ITXC moving to all-Cisco network

ITXC today said it has picked Cisco Systems’ AS5000 Universal Gateway and PGW 2200 Softswitch as the basis for its next-generation inter-carrier voice network.

The buildout, which will eventually span the 175 countries that ITXC serves, has been going on for some time now and will continue on what ITXC Chairman and CEO Tom Evslin calls an opportunistic basis.

“If [the equipment] has to be touched for any reason, that’s a good reason to do the installation,” he said.

The move will replace Excel switches and VocalTec gateways with a single Cisco box at customer locations. However, Evslin said the company would continue supporting VocalTec gateways and would bring on additional customers with VocalTec equipment if needed. “We may end up with some islands of VocalTec forever,” he said.

For ITXC, the move to single-vendor network is possible in part because interoperability between Cisco and other vendors has been established. It also costs less and will lead to a more reliable network, Evslin said.

“Many of our customers are starting to rely on us for all their service for a given router depending on where they’re at in the telephony business,” he said. “We can deliver greater reliability if we only have equipment in our network from a single vendor. From a marketing and sales point of view, what’s important is that we’re closer to the Cisco sales and marketing effort.”