Integral increases voice, data support

New module for integrated access device sports three T-1s.

By Jim Duffy
The Edge, 01/14/02

CHELMSFORD, MASS. - Integral Access last week unveiled a three-port T-1 module for its integrated access device that the company says will triple the amount of data and double the amount of voice traffic the platform can handle.

The new module for Integral's PurePacketOUTburst-SB IAD is targeted at carriers bundling integrated voice and data services over IP Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks for small and midsize enterprise customers. The three T-1 access links can be bonded together to form a virtual 4.5M bit/sec trunk with failover and load-balancing capabilities among the physical ports, Integral says.

Previously, the PurePacket IAD supported a single T-1 for access from the enterprise into the carrier IP/MPLS network with 24 voice channels, or 1.5M bit/sec for data. The new module doubles the number of voice channels to 48 while simultaneously supporting 4.5M bit/sec of data, Integral officials say.

"It allows service providers to increase the throughput and the potential number of users they can support," says Claudia Bacco, an analyst with Telechoice.

The voice channel count on the new three-port module is limited by the two customer-facing plain old telephone service (POTS) interfaces, which only support up to 12 Foreign Exchange Station or Foreign Exchange Office lines apiece.

The PurePacketOUTburst-SB natively supports IP services, such as voice over IP, video over IP, voice over DSL, IP VPNs, and LAN interconnect, as well as POTS, PBX interconnect, frame relay and private line, Integral says. It can be equipped with up to three interface modules, in addition to a built-in 10/100Base-T Ethernet port.

Two configurable customer premises interfaces can be equipped with modules for DS-1 or E-1 for connecting to a PBX, and V.35/X.21 for serial data connections, in addition to the POTS lines. The carrier network interface can be configured with a DSL, T-1, E-1 or the new 3xT-1 module to connect to Integral's PurePacketNode in the point of presence, which aggregates T-1s coming into the network from multiple PurePacket IADs.

The PurePacketOUTburst-SB operates with SoftSwitches via the Media Gateway Control Protocol, supports Class 5 voice networks using the GR-303 protocol, and interfaces to ATM and IP/MPLS networks. Services bound for or aggregated from small and midsize businesses can be routed to the PSTN, a SoftSwitch-enabled Signaling System 7 packet telephony network, or kept on the IP/MPLS backbone, according to MPLS label constraints that indicate path or destination.

The PurePacketOUTburst-SB includes a built-in firewall, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server and network address translation capabilities. It is 1U (1.75 inches) high and 19 inches wide, and wall- or rack-mountable.

The 3xT-1 module is available now. The upgrade module for existing PurePacketOUTburst-SB units is about $1,400. Base pricing for the PurePacketOUTburst-SB is about $1,900.

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