The Hook, UK-based network operator has three levels of IP multimedia services, explained Alistair McKinnon, senior product manager. There is a bronze service, which is basically a VoIP service with three different IP deskphones with different levels of functionality, all of them from Nortel.
The i2001 is the basic circuit-switched phone replacement, the i2002 and i2004 coming with more buttons and a screen for quicker response and increased functions.
We can also support conventional POTS [plain old telephone service] phones with a converter, or IAD, if customers want to migrate more gradually, McKinnon said. NTL uses two codecs, the higher-quality G.711 for when bandwidth is available, dropping down automatically to G.729 for links where there are constraints.
Interestingly, though the phones can run with SIP signalling, NTL deploys them using Nortel’s proprietary Unistim protocol because it offers greater functionality.
SIP can do call forwarding, transfer, conferencing and caller display, but not, for instance, things like manager/secretary and call center environments, McKinnon explained.
The bronze flavor of the service is called Centrex IP, the name chosen because NTL:Telewest is the country’s second largest provider of traditional Centrex services behind BT, with some 380,000 lines in operation. This also makes its Centrex user base the natural first target for the Centrex IP service.
A silver service is also on offer, called IP Voice, and in this case, there is support for the same range of IP deskphones, but also softphones on PCs and laptops, as well as Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) support for CTI functions such as application calling, in which users can click to call from within apps like Excel and Outlook. The softphone in this case is a fairly basic affair from Nortel, designed for voice comms only.
In the gold package, called Multimedia, on the other hand, the softphone is a full multimedia client, giving access to a wide range of other services such as videoconferencing, whiteboarding and, in the next release later this year, app sharing (in which multiple parties in a conference cal see, for instance, a PowerPoint slide, with any of them able to make notes, draw on or highlight parts of the slide on a one-at-a-time basis).
The infrastructure for the services is entirely from Nortel, with one exception. All the multimedia functions, including presence and video, are delivered by an MCS5200 SIP server from Nortel, except for unified messaging, which is from privately-held French developer Streamwide SA. This is because, when NTL:Telewest tested Nortel’s own UM offering it found it limited in functionality, so Nortel struck a partnership with Streamwide for time-to-market reasons.
Of course, now that it is offering this kind of service, enterprise mobility needs to be taken into account as a requirement from businesses NTL:Telewest is targeting (essentially, SMB and corporates in the UK, excluding the multinational companies with extensive global WAN needs).
There is already a remote access capability, with remote workers connecting via home PC or laptop over cable or DSL modem via an IPsec VPN. However, now that the group owns Virgin Mobile, McKinnon recognized that he will be looking to widen the offering, possibility with a fixed-mobile convergence play involving both networks.
BT has recently announced its intentions for an enterprise FMC offering with Alcatel technology, and Orange, whose brand now covers fixed-line WAN provider Equant as well as the mobile business and broadband provider Wanadoo, is already making starting to roll out some early services in this direction.
