Article on Global Crossing, I've pasted the section that discusses Sonus. -Jay
lw.pennnet.com
Existing relationships
Global Crossing is using packet-telephony equipment manufactured by Sonus Networks (Westford, MA), including the GSX9000 open-services switch, the PSX6000 softswitch, and the SGX2000 SS7 signaling gateway. Following extensive testing, Global Crossing chose the softswitch for its ability to scale approximately 25 times more efficiently than the other products.
The relationship between these two companies sprang from Sonus's original relationship with Frontier Communications, acquired by Global Crossing in 1999. Sonus delivered its first beta units to Frontier for testing and was ultimately selected to provide its GSX9000 product, while Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, NJ) provided a softswitch. The relationship with Global Crossing eventually resulted in Sonus providing its entire packet-telephony suite throughout the global network.
Sonus describes its equipment as an "any-to-any" voice-over-packet central-office switching platform that meets carrier demands for interconnectivity, capacity, reliability, and voice quality. "The term 'any-to-any' refers to a switch's ability to switch calls from packet to circuit as well as circuit to circuit," says Gary Rogers, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Sonus.
This capability is a big part of enabling carriers to generate new revenue streams through the use of packet telephony. Rogers points out that packet telephony can facilitate applications that are difficult or impossible to deploy when voice and data ride separate networks. It can also accelerate time-to-market for new applications.
"Carriers will need to offer the services already common in the voice network, such as voice mail, call forwarding, caller ID, and so forth," says Rogers. "But the explosive growth of the Inter net also demands services that will bridge the two worlds."
Examples of such services would include unified communications and Internet "click-to-talk." These services have been slow to develop, largely due to the separation of networks for data and voice traffic. Network convergence could lead to elimination of barriers and yield a flood of innovative new services, Rogers believes.
"From an application-development perspective, applications for the PSTN [public-switched telephone network] have traditionally been a slow and costly process," says Rogers. "Services are implemented either in the circuit switches themselves or in separate processors called service control points [SCPs]. Carriers are often dependent on switch vendors for enhancements, with changes taking up to several years and costing millions or tens of millions of dollars."
In contrast, Rogers says Internet applications are developed in months or even weeks on inexpensive, standard hardware platforms using commercially available tools. Packet telephony takes advantage of the rapid developments in IP technology to improve on time-to-market and overall cost-effectiveness for telephony applications. |
