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Adax Completes Convergence Technology with IP Capabilities for HDC Communication Controllers

Adax, the industry leader in high-performance wide area communications and telephony signaling infrastructure, has since the beginning of 2001, been rolling out an impressive line-up of technologies for the convergence of IP and PSTN networks. Now, with the addition of IP capabilities for our flagship High Density Channelized Controller (HDC), the line-up is completed, and a ready to field signaling technology that provides fast, reliable, and cost-effective multimedia communication over IP is a reality. The addition of Ethernet ports to the HDC, coming at the heels of Adax's recent announcement about the addition of Ethernet ports to the ATM Plus card, provides direct connectivity to the Internet and other IP networks for both signaling controllers. Independently, the HDC provides a powerful narrowband and broadband MTP-2 signaling solution while the ATM provides its broadband counterpart. Together, the two cards complement each other and form a formidable pair for Signaling and Media Gateways, Softswitches, RNCs and SGSN/GGSN Nodes for GPRS and 3G/UMTS.

A convergence solution with both the HDC and ATM can handle T1, E1, OC3 and Ethernet interfaces, as well as a comprehensive range of protocols including SCTP/T (Adax’s implementation of SCTP), MTP2, Frame Relay, LAPB/D/F/V5, HDLC, AAL5 and SSCOP/SSCF-NNI over ATM or IP. SIGTRAN’s M3UA, SUA and other User Adaptation layers are also supported on top of SCTP/T. Multiple protocols are supported on a single card. SCTP is the IETF-defined protocol designed to provide the transport of PSTN signaling messages over IP networks, but with the same level of service, quality and reliability as those expected from a PSTN signaling network. A feature that distinguishes the Adax implementation of the SCTP from other implementations is that SCTP/T takes advantage of Adax's characteristic high performance hardware to push high overhead processes of the protocol onto the on-board processors. The arrangement leaves valuable host CPU resources available for higher-level applications.

"The combination of Adax hardware and software expertise, backed by two decades of R&D experience in wide area network signaling products, is well demonstrated by the seamless integration of the HDC, ATM and SCTP/T. The high performance trio offers OEMs a complete solution to convergence as well as an incredibly fast time-to-market," says Barry Zuckerman, Ph. D., President of Adax Inc.

Adax HDC Controllers

The Adax HDC board is a high density, fully channelized, multiple protocol platform that provides a powerful and flexible single slot solution. The board is ideal for Signaling and Media Gateways, Softswitches, and SGSN/GGSN Nodes for GPRS and 3G/UMTS. The HDC is dynamically configurable, and each board provides up to 128 channels of mixed protocols of SS7 MTP-2 (64K and 2Mb), SCTP, LAPB/D, Frame Relay, X.25 or HDLC. Thirty-two of these channels may be dedicated to narrowband MTP-2 processing, or an entire E1 trunk can be dedicated to broadband (HSL) MTP-2 processing. On-board processors perform many thousands of transactions per second and provide effective bandwidth management, freeing up the host CPU for higher-layer applications and delivering high performance without compromising reliability. In addition to the four T1/E1 interfaces provided through the QCX daughter card, the HDC also has two 10/100 BaseT Ethernet ports for connection to the Internet and other IP networks.

Adax ATM Plus Controllers

The ATM Plus serves as a gateway interface between circuit switched and packet-based signaling networks over AAL5 and IP. In addition to access to wireless sites and VPN over T1/E1 or optical interfaces, two on-board 10/100 BaseT Ethernet ports provide connectivity to IP networks. A High Speed Signaling Link (HSSL) SS7 over ATM with SSCOP and SSCF software modules is also available. SCTP, IP and Frame Relay modules are available for SIGTRAN integration and Internet applications. The ATM Plus has built-in ATM cell routing capabilities which provide network designers with unparalleled flexibility and cost savings by eliminating the need for expensive external ATM network edge switches to separate signaling from content traffic.