Combination of PortaOne’s VoIP Call Control/Billing Platform and TelcoBridges’ VoIP Gateway Line Gives Service Providers Exceptional Performance Plus Room for Growth

PortaOne today announced a new partnership with TelcoBridges™, maker of Tmedia™ VoIP gateways, following successful interoperability testing between Tmedia products and PortaOne’s PortaSwitch VoIP call control and billing management software platform. The announcement, made at International Telecommunications Week 2010, assures telecom service providers not only of seamless operation between the products, but also a combination of reliability, scalability and system flexibility suitable for today’s most demanding network and market requirements.

A recognized leader in the design and manufacture of telecommunications hardware, TelcoBridges has developed Tmedia, the industry’s highest density VoIP gateways that deliver exceptional performance, energy efficiency and interoperability. Based on a unified technical architecture, each Tmedia VoIP/media gateway integrates T1/E1/J1, DS-3 and OC3/STM-1 connectivity and multiple concurrent signaling protocols such as SS7, ISDN, SIP, SIGTRAN, and H.248 in the same unique device. Carriers and service providers in over 50 countries use TelcoBridges’ VoIP gateways to drive network convergence, consolidate multiple disparate devices, and more cost-effectively expand their network footprints.

By integrating with PortaSwitch, Tmedia gateways ensure the highest levels of performance are maintained. PortaSwitch, a Class 5-level product, is able to handle the full range of call control and billing functions of a diversified digital services company, from billing and provisioning to advanced call features, monitoring and reporting. The comprehensive product consists of a real-time billing system, class 4/5 SIP softswitch, and application servers that deliver converged VoIP billing and provisioning, SIP call control, unified messaging, IP Centrex and hosted IP PBX, callback management, IVRs, conferencing and more.

Tmedia gateways offer a high system density for systems with limited rack availability. In a single 1U or 2U gateway, Tmedia supports up to 2048 voice channels; it also reduces SS7 costs by having multiple point codes in a single box, or multiple boxes with a single SS7 point code. The product’s non-blocking capabilities ensure that multiple signal protocols, as well as multiple codecs, can be run at the same time.

To both lower operating costs and provide a greener infrastructure, Tmedia gateways run on up to 2/3 less power than other gateway devices of similar capacity. Power, cooling and data center co-location costs are all reduced, thanks to the green design.

PortaOne at ITW 2010

PortaOne is showcasing its PortaSwitch platform during International Telecommunications Week 2010, May 24-26, from its exhibit at Booth 812 in the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

About TelcoBridges

TelcoBridges is clearly defining the future of telecommunications technologies. With the industry’s premier unified hardware platform for network convergence, value-added services, and performance management, TelcoBridges is enabling service providers to meet and exceed their service goals while ensuring exceptional operating cost-efficiency. TelcoBridges’ channel partners, including value-added resellers, system integrators and solution developers, have delivered and deployed carrier-grade solutions in over 50 countries around the world. These include VoIP gateways, mobile value-added services, unified communications, network monitoring, lawful intercept, location-based services, and many others. TelcoBridges is a recognized leader within the telecom industry, ranked as #175 within the 2009 Deloitte North American Fast 500, thanks to its revenue growth, which exceeded 777% during the period spanning 2004-2008. For additional information, please visit http://www.telcobridges.com.

MR21 Provides New Capacity and Redundancy to PortaSwitch Procinctus, PortaOne’s Ultimate Telecom Services and Subscriber Management Product.

PortaSwitch Procinctus, PortaOne’s ultimate high capacity telecommunications services and subscriber management software platform, has gained a completely redesigned and fully clustered architecture. The new architecture, made possible by PortaOne’s Maintenance Release 21 (MR21), places the business critical elements of the system in a cluster that runs in parallel on multiple servers.

Previously, PortaSwitch Procinctus distributed the various billing engine functions (e.g., authorization, registration, and routing control) among multiple dedicated servers in order to leverage the power of several machines and boost overall performance. The new clustering architecture delivers exceptional redundancy of these essential functions; in addition, transparent load-sharing increases the capacity level of the whole system.

In addition to PortaSIP (Class 4 and 5 softswitch) and PortaUM (unified messaging and IVR platform) that already run in cluster on multiple servers in parallel as a part of PortaSwitch Procinctus, MR21 introduces the RADIUS billing cluster, an exact replica of the architecture implemented in PortaOne’s high-end PortaBilling Oracularius product.

“With VoIP adoption growing exponentially in worldwide, the need for world-class durability, scalability and failover protection has become a prime requirement. The introduction of MR21, and a new clustering architecture, to PortaSwitch Procinctus accomplishes this,” said Andriy Zhylenko, chief technical officer for PortaOne.

Previously, the distributed architecture of PortaBilling100 Advanced included seven servers, with specific functions attributed to each: master and standby master servers; registration and authorization servers; Web server; and two dedicated database servers. The redesigned clustered architecture of PortaBilling100 Advanced in the new PortaSwitch Procinctus consists of three closely integrated segments:

• Three servers in the RADIUS billing cluster that ensures no service outage in case one of the servers fails
• Three database servers: a master DB, a standby DB for operational redundancy, and the replica DB for data redundancy and data processing for statistics and reporting
• A Web server to provide the service provisioning interface for administration as well as customer self-care pages

As in the older version, PortaSwitch Procinctus also includes two PortaSIP servers and two PortaUM servers with a PortaBridge. PortaSIP and PortaUM servers can run in a cluster, creating an unbreakable redundancy setup or be used for load balancing.

The configuration server, a new MR21 addition to all PortaSwitch installations, is a single point for managing and upgrading the whole PortaSwitch Procinctus set up. It is also used as a logging storage to remove the analytical task loads from the servers directly involved in the operational processes.

PortaOne offers the upgrade to MR21 to its customers as a part of PortaCare at no additional cost. For more information about new redesigned architecture of PortaSwitch Procinctus please contact PortaOne team.

With MR21, PortaSwitch utilizes an innovative system of maintaining and modifying the software code on each server, allowing service providers to properly address all potential upgrade issues, and enables to:

• Migrate quickly to a new maintenance release, without any problems on the way and obtain the system that operates 100% according to how it is intended to operate.
• Safely rollback to exactly the same version of the software used prior to the update, in case there are any issues with the functionality of the new release.

PortaSwitch deploys a dual software version management system that eliminates both the risk of incompatibility between the updated components and dangerous situations when the update fails and the system ends up without any operable software becoming totally unusable.

The disk subsystem on each PortaSwitch server contains 3 separate partitions:

• One partition stores the actual application data.
• Two other partitions are equal in size and can contain the full set of the software “code” required to operate the server: operating system, third-party libraries and modules and the actual code for a specific application.

The configuration agent updates the “local” files based on the system’s configuration stored in the configuration server. At the specific time the new partition is automatically marked as “active” the server is restarted using the new version of the code. The potential downtime is minimal, just to complete the restart. Nothing is changed in the “old” partition. So if a rollback is required, it only requires a reboot from that partition and the server is back to the old, “stable” release.

After some time when an update to an even newer release is desired, this partition is wiped clean and the new version of the code is loaded into the recently emptied location. Then the process described above repeats. The same process is used to update to a new maintenance release or to a newer software build within the current release.

PortaSwitch relies on a large set of previously accumulated data to make decisions about how the service should be provided. All the data accumulated by the old software release are available to the new one after the upgrade to ensure the system’s proper operation. This involves changing the data files, database structures and data to accommodate the new release. Therefore, the update process includes 2 extra steps:

• Non-blocking data modifications are done as part of the “preparation” process, when the new release is already installed to the new partition, but before it becomes active.
• Blocking data modifications are those that may affect the system’s performance while they are being carried out. Therefore, those are done during off-peak periods.

This process allows the data modifications to be performed while the system still operates using the current release. During that time, the “older” version of the release operates with the “newer” version of the data. The same situation would happen if in performing a rollback to the older release. The PortaOne development and testing processes are specifically aimed to make this possible however we can only guarantee this inter-operability for the adjoining releases.

Please find more detailed information about the new updating process in PortaBilling Administrator Guide (look for Updating the System to a New Version section on page 17). This MR21 guide is available on the Documentation page along with other constantly renewed handbooks and manuals.

PortaOne’s Converged VoIP Billing and Service Management Platform will Drive Dutch Telecom’s Solutions for SMBs, Enterprises, and Retail Stores.

PortaOne announced today that Redworks, a Netherland-based diversified provider of telephony, Internet and data services, has selected PortaSwitch as its core telecommunications services and subscriber management platform. PortaSwitch will drive not only Redworks’ integrated VoIP and hosted IP PBX services for small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) and larger enterprises, but also its IP payment solutions for retail businesses.

PortaSwitch, a Class 5-level product, is able to handle the full range of call control and billing functions of a heterogeneous digital services company, from billing and service provisioning to advanced call features, monitoring and reporting. The comprehensive product consists of a real-time billing system, Class 4 and 5 SIP softswitch, and application servers that deliver converged VoIP billing and service provisioning, SIP call control, unified messaging, IP Centrex and hosted IP PBX, callback management, IVRs, conferencing and more.

Redworks chose PortaSwitch based on its experiences with the system through a third-party telecom systems infrastructure provider. “We were using a hosted partition of PortaSwitch and were impressed with its dependability and complete feature set,” said Leslie Herps, Redworks director. “PortaSwitch is able to handle the sophisticated routing we need to terminate calls based on cost, ASR or other factors. Its high availability and easy mobility suits the wide range of needs required by our business and retail customers.”

“PortaSwitch will enable Redworks to remain very competitive in a rapidly changing Dutch telecommunications marketplace,” said Roman Khalenkov, sales and marketing director for PortaOne. “As business customers in the Netherlands continue to seek lower cost alternatives to expensive fixed telephony systems, Redworks will be able to rely on PortaSwitch to deliver exceptional reliability and quality of service within the VoIP environment.”

Redworks is one of the Netherland’s fastest-growing telecommunications companies. Amid a challenging global economy, the government-approved telecom has experienced remarkable 25% month-over-month growth; its 2009 revenues, in fact, marked a 1,200% increase over the prior year. The company attributes its success to its unique bundling of Internet, VoIP and call handling services that help businesses of many sizes and types become more efficient while reducing their communications costs.

In addition to hosted IP PBX capability and VoIP calls, the company offers IP-based transaction processing for retailers as well as network, Internet, website hosting and data backup/restore services. To ensure quality of service over its IP networks, Redworks deploys innovative line monitoring scripts that constantly monitor availability and performance. The scripts trigger alarms and if necessary, automatic reinstatement if service is jeopardized.

Also unique to Redworks is its commitment to redundancy and reliability throughout its infrastructure. It has invested in redundant server power supplies, multiple redundant circuit uplinks, a high availability server platform, and redundant tier providers in multiple international locations. Should a failure take place at one point of presence, another will replicate in fractions of a millisecond to ensure uninterrupted service.

PortaSwitch is designed to reinforce redundant systems like Redworks’, notes Khalenkov. “Redundancy and high availability are considered very important at PortaOne. Even basic PortaBilling100 and PortaSwitch setups include data redundancy by default: the product architecture assumes there is constant data replication between Master and Slave databases,” he said. “Fully redundant solutions like PortaSwitch Procinctus, where every business critical component is clustered, are also available to ensure the highest service availability essential for modern telecommunication providers and carriers.”

The brand new set of documentation for the PortaSwitch newest maintenance release 21 is now available for download from the Documentation page.

New documents include:

• Administrator and web reference guides for PortaBilling
• New series of PortaSwitch handbooks dedicated to residential VoIP, IP Centrex, prepaid, converged voice, IPTV and Internet / Wifi, unified communication, and wholesale VoIP services.

For more information on how to use these documents and about MR21, please contact our sales team.