HANOVER, Germany -- CIRPACK, a leading vendor of next-generation voice switches for operators' infrastructures, today announced general availability of CIRPACK IPC, a software module running on top of CIRPACK's field-proven Class-5 switches to deliver IP Centrex services. Using CIRPACK IPC, telecom service providers can leverage their investments in CIRPACK switching technologies to decrease their total cost of ownership while increasing the average revenue per user (ARPU).

CIRPACK IPC is a complete IP Centrex solution that opens up new possibilities for offering superior, cost-effective telephony services to corporate customers. It provides the flexibility, scalability and wide range of features that enterprise users need, without the capital expenditure and operational burdens of dedicated equipment such as key systems or PBXs. CIRPACK IPC is a carrier-class platform that offers business customers superior voice quality and 99.999% telephone system availability.

"CIRPACK IPC delivers a complete set of IP Centrex features, making it a perfect platform for replacing our customers' PBXs and increasing the value of our solutions," explains Christophe Bach, General Manager of Altevia, a B3G Group subsidiary, a French telecom service provider and one of CIRPACK IPC's launch customers. "Because it is tightly integrated with our existing CIRPACK switches, CIRPACK IPC is very easy to operate and available for a very limited investment. We have been highly impressed by the reliability and capabilities of the complete solution. Altevia can now market innovative converged services to win over new business customers."

In a separate release:

CIRPACK, a leading vendor of next generation voice switches for operators' infrastructures, today announced that Novaxess Telecom Carrier B.V., one of the largest alternative telecom operators in the Netherlands, has deployed CIRPACK SuperNode technologies to replace its existing legacy TDM switches. This enables Novaxess to continue providing legacy voice services to large accounts across the country at lower cost, and also to introduce new carrier-class VoIP services.

Using CIRPACK SuperNode, Novaxess has deployed a pure Next-Generation voice switching architecture covering the entire country, with a centralized CIRPACK Class-5 SoftSwitch for call control and distributed CIRPACK media/signaling gateways. Existing V5.2 DLCs are connected to the CIRPACK gateways using ATM. Voice traffic is then carried across Novaxess's infrastructure using VoIP. This makes it possible to maintain POTS and ISDN services and leverage past investments in legacy access platforms deployed across the Netherlands.

This architecture is replacing the legacy TDM switches that Novaxess has been operating for several years, in order to reduce operational costs and open the way for new voice services. Thanks to CIRPACK SuperNode, Novaxess can now connect large ISDN PBXs via VoATM or VoIP and provide superior services to large accounts. CIRPACK SuperNode also allows Novaxess to comply with local SS7 specifications and regulatory requirements such as legal intercepts and number portability.

"We were seeking a robust voice switching replacement capable of re-using our legacy access platforms and opening the way for new, high-margin voice services," explains Frank Uit den Bogaard, General Manager, Novaxess. "We've been very impressed by CIRPACK's technologies. The SuperNode makes best use of our existing platforms and allows for major OPEX savings. It has all the features of our legacy switches, but is much easier to deploy and operate. Novaxess can now also deliver telephony over ATM and IP, with sufficient scalability to handle extremely large call volumes. No other vendor in the market could offer all of these capabilities in a single package."

In an additional release:

CIRPACK, a leading vendor of voice switches for operators' infrastructures, today announced general availability of its SuperNode-B, the world's most powerful next-generation platform for public telephony. Based on the IBM eServer BladeCenterT architecture, CIRPACK's SuperNode-B is a compact, carrier-class shelf that enables telecom service providers and carriers to quickly and easily deploy very large voice infrastructures delivering complex services using VoIP and VoATM as well as all legacy TDM protocols. CIRPACK SuperNode-B harnesses IBM's expertise in designing standard-based servers, and is setting new standards for the industry in terms of power, functionality, ease of use and cost of ownership.

Unveiled at ITU Telecom World in Geneva last October, CIRPACK SuperNode-B is a complete Class-4/Class-5 voice switching solution for telecom service providers and carriers. The system can handle several million busy-hour call attempts (BHCA), 264,000 subscribers and 30,000 voice channels (1,000 E1s) in an 8U shelf unit. Additional local or remote shelves can be added to scale the platform to a multi-thousand E1 node.

CIRPACK's SuperNode-B has been developed in partnership with IBM; it uses an IBM BladeCenterT shelf, specially designed for carrier-class architectures, to host CIRPACK's field proven High Velocity SoftSwitch for controlling calls and CIRPACK's new Public Telephony Gateway, which has been designed specifically for the IBM BladeCenter enclosure. Operators can also install additional IBM eServer blades in the BladeCenterT shelf in order to run all kinds of third-party software application (e.g. billing systems, voice mail, service applications, databases, OSS, etc.).

"Over the last few years, we have seen the telecom industry moving away from proprietary technologies in favor of open protocols and standard platforms," explains Jean-Pierre Dumolard, CIRPACK's CEO. "With SuperNode-B, CIRPACK has now moved media/signaling gateway components into the IT space, further releasing telecom operators from the constraints of proprietary solutions. SuperNode-B helps them speed up the deployment of Next-Generation Networks to deliver flexible Class 4 and Class-5 services at lower cost and generate new revenues."

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