Sonoma Systems Debuts Convergence
Architecture With Voice Over ATM Offerings;
Enables Integrated Communications
Providers to Deliver Enhanced Telephony
Services
October 19, 1999
MARINA DEL REY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)
via NewsEdge Corporation -- Sonoma
Systems today announced a voice over ATM
architecture designed to give Integrated
Communications Providers (ICPs) and
Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs)
a set of value-added, differentiable voice
services. This next-generation architecture
gives ICPs and CLECs the ability to deliver
cost-effective, bandwidth-efficient Voice
over ATM (VoATM) services, allowing them to
capture a portion of the $84B spent annually
by small and medium businesses on voice
service.
According to Tom Nolle, President of CIMI
Corporation, "Sonoma has the right vision of
the future of voice services. The business
success of CLECs will depend almost
completely on their ability to provide
differentiated custom calling services that
incumbent LECs can't offer. Feature creation
in the voice space is therefore the largest
CLEC business issue on the table...period.
Anyone who expects to be a competitor in
the next century had better look at the
issues Sonoma has raised here."
In today's competitive environment, ICPs
need to both reduce costs and to increase
revenue through a portfolio of innovative
service offerings that differentiates them
from incumbent providers. These
next-generation service providers are utilizing
Integrated Access Devices (IADs) to extend
ATM to the edge, employing its inherent
Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities to
enable simultaneous support for
business-class data and voice services. ATM
is the only technology available today that
allows voice to be integrated with data while
guaranteeing the necessary QoS for
toll-quality voice. Sonoma has leveraged
sophisticated ATM capabilities and a highly
flexible architecture to deliver a series of
innovative voice solutions that are simple to
deploy, reduce service delivery costs and
enable enhanced voice services designed to
allow ICPs to compete.
"With this announcement, Sonoma delivers on
two key requirements - the ability to offer
enhanced services and the ability to minimize
the cost to deliver these services," said Dr.
Rick Bubenik, CTO and Executive Vice
President of Network Engineering at SAVVIS
Communications, a global internetworking
solutions provider. "SAVVIS currently deploys
the Sonoma Access to deliver
Ethernet-based Internet services to our
customers. The addition of new, enhanced
service options on this platform creates an
opportunity for us to provide value-added,
differentiable service offerings in the future."
Phase 1: Circuit-Based Voice: Rapidly
Deployable, Fully Interoperable Voice
Services
Fully interoperable with today's existing PSTN
infrastructure, Circuit Emulation Services
(CES) allow transport of traditional
PCM-encoded 64Kbps circuit-based voice
over ATM by emulating a circuit across the
ATM network using Permanent Virtual Circuits
(PVCs) and Switched Virtual Circuits (SVCs).
PVC-based CES allows the next-generation
service provider to quickly deliver local or
long distance voice that is interoperable with
the existing PSTN, while SVC upgradeability is
a requirement to ensure that these services
can be optimized for maximum profitability.
Today's solutions must be PVC-based to
accommodate existing, deployed ATM
infrastructure. Voice over ATM is, however,
the application that will capitalize on the
dynamic nature of SVCs and prompt providers
to extend SVCs out to the customer edge.
Switched Virtual Circuits improve network
utilization and allow oversubscription through
dynamic bandwidth allocation, allowing the
bandwidth normally reserved for CBR voice
traffic to be reallocated to other applications.
SVCs further benefit service providers by
simplifying provisioning and allowing the
any-to-any connectivity required for voice
calls.
Phase 2: Virtual PBX Services: Enhanced
Voice Service Offerings
A value-added extension is to integrate a
full-featured PBX in the ATM access device,
allowing service providers to deliver virtual
PBX services to small to medium business
customers with features such as voicemail,
auto-attendant, call conferencing, call
forwarding, and other next-generation PBX
capabilities. Utilizing CES to transport the
PBX voice traffic provides a solution that can
be easily deployed in today's infrastructure.
In this model, the service provider can utilize
a single integrated access device to deliver a
Branch Office in a box with both managed
PBX services and managed data services.
Phase 3: Packet-Based Voice Services:
Optimizing Bandwidth and Reducing Costs
Packetized voice, where voice traffic is made
to look like data traffic and optimized for
more efficient transport over the ATM
infrastructure, is the next step in the
migration. Packetized voice employs voice
compression via G.729a, silence suppression
and ATM SVCs to minimize the bandwidth
required to transport voice over the ATM
network. Real time Variable Bit Rate (VBR-rt)
traffic shaping replaces Constant Bit Rate
(CBR), allowing greater bandwidth
oversubscription and reduced delivery cost.
Options for both Analog and Digital interfaces
are required to support the full range of
business-class voice services. High density
analog solutions allow direct connection of
standard telephone handsets in small offices,
while digital interfaces connect external PBXs
for larger offices.
Phase 4: Off-Net Services: Integrated
Access to Next-Generation Voice
Infrastructure
An emerging class of products known as
Service Interworking Gateways mediate
between the ATM network and the traditional
TDM voice network, allowing ICPs access to
the PSTN without the expense of a Class 4
Tandem switch. By combining these devices
with interoperable ATM Integrated Access
Devices, the service provider can deliver both
'on-net' service and more cost-effective,
expanded 'off-net' voice services. Sonoma
has initially partnered with Convergent
Networks, an early leader in ATM Service
Interworking Gateway devices to deliver
end-to-end solutions to CLEC customers. "At
Convergent Networks, our goal is to develop
solutions that enable next-generation carriers
to deliver new and innovative services to
their customers," said Seng-Poh Lee, Vice
President of Technology for Convergent
Networks. "We are pleased to work with
Sonoma Systems to facilitate new and
enhanced services for carriers and service
providers."
Step 5: Custom Calling Services:
Differentiable, Profitable Services at the Edge
As Service Providers deploy next-generation
networks for voice services, they need to be
able to offer and bill for custom calling
services such as caller ID, call waiting, and
vertical service codes such as *69. These
services, which generate monthly incremental
revenue, are traditionally provided on Class 5
End-Office Switches, which are not present
in the new switches architecture. In this
model, the Integrated Access Device can
cost-effectively deliver these value-added
features at the edge, generating incremental
revenue and allowing the ICP to effectively
compete with the Incumbent LEC.
Sonoma Systems, a leader in Integrated
Access solutions for Service Providers, is
delivering on this phased architecture to
allow ICPs to migrate to a next-generation
converged network. Sonoma's interoperable
PVC-based Circuit Emulation Services are
available today and are being trialed in
Service Provider environments around the
world. SVC capability will be demonstrable
this quarter, requiring only a software
upgrade to deliver switched voice services.
At this time, Sonoma will also demonstrate
interoperability with the Convergent ICS2000
Gateway via Q.2931 signaling. Sonoma is a
member of the ALTA consortium to ensure
standards-based, interoperable solutions with
other emerging Service Interworking Gateway
vendors. Trials with Analog and Digital Packet
Voice will begin in Q1 2000, and custom
calling services will be delivered for trial in
Q2. Announced separately today, the
Sonoma Xchange(TM) Virtual PBX is currently
available for trials. Demonstrated in July at
Supercomm and Broadband Year '99, the
Sonoma Xchange offered show attendees the
opportunity to simultaneously place a voice
call and access the Internet across a 3 Mb/s
Inverse Multiplexing over ATM (IMA)
connection. Additional information on Sonoma
Xchange can be found at
sonoma-systems.com.
About Sonoma Systems
Sonoma Systems develops Carrier-Class
Broadband Integrated Access Devices that
allows Service Providers to deliver integrated
services (Internet, voice, data, and video)
with Class of Service guarantees over a
single, cost-effective access network.
Sonoma Systems is headquartered in Marina
del Rey, California with a technology center
located in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and
sales and support offices located throughout
North America and in the UK. Additional
information on products is available on the
Sonoma Systems website at
sonoma-systems.com.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
Except for the historical information
presented, the matters discussed in this
news release are forward looking statements
that involve risks and uncertainties including
the timely development and successful
acceptance of its new and enhanced
multi-service broadband integrated access
products, the acceptance of new technology
such as ATM, the impact of competitive
products and the dependence on key
partners and alliances. Sonoma Systems, the
Sonoma Systems logo, Sonoma Integrator
and Sonoma Access are registered
trademarks of Sonoma Systems Inc.
NOTE TO EDITORS: The phrase *69 has an
asterisk which appears before the 69 and
may not appear on all systems.
<<Business Wire, 10-18-99, 15:29 Eastern>>
CONTACT: Sonoma Systems | Heidi Brandte |
(508) 481-2215, ext. 333 |
heidi-brandte@sonoma-systems.com |
sonoma-systems.com |
