MORE IS BETTER

The daunting challenge facing large local telephone companies — specifically the Bell companies — is figuring out how to add customers and grow traffic in an era when core wireline business is declining.

The answer, according to John St. Amand, president and CEO of Telica, is to develop a new brand of services over new access technologies. Specifically, St. Amand is speaking of voice over broadband.

However, he is smart enough to know that large telcos, particularly the Bell companies, have invested billions of dollars in circuit switching equipment and aren't likely to jettison those investments in the near future in favor of new technologies. That's why Telica has developed an overlay network that is designed to work with traditional networks.

“We're not out to replace embedded Class 5 switches,” St. Amand said. “We're looking to add capability for those things the Class 5 switch doesn't handle well or can't do that all.”

A key component of the overlay solution is an IP access service that can interface with an IP-based PBX, and with SIP telephones or integrated access devices, allowing IP Centrex services to be hosted off the network. “Carriers then can sell those services and receive a recurring revenue stream,” St. Amand said.

The solution gives service providers the ability to migrate from provisioning all-PBX services to IP-centric network hosted services. This in turn enables them to provision services that aren't available today, said St. Amand. “There's not much you can get from the phone companies that's interesting beyond caller ID and call waiting. Voice over broadband not only enables a new set of services, it allows more phone lines to go out over a single copper pair.”
— Glenn Bischoff
www.telica.com