Com21 a leading global provider of system solutions for the broadband access market, and Tdsoft, a global leader in Voice over Next Generation Access (VoNGA), today signed an agreement to create next generation cable based telephony solutions based on the V5.2 PSTN standard for markets outside North America. The V5.2 standard specifies an open interface for access network systems and was approved by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for PSTN, ISDN and leased lines, with concentration and protection features.
The alliance will enable cable operators to offer affordable, toll-quality voice and broadband data access as a single, integrated service, leveraging the existing public switched telephone network (PSTN) infrastructure. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Com21 and Tdsoft plan to create scaleable service opportunities for cable operators to help define the cable telephony marketplace. Using Tdsoft's VoNGATE(TM) voice access gateway, cable operators and service providers will provide voice services over Com21's ComUNITY Access® System.
``The agreement between Tdsoft and Com21 creates opportunities for carriers who are deploying Com21 ComUNITY Access Systems,'' said Rick Walsworth, vice president and general manager of ATM and DVB Products for Com21. ``The cable operator will be able to deploy an end-to-end solution that offers integrated toll-quality voice and high-speed data services that provide businesses, home offices and residential users with new and powerful capabilities.''
``Our partnership with Com21 represents an important landmark in establishing Tdsoft's leadership position in the voice over next generation access (VoNGA) worldwide market,'' said Yosi Albagli, Tdsoft's President and CEO. ``Com21, a worldwide primary cable modem vendor, will now be able to provide toll quality voice services over their ComUNITY Access Systems worldwide, leveraging Tdsoft's field-proven experience in connecting access systems to voice switches in 25 countries with 14 voice switches of different vendors during the last 5 years,'' added Albagli.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on December 14, 1999.