and the like. The information is combined so the system can decide whether the selected route can support the application to run over it. If that route is not optimized for the application, the solution does in-session switching of the application to an alternative, predetermined backup route.

"We're very focused on that call control layer, and we wanted to look at what has to be done" to allow for widespread implementation of VoIP and other media as well, says Barr-Ness.

He adds the old idea that if there's trouble in the IP network a carrier should move the traffic onto the PSTN is a problem because service providers lose all the efficiencies of IP.

The softswitch already is generally available. The total QoS solution that debuted at SUPERCOMM is expected to be in betas this summer.

The Multiprotocol Front

On the multiprotocol interoperability front, COMGATES has stripped down its softswitch--eliminating SS7 and MGCP stacks--to offer a solution that does mediation between different networks or between devices and applications that are not based on the same protocol. The product is available. Level 3 Communications Inc. (www.level3.com) is a customer and other carriers are testing it.

"If you're a customer of Level 3 and Level 3 wants to communicate with NTT Communications Corp. (www.ntt.com), it has to have the ability to mediate between Level 3's SIP and NTT's H.323 signaling networks, for example. So you need a mediator/signaling translation device," he says.

Barr-Ness adds that applications including unified messaging and conference bridging are SIP-based, while most endpoints are H.323-based, so mediation is required.

Applications and interoperability were a large part of VocalData Inc.'s (www.vocaldata. com) news at the show, and it recently debuted its VOISS 3.0 VoIP softswitch release. The product is expected to be available commercially this quarter.

New applications introduced with 3.0 include Call Management, Informal Call Center, Front Desk and Meet-Me Conferencing.

Call Management lets end users do call screening and management from a PC-based portal. They can send calls, on a call-by-call basis, to a home, office, hotel, mobile or other phone, a pager or to voice mail. Communications deemed urgent by incoming callers can be allowed to bypass all of that, however.

Front Desk, meanwhile, is a professional call-handling application that gives people, such as receptionists, a PC-based interface to see all phones by users' names and numbers. The receptionists also can see who is on the phone at any time so they can handle calls accordingly.

"This is probably the most requested application we have," says Meier.

Informal Call Center lets a professional end user designate call routing to a group, such as a sales group, using round robin or longest call idle rotations. If all phones are busy, calls can be routed to a receptionist or overflow voice mail.

Meet-Me Conferencing lets users reserve a conference number to ensure enough ports are available for the call.

The new product release also offers the capability of supporting Class 5 residential services and business trunking to PBXs.

In addition to the existing support in previous releases of VOISS of the Cisco Systems Inc. (www.cisco.com) 7960 IP phone, release 3.0 of the softswitch adds support for the Cisco 7910 and Polycom's Soundpoint IP500 IP phones.

Kathleen Meier, VocalData vice president of marketing, says that makes VOISS 3.0 the softswitch with the broadest IP phone support in the industry. Release 3.0 also is interoperable with IADs from Copper Mountain Networks Inc. (www. coppermountain.com), Integral Access Inc. (www.integralaccess.com) and Vpacket Communications Inc. (www.vpacket.com). And it has SIP interoperability with the Sonus Networks Inc. (www.sonusnetworks. net) softswitch.

Despite the fact that many companies are working on interoperability, however, it's often difficult to troubleshoot in multivendor softswitch environments, notes Ed Camarena, director of product marketing at IpVerse Inc. (www.ipverse.com).

To address that, IpVerse announced a traffic analyzer and billing subsystem that rides on Sun Netra servers. The system, available now, collects event information from multiple network elements throughout the network, and it consolidates that information into call-detail records, which can be used to generate real-time and scheduled reports. That lets a service provider do call tracing, as one example, to diagnose in real time why a particular call is not going through to a specific number.

• BellSouth Corp. (www.bellsouth.com) is leveraging relationships with Cisco Systems Inc. (www.cisco.com) and IBM Corp. (www.ibm.com) to deploy VoIP within and outside of its historical nine-state region. "From a business perspective, we could be naïve and think it's about selling lines, but we see the network as a platform to bring services and solutions" to the 1.3 million businesses and 15 million homes we connect, says Raymond J. Smets, BellSouth's vice president of network transformation. BellSouth will use Cisco's Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID), and IBM's systems integration, training and support services in deploying Cisco products to support the VoIP rollout. BellSouth's e-Business Centers also were designated as a "Cisco-Powered Network."

•   TalkingNets Inc. (www.talkingnets.com) unveiled at SUPERCOMM its System Integrator Partner Program, which gives the company another sales channel to distribute its hosted, enhanced telephony offerings in the markets it provides services Inc. The program helps systems integrators fill gaps within their existing CPE and service portfolios. "This gives integrators a product to expand their market ... an opportunity to sell SIP phones, and they can get a recurring revenue stream, other than a maintenance contract," says Mark Cortner, TalkingNets' vice president of marketing. TalkingNets has other established sales channels, through ISPs, BLECs, data LECs and metro gigabit Ethernet providers, he adds. Also at the show, TalkingNets announced it now offers its next-gen telephony services in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. TalkingNets has partnered with Stickdog Telecom Group (www.stickdog.com), a Vienna, Va.-based provider of telecom services to small and medium-sized businesses and residential customers.

•   VoiceText.com (www.voicetext.com) will use the OCI 1000 next-generation audio conferencing solution from Octave Communications Inc. (www.octavecomm.com). With Octave's product, VoiceText will provide corporate customers with a wide range of enhanced services, including browser-based scheduling, management and control systems that use on-demand, self-serve and reservationless conferencing services; web casting and collaboration; "800" and toll interactive voice and fax messaging; and operator-assisted business services.

•   VocalTec Communications Ltd. (www.vocaltec.com) introduced its Voice Virtual Private Network Platform for CLECs, which it says will enable service providers to offer voice VPNs at less than half the cost of conventional platforms. The CLEC Voice VPN requires no customer premises equipment, enabling service provides to deploy and provision more quickly customers via larger capacity gateways in COs.

•   Nortel Networks Ltd. (www.nortelnetworks.com) introduced a carrier-class multimedia applications server, complete with a complementary set of multimedia communication services. The Succession Interactive Multimedia Server allows for multimedia and voice communications services based on IP across various devices and networks, including the wireless Internet. With the product, end users can log on to the network from any phone and access the same services available from their offices or homes. Among the preprogrammed service offerings included in the Succession Interactive Multimedia Server are video calling, dynamic call handling and personal call manager.

•   Oresis Communications Inc. (www.oresis.com) demonstrated its ISIS-700TM, a tandem softswitch integrated into a multiservice switch platform with data networking capabilities, interoperating with Taqua Systems Inc.'s (www.tacqua.com) Class 5 switch. Oresis also showed voice networking over ATM switched virtual circuits.

•   Taqua Systems Inc. (www.taqua.com) introduced the Broadband Interface Card (BIC) and ATM Voice Gateway (AGW) module for its Open Compact Exchange Class 5 switch alternative. The AGW module allows new and currently deployed OCX systems to become part of a single unified network for the delivery of voice and data services. By connecting the OCX to carrier ATM networks, the AGW enables carriers to consolidate disparate networks to control cost and reduce operational complexity. The AGW also may be used in conjunction with a switched virtual circuit (SVC)-capable ATM fabric to provide a high-capacity switched interconnect for large multishelf installations in excess of 100,000 lines.

The AGW offers full-capacity line-rate performance at DS-3 and OC-3 rates, and provides interruption-free service with complete equipment and facilities protection. The BIC more than doubles the maximum capacity of each OCX shelf to 20,160 ports, and helps simplify and scale carrier voice networks with direct broadband electrical or optical interfaces to transmission equipment and cross connects, while offering the per-channel flexibility for access or trunking applications. The products are slated for fourth quarter availability.

•   A new RHK Inc. (www.rhk.com) study shows that shipments of voice-over-broadband (VoB) gateway equipment totaled $53 million in 2000. Jetstream Communications Inc. (www.jetstream.com) led the total revenue for the VoB gateway market with a 29-percent market share, followed by CopperCom (www.coppercom.com) at 28 percent, Accelerated Networks Inc. (www.acceleratednetworks.com) at 21 percent, and TollBridge Technologies Inc. (www.tollbridgetech.com) at 19 percent.

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