Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

AT&T Announces Wholesale VOIP Service Expansion

Boston, Massachusetts, October 30, 2007

At the Fall VON 2007 conference, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced the expanded availability of AT&T Voice Over IP Connect Service (AVOICS). AVOICS is the flagship wholesale Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offer for U.S. service providers that want IP-based connectivity to AT&T’s global IP network for long distance call termination. For more than 10 years, AT&T has provided wholesale VoIP solutions, which address the U.S. domestic and international termination needs of service providers with a variety of connectivity options.

AVOICS provides unbranded and unbundled transport over the AT&T network, as well as termination of international and U.S. domestic traffic. Customers connect to the service via AT&T’s Managed Internet Service (MIS)/Multiprotocol Label Switching-Private Network Transport (MPLS-PNT) service, which provides class-of-service voice quality, key security elements and advanced network reliability. AVOICS is highly scalable and accepts U.S.-originated domestic outbound (1+) calls and international outbound (011+) calls by using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) signaling.

AT&T has expanded the scale and scope of its wholesale VoIP services, and is now offering AVOICS to customers that want the service with T1, T3 and OCX connectivity as well as meeting a market demand for a customer managed model. Initially introduced with limited availability, AVOICS is now available to all of AT&T’s U.S.-based wholesale customers. The expansion of AVOICS specifically includes:

• Increased capacity in the VoIP network infrastructure to meet customer traffic demand
• Increased connectivity from T1 to T3…all the way to OC48
• Moving from an AT&T Managed Router Model to a Customer Managed Router Model to monitor the circuit
• Native and non-native IP traffic on the same circuit with unique IP signaling addresses

"AT&T continues to be a significant global player in wholesale VoIP and is enhancing its portfolio to continually meet evolving customer needs," said Cindy Whelan, senior analyst, Business Network Services; Wholesale Services for Current Analysis Inc. "AT&T’s experts work closely with customers to customize converged solutions that support their unique VoIP requirements."

AT&T has had more than a decade of wholesale VoIP success already in large part through its pioneer offer, Global Hubbing IP Access (GHIA), which will continue to play a key role in providing service to operators that carry substantial volumes of international traffic. With GHIA, customers send their VoIP traffic to the AT&T network for VoIP termination. If no VoIP termination is available, a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) conversion is made to cost-effectively deliver calls over AT&T’s highly reliable and secure network. AT&T also offers AT&T IP Toll-Free service to wholesale customers for use in their own large call centers, supporting their evolution to the contact center of the future.

"As a world leader in voice and IP networking, AT&T is helping our wholesale customers evolve to the next generation of converged communications through our suite of VoIP services," said Sherry Charles, vice president, Wholesale Marketing, AT&T Operations Inc. "We recognize that our customers need to support both native IP and TDM capabilities. The breadth of VoIP offerings that we supply enable service providers to cost-effectively broaden their footprint and enhance their bandwidth through our robust MPLS-based network with the proven reliability and security that they expect from a global networking leader."

AT&T’s suite of wholesale VoIP services connects customers to one of the world’s most advanced, secure and powerful global IP backbone networks, lessening the chance for disruption or delays. AT&T’s VoIP customers are confident selling services that ride on AT&T’s highly reliable network.

As a global leader, AT&T delivers a full portfolio of end-to-end reliable and highly secure network, voice, data and IP solutions to the six wholesale industry segments that it serves: carriers, wireless operators, cable providers, systems integrators, Internet service providers and content providers. AT&T is one of the largest wholesale transport and communications service providers in the world — maintaining connections to more than 400 carriers in more than 220 countries and territories. AT&T brings value to wholesale customers through its global networking, industry-leading portfolio and vertical expertise.

www.att.com/rss.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Press Release:
Redwood City, Calif., – October 22, 2007 — Nominum, the leading provider of network naming and addressing solutions, announced today the release of Navitas 3.0, an IP-application Routing Directory (IPRD) that uniquely accelerates the deployment of IP telephony. Navitas 3.0 provides a platform that integrates legacy telephony numbering plans and IP routing identifiers, giving carriers an evolutionary path toward profitable business models using Voice over IP (VoIP). Additionally, the directory enables the consolidation and simplification of routing plan management processes, improves telecommunication margins, and optimizes usage of profitable and reliable routes.

Many carriers have made the decision to migrate to IP telephony. They are challenged by declining voice revenues and face increasing competition and industry pressures to adapt their existing business model to remain profitable. At the same time, they need to invest and execute very carefully as they move to IP. Cost, control and complexity are significant barriers. Navitas 3.0 enables carriers to easily transition to an IP telephony business model and extend telephony services to support a voice enabled Web, without having to duplicate network functionality between legacy signaling systems - such as Signaling System 7 (SS7) - and IP.

“As the convergence juggernaut continues, carriers will increasingly struggle to sustain their business model and profit margins,” said Brian Partridge, program manager in Yankee Group’s Enabling Technologies Service Provider group. “Rather than equating VoIP and VoIP peering for settlement free services, carriers are increasingly seeking networking functions such as IP-application Routing Directories to manage and bill telephony services on IP as they see fit.”

Navitas Answers Carriers Needs Today, Prepares Them for the Future
Navitas 3.0 serves as the foundation for next-generation networks like IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) by allowing carriers to reuse existing routing plans, and modernize the integration into next-generation networks through automation. Through its enhanced management and reporting functionality, Navitas 3.0 provides a higher Quality of Service (QoS) over IP by ensuring reliable call deliveries across interconnects. The solution also helps carriers avoid increased spending on Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) and SS7 technology, and facilitates the development of new IP-based applications.

"VoIP interconnects are growing around the globe and service providers require scalable address resolution as well as security and control at the interconnect borders," commented Seamus Hourihan, Vice President Marketing and Product Management, Acme Packet. "Both Acme Packet and Nominum are attentive to our customers’ requirements for VoIP peering and we continue to innovate and deliver features designed to build reliable, scalable and trusted VoIP interconnects."

Navitas Delivers Advanced Features
Navitas 3.0 dynamically accesses, stores and manages telephone routes and number mapping, while serving both legacy and converged IP switching infrastructure with route resolution for call termination. The solution features functionality for advanced service routing capabilities such as voice, multi-media sessions and IP applications.

New to Navitas 3.0 are the Application Routing Module and Element Management System. The Application Routing Module (ARM) enables Navitas 3.0 to become a switch-agnostic signaling data repository that refines telephony and multimedia routes based on session parameters like cost, quality, capacity and content (end user context like persona, presence, location, etc.) The core technologies and features include:
• Cascading query engine federates multiple sources of routing data
• Support for parameter-based routing including Least Cost Routing applications improves telecom margins through profitable and reliable routes
• Framework for Service Oriented Routing (SOR) for resolution of multiple routing decisions

“As the industry transitions to an all-IP world, carriers require a robust IPRD that is switch and data source agnostic and can serve as a control point for advanced services,” said Tom Tovar, chief executive officer, Nominum. “Navitas 3.0 provides the pivotal first step toward a cost-effective migration from SS7 to IP. This product addresses the immediate needs of the VoIP and VoIP peering markets as well as future network requirements, without requiring carriers to wait for all-IP or IMS architectures.”

Navitas Element Management System (EMS) is a turn-key solution that gives carriers a single point for administration across a network of Navitas IPRD and ARM servers. It provides enhanced data collection and reporting and allows for accurate Quality of Service (QoS) measurements.

A podcast of this release is available at: http://www.nominum.com/content/spotlight/chunks/Navitas 3.0 launch.mp3 For more information, please visit www.nominum.com.

Source: voipcentral.org

BT has announced a 12 million program that would see its current legacy TDM network replaced by an MPLS based network across more than 30 countries. The project would be completed by March, 2008.

The MPLS network would be providing it with an increased capability to handle larger volumes of traffic and provide additional functionalities and enhanced features such as the ease of integration with any existing servers, standard interface for multiple applications and the ability to deploy more integrated multimedia services such as audio and video conferencing and video streaming.

The first phase of this program has already been completed and the service is being offered over the new platform in 12 countries.

via [ConvergeDigest]