November 1999
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[Adding To The Palette Of Carrier Services]
[Services News]
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| IP Enhanced Services In The New Era BY
KENNETH M. OSOWSKI
Anyone reading these pages already knows the convergence of legacy circuit-switched
networks (the PSTN) with emerging packet-switched data networks is changing the landscape
of telecommunications services. The million-dollar question is: How will this evolution
play out? And how can service providers take advantage of converged communications to
create new market opportunities, generate new revenues, and stay ahead of the competition?
The answer to the first question is elusive. The explosive growth of the Internet,
e-mail communications, and Web applications is driving the ascendance of Internet Protocol
(IP) as the protocol of choice for packetized communications, including voice. But, with a
vast infrastructure worth billions of dollars, the circuit-switched PSTN isn’t going
away tomorrow. Add to this the dramatic worldwide growth of digital wireless PCS networks
and the entrance of cable providers into the voice and data communications world, and the
picture becomes fuzzy.
Given this fast-changing, multi-network environment, service providers must remain
flexible. Maintaining the flexibility to integrate with all networks — both legacy
and next-generation — will become a precondition to growth and success in this age of
evolution.
A NEW MINDSET
The key to the second question — how service providers can take advantage of
this changing landscape — goes beyond infrastructure issues. To succeed in an age of
converging networks and changing subscriber expectations, service providers must alter
their mindset. They will have to shift from an “old world” business model that
is infrastructure driven to a “new world” business model that is service driven.
After all, subscribers don’t buy switches, platforms, and software; they buy
services.
To compete and win in the new millennium, service providers must break through the
traditional barriers separating networks, protocols, and technologies to deliver a new
generation of converged voice/data services. Service providers will have to make these
services available to subscribers via the device of their choice — from wireless and
landline telephones to PCs and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
A NEW ARCHITECTURE
These market realities are driving the emergence of a new, IP-based enhanced
services architecture that delivers on the promise of network convergence. Unlike legacy
platform architectures, this “next-generation” service architecture is designed
to support data-centric IP services; IP control protocols — such as the media gateway
control protocol (MGCP) — and other related open standards, enabling integration with
a wide variety of networks and switches, including the latest programmable “soft
switches.” Support for CompactPCI hardware, another open standard, provides the
carrier-class redundancy and reliability required by network service providers.
A key aspect of this new architecture is a high degree of modularity, essential in an
age of rapid evolution. Unlike the monolithic software architecture of existing enhanced
services platforms, the new IP architecture employs a layered approach. The
“middleware” software layer, residing between the application and the underlying
operating software, acts as the “translator,” handling network interface and
media conversion tasks. Because the middleware is independent from the rest of the
software architecture, it allows modification and extension of the service-enabling
software without a major “forklift” of the underlying platform software. This
allows for much faster time-to-market and lower cost for innovative, new service
capabilities.
This next-generation IP services architecture offers greatly reduced up-front cost, and
virtually limitless scalability, with very linear scaling costs. These will be critical in
the new marketplace, where the emphasis will shift from “mass market” services
to highly customized services tailored to individual market segments. With an IP services
architecture, service providers can pilot service offerings in small deployments, then
scale up their deployment as their subscriber base grows — rapidly, cost-effectively,
and without any interruption in service. Best of all, this IP enhanced service
architecture offers an ideal solution for the converged network environment of today,
while offering a clear migration to the pure IP network environment of tomorrow.
SINGLE ACCESS POINT
An innovative architecture is only valuable if it provides services that
subscribers want. Today’s emerging IP enhanced services meet this requirement,
setting the stage for a whole new generation of “converged applications.” These
next-generation IP enhanced services leverage network and media convergence to add a new
dimension of convenience, versatility, and value to personal communications.
The flexibility of the next-generation IP enhanced services architecture eliminates the
“network centric” communications model that requires subscribers to make
multiple calls to access different networks. Service providers can now offer their
subscribers a single, versatile point of access for all of their communications in all
media using any device. The IP enhanced services middleware seamlessly translates across
different networks and, with sophisticated media conversion technology, across different
media.
This access point is highly customizable, enabling both service providers and
subscribers themselves to provision the account to meet personal needs and preferences.
Subscribers can configure, control, and provide filtering capability for their messages
via the Web. They can log in to their personal account and select the messages —
voice mail, e-mail, or faxes — they want to receive on their mobile phone while
traveling, storing any remaining messages in their voice mail or e-mail account for later
retrieval via a personal account.
INNOVATIVE SERVICES
The market potential of today’s emerging IP enhanced services becomes
apparent when you consider the capabilities they deliver, including:
Voice-Activated Voice E-mail
Allows subscribers to originate and send e-mails and to have inbound e-mail
read to them using any telephone device. Through a telephony user interface similar to a
voice mail system, users log on to the service and speak the name of the person to whom
they want to send an e-mail. Using advanced speech recognition technology, the enhanced
services system recognizes the spoken name from a contact directory and creates an e-mail
with the appropriate e-mail address. The user then records a voice message (much as they
would with a voice mail application), that is converted into a compact sound file,
attached to the e-mail and mailed out to the recipient. The recipient can listen to the
message using any standard PC with sound capabilities and a standard e-mail client. Once
the recipient has heard the message on their PC and replied back with text, the enhanced
services platform then converts the text to voice using text-to-speech technology, which
can be easily listened to on any telephone.
This application adds a new dimension of freedom and convenience to e-mail
communications. No longer a text-based, PC-centric medium, e-mail becomes a flexible
communications tool accessible from anywhere at any time.
Unified Communications
An IP-based “access point,” unified communications provides
subscribers with consolidated, “one-stop” access to all messages — voice,
fax, and e-mail — from multiple telephone lines and e-mail accounts. This greatly
simplifies message management, avoiding the need to dial in to multiple mailbox accounts
to review messages. High on the wish list of mobile professionals, unified communications
gives users the ability to monitor their corporate and personal voice, e-mail, and fax
messages from far-flung locations during a single session, using the access device of
their choice.
Internet Event Alerting
Satisfies the growing demand for intelligent notification of activities and
events on the World Wide Web. Examples include: Stock price or trade activity; e-commerce
events, such as a sale or auction bid update; or other events, such as a plane arrival or
traffic alert. The possibilities are essentially limitless. An “inbox assistant”
on the IP services platform lets each subscriber create a personal profile, configuring
the service with specific event types and notification styles. In this way, the service
turns the vast content of the Web into a valuable, personalized information resource.
TRANSPARENT ACCESS
A key advantage of all these IP enhanced service examples is their transparent
mediation among networks, message stores, devices, and other infrastructure variables.
Giving subscribers easy access to all their communications through a variety of devices
— including their personalized contact database — will be a prerequisite to
success in the near future.
Support for the very latest device protocols, including the Wireless Application
Protocol (WAP) and the Voice eXtensible Markup Language (VXML), enables subscribers to use
next-generation, browser-equipped wireless handsets to perform a variety of tasks —
from checking stock quotes to researching a client — while on the move. For service
providers, the modularity of the IP enhanced services architecture opens up opportunities
for the development of even more exciting access devices and technologies yet to be
revealed, such as the portable videophone.
FUTURE VISION
Cosmic predictions notwithstanding, the future of telecommunications services is
evolving right before our eyes. Despite the dynamic nature of that future vision, a few
things are clear. To compete and win in the new era, service providers will need to
dramatically reduce the cost and time-to-market factors associated with subscriber
services. They will need to broaden the capabilities of those services to enable easier
access to multiple accounts, messaging stores, and Internet and corporate intranet
resources. And they will need to adapt to the needs of their subscribers, instead of the
other way around.
Today’s next-generation IP enhanced services architecture offers a flexible,
low-cost solution that satisfies these requirements. It gives service providers of all
types — from ILECs and CLECs to ISPs and cable providers — the tools they need
to move beyond commodity voice and data services to offer the exciting converged
subscriber services needed to be profitable in the new era. c
Kenneth M. Osowski is vice president of marketing and business development for
IPeria, Inc., which offers next-generation, IP-based, enhanced services platforms and
applications for service providers. For more information visit IPeria’s Web site at www.iperia.com.
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| SERVICES NEWS
Web2PCS.com Announces WAP Search Engine
Web2PCS.com has announced its newest wireless Internet service, the WAP (Wireless
Application Protocol) search engine, which allows users of the new wireless Internet
standard, WAP, to access Internet sites by keyword searches, in exactly the same way they
would access Internet sites using a standard desktop or laptop computer connected to the
Internet. Web2PCS.com’s WAP search engine searches only for WAP-based sites,
instantly returning to the user the WAP address and link to the WAP site. This type of
search provides subscribers with specific information and applications compatible with WAP
handsets.
No. 540, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
Alcatel Intros Service Management Solution
Alcatel has announced the North American introduction of the Alcatel A1135
SMC Service Management Center, a powerful carrier-class centralized software solution that
enables the provisioning and management of a diverse remote access infrastructure.
Designed for Network Service Providers, Internet Access Providers, and Application Service
Provider, the SMC enables service providers to generate new business revenues through the
wholesaling of dial-up and broadband Internet access services to ISPs, and by offering
remote access outsourcing services to enterprise customers on a global, nationwide, or
selective service basis.
No. 541, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
Lara Selects Trillium For SS7-To-IP Integrated VoIP Switch Products
Trillium Digital Systems has announced that Lara Technology has selected
Trillium’s H.323, SS7, and ISDN software solutions for next-generation carriers. Lara
is integrating Trillium’s high-performance H.323 software solution and
Trillium’s SS7 and ISDN software solutions into the Unified Services Exchange
(USX1000) product, a carrier-grade VoIP switch that fully enables the convergence of
telephony over IP networks. The Lara USX1000 offers a high-density Class 5 or Class 4
carrier switch for the emerging CLEC and next-generation service provider. Lara’s
MediaExpress technology is the primary enabler of Lara’s Unified Services Exchange
product and enables a cost-effective, proprietary, and low-latency transport of real-time
interactive voice and video over IP networks.
No. 542, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
Qwest Completes 18,500-Mile Nationwide Network
Qwest Communications announced the completed construction of 18,500 miles of
its Internet-based U.S. Network, and people and resources are being shifted to accelerate
building 25 local broadband networks. The Qwest network has 888,000 fiber miles across the
United States. Construction was completed on time and under budget. The network connects
150 cities nationwide and connects globally to Europe and the Asia Pacific region. To
provide local broadband access to Qwest’s nationwide network, the company will build
high-speed local fiber networks in 25 major metropolitan areas. With the local network in
place, Qwest plans to increase its total U.S. fiber miles by more than 20 percent to more
than 1.1 million fiber miles.
No. 543, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
Image Power Unveils Universal Messaging Initiative
Image Power has outlined a focussed initiative that extends its image
compression technology to the rapidly emerging industry of universal messaging. The
announcement follows the launch of FaxPC in July. Universal messaging integrates all
message types into a single service that is managed via a private and secure Web interface
or telephone from anywhere in the world. Subscribers are provided with a single telephone
number to receive any type of message, including voice, fax, and e-mail.
No. 544, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
Merlot Extends Service Provider Network Onto Customer Premise
Merlot Communications has introduced a product that extends the service
provider network directly onto the customer premise via a single device that unifies
voice, data, and video services and applications delivery. The Merlot MAGNUM Applications
and Services Platform is designed to allow service providers to deliver complete
communications solutions to the growing small- and mid-sized enterprise (SME) market.
These include the full feature functionality of a hybrid Key/PBX or CENTREX system, voice
mail, high-speed Internet and wide-area network access, LAN-based access to shared
resources, and more.
No. 545, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
Touch Tone Technologies Create Virtual Office
By bringing together call-processing systems and high-speed Internet
connection, Touch Tone Technologies (T3i) is creating the “virtual office” of
the future. T3i has developed a suite of messaging products and systems that allow small
to mid-sized businesses to operate effectively without investing in sophisticated
communication equipment and technical support staffs, and with less office space. T3i
offers businesses with multiple locations and with employees operating outside the office
the communications capability of large technologically sophisticated organizations,
without the investment in equipment or technical staff.
No. 546, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
ITXC Uses The Internet To Make 800 Numbers Accessible
Internationally
In a move analysts expect to increase the reach of e-commerce, ITXC announced
the immediate availability of Borderless800. The first phase of this service allows
ITXC’s carrier and reseller customers outside the US to offer their subscribers
no-charge or low cost access to phone-to-phone and fax-to-fax 800, 888, 877 numbers in the
U.S. Even though ITXC uses the Internet to carry these calls, callers reach these numbers
with any ordinary telephone and do not need a computer. ITXC is offering free access to US
toll free numbers to its non-U.S. based wholesale customers. Currently, US toll free
numbers are not widely accessible from outside the U.S. and when they are accessible,
calls to them often cost as much or more than other international calls. Besides reducing
the cost, ITXC’s service eliminates the special dial instructions associated with
Universal International Freephone Numbering (UIFN) (where available) and the higher
expense of International Toll-Free Service (ITFS).
No. 547, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
Voyant Technologies Spins Off From Frontier
Voyant Technologies, a new company providing a platform for intelligent voice
applications, has announced its spin-off from Frontier Communications. Form-
erly Confertech Systems, Voyant Technologies began operations on Aug. 5, 1999. Voyant
helps telephony service providers integrate the Internet into their voice product
portfolio and helps Internet companies take advantage of intelligent voice applications.
The Voyant platform leverages both data and video to support all intelligent voice
applications, including on-demand conferencing, data collaboration, and advanced
multimedia applications such as e-learning and Web marketing.
No. 548, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
Net Talk Lite Available For Free Download
Net Talk has unveiled its communications tool for the Internet as it made Net
Talk Lite available for free download. Net Talk Lite, now available from the
company’s Web site, allows people to participate in real time voice chat, using
lifelike, animated characters in a 3-D environment. The initial version of the program
allows groups of two to four people to talk over the Internet for free with a basic
connection to a service provider.
No. 549, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
Convergent Networks Supports Advanced Q.2931 ATM Signaling
Convergent Networks has announced support in its Integrated Convergence
Switch (ICS) for the industry standard Q.2931 ATM Signaling protocol. Q.2931 is a
broadband signaling protocol that enables carriers to more efficiently switch voice and
data traffic over ATM, providing cost-effective provisioning and delivery of bundled
services, such as DSL. By extending Q.2931 from the ICS to the customer premise IADs,
Convergent’s second generation convergence switch adds a level of flexibility not
found in first generation convergence switch offerings.
No. XXX, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
Tellabs Collaborates With Tekelec
Tellabs announced that it will deliver new call control, signaling, and service control
capabilities on its AN2100 Gateway Exchange (GX) next-generation switching system. These
capabilities will enable service providers to reduce costs and create revenue-generating
services over a mixture of time-division multiplexed (TDM), ATM, and IP-based networks.
Tellabs has signed agreements with Tekelec for elements of this call control and signaling
solution. Telelec’s Network Switching Division will supply elements of an SS7/IP
signaling front-end to Tellabs’ AN2100 GX system, which will provide gateway
screening, SS7 link concentration, and access to local number portability.
No. XXX, www.itmag.com/freeinfo
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| Adding To The
Palette Of Carrier Services BY JEFFREY PAINE
With long-distance rates dropping through the floor — consumers are making calls
for a nickel a minute, corporations for as little as two cents — price is no longer a
major factor in the competition among carriers. Instead, carriers will battle it out on
the basis of the differentiated services they offer. The bottom line will be the speed and
flexibility with which they can create and deploy new enhanced voice services across both
circuit-switched and IP-based networks.
Application service creation environments (SCEs) allow just this. Using service
creation tools, new-world carriers and incumbents alike can design and customize services
such as prepaid phone cards, unified messaging, and multimedia applications. However, to
be useful in the rapidly evolving communications arena, these tools must be accessible,
easy to use for quick service development/deployment, and functional for both voice and
VoIP networks (transport independent) and for a variety of vendor switches (platform
independent).
Traditional Intelligent Network (IN) service creation tools do not meet these
requirements. Creating a specialized service is development-intensive and time-consuming.
A complex feature such as “caller ID screening” (i.e., if a caller’s ID is
unavailable, an intermediary answers the call, takes the caller’s name, calls the
destination and announces the caller) can take months of coding and testing with typical
IN tools. And the providers themselves, generally lacking the expertise to handle such
projects, are dependent on costly telco equipment provider outsourcing.
Furthermore, any modification or customization of services with IN tools is constrained
to a fixed set of call models and trigger points. Created originally for use with voice
traffic, these tools are only minimally adaptable to data use, falling short when used for
such applications as multimedia or unified messaging. With the advent of IP-based
voice/data infrastructures, the limitations in functions, granularity of capabilities,
flexibility, and development time are even more critical. And, perhaps most important,
today’s IN tools were designed to be embedded in switch platforms, tying the user
inextricably to specific hardware solutions.
THE SCE COMPROMISE
A wholly new SCE that suits both the PSTN and Internet telephony infrastructures is
needed. Such an SCE would eliminate the cumbersome coding and re-coding process — and
the user’s dependency on the tools vendor — providing user-accessible tools that
offer a virtually unlimited range of mix-and-match service scenarios. For example, with a
palette of shapes or objects representing states, events, and functions, a user could
simply drag and drop objects into place in a graphical call flow layout to create any
combination of services desired. The look and feel of this user interface could be
provided by a familiar and inexpensive software package such as Visio.
Objects in the palette could be deployed in almost limitless combinations. For example,
with a few mouse clicks, the user could speech-enable his messaging application
(“press or say ‘one’ to reach an operator”); enable online recharging
of prepaid phone cards; or, for one-number “follow me” service, choose to ring
multiple phones simultaneously or in sequence, answer the call and take a message, or
answer only when the person is located.
Whereas IN tools were created specifically to manipulate large Class 5 switches from a
few vendors, the new SCE model takes advantage of an emerging concept known as a
“softswitch,” which moves call control onto servers external to the switch.
Facilitated by the emerging Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) standard, the new SCE is
transport- and platform-independent, and thus interoperable with multi-vendor switches and
voice/VoIP networks. All actions are executed via standard APIs between the softswitch and
the various switches, databases, media resource servers, etc. The new softswitch-based SCE
can help keep carriers competitive by giving them the unprecedented ability to quickly and
continuously deploy differentiated services.
Jeffrey Paine is vice president of marketing for Magellan Network Systems, Inc.
Magellan provides “massively scalable, carrier-quality enhanced services solutions
for voice and VoIP networks.” For more information, visit the company’s Web site
at www.magellan.com.
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