IBM To Offer Telcos Solutions To Power Telephone Service Over The Internet
New Offerings Could Lead to Reduced Telephone Costs for Businesses and Consumers
& #9;Washington, DC (September 16, 1998) – IBM has launched an initiative designed to help telecommunications companies provide cost-saving telephone services over the Internet or private networks using standard Internet Protocols (IP). The new offerings include the network software and hardware required to build Internet-based telephony systems, as well as the software consumers and businesses will need to access those systems.
In offering these solutions, IBM is responding to the growing demand from telecommunications companies worldwide for robust Internet telephony systems, enabling them to offer their customers the ability to make telephone calls over the Internet or private networks.
The offerings introduced today are part of a new suite of end-to-end, carrier-grade solutions for companies that want to provide IP telephony services, and include the DataBeam Gatekeeper, which manages voice over IP calls; the IBM Scaleable VoIP Gateway, based on the RS/6000,* and best-of-breed assets from IBM’s Business Partners. IBM will also provide consulting services to help carriers migrate their existing networks to hybrid IP and public switched telephone network (PSTN) networks, and assist to them in planning pure IP networks for the future.
In addition, through an expanded relationship that is planned with IDT (NASDAQ: IDTC), IBM intends to offer telecommunications companies the software and services businesses will need to access IP telephone networks. IBM plans to offer IDT’s Net2Phone PC-to-phone software and its phone-to-phone services to telecommunications carriers seeking a quick and inexpensive way to enter the IP telephony business.
Participating service providers would distribute the Net2Phone software to their own customers, who would be able make IP calls via the IDT backbone. IDT would manage the authorization routing and settlement charges for each call.
The DataBeam Gatekeeper
IBM and DataBeam — a company recently acquired by IBM’s Lotus subsidiary — are working together to provide a complete voice over IP environment for DataBeam’s gatekeeper technology. The DataBeam offering is a complete, H.323-based gatekeeper that can manage calls over private IP networks, the Internet, and the traditional PSTN. The gatekeeper, which will run in both the Unix and Windows NT environments, is fully compliant with the ITU’s specifications for H.323 version 2. Its functions include:
Endpoint registration
Full RAS support
Call routing
Gatekeeper to gatekeeper discovery and communications
Robust gatekeeper policy for access and bandwidth control
Transaction logging for all endpoint registrations and call state transitions
Load balancing across multiple gatekeepers within a single zone
Complete administrative user interface for populating routing tables, bandwidth control settings, zone management parameters, reporting, and call management
The IBM Scaleable VoIP Gateway*
The DataBeam Gatekeeper works with the IBM Scaleable VoIP Gateway, IBM’s first server specifically designed to make voice over IP services possible. This carrier-grade gateway is based on IBM RS/6000 servers packaged for the central office and compatible with Bellcore’s Network Equipment Building System (NEBS) requirements. These servers, which include the award winning RS/6000 Telecommunications Server (Model F3L) and the powerful rack-mounted RS/6000 H50 Symmetric Multiprocessor (SMP) Server — have already been successfully deployed by many telecommunications service providers worldwide. Both models integrate rugged packaging, high availability software, hot swappable disk drives, power supplies (-48 VDC), and fans to meet the stringent demands of the telecommunications industry.
The gateway fits into the standard nineteen inch server rack used by many telecommunications carriers. It supports industry standards for compression and decompression of audio and video streams, including G.711 and G.723, as well as the IBM GSM codec. The gateway can handle multiple network interfaces including ISDN, T1, E1, ATM, ethernet, and token ring. It allows full interactive voice response for both paid calling cards and account debit operations. In addition, the gateway is compatible with IBM’s voice recognition software, eliminating the need for a telephone keypad.
End-to-End IP Telephony Solutions
IBM will continue to leverage its world-renowned research teams in Haifa, Zurich, and New York for additional innovation in the IP telephony arena, including development of thin client Java toolkits for voice over IP applications Specifically, IBM plans to develop solutions for IP telephony enabled call centers; IP telephony collaboration applications that will allow voice and data to be transmitted simultaneously over a single telephone line; applications that will allow for H.323-compliant, desktop video conferencing over IP networks; IP-based branch office telephone routers; enterprise gateways that will substitute for a router; and an IP-telephony-enabled version of IBM’s MarketGate solution, which will allow users to search for a name in a large enterprise directory and make a voice over IP call to that person with just a click of the mouse.
In addition, the International Center for Advanced Internet Research — recently formed by IBM and Northwestern University to conduct next-generation Internet solution research — will work to develop advanced integrated telephony applications and solutions that may become part of future offerings.
The IBM Global Telecommunications and Media Industries business unit offers a wide range of solutions for telecommunications, cable TV, wireless, broadcasting, publishing, advertising, sports and entertainment industries, as well as Internet service providers, in more than 160 countries.
Source: IBM