Netrake wins job at Volo for session border control

Wholesale voice and data provider Volo Communications will be using Netrake’s nCite session border controller to add security, peering and VoIP access service capabilities to its MPLS-based VoiceOne network.

Volo, based in Altamonte Springs, Fla., launched its wholesale service one year ago this week. It is a certified CLEC as well as IXC that provides wholesale broadband voice and hosted application services--including origination and termination services--to other carriers, CLECs, IXCs, cable operators, ISPs and resellers.

"This is an important deal for us because it is our second largest VoIP provider," said Micaela Giuhat, assistant vice president of product management for Netrake.

Netrake already provides session border control services for one of the other leading VoIP wholesalers, Level 3 Communications. Level 3, incidentally, acquired XCOM Technologies, the company where current Volo CEO Shawn Lewis developed early softswitch technologies.

Giuhat credits the Level 3 relationship with helping Netrake move quickly in terms of developing its capabilities and scale.

At Volo, Netrake will deliver support for multiple signaling protocols and the inter-working between them (SIP, H.323), security, scalability, QOS services and 99.999% reliability. Netrake also provides Volo economies of scale by offering Hosted Firewall/NAT Traversal and User Mobility services all on the same platform.

Netrake’s nCite session controllers support both carrier-to-carrier peering and residential VoIP services on the same platform for Tier 1 service providers and other leading carriers. At the VON conference two weeks ago, Netrake announced enhancements to its platform that allow it to support 150,000 hosted firewall and network address translation (FW/NAT) traversal subscribers from a single chassis. This gives carriers a 10:1 oversubscription ratio, which is on par with Class 5 traffic engineering models and helps reduce overall port costs.

"The capability for hosting the FW/NAT is a big competitive advantage for us," Guihat said. "And we are the only session border controller provider that supports oversubscription."

Netrake also announced at VON a partnership with Camiant, a provider of intelligent policy servers for the broadband industry. The partnership will concentrate on solutions for cable providers offering SIP-based residential VoIP services using PacketCable Multimedia specifications.

The companies will host a solution consisting of Netrake’s nCite and Camiant’s QBUS Multimedia Service Controller that helps operators solve FW/NAT problems at the customer premises.

Volo’s VoiceOne MPLS network is protocol agnostic and supports SS7, PRI, H.323, SIP, MGCP and AAL/1 protocols. It also utilizes both TDM and packet switched technology.