THE FUTURE OF SWITCHING -

SOFT SWITCHING

Presented By
ARUNS PARACKAL
ARUN.P
MANISH JESWANI
 What is Switching?

 Channeling incoming data from any

of multiple input ports to the specific
output port that will take the data
toward its intended destination.
 History
1897- Manual Systems
􀁺 1938- Crossbar Systems
􀁺 1961- Electronic Systems
􀁺 1976- Digital Systems
Currently IP’s are used for end-to-end
communication.
 Are You Satisfied with the
current switching systems???
 Soft Switching

In Soft Switching much of the hardware

switching components are replaced with
computer-resident software functions.
The Soft Switching provides mechanisms to
bridge the connectivity gap between existing
circuit-switched (PSTN) and evolving-packet
switched (VoIP) services.
 Soft Switch Architecture
Two major elements: a call agent, and a
media gateway.
Call agent handles the call routing,
network signaling, billing, and other related
functions.
The media gateway provides the physical
connectivity for the end-to-end path
 These two elements are further divided into four planes
These elements provide the following functions:

•Transport Plane: Transports media, call setup and call signaling messages
across the VoIP network.

•Call Control and Signaling Plane :Controls the major devices in the
VoIP network, and also handles the establishment of media connections.

•Service and Application Plane: Provides the control and logic functions
for services and applications that are available on the VoIP network.

•Management Plane: Provides the services required for subscriber and

service provisioning, support and billing functions.
 SOFTSWITCH BASICS
Open Standard Based
H.248, H.323
GR 303, SIP
TALI, SIGTRAN
ISC-International Softswitch Consortium
SOFTSWITCH ADVANTAGES
• High density saves floor space
•Low power consumption saves batteries and power
costs
•Distributed architecture allows “best of breed”
hardware choices
•New features can be provided by the choice of
vendors
•SIP telephony protocol capabilities/benefits
•Any port to any port capabilities
•Price..?
Soft switch Disadvantages

•Multiple Vendors
•OMAP Issues – EMS Count
•Immature development
•Standards are evolving and changing
•Pricing experience is limited
•Network security
 Softswitch Marketplace

“New players” are venture capital financed

- Santera, Coppercom, Telica, Tacqua,
Tekolac, Telverse, Vpacket

“Old players” are offering soft switch evolution

products
- Nortel, Siemens, Lucent
 Implementation
Issues
• Depreciation of existing switch
• Training and experience requirements
• Reliability
• Provisioning
• Operations and Control
• EMS multiple systems
 Implementation
Strategies
• Cap and Grow
- All line growth is GR 303
• Hybrid
- New “soft” front end
• High density off load
• Legacy switch upgrade
 Summary
• Softswitching is the technology of the future
• First Generation softswitches are available now
• There are many implementation issues and
options
• The softswitching trend will escalate over the
next few years as implementations are over
• Do you have a switching strategy or are you
developing one
• Opportunity to succeed or ???