Adax, a provider of signalling and packet-processing infrastructure, has launch a new signalling extender. The Adax SX is said to meet the needs of service providers wanting to maintain their current legacy time-division multiplexing (TDM) equipment but modernise the core by turning the TDM circuits into VoIP and SIGTRAN before data and calls are transmitted over long distances.
By replacing long-distance, dedicated, TDM circuits with IP over shared-use networks, service providers can make substantial savings by reducing their core network transport costs, while preserving their investment in remote TDM endpoint switching systems. The solution is a major benefit to service providers working in remote areas across Africa, India and rural Americas.
“Ten years ago, the telecoms market wrongly predicted the total demise of circuit switching and the complete replacement of TDM by IP, with some large hardware manufacturers following suit,” commented Robin Kent, director of European operations at Adax.
“Yet, today the situation is different. Service providers want to make the most of their TDM equipment and protect the investment they have in it, while keeping up-to-date to meet modern-day user demands. Our new solution enables them to do this, while also ensuring transport costs are saved by replacing long-haul Signalling System 7 (SS7) links with IP.”
The Adax SX routes SS7 traffic over an IP network to an IP-enabled device, or routes IP traffic over an IP network to an SS7 device. M2UA backhauls provide transparent connectivity between traditional, circuit-switched SS7 signalling points and any IP-enabled signalling element. By leveraging MTP2 to M2UA interworking, the Adax SX requires no modifications to the MTP3 addresses or routes on either side of the network.
“It is still important for service providers to maintain legacy infrastructure while meeting the current demand to interconnect different networks. Multi-protocol solutions are required to connect divergent circuit and packet switching architectures. Essentially, service providers want to keep the endpoints of their networks but modernise the transport – the Adax SX enables them to do this,” added Kent.
Adax SX provides a method of communication for remote SS7-based TDM equipment to transparently operate over an underlying transport service of SCTP and IP with M2UA efficiently carrying the data and control elements of MTP2 while leaving the high overhead of the TDM elements behind.
Signalling transport reliability is guaranteed by Adax SCTP’s error correction features that deliver a robust, reliable, high performance transport layer with multi-homing provisioning options that implement link monitoring and fail-over robustness and redundancy for quick recovery.
Features and benefits claimed for Adax SX include:
- Maintain SS7 TDM connectivity at the edge
- Replace long-distance, dedicated, TDM circuits with IP over shared-use networks
- Transparent to the network, no additional point-codes required
- Protect investment in legacy TDM equipment
- Reduce network transport costs with long-haul SS7 over IP
- Signalling transport reliability guaranteed by Adax SCTP
- Simple management interface with CLI and GUI options
- Pre-integrated, low-cost, small footprint, solution with HPE DL20
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