Home > News > Archive US News > 2000

Adax SS7 Products Give TNS More Data Processing Power

Transaction Network Services, Inc. (TNS), a PSINet Company, headquartered in Reston, VA, is the leading provider of data transport services for transaction oriented applications. Its Telecom Services division provides telephone calling-card fraud control and validation services to pay phone providers, operator service providers, and long-distance carriers, as well as SS7 connectivity services to a variety of telecom service providers. Initially, TNS built its own SS7 network as a means to access the Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) databases as part of its CARD*TEL fraud control service, but subsequently introduced SS7 connectivity solutions more suited for independent telecom service providers. At first, the existing volume of packet traffic did not tax the network. The protocol processing solution that TNS was using at the time was adequate, but TNS was aware that this solution could not handle the volume of traffic that would result if one of the two protocol control boards went down. As the company’s telecommunications business continued to grow at a very rapid pace, the odds of a “worst case scenario” grew exponentially.

“Our goal is to always be prepared for growth,” said Jim Kelsay, TNS principal software developer. “We recognized early on that we had to find a more robust card that could handle the increasing volume.” While searching for a board capable of carrying enough packet traffic, TNS approached Adax, a company with hardware and software solutions for protocol processing in layers one through three of the OSI model. TNS selected the Adax solution – SS7 Advanced Protocol Controllers and SS7 Advanced Protocol Software – because it offered high bandwidth utilization and low demand on the CPUs resources. This solution allowed TNS to handle more transactions per second and freed the CPU to devote more time to the new applications. “We are very pleased with the performance of the Adax boards and software,” said Rod Lyman, Senior VP, Development at TNS. “The boards we used previously did not really have the horsepower needed to keep up with such rapidly increasing traffic volumes. Because we are performing a concentration function, we need the top-of-the-line performer. Adax gives us that performance.” Because Adax’s solutions are based on open systems and can be ported to all major operating systems and a wide variety of standard hardware platforms, TNS easily ported the Adax solution to their operating system and platform. This allowed TNS to preserve its upper-level software investment.

The TNS Telecom Services Division continues to thrive. As the oldest and largest independent provider of telephone billing and calling card fraud control and validation services, it processes more than 500 million transactions each year and continues to add new customers to its SS7 transport network. Adax products have been an important part of this continuing growth.