Horry Telephone Cooperative Selects GENBAND’s G6 Universal Gateway to Affordably Migrate Network to VoIP
Plano, TX, October 21, 2009–GENBAND Inc., a market-leading developer of next-generation IP infrastructure solutions, today announced that Horry Telephone Cooperative (HTC), the nation’s largest telephone cooperative and the 18th largest telephone company, has selected the GENBAND G6® Universal Gateway to transition its legacy Class 5 switching to a state-of-the-art Class 5 softswitch infrastructure.
As the industry’s first Packet Line Gateway, GENBAND’s G6 allows EWSD (Electronic Digital Switching System) and DCO (Digital Central Office) line frames to be controlled by standards-compliant softswitches or IMS cores, preserving 70 to 80 percent of a service provider’s infrastructure investment. In 2006, GENBAND acquired part of Siemens’ circuit-switch business which enabled it to provide open interfaces for next generation network solutions to the Siemens North American DCO and EWSD installed base of more than 2,500 host and remote switches.
“In the past, the evolution of EWSD networks to VoIP call control required the costly and unfeasible replacement of the entire network, including all proprietary line frames,” said Frank Sarvis, Chief Executive, Network Engineering of Horry Telephone Cooperative. “GENBAND’s G6 is an ideal solution for our network, enabling us to control existing customer lines on our access platform while still providing all the benefits and functionality of VoIP. Without GENBAND’s G6, replacing our multiple aging Class 5 switches with a centralized IP-based softswitch would not have been practical.”
“HTC is one of the most progressive telephone cooperatives in the nation and we are very pleased to be assisting in the transformation of their network,” said Pablo Gargiulo, President of Global Operations at GENBAND. “We recognized the need among service providers like HTC for a more flexible network migration path to VoIP. Our investment in the Siemens switch business continues to pay off as service providers are looking for viable VoIP upgrade options that let them leverage existing equipment and minimize customer disruptions as they migrate to next generation networks.”
In a typical EWSD network migration, GENBAND is able to replace some of the aging Class 5 components with a single G6, significantly reducing floor space, heating and air conditioning requirements.
GENBAND’s G6 Universal Gateway and G2™ Compact Gateway are the industry’s only solutions that provide a comprehensive next generation migration path for industry standard GR-303, V5.2 and TR-08 DLC/AN equipment as well as proprietary line frames and remotes, including Siemens EWSD and DCO. The G6 and G2 also provide simultaneous trunking gateway support as well as network survivability via integrated, on-board Emergency Standalone (ESA) services. The G6 and G2 allow all access, both legacy and next generation, to be commonly controlled and served by a centralized softswitch/IMS core.
