Telcordia paving road to cable with Cox deployment

Chicago—Cox Communications said last week at Supercomm 2004 that it is deploying telecom OSS powerhouse Telcordia Technologies’ ISCP System for database management and new service deployment.

Cox will use the Telcordia ISCP to move all database services in-house rather than continuing to outsource those database services to a third party. Cox also will use the system to begin offering toll-free and calling name services independently.

The ISCP is one of Telcordia’s most widely deployed platforms for carriers. It handles service creation and validation, interoperability with multiple switch types, Web-based service provisioning and management as well as fault detection and error recovery.

Telcordia offers software applications that integrate with the ISCP to provide Intelligent Network services such as toll-free, Caller-ID, number portability, advanced billing and operator services.

"The ISCP deployment at Cox is a testament to Telcordia’s growing strength in the cable market," said Richard George, senior vice president and general manager of cable at Telcordia.

Telcordia also provides a customer number management system as well as a softswitch to cable providers. The company announced its intent earlier this month to aggressively market its softswitch to the cable market after it received approval on a softswitch technology patent.

Telcordia began developing softswitches for Class 4 and Class 5 applications in 1997, the year it submitted its preliminary application. The broad technology enables the disaggregation of feature components used in a traditional circuit switch and makes them available in a packet-based environment.

"We are a company known for voice technology and we had the foresight to see what the next iteration of voice would be," said John Falzon, vice president of call agent operations at Telcordia.

The company hopes to regain the leadership position it had in the cable softswitch market when it first brought a system to market with a trial at Time Warner Cable. That system didn’t get deployed. "We have been in the penalty box long enough," George said.

Now that it’s out, Telcordia hopes to parlay the ISCP and its cable softswitch into additional OSS sales. "OSS will be a differentiator for us in cable," Falzon said. "Once you are in the room—you are in the room."