VoIP Gateways

Patton (News - Alert) Electronics, a provider of fiber-optic, surveillance and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) access products, announced the general availability of two fiber-optic SmartNode VoIP gateway router Integrated Access Devices (IADs).

Combining integrated fiber-optic WAN-access with VoIP gateway and VoIP router functionality in a single device, the new SmartNode VoIP gateway router IADs offer a small form-factor pluggable (SFP) slot for fiber-optic WAN uplinks.

Since the SmartNode VoIP gateway router IADs eliminate external modems, they reduce equipment costs, simplify network architecture and expedite service deployment, company officials said.

The SFP fiber-optic interface is now available as part of Patton's SmartNode 4670 BRI/FXS/FXO VoIP IAD that supports eight to 16 calls and SmartNode 4990 PRI/T1/E1 VoIP IAD that supports 15 to 120 calls. These IADs are suitable for connecting traditional enterprise PBX (News - Alert) telephony systems with ITSPs and SIP trunking services.

The VoIP gateways benefit carrier providers and small-to-medium businesses alike, company officials said. They can use this interface as a complete one-box solution. Companies can IP-enable any existing PBX system with high-speed fiber-optic WAN access.

With its fiber-optic SmartNode VoIP gateway router, Patton is eyeing the growing Fiber to the building (FTTB) markets across the world. FTTB adoption is growing especially among Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Service Providers (ITSPs) and their business-class subscribers in Europe and North America.

"Global deployment of fiber-to-the-building is growing rapidly in carrier networks," said Tyler Delin, SmartNode product marketing manager, in a statement. "Customers asked for fiber uplinks, and we responded. The SFP fiber-WAN interface for SmartNode PRI-class and BRI-class Integrated Access Devices is tested, fully released, and generally available."

The advantage of these fiber-optic VoIP IADs is that it eliminates the need for an outboard fiber-optic modem. Also, the integrated interface lowers equipment costs, simplifies network architecture and expedites service deployment when IP-enabling legacy PBX phone systems.

Additionally, SmartNode IADs also provide advanced IP routing with standard upstream QoS and Patton's DownStreamQoS.

Patton recently announced the availability of SmartNode VoIP IAD with a built-in 24-Mbps ADSL2+ WAN interface.