"ITXC Hears the SS7 Call"
Like we knew they would... and the use of ISDN call set up is vindication, but not necessarily optimal... just an accurate prediction... this is from Telephony Mag, internettelephony.com
BRIAN QUINTON
International IP voice carrier ITXC will support SS7 protocol and ISDN at its
switching hubs in New York and Los Angeles.
Releasing its third quarter 1999 financial results, ITXC--which completed an IPO
on Oct.1--said it has incorporated the two protocols to accelerate connection
speeds for its voice-over-IP callers.
“SS7 allows us to connect callers and suppliers with much higher call completion
percentages,” said Brad Miller, vice president of operations at ITXC. “Previously,
a call would be sent from our originating switch to our terminator switch without
knowing whether the terminator could complete the call. SS7 now gives us the
ability to know that, which immediately gives us better call completion on our
network as a whole.” The connection process should be accelerated by
anywhere from three to seven seconds as a result of using SS7 protocol, he
said.
Connecting IP gateways to its switches via ISDN rather than standard T-1 will
bring additional speed by allowing the company to perform call setup and
breakdown more quickly, Miller said.
ITXC also revealed that its ITXC.net network carried 42.5 minutes of IP voice
traffic in third quarter 1999, compared to 643,700 minutes during the same
quarter in 1998. The company's New York hub now handles 150% more traffic
than it did a year ago, and its Los Angeles hub carries 200% more traffic than in
the same quarter of 1998, according to Thomas Evslin, chairman and CEO of
ITXC.
Overall, the carrier handles up to 4800 simultaneous calls in its New York hub
and up to 2880 in Los Angeles. “Support for SS7, the most advanced protocol of
traditional telephony, in our hubs should allow us to continue our progress to Tier
1 quality,' Evslin said. The carrier plans to open two more hubs in the near future:
a domestic one, also incorporating SS7, and an overseas one employing C7, the
European equivalent.
To date, ITXC.net has 120 points of presence in 75 cities and 37 countries; the
carrier has termination relationships with some 80 IP networks.
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