The intelligent bridge

With competition from big networking and traditional telecom vendors, it's no surprise that most smaller players are shying away from the Internet telephony gateway market. However, a Westford, Mass., start-up created by two former Cascade Communications executives is jumping in-with a slightly different approach.

Castle Networks will announce this week the development of what it calls its Services Mediation Architecture, which consists of hardware and software deployed in a central office.

Developed by President Tom Burkardt and Executive Vice President Steve Kelly, SMA initially is designed for competitive local exchange carriers that have infrastructure that can't be written off and that must develop new services to survive.

"We just couldn't think of a good reason to develop yet another data switch," said Kelly.

At the platform's core is a service mediation switch that handles data and voice while leveraging features -found in Class 5 switches. That switch, scheduled for release early next year, also will include more microprocessor and data technology than a typical end office switch.

"A $250 billion infrastructure is something the data folks don't have a lot of sensitivity to," said Kelly.

In addition, the company is not following the path of remote access vendors that are retrofitting their data networking gear for voice.

"The thing really has really got a lot of flexibility. That's why they classify it as a service mediation device and not just a gateway," said Tom Nolle, president of Cimi Corp.

Telephony has promoted Assistant Managing Editor Michael Hanley to the position of features editor.

In his new capacity, Hanley will be responsible for overseeing staff-written features as well as soliciting contributions from freelance writers and industry experts.

"Planning, assigning and overseeing the execution of Telephony's feature articles requires someone who is very familiar with the broad range of technology and business trends that characterize this industry," said Mark Hickey, publisher of Telephony. "Michael has been a strong contributor to the quality of Telephony for several years. This promotion is both a recognition of his talent and performance and an investment in the ongoing improvement of Telephony's features department."

Hanley, a former Telephony intern, joined the publication's editorial staff as assistant editor in June 1995. He was promoted to Associate Editor in July 1996 and to Assistant Managing Editor early this year.

Hanley holds a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He can be reached at (312) 840-8443 or by e-mail at michael_hanley@intertec.com.