NEW YORK-Lucent Technologies Inc. introduced Feb. 5 a new switch software package the company said will permit upgrades throughout the year, in contrast to the traditional industry practice of annual software releases.
The purpose of this new upgrading flexibility is to permit telecommunications carriers to provide new services as soon as they are available, said officials of Lucent’s Network Systems Division, which is based in Lisle, Ill.
The new software, known as 5E11, is designed for use with Lucent’s 5ESS Switch Module-2000. With 5E11, some 60 percent of new features that wouldn’t otherwise be available to carriers until the next annual software release can be delivered as updates throughout the year, said Jim Bodycomb, customer business vice president.
Lucent’s new switch software is part of what the company is calling its “Rapid Software Delivery” initiative. Besides speeding carrier access to upgrades, the initiative’s goal by 1998 is to reduce software download times to minutes from hours and to decrease overall planning times to days from months.
Among other features, 5E11 will enable telecommunications companies to provide customer number portability in compliance with the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. Lucent announced earlier it is providing number portability solutions to Ameritech Corp. in what the companies said is the first test in the United States of this feature.
Another function of the new module is to reduce Internet congestion by giving voice and data traffic a direct path to the switch, “as opposed to methods that require adding expensive equipment to the (call origination) side (in order) to create an overlay network,” Lucent said.
The 5E11 software includes a feature Lucent calls Automatic Service Profile Identifier, which makes it easier for consumers to access the Internet. AutoSPID, as the feature is nicknamed, permits callers to use Integrated Services Digital Network capabilities quickly because it automates dialing for the long identification numbers necessary for logging onto the Internet. A new ISDN call management service that is part of this package permits its users to prioritize incoming calls.
The Very Compact Digital Exchange (VCDX), the smallest configuration of the 5ESS switch, now also has wireless capabilities, Lucent said. These will enable smaller carriers in less populous areas to offer a broad array of services, including wireless, longdistance, Centrex, local and toll-free-number calling, said Jan Sharpless, switching offer vice president.
Among other features, the new 5E11 software module also offers telecommunications carriers the capability to deliver wireless services using existing office equipment, especially in campus-type settings like colleges or convention centers, the company said.
