Voice over DSL gateway maker CopperCom Inc. (www.coppercom.com) and DTI Networks Inc. (www.dtinetworks.com), a producer of computer server-based telephony softswitch, announced today that they will merge. The new privately held company, to be called CopperCom Inc., will offer a portfolio of products including VoDSL gateways, integrated voice and data access devices, softswitches, call processing software and enhanced telephony services development systems.
The move echoes partnerships forged over the past month by CopperCom competitor TollBridge Technologies Inc. (www.tollbridgetech.com) with softswitch makers ipVerse Inc. (www.ipverse.com) and telecom technologies inc. (www.telecomtechnologies.com). By integrating with softswitches, CopperCom and TollBridge intend to enable their VoDSL gateways to rely not only on standard Class 5 circuit switches, but alternatively on class-independent packet switches for enhanced telephony service creation and call control.
"In addition to our high-density gateway, we now have a low-cost local voice switch; Caller ID, call waiting and other standard calling features, and web-enabled, personalized calling feature creation and subscriber self-care," said Jennifer Stagnaro, vice president of marketing for CopperCom. "We believe we're going to change the rules for how the new market will unfold."
DTI Networks, which has delivered more than 220 standard telephony switches to 60 carriers over the past decade, is now offering its CSX2100 softswitch and Telecommunications Service Portal service creation and control software to enable carriers to begin with standard Class 5 call control and migrate to packet-based call control. "We looked at a number of packet switching alternatives, and VoDSL is really where convergence is happening," said Ron Nash, vice president of marketing for DTI.
CopperCom and DTI now claim half a dozen customers each, with one customer in common: Rio Communications Inc., (www.rio.com), a Eugene, Ore.-based integrated communications provider which plans to roll out VoDSL in 15 northwestern U.S. markets this year.
