MetaSwitch rolls out new features, open-source options, partners

LAS VEGAS – MetaSwitch today unveiled new product enhancements and the creation of a MetaSwitch Innovators Community, a collaborative online social business networking group to stimulate third-party development of applications for MetaSwitch products. The softswitch maker also rolled out a number of partner announcements from companies including Adtran, AcmePacket, Polycom, Varaha Systems and more. 

The MetaSwitch Innovators Community, at innovators.metaswitch.com, is open to all MetaSwitch customers and partners and contains an online portal with sample code, open-source projects, applications programming interface help and documentation, and a sandbox test environment, discussion groups, blogs and interactive forums.

This approach acknowledges the fact that as standalone voice revenues diminish, telcos have to look for other services to deliver over the pipes, and many of those services may come from non-traditional sources such as Web 2.0 companies and upstart software developers, said Chris Mairs, chief technology officer of MetaSwitch.

"The saying is, ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune,'" Mairs said. "In this case, the piper is the company who owns the pipes, and the consumer is the one paying, so the consumer decides what content comes down the pipe and where that content comes from. What has to happen is telcos start thinking more about service delivery as a separate business from their pipe business. There will be other people competing to provide content over their pipes.”

The MetaSwitch product enhancements are part of the Version 7.0 release and are aimed at enabling service providers to quickly add new services that will generate additional revenues and help retain customers. Version 7.0 includes more than 100 enhancements including:

• CommPortal Widgets: Widgets are being used to embed the most commonly used VoIP features -- such as message lists, recent call lists, click-to-dial and quick launch -- directly into the subscriber's home page or desktop. MetaSwitch is initially supporting four environments: iGoogle home page, Windows Vista Sidebar, Google Desktop and the Mac OS X Dashboard.
• MetaSphere Easy Attendant: an automated receptionist function integrated into the MetaSwitch CommPortal Web user interface. Small businesses can use this function to handle incoming calls, providing recorded messages and offering dial-by-extension or direct transfer to voicemail options.
• CommPortal Phone Applications: Advanced applications including Message List, Network Contacts, Network Call Lists, Hot Desking and Service Provisioning are now integrated into an Aastra SIP phone so they can be accessed without using a PC.
• Enhanced Emergency Standalone (ESA): MetaSwitch already allows customers to make local calls when a catastrophic event knocks out a centralized Call Agent. Now SIP subscribers and other subscribers connected to an H.248 gateway can make and receive calls including emergency calls when the Call Agent is knocked out.
• MetaView CSR: This new dashboard is aimed at customer service representatives and gives them a simple Web-based interface to subscriber records and diagnostics, so nothing else is needed on their PCs. The portal provides information that enables a CSR to respond quickly to common customer problems, and it can be integrated with other Web-based OSSs.