Frank - Could we have your comments on this Nortel Press Release re Voice and IP Plans - Is this just hype or are they out in front, like they claim to be?
Ken
PR Newswire - June 30, 1998 09:16
NTL. NT %TLS %PDT V%PRN P%PRN
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC, June 30 /PRNewswire/ - Nortel (Northern Telecom) (NYSE: NT/TSE: NTL) has
combined the rich feature menu and reliability of the voice network with the efficiencies of the IP network into its
new IPConnect Voice over IP/IP telephony portfolio. The industry's first VoIP set of solutions to recognize that one
platform does not satisfy all networking needs, IPConnect will allow service providers to offer their customers true
business telephony services over a managed, carrier-grade network.
''This IPConnect portfolio starts the realization of Nortel's vision of delivering webtone -- the IP multiservice
network of the future,'' said Clarence J. Chandran, president, Nortel Public Carrier Networks. ''As the industry
moves from circuit-switched networks to packet networks, Nortel will lead in providing customer-sensitive, reliable
networks which enable the established service providers, the new carriers and the Internet service providers to
capitalize on their investments and speed to success.''
''We're very excited about the competitive advantages Nortel's IPConnect can offer a carrier,'' said Farooq Hussain,
executive vice president, AGIS Communications. ''Nortel's architecture exactly maps to the service model that we've
developed. Nortel has teamed with AGIS to provide the solution that fits our needs at the right time.''
Nortel's IPConnect library contains a suite of carrier-grade IP Gateways that will tap the service capability of
multiple switch platforms, as well as a common gatekeeper and powerful management/billing systems. With
unparalleled IP port capacity, unmatched feature availability, true carrier-class reliability, and low-latency, Nortel's
IPConnect solutions define the next generation of managed IP-based business telephony networks for service
providers.
While others attempt to re-invent the hundreds of telephony capabilities common in today's business networks,
IPConnect solutions will deliver the full feature set immediately by making them available today in an IP network.
IPConnect solutions will also deliver exciting new services, some of which are unique to IP networks, that can
transform business and consumer networks:
- Telephony Services such as single-stage dialing, voicemail, call
forward, three-way calling, calling line ID, pre-paid calling cards
among others.
- Mobile, Virtual Desktops. Employees can dial into the IP network from
anywhere-home, branch office, airport, hotel-and enjoy data
connectivity to the corporate network as well as ''Worldwide IP
Centrex'' -- fully featured voice from the corporate network.
- Advanced Services: unified messaging, virtual multiple lines,
multimedia conferencing, and Internet telephony applications such as
Nortel's Internet Call Waiting and Internet Voice Button.
- Call Center Applications. Transport of call-center traffic over a
low-cost IP network to centralized or distributed agents.
''With the launch of IPConnect, Nortel is setting new standards on price and performance in the delivery of
telephony services over a rugged, secure IP network,'' said Glenn Falcao, president, Nortel Internet and Service
Provider Networks. ''We're offering our customers more than the cost advantages of delivering services over an IP
network. We have now enabled the delivery of new, innovative services that will enhance their revenue.''
Nortel's IPConnect portfolio includes a family of IP gateways-that serves as an interface between a managed IP
network and the voice network, and provides the network's service logic-and a common IP gatekeeper. Scaling to
suit customer requirements and delivering configurations from 24 to 100,000 IP ports, IPConnect gateways will have
open, non-proprietary interfaces:
- i-Tone Gateway offers best-in-class voice and real-time fax over IP
for immediate service provider deployment supporting 24-96 IP port
configurations.
- CVX 1800 Gateway, an application of the CVX 1800 remote access switch,
scales up to 672 IP ports and supports voice and modem dialup on a
multi-service carrier grade access vehicle. The CVX 1800 offers an
architecture that forwards a packet in one clock cycle (no forwarding
delay) resulting in the lowest-latency IP voice offering on the
market.
- MMCS Gateway scales to 1,800 IP ports and is designed for service
providers who want to offer the full benefit of IP Centrex and a broad
suite of business telephony services. The gateway is implemented on a
fully redundant, carrier-class platform that supports more than 100
country-specific interfaces for widespread international deployment.
- DMS IP Gateway, an application of the Nortel DMS-100 central office
switch, offers configurations supporting up to 100,000 IP ports and
full access to all the world-class, end-user features on the public
switched telephone network over an IP network. In conjunction with the
Nortel 1-Meg Modem, the DMS IP Gateway provides integrated high- speed
Internet access and VoIP.
- IPConnect Gatekeeper: network intelligence which provides dialed
directory number to IP address mapping, directory assistance and
gateway resource allocation. The gatekeeper functionality can either
be integrated into the IP Gateway or deployed as a standalone device
on a standard industry platform. The IPConnect Gatekeeper allows for
the rapid development and deployment of new services and is common to
the entire gateway family.
Nortel IPConnect gateways are fully H.323 compliant, and support compression methods G.723.1, G.729A, G.711.
The family also supports standard telephony protocols including SS7 ISUP, ISDN PRI, R2, DPNSS and QSIG and
includes full OAM&P capability, including carrier billing, storage and file transfer capabilities.
Nortel's IPConnect solutions will incorporate powerful network management systems that provide network
surveillance and management from a centralized operations center and a billing system that consolidates billing
across the managed IP network.
The i-Tone Gateway is available today and is being rolled out in customer accounts. Market trials for IPConnect are
scheduled to begin with lead customers in fourth quarter 1998.
IPConnect continues the leadership of Nortel's existing and ever-expanding set of voice over data network products
which includes voice over ATM, voice over frame relay and voice over IP solutions delivered by Nortel's Passport
portfolio and the Nortel Micom portfolio. The portfolio also builds on Nortel's industry leadership in the Internet
telephony business with the company's powerful marketing alliance with Microsoft and the industry's first
carrier-class Internet telephony applications such as Internet Call Waiting and Internet Voice Button.
SOURCE Northern Telecom Limited
/CONTACT: Richard Byrd, Nortel, (919) 992-4137, rbyrd(at)nortel.com;
Candace Inscoe, Nortel, (919) 992-0810, cinscoe(at)nortel.com; Frank McNally,
Nortel, (703) 712-8374, frank.mcnally(at)nortel.com; Or visit Nortel's
web-site at www.nortel.com; A press kit supporting this announcement including
background information on the product portfolio is available on-line at
www.nortel.com/IPConnect; Nortel's press releases are also available through
CNO-Call by fax at 800-758-5804, ext. 122158 or at prnewswire.com
/Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or fax at 800-758-5804,
ext. 122158/
/Web-site: nortel.com
(NTL. NT)
Headlines Next Story
|
