The Eagle has expanded: Capacity, convergence lead Tekelec development

Retaining the intelligence and reliability of SS7 signaling during and after the migration to IP-based networks is one of the more daunting challenges of convergence.

As a signaling solutions provider, Tekelec must face that challenge. To retain that capability, Tekelec has introduced a new Eagle signaling transfer point (STP), enhancements to its transport adaptation layer interface (TALI) protocol and a new softswitch architecture, which Tekelec will demonstrate next week at Supercomm in Atlanta.

Changes to the Eagle STP focus on expanding the system's interconnection capacity and the Eagle STP's ability to support applications at a higher rate, said Dick Hayter, assistant vice president for the Eagle business unit at Tekelec. "There is increasing demand for capacity [to handle] applications such as [global title translation], local number portability and G-Flex, which allows wireless operators to optimize the use of their home location registers," he said.

The new STP will increase the number of interconnection ports from 500 to 2000 by the end of the year. Tekelec plans to have 7000 ports by the end of next year.

"Signaling networks are old [technology]. The A-links are 56K DS-0s, and as call volume goes up, signaling has got to be getting overloaded," said John Kuzma, senior analyst at RHK.

While domestic carriers are always looking for more capacity for call control, there seems to be an open market in Europe for large signaling solutions.

"In Europe, we see tremendous demand coming from the wireless operators in particular that do not have STPs deployed in their networks," Hayter said.

Tekelec's recent success with U.K.-based Orange could indicate a move toward an STP-based signaling network in Europe. "This Orange deal could drive a lot for them in Europe," Kuzma said.

Tekelec also would like to drive its TALI protocol home with the Internet Engineering Task Force. TALI was submitted to the IETF last year for consideration as an IP telephony standard. The request for consideration (RFC) expired recently, and Tekelec is modifying it in preparation for resubmittal.

"We wanted to incorporate the new features we have been developing," said Dave Sprague, director of software products for IP systems at Tekelec. "Our plan is to update it and do our best to convince [the IETF] that it's in the best interest of the community to get this published as an informational RFC."

Enhancements to TALI include dynamic registration, which allows a remote computer to dictate traffic distribution. "Internationalization has been added to TALI's protocol headers so we could tell the difference between ANSI- and ITU-style traffic," Sprague said. The company could resubmit TALI as early as the next few weeks.

TALI plays an important role for the signaling gateway in Tekelec's softswitch demonstration. The softswitch is called the VoX MGC, which stands for voice-over-anything media gateway controller.

The VoX MGC will run two applications initially. The first is a tandem switch replacement application called Total Bypass. It allows international carriers to bypass toll tandem switches in IP and ATM networks. The second supports multiservice access. This lets service providers bypass a Class 5 switch and go directly to a Class 4 switch; the Class 5-type services reside on the softswitch (see figure).

"[The Vox MGC] shows they have a product that works, which is a step forward," Kuzma said. "It validates a total solution and their SS7-over-IP signaling."