ALAMEDA, Calif. -- MetaSwitch, the leading independent vendor of Class 5 VoIP softswitch solutions, today announced an extension to its portfolio of softswitch products with the introduction of a new high-capacity call agent server, the CA9020. In addition, it announced that the widely-deployed VP3510 chassis is now available as a standalone media gateway and/or signaling gateway, enhancing the vendor's distributed softswitch solution set. The move makes MetaSwitch the first vendor to offer both call agent options of an integrated media gateway chassis, or an open server platform.

In a softswitch network architecture, the call agent (also sometimes known as a media gateway controller) performs the call processing functions including service intelligence, call routing logic, lawful interception, control of subtended media/signaling gateways, and billing. The MetaSwitch Call Agent software, running on either the CA9020 or the VP3510, performs all of these functions, delivering over 100 Class 5 subscriber services alongside a broad range of Class 4 STP/tandem capabilities. Supported protocols include SIP, MGCP, H.248 and SIGTRAN (SS7 and ISDN over IP/SCTP). Conformance to softswitch standards, including the Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF) Release 2 Architecture, enables mix-and-match deployment with third party media and signaling gateways, as verified at the recent Global MSF Interoperability event.

The CA9020 Call Agent is capable of up to 1 million busy hour call attempts (BHCA) in a server just 2U high, making it one of the densest call processing units available. The solution will be particularly attractive to larger carriers deploying distributed softswitch networks for consolidation of central offices up to 250,000 subscribers. In addition, the CA9020 supports 8 physical Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, allowing for secure network engineering with physically separate IP domains for control, media and management.

The new Call Agent server runs the same software load as the popular VP3510 Compact Class 5 Softswitch, confirming MetaSwitch's continued commitment to both the integrated compact softswitch and distributed call agent / media gateway deployment models. In addition, service providers who have deployed the VP3510 can easily move to the CA9020 thanks to automated installation and migration tools.

MetaSwitch