SS7-Enabled Remote Access System

Promises to slash equipment costs, streamline infrastructure, and provide differentiated services for carriers and ISPs.

by Wayne Kawamoto [September 25, 2000]

Ariel Corporation announced BypaSS7, a new SS7-enabled network access system. According to the company, BypaSS7 enhances network efficiency and slashes equipment costs by allowing carriers to provide Internet traffic without tying up critical parts of the public-switched telephone network.

The new system has recently received SS7 conformance certification from GTE TSI, passed successful field trials at Megaworld (a leading co-location provider), and completed system testing at the TARA Labs in Halifax, Canada.

The company says that until now, most carriers have delivered subscriber calls to ISPs via T1/PRI lines provisioned from the nearest class 5 switch. The drawback to this approach is that it occupies expensive PSTN resources that were designed to handle short-duration voice calls, not long-hold-time Internet calls. This, in turn, results in inefficient use of the public switched telephone network and large capital expenses.

Ariel's new SS7-enabled network access system is supposed to bypass the end office switch by enabling carriers to connect ISPs to the PSTN via Inter Machine Trunks (IMTs) rather than PRIs, which may free up voice ports and enable carriers to expand their ISP business without purchasing new switches.

Linux inside
BypaSS7 combines one or more network access servers (NAS) with an SS7 signaling gateway (SSG). The NAS is a PCI Linux system that receives 56K and Basic Rate ISDN (BRI) subscriber calls from the PSTN via Inter Machine Trunks. The system, utilizing Ariel's RS4200 56K/ISDN cards, should be able to accommodate up to 96 remote access sessions per server, originating from any combination of V.90-compatible modem or 64-kbps basic rate ISDN customer premises equipment.

The SSG uses signaling information from the SS7 network to terminate V.90 and ISDN subscriber calls destined for the NAS. The SSG is based on a telco-grade Sun Netra server running the Solaris operating system, and features an ISUP ANSI/ITU-compliant SS7 stack from ADC Newnet.

The SSG is supposed to be able to handle 115 calls per second or 414,000 BHCAs, which should enable it to support up to 10,752 (16 DS3s) ports. The SSG is designed to support up to 8 SSP terminations and a variety of physical interfaces, including V.35, RS449, RS540 and T1/E1.

"BypaSS7 will redefine the way that carriers and ISPs provide dial-up Internet access," said Dennis Schneider, president and CEO at Ariel. "With this system, carriers and LECs no longer have to tie up expensive Class 5 ports in order to provide Internet access, and ISPs registered as CLECs can offer Internet access without purchasing a Class 5 switch at all. The net result is substantial capital savings, and better utilization of network infrastructure."

"The ability to offer switchless Internet access affords big equipment cost savings, and should be particularly attractive to fast growing ISPs and CLECs who can't afford a Class 5 switch," said Tom Jenkins, director of consulting at Telechoice, a leading telecom analyst. "The Ariel solution should also prove attractive to carriers who want to free up their Class 5 switches to focus on handling voice traffic."

Pricing and availability
BypaSS7 pricing starts at under $200,000. The system will be available for shipment in October 2000.

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