Eastex Upgrades Network with Nortel Carrier VoIP Gear

Eastex Telephone Coop., Inc. a rural Texas carrier, announced that it's upgrading its network with Carrier VoIP Services from Nortel. The VoIP infrastructure will allow Eastex to offer carrier-grade voice and multimedia services to more than 34,000 residential and business subscribers across rural east Texas, the company said.

 

Eastex plans to upgrade its DMS switches with Nortel's (News - Alert) Communication Service 1500 softswitch, which will allow the firm to offer communication services including VoIP, Centrex IP business services and next-generation multimedia communications. The CS 1500 also offers power and floor space savings of up to 50 percent, the company said.

 

The company chose Nortel for the upgrade because of its quick service and long relationship, which spans nearly 30 years, said Rusty Dorman, assistant general manager at Eastex. For example, Nortel technicians quickly brought the telephone exchange back after a tree crashed through Eastex’s switching facility interrupting service during a rain storm, he said.

 

“Nortel continues to meet our needs and provide the level of service essential to our success," Dorman said in a statement.

 

Nortel recently introduced new product enhancements to the CS 1500, which lets service providers offer new revenue generating applications like unified messaging, single number service, subscriber Web portal and on-demand conferencing, the company said.

 

“Nortel's CS 1500 softswitch allows regional service providers like Eastex to leverage their existing infrastructure investments to meet customer needs today, while also providing a foundation that will allow them to launch advanced services, such as single number service, unified messaging and integrated web portal with click-to-call," said Samih Elhage, president of carrier VoIP and application solutions for Nortel.

 

Recent research from Dell'Oro Group and Infonetics Research (News - Alert) ranks Nortel as the leader with the largest revenue in the carrier softswitch market for the first quarter of 2009, Nortel said. The company has shipped more than 110 million Carrier VoIP and Multimedia ports to over 340 wireline and wireless carriers globally. In addition, Nortel provides VoIP solutions to two-thirds of IDC's (News - Alert) worldwide listing of top 20 carriers, it said.

 

Nortel recently expanded its software based unified communications platform to be used by companies beyond the small and medium businesses (SMB). Nortel’s Software Communications System Release 3.0 brings solution simplicity, new applications, further plug-and-play interoperability and more opportunities for third-party development communities. The new release of the SCS (News - Alert) solution now caters to enterprises beyond small and medium-size businesses, Nortel said.