[November 19, 2004]

Nortel Makes Its VoIP Solutions More Compatible

BY JOHANNE TORRES

Nortel (quote - news - alert) just made public that it has expanded the compatibility of its voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP - define - news - alert) and multimedia solutions through the completion of interoperability (define - news - alert) testing with new third-party products and the addition of new industry providers to its interoperability program.

Nortel announced that now products from Adax, ARRIS, AudioCodes, Carrier Access, Entrisphere, Nuera and Westell have earned a Nortel-compatible product status. The status is awarded to companies’ products that are successful at passing the Nortel compatibility tests by demonstrating interoperability with the company’s Communication Server (CS) 2000 superclass softswitch and the Nortel Multimedia Communication Server (MCS) 5200.

The new members of Nortel’s VoIP and multimedia interoperability program include ADTRAN, Alpha Networks, Dataflex Design Communications Ltd., Mpathix, and T-Metrics Inc. As part of this program, member companies plan to participate in extensive testing in Nortel’s lab facilities, and in some instances at customer premises, to achieve interoperability with Nortel’s VoIP and multimedia portfolio. Nortel says it designed this program to help ensure seamless integration of its products and services with multi-vendor solutions.

“This is about giving service providers choices as they deliver the widest possible range of new, affordable services that power global commerce and enhance the human experience through communications,” said Ken Pecot, general manager, Service Provider Voice Networks, Nortel. “Interoperability between vendors’ products allows service providers to speed deployment times and ultimately deliver to the market superior integrated voice, video and data that will enhance how, when and where people communicate with full mobility. This is a new era of communication and Nortel is leading the way.”

Nortel CS 2000-compatible products include:

• Adax’s Tunneling Gateway (TG), allowing transparent transport of SS7 signaling across an IP core.
• ARRIS’ PacketCableTM and DOCSIStext 2.0 qualified CMTS (Cable Modem Termination Systems) and DOCSIS 2.0 certified E-MTAs (Embedded Multimedia Termination Adapters) to provide customer premise termination for cable operators who want to provide VoIP services. This solution has been deployed by Charter Communications as part of a triple play solution providing voice, video and data to Charter customers.
• AudioCodes’ MediaPack (MP) 104 and 108 Analog VoIP Gateways, allowing connection of legacy telephone systems and PBXs to IP-based telephony networks.
• Carrier Access’ Adittext 600 CMG (Customer Media Gateway), a carrier-grade VoIP gateway that enables high-capacity converged IP service delivery with multi-T1/E1 access while supporting a TDM to IP migration strategy.
• The Entrisphere’s BLM 1500, enabling packet voice and fiber-to-the-premises capabilities to allow carriers to increase revenues by providing high bandwidth and packet voice services to their subscribers.
• Nuera’s ORCA BTX-21 and BTX-8 media gateways, both of which were certified compatible using the PacketCable Trunk Gateway Control Protocol. Nuera’s trunk gateways can be deployed by cable operators as a link between a VoIP cable network and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
• Westell’s carrier-class InterChange iQ 2032, which allows European service providers to offer a flexible solution for connecting existing PBXs over an IP network while maintaining the support of existing networked voice services.

The company’s MCS 5200 and the MCS 5100 are SIP-based media and applications servers. The company’s CS 2000 superclass softswitch provides call control and delivers a full set of voice services. A superclass softswitch meets all criteria for ‘true’ service provider circuit-to-packet migration, including local, tandem and long distance capability on a single platform; full business and residential telephony service sets.

Nortel
www.nortel.com