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STRATUS LAUNCHES INTERNET INTELLIGENT NETWORK INITIATIVE TO BREAK
Internet Bottleneck
Industry Leaders Will Collaborate with Stratus on New Intelligent
Network Architecture To Unlock Carrier Network Congestion, Eliminate
Internet Busy
Signals and Pave the Way for Advanced Internet Telephony Services
MARLBORO, Mass., March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratus Computer, Inc.
(NYSE:SRA) today announced that it is working closely with leading
carriers, suppliers of Remote Access Server equipment, and other major
suppliers, to define an open Internet Intelligent Network (IN)
architecture capable of handling the massive projected increases in
Internet traffic that carriers will be required to handle in coming
years. The evolutionary, multi-phased Internet IN Architecture will
initially address today's problems of network congestion and subscriber
busy signals for internet data access in the Public Switched Telephone
Network (PSTN), then extend these solutions to access for other media
such as voice, fax and video, and ultimately provide a platform for a
broad range of enhanced services in an integrated PSTN/Internet
backbone. Stratus' first products based on this architecture will be
delivered in cooperation with its data communications partners this
summer.
"Growing Internet and Web service without breaking the bank will be
carriers' biggest concern as tens of millions of new users start
plugging in to the public network," said Bruce Sachs, President and CEO
of Stratus. "With our partners, we are developing a robust, scaleable,
continuously available call completion and routing solution that will
enable carriers to eliminate network congestion and elevate service
levels, even as they dramatically increase capacity."
Stratus is working with major carriers, including MCI, and major
network access equipment vendors, including Ascend, Bay Networks, Cisco
Systems and 3Com to specify an open, industry-standard platform.
Stratus, a world-leader in continuously available computing and
middleware solutions for the telecommunications industry's Intelligent
Network (IN) applications, will supply the core fault-tolerant
processor and carrier-class telecommunications middleware for its new
Internet SCP (Service Control Point) platform. Stratus today delivers
innovative IN and telecom solutions to 27 of the world's 30 largest
telecom service providers.
"MCI has been working on an integrated SS7/IP architecture for over a
year, and is delighted that Stratus is working to bring our vision into
the marketplace in the very near future," said John Gerdelman,
president of networkMCI Services. "Stratus' Internet IN Architecture
will deliver intelligent systems to help eliminate congestion
associated with the tremendous growth of data access to the Internet,
while paving the way for future IP-based products and services."
"Stratus is in the middle -- where data networks and the telco's SS7
network walk and talk with the Internet," said Lisa Allocca, Senior
Analyst for Renaissance Worldwide, Inc. "They are solving the next
problem; doing for telephony over the Internet what everyone's been
getting over the telephone network for years -- the ultimate in
availability, reliability and ease of use."
For carriers, the Internet IN Architecture will allow creative
intelligent network (IN)-based services initially developed for the
voice public switched telephone network to be migrated to the data
network -- lowering their costs of delivering Internet service, while
dramatically increasing capacity and improving performance.
"Applying the intelligence and quality of today's public phone network
to the Internet over time will dramatically increase carriers' ability
to differentiate their services," said Rod Randall, vice president of
marketing for Stratus. "They can leverage their existing
infrastructure investment to eliminate customer busy signals and offer
future services like Internet Telephony, Video and Enhanced Services
like Single Number Call Following and Prepaid Calling."
For ISPs, the carriers' implementation of the Internet IN Architecture
eliminates the problem of having one location which is overrun with
traffic and returning busy signals to eager callers while other sites
sit idle with no local traffic. The Internet IN Architecture's advance
routing control and customer databases will enable a new array of
advanced services for customers, such as upgraded quality of service
for preferred customers, voice-over-IP, or no-busy-signal, intelligent
call completion based on customer profile and demographics.
For end users, the new capability will mean an end to busy signals when
they are accessing the Internet and World Wide Web and dramatically
improved service in general from their ISPs.
"Ascend Communications is committed to providing leading-edge solutions
that enable Network Service Providers to integrate voice, video and fax
over the existing PSTN and the emerging data networks they are building,
" said David Misunas, vice president of strategic business development
for Ascend Communications. "As we evolve our current platforms, and
introduce new platforms, we will partner with companies such as Stratus
that have an established presence and are providing core technologies,
such as their Internet IN Architecture, to enable interoperability
between advanced voice and data services and the PSTN. Ultimately our
customers will benefit most as we take advantage of Ascend's advanced
technology and Stratus' Internet IN architecture, to deliver new
services that will generate additional revenue and provide competitive
differentiation."
"Stratus is a leading supplier of SS7 middleware solutions who has
demonstrated an appreciation and understanding of the challenges and
opportunities facing the use of the PSTN for internet traffic," said
Jayesh Patel, VP of product management, Bay Networks. "Our initiative
with Stratus to define an open interface will not only enable a
complete solution that offers SS7 signaling between Bay Networks'
Versalar RACs and telco voice switches, but will foster collaboration
within the industry to deliver new applications and services."
Cisco offers a complete solution that creates a PSTN switch with SSP
functionality using Cisco access servers to handle data and voice
calls, made possible through Cisco's acquisition of Lightspeed.
According to Kevin Kennedy, Cisco's Vice President and General Manager,
"Lightspeed's flexible any-to-any protocol capabilities can make an
open data/voice Intelligent Network architecture real. SS7 standards
and the intelligent network are a key element of Cisco's
Data/Voice/Video Integration strategy. We are pleased to work with
Stratus to create open solutions."
"We recognize Stratus as a significant player in the implementation of
the Intelligent Network environment and look forward to the extension
of IN's capabilities to the next generation of services," said Ross
Manire, senior vice president, 3Com Carrier Systems.
Stratus will base the Internet IN Architecture platform on its existing
Stratus Intelligent Network Application Platform (SINAP(R)), a
standards-based SS7 product that conforms to all the layers of SS7 and
which provides the framework for all IN-based services provided by
carriers, including enhanced call routing, virtual private network
service, and local-number portability. Key to this architecture is the
use of a fault-tolerant platform provides centrally controlled load
balancing of traffic between non-redundant dial access servers. This
enables ISPs to eliminate costly downtime and network outages by
sensing a failed component, and routing around it while also evenly
distributing data traffic among all the remote access servers.
The widespread industry need for a bridge between carrier and data
networks has brought Stratus together with the industry's leading
communications vendors to define a standard message set between the
Internet IN Architecture platform and Remote Access Servers that will
be put into the public domain for use by all remote networking vendors.
Through the use of "private extensions" to the standard specification,
each vendor will be able to customize and differentiate their offerings.
Based in Marlboro, Massachusetts, Stratus Computer, Inc. is the
premier supplier of computer systems and services where continuous
availability is a critical need. Stratus and its subsidiaries offer a
broad range of continuously available computer platforms, applications
software, telecommunications platform software, and professional
services. Stratus markets its systems and solutions in more than 60
countries and provides innovative Intelligent Network (IN) and telecom
solutions to 27 of the world's 30 largest telecom service providers.
For more information, visit Stratus on the Internet at
stratus.com.
NOTE: Stratus, the Stratus logo and SINAP are registered trademarks of
Stratus Computer, Inc. All other brand, product and company names are
registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders."
SOURCE Stratus Computer, Inc.
-0- 03/17/98 /CONTACT: Joann Anderson or
Kathy Madison of Copithorne and Bellows, 617-450-4300,
kathy.madison@cbpr.com/
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