Mobile industry gives circuit-switched traffic lease on life
Industry organization GSM Association has completed trials of SIP-I, a protocol that will make it possible to send circuit-switched mobile traffic over core networks based on Internet Protocol.
As mobile networks become more and more IP-based there will still be a need to support devices that use circuit-switched voice networks, according to Mark Hogan, program director at the GSM Association.
In the trial, SIP-I (Session Initiation Protocol with encapsulated ISUP) was used to control the transmission of voice calls from a conventional circuit-switched mobile network on to an IP-based backbone network and then back onto a conventional circuit-switched mobile network, using equipment from Ericsson and Nokia Siemens.
The goal, which was accomplished, was to show interoperability between mobile softswitches from the two vendors. Besides voice, SIP-I can also be used to support video telephony, fax and data traffic.
The trial was hosted by TeliaSonera, using its Finnish and Swedish laboratories. The company sees the need for the protocol both internally and when interconnecting with other operators, according to Claes Nycander, head of common development and vice president at TeliaSonera Mobility Services.
The SIP-I trials are also part of a bigger picture: the GSM Association's IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange) initiative to develop a private global IP backbone designed to guarantee quality of service when users connected to different operators communicate with each other. The first IPX networks will see the light of day next year, according to Hogan.
Besides TeliaSonera other operators, including France Telecom, T-Mobile, Telefonica and Vodafone, are involved in the development of IPX, according to the GSM Association.
IDG News Service
Symantec Backup Exec 12 and Backup Exec System Recovery 8 deliver industry leading Windows data protection and system recovery. Download this whitepaper to find out the top reasons to upgrade and how to get continuous data protection and complete system recovery.
Data and system loss — from a hard drive failure, malicious attack, natural disaster, or simple human error — can happen anytime. Don’t leave your business vulnerable. Make sure you have a secure recovery strategy in place. Symantec's latest backup and system recovery technology can efficiently restore critical applications, individual emails and documents and even restore your entire system in minutes in the event of a loss.
Businesses face a growing challenge to ensure that the IT environment is properly protected. Backup Exec 12 integrates with other applications in the Symantec family of products, to complement your current data protection strategy, keep your data securely backed up and make it recoverable when you need it most.
Enterprise 2.0 Implementation
By Aaron C. Newman, Jeremy Thomas
Published by McGraw-Hill
Learn more!
Deploying Cisco Wide Area Application Services
By Zach Seils, Joel Christner
Published by Cisco Press
Learn more!
