Rochester, N.Y.-based Performance Technologies Inc. has announced Segway, a Signaling System 7/IP interworking device that lets wireless and wireline operators off-load long-haul traffic currently carried over costly, dedicated SS7 links to lower-cost IP networks. Segway devices are in field trials with service providers including Comfone, a Swiss GSM roaming service enabler, and are slated to begin shipping in the second quarter, according to the company. Performance Technologies is at www.pt.com.
One of the most distant long-distance phone calls in history was recently made when a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis phoned Mission Control using Cisco Systems Inc. IP voice equipment. On Feb. 11, astronaut Marsha Ivins, using a Cisco softphone software on a laptop, called Flight Director Bob Castle at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The packetized voice call was sent via satellite from the shuttle to Houston, where a Cisco Call Manager and VG-200 voice-over-IP gateway helped connect the call to Castle’s desk. Both Ivins and Castle commented on the call’s clarity.
CopperCom Inc. says it has adopted a new ATM standard that will make it easier for DSL service providers to wheel out packaged voice and data services. The company says two of its network devices support Embedded Operations Channel (EOC), an ATM Forum standard for a management link between service provider switches and gear that is installed at customer sites. Vendors including CopperCom already had proprietary methods of making these links between their own switches and the customer site equipment, known as integrated access devices (IAD). CopperCom says its MRX IADs, as well as its CopperCom Gateway packet switch, are compliant with the EOC standard. The company says it will use its Copper Compliant labs to certify that its implementation of EOC is compatible with EOC-compliant equipment made by other vendors.