Telica enhances Class 5 switching technology offering

With RBOCs, smaller CLECs and independent telcos demanding more Class 5 features from soft switches, Telica is increasing the number of supported voice ports per chassis on its Plexus 9000 platform and expanding the number of interfaces and services.

The product enhancements let service providers connect to an array of TDM access devices while simultaneously providing integrated voice and data services over TDM, ATM or IP networks, Telica said. Among the new services are call forwarding and call waiting--traditionally seen as residential features but are now being sought out by Telica’s customers, said Ali Kafel, the company’s marketing vice president.

Primarily, the enhancements will help RBOCs transition from circuit switches to IP networks “five, six, seven years from now” and wean them from traditional Class 5 switches, said Kafel.

“As they add new switches to their networks, they don’t want traditional switches, because they have limited capability in terms of services,” Kafel said. “They want to add on a packet switch, so they can address some of their current needs--business services and IP Centrex-type services--then build the foundation for replacing the traditional class 5 switches down the road.”

A smaller target audience, independents and CLECs, see packet telephony from a different angle, Kafel said.

"They started using our product for Internet offload a couple of years ago--which is where their revenue was coming from--and the plan was, down the road, when they start providing voice services to business users, they'll be able to use their investment in Telica," he said. "Now they don't have to go buy 5Es to do voice; they can do it on the Plexus."