A new category of network equipment called session controllers that helps service providers better control realtime communications is gaining acceptance in the marketplace.
The Yankee Group reports the steady growth of IP PBX deployments in the enterprise, combined with aggressive service provider plans to introduce IP Centrex services and widespread adoption of session initiation protocol, has given birth to the session controller. These devices, which Yankee Group says this year will create a $25 million market, handle interactive IP communications between the service provider and the enterprise, and between service provider networks. Among the players in the session controller space are Acme Packet, Jasomi Networks, Kagoor Networks, Netrake and NexTone Communications.
Two-year-old Jasomi Networks, founded by former employees of Cisco Systems Inc. and Network Associates, announced at SUPERCOMM six new customers for its PeerPoint product, which allows IP voice to pass through firewalls on both ends of the call; does protocol repair, such as fixing inconsistencies between different vendors’ standards implementations; and handles intrusion prevention. It also does session control on a per call basis — determining whether calls can move over bandwidth-limited links.
New Jasomi customers include Primus Telecommunications, which deployed PeerPoint Centrex Edition to accelerate deployment of VoIP service to its customers, many of which have networks protected by firewalls and network address translation devices. WorldWide Telco, a New York-based provider of long distance and calling card solutions, deployed Jasomi’s PeerPoint Complete solution to integrate VoIP directly into its existing non-VoIP long-distance business. Addaline.com, a Texas-based ISP and communications service provider, deployed Jasomi’s PeerPoint Centrex Edition Far-End NAT Traversal solution to reach out to customers that are located behind NAT-enabled firewalls. The Austrian registry, nic.at GmbH, working on domain registration and administration and involved in the ENUM trial in Austria, is starting an instant messaging/voice over IP community together with University of Vienna for its 120,000 students. The registry deployed Jasomi’s PeerPoint Centrex Edition to better reach its large customer base, which is located behind many different kinds of firewalls. LibréTel, a provider of PSTN termination services for VoIP service providers and their clients, deployed Jasomi’s PeerPoint Centrex Edition far-end NAT traversal solution. And Teleplus Consulting has deployed Jasomi’s PeerPoint SIP to SIP Gateway to allow its enterprise clients to test VoIP, instant messaging, presence, and ad-hoc conferencing prior to rollout of integrated voice and data solutions.
Dan Dearing, vice president of marketing at NexTone, says his company has deployed more networks than all of its competitors combined. Dearing adds that he expects service providers this year to begin using session controllers to support enterprise in addition to supporting wholesale, carrier-to-carrier services.
The company, whose bookings increased 50 percent the first quarter of this year quarter from the fourth quarter, already has more than 40 carrier deployments, according to Dearing. NexTone recently added WaveCrest, which it says is the largest VoIP wholesaler in Europe, to its customer roster. WaveCrest has contracted NexTone to supply it with 2000 ports, a deal worth $150,000 to $200,000 initially, but which could be worth much more, according to NexTone.
The NexTone portfolio, which supports H.323 and SIP and interoperability between the two, consists of a core session controller (route engine) and multiprotocol session controller. A recently announced partnership with Ridgeway Systems enables NexTone to expand beyond enterprise headquarters applications to also touch remote users. Like NexTone, Ridgeway Systems sells edge session controllers, but Ridgeway’s products are focused on tunneling through multiple firewalls in broadband networks to enable carriers to serve enterprise branch offices and telecommuters in addition to main locations, Dearing says. The companies are comarketing and reselling each others’ products.
NexTone also has recently enhanced its multiprotocol session controller with a new feature called domain-based media routing that lets service providers layer voice services on top of customers’ existing VPN services.
Acme Packet, which Jim Hourihan, vice president marketing and product management, says pioneered the category of session border control, in late May told xchange it expected to announce its first set of customers this summer. Hourihan says the first set of customers for the product will be domestic and international IP telephony providers. The next group, he says, will likely be next-generation service providers along the lines of Level 3 Communications Inc. and Global Crossing. The third likely adopters of session border controllers, according to Hourihan, will be Asian network operators that use packetbased infrastructure to deliver services to businesses and residential areas. And, finally, nonfacilities- based voice application service providers that sell prepaid, directory services, unified messaging and the like will be the fourth group. Directory services providers, for example, might use Acme Packet for its CALEA requirements, says Hourihan of Acme Packet, which has raised $31 million in VC funding to date.
Security, service assurance, and simultaneous multiprotocol support and interworking are the key tenets of Acme Packet’s session border controllers, as the company prefers to call them, Hourihan explains.
Session Controller Market
Source: The Yankee Group
