In article <telecom23.618.5@telecom-digest.org>, lisa_minter2001@
yahoo.com says:
> http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=113914
> Posted on: Friday, 24 December 2004, 03:01 CST
> Verizon Takes Next Big Step Toward VoIP
> Best known locally for its spring tulip festival, the small northwest
> Washington city of Mount Vernon now has a new claim to fame: the first
> central office in Verizon's network to be converted from old-fashioned
> circuit switching to cutting-edge packet telephony
> The setup within the Skagit Valley facility doesn't look much
> different than it did before the conversion, part of a $1 billion-
> plus nationwide project that Verizon estimates will take five or six
> years to complete. The central piece of new equipment, a Nortel
> softswitch outfitted with add-ons to support legacy TDM
> interconnections, takes up about as much space as the 7-foot-high,
> 19-inch-wide Class 5 circuit switch it replaced. The most visible
> change is that the new gear flashes with green lights, whereas the
> Class 5 cabinets were"closed up and pretty mundane," says a network
> operations supervisor at the facility
> But the most significant difference is what you can't see: a platform
> that promises to generate increased revenue through support of new
> converged services while slashing capital and operational costs by up
> to 50%.
> Verizon is looking to ditch 2,500 Class 5 switches in about as many
> local central offices in favor of IP softswitches, plus line media and
> trunking gateways. The carrier is deploying Nortel's Communications
> Server 2000 softswitch, Packet Voice Gateway (PVG) and Media Gateway
> 9000 products. [.....]
> Verizon also has installed many softswitches in five central offices
> in California, but has not yet turned up service on them because
> state regulators are challenging an FCC rule that does not require
> incumbents to unbundle VoIP facilities to provide wholesale access
> for competitors. ... "It's one of those classic state vs. federal
> issues." Elby says the recent FCC ruling that found Vonage's VoIP
> service to be interstate in nature and thus exempt from state
> regulation has no bearing on Verizon's softswitch deployment in
> California. Wholesale unbundling is a separate issue, and Elby
> argues that California has erred in its judgment and questions if
> this error will be fixed. Full story at:
> http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=113914
Once again, too much too late for Verizon. You know that most switches
have been IP aware for at least a decade, if not two.
I imagine Verizon will still charge exorbitant rates which will mean
that they won't gain much other than not needing the old circuit
switched infrastructure anymore.
So there will be some savings but not for consumers.
Thanks again Verizon. I'm so glad I ditched you!
Tony P. (kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net)