Carriers Leverage Competitive Edge With MetaSwitch

MetaSwitch Infrastructure Continues to Be Solution of Choice for Competitive Carriers

CompTel -- More than 125 competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) are now among the customers of MetaSwitch, the leader in reliable, high-quality voice communications platforms and services. The four latest CLECs, NTS Communications, Dialogix Telecom, Nevada Comstock Communications and FastTrack Communications, have all selected the company's MetaSwitch softswitch and MetaSphere next-generation application suite to enable the deployment of advanced services to meet the rapidly increasing demands of their customer bases.

NTS Communications, the largest CLEC in West Texas, has deployed the MetaSwitch softswitch and MetaSphere applications suite to provide integrated voice and data services to its existing business and residential customers. With MetaSwitch in place, NTS will add enhanced IP services like advanced voicemail and hosted PBX solutions to its current triple-play bundle of voice, video and data. The softswitch will be deployed at NTS' Lubbock, Texas headquarters and will provide the primary switching platform as NTS builds out its fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. "Ultimately, we decided on MetaSwitch because of its reputation as a trusted provider of advanced, next-generation solutions," said Mitch Elliot, vice president of network finance, NTS. "MetaSwitch will give us the flexibility to quickly offer customer-focused features as an incorporated package, all from a single source, using our existing platforms."

Hawaii-based Dialogix Telecom has turned to MetaSwitch to help deliver telecommunications services, both traditional and advanced IP-based services like hosted PBX, to its commercial customer base using Dialogix's advanced packet-based network. MetaSwitch technologies are also helping to interface with an Asterisk-based platform, as the company continues to migrate calls from Asterisk to the MetaSwitch integrated softswitch to provide more robust service. According to Stephen Hon, president and owner, Dialogix, one of the main drivers to choosing MetaSwitch was the integrated softswitch package. "With other offerings, you run the risk of having many vendors make up one solution," he explained. "We knew we wanted something carrier-class and fully protected, and having the MetaSwitch softswitch platform include the media gateway and call agent helped alleviate our interoperability fears." The MetaSwitch platform is currently deployed at Dialogix's central office, with plans to purchase and provision a second softswitch at a different location to continue to offer businesses redundancy for mission-critical services.

Nevada Comstock Communications, LLC is working to a provide state-of-the-art, greenfield opportunity to the businesses located at the 108,000-acre Reno-Tahoe Industrial Park. The MetaSwitch softswitch is forming the core of the company's FTTP network, enabling Nevada Comstock to deliver all-hosted solutions as part of a VoIP business solutions package. "Since we're starting from scratch, we knew we wanted a best-of-breed solution from a strong and stable partner," said Al Lachner, development director, Nevada Comstock. "We evaluated a number of vendors, but selected MetaSwitch because of the company's knowledgeable and supportive staff, as well as its reliable and robust solutions and continually expanding services and feature sets." Future plans include expanding into territories beyond the industrial park, and offering residential solutions.

FastTrack Communications uses a privately owned, 420-mile fiber optic network to deliver communications services to Northwest New Mexico and Western Colorado. Initially delivering only transport, private line and internet services, the locally-owned and operated FastTrack turned to MetaSwitch to begin offering voice services like traditional PRIs, bundled voice and data via T-1 and hosted SIP trunks to area businesses. "FastTrack is a small company delivering integrated products to rural area businesses that aren't being served by incumbent carriers," said Steve Dorf, chief executive officer, FastTrack. "MetaSwitch offers performance and reliability, an extensive feature set, and the training and support that a smaller carrier needs to successfully deliver new services."

"There is huge opportunity for CLECs like these to deliver advanced, attractively priced communications services to new locations or to customers that have been traditionally neglected by incumbent carriers," said Mike Ward, senior vice president at MetaSwitch. "The scalability and flexibility of the MetaSwitch solution allows for the quick roll-out of these services, while leaving room for CLECs to continually increase their customer base."

About MetaSwitch

MetaSwitch is an industry-leading vendor of switching and applications solutions for both packet and circuit-switched networks. Its MetaSphere applications suite enables a broad set of hosted IP communications services, while its core session control and media/signaling gateway products support a full range of Class 4/5 softswitch capabilities. Customers include many of the world's leading operators of wireline, wireless and cable networks, with deployments that scale to millions of subscribers. For more information, please visit www.metaswitch.com.

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