Patton SmartNode 10100A Gateway/Controller 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/s

The SmartNode 10100 SS7 Gateway enables SIP-to-SS7 and H.323 VoIP services delivery by bridging voice traffic between the public switched telephone network PSTNbased on time-division multiplexing TDM with SS7 signalingand emerging SIP-over-IP telephony networks. Service providers are adding VoIP capabilities to their sigtran SS7 networks to reduce the cost of interconnecting with other carriers, to cost-effectively build out their network footprints, or simply to transport voice traffic across their IP backbones. Positioned at the telephony-network core or edge, SmartNode SS7 media gateways provide a built-in the sigtran SS7 protocol stack that enables service providers to deliver SIP-over-IP VoIP services while maintaining the quality and the reliability of traditional TDM telephony networks that use the sigtran protocol.

TDM interfaces
Service providers, whether providing local, long-distance or international voice services, are interconnected with a multitude of other providers using T1/E1/J1 links. It is critical for service providers to be able to rapidly establish new interconnections without having to always deploy new devices. SmartNode 10100 Series media gateways offer the flexibility to configure and support T1/E1/J1 interfaces.

Signaling and control protocols
Just as flexibility in the selection and deployment of TDM links is a key requirement for service providers, the need to support multiple signaling protocols across various carrier partners is just as important. Each SN10100 media gateway provides support for the concurrent use of ISDN, SS7/C7, CAS R2, SIP, and SIGTRAN signaling protocols in the same device. The ability to provide switching and conversion across multiple TDM and SIP-over-IP signaling protocols at once is paramount to enabling the operational flexibility and cost savings that drive service providers to expand their carrier relationships and converge their networks.

In parallel with the Sigtran/SS7 protocol stack and IP signaling protocols mentioned above, SN10100 devices also support the H.248 media gateway control protocol, which enables any H.248-compliant 3-party softswitch to control a media gateway. While the softswitch manages call control interactions, the SN10100 handles transmission of call media as well as any required transcoding.

Media handling
Service providers will use one or more codecs on their VoIP networks according to their desire to save bandwidth, to provide a certain level of voice quality, or simply to interoperate with other VoIP devices or providers. The ability to support multiple concurrent codecs and to allocate them in real time based on traffic is the key to delivering true network convergence.

SmartNode 10100 gateways feature extensive support for various wireline, mobile and IP telephony audio formats, delivering seamless transcoding in real-time. The SS7 media gateways ship with support for G.711, G723.1, G.726, and G.729ab right out of the box, with no additional license fee required. They also offer optional support for mobile and IP vocoders such as AMR, AMR-WB G.722.2, GSM-FR/GSM-EFR, EVRC/QCELP, G.728, G.729eg, and iLBC. SN10100 gateways offer independent dynamic codec selection per channel. This means that it is possible to assign different vocoders to different channels, on a channel-by-channel basis. The devices can then run all of these codecs concurrently and do so with no impact on system performance.

SN10100 gateways also provide unparalleled support for Internet-based fax, also known as Fax over IP or Fax relay, using the T.38 protocol, which is used to carry fax communications over an IP network. They also support the T.30 protocol for fax over the PSTN.

System density
SN10100 gateways feature the industrys highest system density in a 1U form factor. Beside the capital savings achieved by purchasing less units of equipment, system density also provides operational cost savings in the form of reduced co-location fees as well as lower power and cooling costs.

Energy efficiency
For many, if not most, service providers, the payoff from reducing energy use can be particularly impressivetypically, for every watt of power required to operate a device, another watt is required to cool it. The SN10100 media gateways can play a major role in reducing energy costs, with an average two-thirds less power consumption than competing products of similar capacity.

Provisioning and maintenance
For network convergence efforts to contribute positively to revenue and profitability, service providers must maintain their reputation for uptime and availability during the introduction, operation, and maintenance of new services. The SN10100 offers OAM&P, an operations, administration, maintenance, provisioning OAM&P solution. OAM&P enables the service provider to perform the initial set-up of the SN10100 media gateway and any subsequent maintenance operations. These range from the simple, such as the collection of statistics and alarms, to the more complex, such as system configuration changes, the addition of new hardware or software components, and the application of software patches or software upgrades.