China Unicom deploys Alcatel, Sylantro

China United Telecommunications Corp. Ltd. (China Unicom) has deployed an IP services solution consisting of Sylantro's application feature servers with Alcatel's 5020 Call Session Controller, to deliver broadband services to the Shanghai metropolitan area and customers in eight provinces of China.

The project was conducted through Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel's Chinese flagship company. China Unicom's already uses the Alcatel 5020 Softswitch, which is capable of supporting IMS functions in the carrier's fixed IP network. The Sylantro application feature servers also are IMS-compliant architecture elements, and can support business voice services and capabilities such as find me/follow me, single-number service and click-to-call with customized, localized browser-based portals.

"With a population of over a billion, the People's Republic of China is the largest single market for communications services in the world," said Michael Yan, senior analyst, telecom research for IDC China, an industry analyst firm. "It is critical that service providers develop broadband-based services that provide total solutions for business sectors and expand services to provide next-generation options across the fixed and mobile networks."

The joint solution also allows China Unicom to offer a wide variety of bundled service offerings for small- to medium-sized businesses and enterprise users. These include VoIP service along with the ability to manage call screening, simultaneous ringing, and other advanced services. Users will be able to control who reaches them, where and when; select multiple on- and off-net devices as their communications interface; and other fuctions.