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Getting a hold on softswitching

Ericsson's major win in BT's 21st Century Network project firmly establishes it as a leader in carrier-grade softswitch deployments, and hints at its ascension in the fixed-network space. This is the view of Ken Rehbehn, a senior analyst at Current Analysis.

Jun 17, 2005

When BT selected the vendors for its UK-wide, IP-based 21st Century Network (21CN), many of the network's different portions were assigned to more than one company. For example, the metro, access, core and transport layers will each be shared among multiple vendors. However, for 21CN's all-important "i-node" section, BT chose Ericsson as the sole vendor.

Rehbehn says this is of great significance to Ericsson and its product portfolio. "The importance of the win for Ericsson can’t be minimized, as BT is a prime carrier and this is a large PSTN implementation," he said. "It establishes Ericsson as a leader in carrier-grade softswitch deployments and suggests it may begin ascending in the fixed-network space."

 

The i-node, which sits at the core of 21CN's service-delivery function, will be based on Ericsson's Telephony Softswitch. In addition to controlling signaling, database interrogation, call structuring and interaction with billing systems, Telephony Softswitch introduces layered architecture and allows voice to be transported over the network in IP-based packets.

 

Rehbehn said BT's decision to select a sole vendor for the i-node was a move to ensure interoperability. "When a softswitch interacts with other parts of the network, it's doing so through protocol interactions that must work," he said. "Ericsson has a strong history of implementing interoperable standards-based solutions, without which it would not have been selected by BT."

 

Ericsson's Telephony Softswitch provides the voice-service support that BT needs now, while simultaneously introducing the IMS architecture required for future deployment of multimedia applications. Over time, IMS will bring greater personalization, presence and immediacy by making peer-to-peer services available to users in an access-agnostic and network-independent manner.

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