MAYNARD, Mass. -- Stratus Technologies today released the Inter-Network Services Signalling Gateway (ISSG), a continuously available network component that links together combinations of legacy and next-generation networks into a cost-effective pool of shared services. The ISSG lets service and equipment providers keep abreast of subscriber demands for new services - while avoiding expensive wholesale network conversions - by enabling legacy and next-generation networks to interoperate seamlessly. This component serves as enabling technology for Fixed-Mobile Convergence and is part of the company's Converged Personalized Services market initiative.

The ISSG is an Intel- and Linux(R) -based network element that sits between different networks to allow services built for one network to be used in another network without change. Services can be used across different legacy networks, shared across legacy and SIP VoIP telephony networks, and used in next-generation 3G networks. Taking advantage of Stratus' 20-plus years of telecommunications experience, the ISSG is built on Stratus fault-tolerant technology to provide 99.999 percent uptime. The ISSG also features Stratus' SINAP(R) SS7 and SIP signalling software, which supports the SS7 and IP protocols providers need to develop, run, manage and scale voice and data services in circuit and packet networks.

Until now, services were locked within a single network technology, such as CDMA, GSM, ETSI/ITU IN or Telcordia IN/AIN, with no sharing between them. The Stratus ISSG creates a commonly accessible pool of services regardless of which network is in use, and sets the stage for a wide range of new 3G applications. For example, ISSG can convert between legacy networks' ETSI/ITU INAP (Intelligent Network Application Part), Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN), TIA IS-41 Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN) and ETSI/ITU CAMEL Application Part (CAP) signalling and SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), the next-generation networks' IP (Internet protocol) packet-oriented signalling. This allows legacy Service Control Points (SCP), for example, to be SIP-enabled, and for next-generation application servers to be legacy-enabled. Thus providers can implement new services on IP-based application servers for legacy subscribers, which are less expensive to buy and operate than SS7 SCPs, while leveraging services already available on legacy systems to IP-based subscribers.

"Our goal is to give service and equipment providers the core technology needed for service convergence," said Ali Kafel, Stratus vice president, telecommunication sales and business development. "Providers have made huge investments in services deployed on their legacy networks, and they have to be able to share services across legacy networks and with IP-based networks to build to Fixed Mobile Convergence. ISSG allows providers to solve specific connectivity challenges they may have with network and service convergence."

Stratus Technologies International