Stratus Technologies, Inc, today announced that its carrier grade signalling software, the Stratus Intelligent Network Applications Platform (SINAP), is now available for the first time for IP networks.
SINAP/IP version 1.0 is supported on current Stratus systems including the new Stratus ftServer T Series fault-tolerant server for the Linux operating system. (The new SINAP/SS7 version 14.0 is also supported on the T Series server.) SINAP/IP will enable carriers to transparently evolve existing SS7 services from traditional circuit-switched TDM networks to next-generation, IP-based packet networks.
No change will be required to existing SINAP applications for them to work in IP networks.
An open signalling software stack, the SINAP product family enables rapid application development and provides a high-performance runtime environment supporting both traditional SS7-over-TDM and SS7-over-IP networks. As service providers increasingly move to IP-based packet networks, SINAP/IP provides a bridge with the legacy network, helping to leverage existing network equipment as the converged network takes shape. SINAP/IP also provides a distributed architecture to enable dynamic availability and scalability, thus providing the necessary carrier grade characteristics for SS7 signalling over IP.
"The Stratus SINAP family lineage is long and still very visible in SS7 circuit-switched networks throughout Asia, Europe, and North America," said Ali Kafel, Telecommunications Business Unit director at Stratus. "SINAP/IP builds on this rich heritage with the added advantage of being supported on a NEBS-compliant, fault-tolerant, open-systems platform for the Linux operating system. It is a very effective platform for launching next-generation voice and data services, and revenue-producing applications."
SINAP/IP 1.0 includes the following network elements:
* Internet Protocol Application Server (IPAS) network entity, which allows SINAP/SS7 applications to run on Stratus telecom servers on an IP network and to interoperate with Stratus' IP Signaling Gateway or other third-party SIGTRAN-compliant products.
* Internet Protocol Signalling Gateway (IPSG) network entity, which converts SCCP messages from SS7-over-MTP to SS7-over-IP using IETF SIGTRAN protocols, and supports load sharing across multiple application servers.
* Internet Protocol Message Transfer (IPMT) network entity, which is co-located with a traditional SS7 Signalling End Point (eg an SCP) to offload selective SS7-over-MTP traffic to the SS7-over-IP network.
SINAP/IP running on the fault-tolerant, reliable Stratus T Series server affords service providers the advantages of open-systems technology, as well as the benefit of having a single point of contact for support of the operating system, server and SINAP layered products.
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