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If nature abhors a vacuum, technology abhors a distinction. And one such
distinction, increasingly blurred of late, is that between two sorts of
equipment dedicated to integrated or converged communications. The first
sort: standalone premises equipment owned and managed by the customer; the
second: premises-based equipment owned and managed by the service
provider.
Fortunately, this blurring has an advantage: no one has to feel
intimidated by the unwieldy portfolio of names for premises-based
equipment. A few examples: an integrated access device (IAD), a
voice-enabled router, a service delivery unit (SDU), an integrated
communications platform (ICP), a voice/data switch, an integrated business
communications (IBC) platform. To the unwary, all of these names might
suggest a dizzying constellation of uniqueness upon uniqueness. But they
may instead be taken as together, as a continuum -- a continuum more and
more recognizable in light of recent activities on either side of the
premises/services divide.
On the services side, we've seen increasing emphasis on the delivery of
enhanced services as opposed to basic connectivity. As part of this trend,
we've seen a profusion of boxes -- edge devices -- that allow businesses
to reach into the carrier's cloud and access sophisticated applications
and enhanced services. These boxes, truth be told, are unprepossessing.
But that is how they are meant to be, for ease of management, if nothing
else.
On the premises side, the boxes are much more capable, as they must be,
since they rely on raw transport, supplying themselves the intelligence
needed to accomplish integrated phone system, messaging, and data access
functionality. But, interestingly, the right management and billing
interfaces can transform the "heavy" standalone premises box
into a services node. Such a node (and not just an IAD, for example) may
be installed, owned, and managed by a service provider.
And so, it may be a matter of individual preference -- and not
technological imperative -- where intelligence should reside, deep in the
cloud or somewhere near the edge. From the user's perspective, it may
hardly matter the degree to which intelligence may be distributed. The
service provider, on the other hand, may well have its own preferences --
but these may pale beside the desire on the part of the service provider
to present subscribers with a variety of options.
Time will tell. At present, service providers have encouraged the
deployment of "heavy" boxes to stimulate demand for interesting
bundles of basic voice and data services. But already we see hints that
these boxes, like IADs, may serve to further the enhanced services or
netsourced or applications service provider (ASP) paradigm.
[ return
to the July 2000 table of contents ]
| Next-Gen
Networks News
Integral Access and
ipVerse Partner To Deliver IP-Based Voice Services
Integral Access and ipVerse announced they have partnered to
deliver an integrated solution for building IP-based network
infrastructures that allow incumbent and competitive carriers to
deliver integrated communications services to business and
residential customers. The companies will conduct interoperability
testing to provide seamless integration between the Integral Access
PurePacket platform and the ipVerse ControlSwitch.
No. 542, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
Praxon Announces
Carrier Alliance Program
Praxon, a provider of next-generation phone systems,
announced the Carrier Alliance Program, an initiative that partners
carriers and Praxon's resellers to sell an end-to-end voice/data
solution together with communications services to the small and
medium-sized business market. The program is designed to enable
carriers to sell more lines through utilizing Praxon resellers as
agents, and Praxon resellers to an develop additional, ongoing
revenue stream by reselling carrier services. Other announcements
from Praxon include partnerships with CopperCom and TeraBridge
Technologies. These initiatives allow for voice over DSL and
voice/data over ATM via the Praxon Phone Data eXchange (PDX).
No. 543, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
AuraServ Taps
Shoreline To Support Telephony ASP Operations
AuraServ Communications, a business solutions provider, announced it
will deploy voice communications services using hardware and
software developed by Shoreline Communications. Using the Shoreline
solution, AuraServ intends to deliver an affordable and easy-to-use
alternative to PBX systems and local phone company service.
"We've said from the beginning that we would utilize the most
advance technologies available to give our customers a whole new way
to manage phone calls, voice mail messages, conference calls, and
more," said Ken Denman, president and CEO of AuraServ.
No. 544, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
Vertical Networks
Extends Global Reach
Vertical Networks, a provider of integrated communications
platforms (ICPs), announced a multi-year distribution agreement with
Japan's NTT-ME Corporation, a division of Nippon Telegraph and
Telephone Corporation. The announcement marks Vertical's entrance
into the Japanese telecommunications market and expands its
international presence. Under the agreement, Vertical and NTT-ME
will work jointly to modify Vertical's InstantOffice system for the
Japanese market. Vertical adds that it continues to follow its
convergence roadmap. Most recently, Vertical has enhanced system
capabilities to interface with IP-based voice/data multi-service
networks using a VoIP gateway supporting both the Media Gateway
Control Protocol (MGCP) for service provider applications and the
H.323 standard for enterprise VoIP applications.
No. 545, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
MCK Unveils Vision To
Become Bridge To Next-Gen Network Applications
MCK Communications, a provider of solutions to enable delivery of
business-quality voice over existing and next-generation networks,
outlined its strategic direction to take advantage of the evolving
voice infrastructure. MCK asserts that its products, as pure packet
processing engines, are uniquely capable of bridging legacy voice
equipment and next-gen networks and applications. Existing products
enable next-gen service providers to offer PBX extension as a
value-add service over packet-based networks. Going forward, MCK
will continue to offer PBX extension and IP capabilities, work
closely with next-gen service providers (including ASPs and ICPs) to
deliver value-added services and applications, enable voice
applications regardless of PBX or network, endorse adoption of
emerging IP-based protocols, and leverage MCK's unique capability of
digital set termination.
No. 546, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
Tundo And
Telephony@Work Sign Interworking Alliance
Tundo Corporation, a global provider of open IP telephony platforms,
and Telephony@Work, a global provider of open call center and
e-contact technology, announced a strategic technical and marketing
alliance. The alliance is intended to allow application service
providers (ASPs), dot-coms, and enterprise customers to rapidly
implement call center and e-contact solution using Telephony@Work's
CallCenter @nywhere technology running on Tundo's Network Telephony
system.
No. 547, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
VINA And Tachion
Partner To Deliver Solutions To Service Providers
VINA Technologies and Tachion Networks, two vendors who enable the
infrastructure build-outs of next-ten voice/data networks, announced
a joint cooperation agreement covering interoperability, marketing,
and development which will allow service providers to more rapidly
deploy next generation broadband services. For example, the
companies will ensure the inteoperability of VINA's integrated
access device, Multiservice Xchange (MX), with Tachion's Fusion 5000
broadband services switch.
No. 548, comsolmag.com/freeinfo
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