Softswitch: Architecture for VoIP (Paperback)

SOFT OR HARD?
Hardware switches can cost tens of millions and occupy a city block in real estate. Softswitches are a fraction of the cost and the size of a refrigerator. Bypassing big iron can also make for a more efficient development environment, potentially offering more revenue-generating features than a Class 5 switch. If you want to learn how its done and what youll risk, read on.

A key enabling technology for delivering telecom services over the Internet inexpensively, softswitches empower new service providers to compete successfully with incumbents. If we equate cheaper, smaller, and more convenient to use with disruptive technology, then softswitch qualifies. But what are the drawbacks, wheres the hype, and whose claims can you believe? Now this comprehensive reference to softswitch applications, protocols and platforms gives you an inside look at the software. Frank Ohrtman investigates the technology, the marketplace, and the players, so you can:

* Anticipate how softswitches will affect your systems, services, and vendors

* Learn how to get hardware-level quality, scalability, and signaling from a softswitch

* Evaluate softswitch advantages as Class 4 and Class 5 replacements

* Assess billing capabilities

* Make decisions on signaling protocols

* Compare implementation approaches

* Handle regulatory issues

The telecommunications industry is now going through a part of a cycle that economist Josef Schumpeter would call creative destruction; legacy infrastructure and business model have gone into decline and must be replaced. This book helps to identify some of the successes and technology challenges... -- Michael H. Khalilian, telecom executive and analyst (from the Foreword)

Contents            

    Chapter 1: Introduction
    Chapter 2: The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
    Chapter 3: Softswitch Architecture or Its the Architecture, Stupid!
    Chapter 4: Voice over Internet Protocol
    Chapter 5: SIP: Alternative Softswitch Architecture?
    Chapter 6: Softswitch: More Scalable Than CLASS 4 or 5
    Chapter 7: Softswitch Is Just as Reliable as Class 4/5 Switches
    Chapter 8: Quality of Service (QoS)
    Chapter 9: SS7 and Softswitch
    Chapter 10: Features and Applications: Its the Infrastructure, Stupid!
    Chapter 11: Softswitch Economics
    Chapter 12: Is Softswitch Deconstructive, Disruptive, or Both?
    Chapter 13: Softswitch and Broadband
    Chapter 14: Past, Present, and Future of Softswitch
    Chapter 15: Conclusion and Prognostications
     Acronyms List
     Index