05/20/2008

Nortel has released adaptive application engine software to enable service providers to deliver IP voice and multimedia services with Web 2.0 – a combination known as next-generation network (NGN) 2.0 – without complex network upgrades.

ebizQ received the following:

Nortel's new Adaptive Application Engine software, unveiled today at The Cable Show** in New Orleans (Booth 3105), is a major evolutionary step forward for Nortel's SIP applications portfolio that brings together services across wireless broadband, wireline and cable access networks in ways that help service providers simplify their networks and enhance the communication experience for subscribers. Here are some examples of advanced service offerings to consumer and business customers made possible with the Adaptive Application Engine software:

Unified Communications – By bringing together email, voicemail, instant messaging (IM), text, graphics, video files and web collaboration to the devices and productivity tools people use everyday, users have access to a more effective, more efficient communication experience. Imagine joining a video conference with everyone on the To: list of an email just by clicking a link in the message.

Federated Instant Messaging – By uniting existing communication systems and tools, users can take advantage of federation, a protocol that allows you to talk to anyone, on any IM service regardless of provider so you can add friends using third-party IM applications to the Nortel PC Client.

IP Communications over Web Applications – By creating communications-enabled applications and integrating them into social networking activities, users can include a "click-to-call-me" link from their Facebook** pages connecting their friends to any wireline or wireless device to complete the call. VoIP over IPTV Integration – By controlling calls and having access to a variety of multimedia services through their TVs, viewers can use a TV remote to send an IM to a friend, easily place calls or transfer incoming calls to voicemail or a mobile phone.

Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) Services – By eliminating the boundary between location and device, users can gain new flexibility like transforming mobile phones into office extensions. For example, mobile workers can use their cell phones to access the corporate network and have the same voice calling features as their desk phones, like one business phone number, conferencing and call forwarding. Users can also "grab" a mobile call from their desktop or vice versa.

The Adaptive Application Engine software is specially designed to adapt to the needs of service providers of every segment, allowing a single solution to provide advanced communication services to as few as hundreds, or easily scale up to millions of subscribers. Operators can choose to run the software on hundreds of Red Hat** Enterprise Linux compliant servers allowing them to select the hardware that best suits their needs and budget. To accelerate development time of new services, the Adaptive Application Engine software provides an open programmability environment and web service Application Program Interfaces (API's), which allow third-party software developers to easily develop new applications which use call routing, presence and federated IM.

"Nortel's depth of technology expertise across carrier and enterprise sectors, wireless and wireline with focus on both infrastructure and the application space allowed us to design advanced SIP application software that can support the needs of any service provider – large or small, traditional telco or integrated communications enabled internet provider" said John McCready, general manager, Carrier Multimedia Networks, Nortel. "Without increasing network complexity, Nortel's Adaptive Application Engine software makes it simple for any service provider to grow to support large increases in demand for NGN 2.0 services. From an implementation perspective, Nortel has the expertise to execute on this vision."

The Adaptive Application Engine software can be deployed as a SIP Application Server, as an IMS application server or as advanced capabilities on the Communication Server (CS) 2000. For carrier customers who have already deployed the Nortel's CS 2000 or Application Server (AS) 5200, the Adaptive Application Engine software allows them to build on their existing investment by adding new software capabilities which provide NGN 2.0 capabilities while also supporting a significant increase in capacity. The Adaptive Application Engine software will enhance the recently announced IP Powered Home (IPPH) Solutions – innovative application bundles for the consumer market – and Nortel's IP Powered Business (IPPB) Solutions, pre-tested IP solutions for the small and medium sized business (SMB) market.

According to Dell'Oro Group, Nortel is the worldwide leader in carrier VoIP and has maintained that position for the last six years (2002-2007). Nortel has shipped 88 million carrier IP voice and multimedia ports to over 250 carriers globally and Nortel's IMS-ready solutions have been adopted by over 150 customers, including carriers operating across wireline, wireless and cable domains. The standalone Adaptive Application Engine software is expected to be available globally in late 2008 and the CS 2000 version is expected to be available early 2009. For more information on the Adaptive Application Engine software, check out the Nortel podcast on the solution.