Industry has hailed the coming of packet technology, which has turned circuit networks into anachronisms.
But the technology still has its challenges, one of which is “islands of IP.” It means carriers with packet solutions do not easily connect to each other.
Sonus Networks said it has unveiled a border switch that can help develop what it calls a ubiquitous all-IP network. The company said its products, open services architecture and voice infrastructure solutions, will reduce the cost of infrastructure and deliver new services.
“The new network border switching capabilities … build upon our robust, field-proven solution to address emerging carrier requirements for security, session control and address translation between IP networks,” said Mike Hluchyj, Sonus’ founder and chief technology officer.
The border switch can work in such key areas as peering, enterprise access, end-user access and application services provider access.
Using voice over Internet Protocol, carriers can connect among themselves and eliminate the need to convert between VoIP and circuit voice. Enterprises can take advantage of this switch to interface seamlessly with customers.
“With a direct packet-to-packet interface, enterprise voice services can be converted to VoIP using an enterprise gateway, or may be provided directly as VoIP from the PBX,” said the company.
End users connect to each other using IP. They do that through devices such as an IP phone, a “soft” phone, or a standard telephone attached to an adapter or integrated access device. Sonus said as carriers eschew SS7-based protocols as an interface to optimize services applications platforms, the border switch allows ASPs to implement enhanced services.
