Technology - Improving Our Life: IP

Although direct Voice over IP peering is becoming increasingly used by service providers to interconnect their networks, TDM interconnection using the SS7 ISUP protocol is still mandatory in most business models and required by some national regulatory bodies. It is estimated that this type of interconnection will continue to be used for at least the next five years.

This is especially true in the area of Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC), where SIP networks must be interconnected to mobile networks. Mobile network operators traditionally use circuit-switched technologies for their telephony services, and will continue to do so even when deploying their 3G infrastructures. So, in the case of video telephony services on mobile 3G phones, for example, SS7 to SIP video gateways are required for the simultaneous reception and emission of voice and video during calls.

The SMC-SS7 is the interconnecting platform between Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions and legacy fixed or mobile circuit-switched networks using SS7 ISUP protocols. SMC-3G adds the extra capacity to interconnect video over IP to circuit switched mobile 3G-324M terminals.

Terminating voice and 3G-324M video telephony calls: a unique feature of the SMC-SS7 platform and its new SMC-3G add-on.

Mobile operators are enabling an increasing number of mobile subscribers to enjoy high-bandwidth Internet and email on their mobile phone through deployment of 3G infrastructures in their network. These services have been particularly successful with business users.

For the consumer mass-market, mobile operators have been using 3G video telephony services to attract subscribers. These services use the 3G-324M protocol, a standard designed for one-to-one video telephony using 64 kbit/s circuit-switched networks. With 3G-324M compliant mobile phones now widely available, mobile video telephony is becoming a reality.

The next step is to increase video telephony usage through the interconnection of 3G-324M circuit-switched mobile networks to SIP packet-based networks, enabling video telephony services between fixed and mobile terminals. The SMC-SS7 platform and its SMC-3G additional software module are pioneering this interconnection by acting as a circuit-to-packet gateway that enables mass market fixed-mobile one-to-one video telephony and interactive video telephony services.

From Netcentrex to Comverse: leading the way in SS7 to SIP interconnect

Netcentrex, a market leader in IP-based communication solutions, and a subsidiary of Comverse since 2006, launched its first SS7 interconnect product in 2001. Constant technical developments have made the SMC-SS7 platform into a comprehensive SS7 telephony interconnect solution with the following features:

Configurable ISUP interface
SIP and H.323 Voice over IP interface
Fully-associated and quasi-associated signaling modes
Fully distributed, standards compliant architecture
Carrier-Grade platform
Easy network integration
Supports AudioCodes Media and Signaling Gateways
New SMC-3G add-on
3G-324M to SIP interconnect
Combined Voice & Video gateway
Smooth upgrade path from ISDN to SS7 ISUP
Runs on cost-effective hardware platforms

Fully interoperable with AudioCodes’ solutions, the combination of the SMC-SS7 platform with the media and signaling gateways gives operators a head-start in delivery of fixed-mobile communications. They benefit from faster time-to-market, due to pre-integration of the solutions, and from the added value brought by the new communication services in terms of revenue generation and subscriber growth.

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Virtual contact center, unified customer communications and call center consolidation are all hot topics these days as companies align their core business strategies around the quest for customer service excellence. Contact center decision makers are now under pressure to increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs at the same time, all while managing complex day-to-day operations.

One of the most effective ways to further all of these challenging and sometimes conflicting objectives -- service improvement, cost reduction, and operational streamlining -- is through the deployment of a virtual contact center. Agents at multiple locations within the call center, throughout the enterprise or at outsourced operations can be managed and utilized as a single entity, enabling organizations to benefit from economies of scale and better control.

IP-based voice technologies are inherently virtual, so solutions based on IP are the only practical choice for call center virtualization. IP-based contact centers offer enterprises endless possibilities for how, when and where they want to communicate with their customers. Consolidating technology on a single, unified, multi-tenant platform like CosmoCom’s CosmoCall Universe (CCU) is the best way to give organizations the flexibility to rapidly deploy agents and applications wherever and whenever needed.

The core value propositions are further enhanced by leveraging AudioCodes technologies – from the mid- to high-end VoIP communication devices that support enterprise unified customer communications and contact center consolidation; to the carrier grade equipment for Contact Center On-Demand (CCOD) deployments.

CosmoCom (www.cosmocom.com) pioneered VoIP contact center technology in the mid-90s with the original patent on multimedia routing. For over a decade CosmoCom has been a global leader in Unified Customer Communications, revolutionizing the whole range of business/customer interactions, not just in formal call centers, but for all information workers. Its technology improves customer service and increases revenue while reducing cost by supporting many independent virtual contact centers on one all-IP platform that integrates easily with other VoIP network components and with the Information Technology environment. Organizations can obtain the full benefits of this technology by deploying it themselves or by working with a network service provider that hosts it on a dedicated or shared-platform basis. Its multi-tenant platform, CosmoCall Universe, is a Contact Center On-Demand system designed to unify all communication channels and all major contact center functions.

CosmoCom architected CosmoCall Universe from the ground-up as a high-capacity, high-availability and highly-scalable multi-tenant platform to meet the mission-critical contact center needs of service providers and distributed enterprises. Naturally, the VoIP network has to be equally as robust, so CosmoCom needed to team up with a VoIP company that matched our requirements. AudioCodes is just such a partner.

AudioCodes provides our mutual customers with world-class VoIP infrastructure that is as cost-effective as it is reliable. They can count on good VoIP quality that is essential to customer communications in a high-density infrastructure that is easy to use.

CosmoCom’s all-IP virtual contact center platform and AudioCodes’ leading VoIP infrastructure technology is a winning combination to help enterprises benefit from virtualization and unified customer communications.

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