[September 06, 2005] Nortel Launches SIP-Based VoIP Services in Rural Markets Tweet BY JOHANNE TORRES TMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist   Nortel just finished its deployment of the DMS-10 platform in order to bring residential VoIP-based calling services to the rural U.S. market, the company announced on Tuesday. With an expansion of the DMS-10 voice switch in place rural service providers will be able to offer Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-enabled VoIP calling services.   According to the company's news announcement, "DMS-10 subscribers [have] the option to use traditional VoIP primary phone service and allows users to add cost-effective secondary VoIP lines." Users will also be able to modify call features and call routing through the DMS-10 Web-based portal. The company claims to already have more than 75 service providers scheduled to deploy the rural VoIP-enabled system this year.   "We are happy to see the DMS-10 evolve to a packet-based solution," said Norman T. Welker, president of Colchester, Ill.-based McDonough Telephone, which has approximately 4,200 lines. "With the addition of SIP-based services, we will be able to offer VoIP and phone service beyond our local territory to expand our subscriber base."   "Nortel understands the challenges we face in evolving our infrastructure to a next generation, packet-based network and continues to demonstrate its commitment to rural market providers," said Roy Cranford, translations engineer for Randolph Telephone, which is based in Asheboro, N.C. and services 15,000 lines. "By delivering the SIP-enabled DMS-10, Nortel has given us the ability to evolve our network at our own pace to meet our subscribers' growing telephony needs. Our deployment went exceptionally well, including calls placed from a user 200 miles away while on vacation!"   Nortel will be taking the system on the road as part of its "Next Generation Networks Rural Market Tour 2005." More information on locations and dates of the tour are available at the company's Web site.   The company currently provides VoIP and multimedia systems to Bell Canada, Cox Communications, OneConnect, Rogers Communications, SaskTel, Sprint, Verizon, and VIVO in Brazil.   Today's news follows Nortel's similar announcement last month, when the company teamed up with Cable One to plan to launch full-featured primary line telephony services in up to 45 rural markets throughout the Midwestern, southern and western United States.   "Adding VoIP to the Cable One network is a major initiative," said Steve Fox, vice president, Digital Services and Technology, Cable One, last month. "We needed a vendor with extensive deployment, integration and operations experience in the cable market as well as a PacketCable-qualified solution that delivers the unparalleled quality and reliability we demand for our customers. We are confident that Nortel's proven technology, professional services and ability to integrate multi-vendor networks will allow us meet our initial January 2006 goal of rolling out cable telephony service."   Nortel http://www.nortel.com -----   Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit:   http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100006&nm=Johanne%20Torres   [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]