3COM Develops First Three-Tier Carrier-Class IP Telephony System
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 1998
Initial System Capabilities Include Extensive
Support for VoIP Services Company Demos Standards-Based System at
Networld+Interop
3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS - news) today announced the latest advance in its ongoing Voice-over-IP (VoIP) initiative: the industry's first three-tier carrier-class IP Telephony architecture, which the company will demonstrate this week at the Networld+Interop trade show in Atlanta. This modular, standards-based turnkey system supports phone-to-phone and PC-to-phone IP-based telephony over packet-switched networks.
The new carrier-class IP telephony system is based on a three-tier architecture of gateways, gatekeepers, and back-end servers, interconnected by open standards-based protocols. The modular 3Com architecture features standard APIs at every level to allow carriers the flexibility to customize the system, facilitating service differentiation and integration of ''best of breed'' back to back office applications.
''Our new carrier-class VoIP system places 3Com at the forefront of packet-switched IP telephony, well ahead of the competition,'' said Ross Manire, senior vice president and general manager, 3Com Carrier Systems. ''Our company offers service providers a reliable and highly scalable solution that provides the high degree of system resiliency that is essential for both incumbent and emerging carriers.''
3Com's new carrier-class VoIP system offers carriers the flexibility to deploy a wide range of IP telephony services. 3Com's three-tier architecture integrates with the PSTN to allow seamless availability of IP-based enhanced telephony services to users of traditional phones. 3Com's solution includes support of transparent-mode operation, as well as switch-dependent and switch-independent calling models.
''3Com comes to market with several strengths, not the least of which is its embedded base of Total Control platforms which are software upgradeable to handle VoIP. This announcement is important not just for 3Com, but for the industry as a whole -- the demand for carrier scale products is overwhelming...'' said Hilary Mine, executive vice president, Probe Research Inc., Cedar Knolls, NJ, www.proberesearch.com.
Based on 3Com's Total Control(tm) multi-service access platform, the new carrier-class VoIP system is standards-based and supports international protocols including the ITU T.120 and H.323v2 specifications. In addition, the system uses G.711, G.723.1 and G.729a voice encoding to ensure compatibility with global telephony systems. This development represents the next logical step for a platform designed for multiple services. In addition to voice, the platform will also provide extensive support for facsimile and video services.
''In this regard, Total Control multi-service access platform provides a unique value proposition for our carrier customers,'' said Irfan Ali, Vice President Marketing, Carrier Systems, 3Com. ''For existing customers, IP-based voice services are a simple software upgrade away. For new customers, the value is in building a single network for all services.''
The system consists of the following components. All three (3) components are currently available for customer trials, with general availability expected in 1Q99. Actual pricing will be configuration dependent.
VoIP Gateway
VoIP Gateways provide seamless access to the IP network. Voice calls are digitized, encoded, compressed and packetized in an originating gateway; and then, decompressed, decoded and re-assembled in the destination gateway. Gateways are interconnected with the PSTN as appropriate to ensure that the solution is ubiquitous.
Gateway processing of the audio stream traversing an IP network is transparent to users. From the caller's perspective, the experience is very similar to using a telephone calling card. Callers dial into a gateway using a standard telephone by dialing an access number. Upon authentication of the calling party, the caller dials the desired number and hears the usual ringing tones until the call is answered at the far-end. Both the caller and the called party experience a ''typical'' telephone call.
VoIP Gatekeeper
The gateways are connected to VoIP gatekeeper via standard H.323v2 protocol. The gatekeepers serve as the system controllers, performing the second level of essential functions in the carrier-class VoIP system -- authentication, directory server routing, call accounting, and rating. The gatekeepers use the ODBC-32 (Open DataBase Connectivity) industry-standard interface to access back-end servers in the carrier's data center to authenticate callers as valid service subscribers, to optimize selection of destination gateway and alternatives, to track and maintain call records and billing information, and to store details of the caller's billing plan.
Back-End Servers
The third tier of 3Com's carrier-class VoIP architecture addresses the suite of back-office applications that are at the heart of a service provider's operational system. Intelligent and redundant databases store critical information that is exchanged with the Gatekeepers during phases of call set-up and teardown. In the central office environment, it is critical that the data integrity of the Back-End databases is preserved.
The 3Com solution offers a unique approach that ensures the resiliency of the Back-End Servers and the security of their databases. Microsoft(R) SQL(tm) Servers are integrated within the Back-End System architecture, and manage the SQL databases for the authentication, directory mapping, accounting and rating functions. This tier of the architecture is optimized to support the unique security and availability needs of service providers. For smaller-scale implementations, the system offers flexibility to consolidate the databases on a single robust server or the gatekeeper platform.
The 3Com Internet Telephony system is closely integrated with Microsoft(R) Windows(R) NT Server 4.0 platform. As part of this solution, Microsoft's Systems Management Server has also been integrated into a broad network and service management offering. This ensures that service providers can readily manage the entire VoIP system on a global basis. Systems Management Server provides hardware, software, and bandwidth management and supports unattended upgrades -- all essential functions in widely deployed systems.
''More and more customers tell us that they want a converged network infrastructure that supports voice and other data traffic, because they believe they can save money, deploy new services, and be more competitive,'' said Kevin Kean, group product manager for Windows NT Server at Microsoft Corporation. ''3Com's choice of Windows NT Server is further evidence that Windows provides the most cost-effective, easy-to-use platform for unified network communications solutions.''
The Advantages of Packet Switching
With data call volumes growing exponentially every year, telecom carriers cannot install enough cable and fiber to handle the heavy traffic. Burdened with outdated circuit-switch technology that has reached the limits of its capabilities, the industry has turned to packet-switch technology which is better suited for today's multi-service needs for integrated voice, data and video communications. Packet switch technology has greater capacity and more flexibility for adding new feature capabilities. In addition, it significantly reduces capital investment and operating costs through a much more efficient use of existing bandwidth.
While the IP protocol was originally designed to handle data traffic only, patented 3Com technology has now optimized it for handling delay sensitive traffic like voice and video as well. Through extensive R&D efforts on advanced packet protection techniques, 3Com has effectively solved the problem of packet retransmission, the primary source of delay in packet based networks. At the same time, sophisticated queuing techniques ensure minimal latency for delay sensitive traffic like voice.
Other 3Com VoIP Solutions
This new system expands on 3Com's convergence strategy for key market segments. 3Com also delivers VoIP enterprise solutions that enable current router users to add voice to their existing, wide-area enterprise infrastructure. The enterprise systems are also standards-based and are part of the company's end-to-end solutions.
3Com delivers a range of VoIP solutions tailored to the specific requirements of multiple markets including carriers and enterprises, as well as differing applications such as remote networking and corporate wide area networks (WANs). In a separate press release, 3Com also today announced the new PathBuilder S200 Voice Access Switch solution which integrates voice over IP or frame relay into corporate WANS.
The Total Control multi-service access platform is also the basis for a VoIP system for the Enterprise market. The enterprise VoIP system was designed primarily to serve the needs of corporate remote users, providing easier, more versatile, and less expensive multi-service remote access from PCs to the corporate LAN. Using VoIP capabilities, enterprise users can use their PCs to access the Internet or the company's intranet, check e-mail and voice mail on a single connection, and then use the same connection to place voice calls over the PSTN. In addition, VoIP capabilities eliminate the need for a second telephone line for remote users, creating additional cost savings.
Total Control
3Com's industry-leading Total Control multi-service access platform provides telecommunications carriers, service providers, and large enterprises a powerful and complete remote solution, including support for remote access, VoIP, and virtual private networking applications. The platform is designed for service reliability, using redundant power supplies and modular application cards to prevent a single point of failure. In addition, it's modular architecture supports hot-swapping of interface and application cards so that the system remains live and online, thus minimizing network downtime.
About 3Com
3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations worldwide to stay more connected by communicating and sharing information and resources at anytime, anywhere. As one of the world's preeminent suppliers of data, voice and video communications technology, 3Com has delivered networking solutions to more than 200 million customers worldwide. The company provides large enterprises, network service providers and carriers, small business and consumers with comprehensive, innovative information access products and system solutions for building intelligent, reliable and high-performance local and wide area networks.
For further information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at 3com.com, or the press site at 3com.com.
3Com is a registered trademark and Total Control is a trademark of 3Com Corporation. Microsoft and Windows NT are registered trademarks and SQL Server is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
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