May 24, 2005 - (HOSTSEARCH.COM) - Web hosting providers may be interested to note new VoIP expansions in Europe. As web hosting prices continues to drop ISPs and hosting providers are branching out in search of new revenue streams. Along those lines, Global Crossing has introduced a European inbound service to compliment its VoIP outbound service, offering carriers a comprehensive VoIP portfolio that delivers on the promise of converging voice, video and data services over a single IP connection. VoIP Local Services are currently available in the UK for customers globally.
Numbers from additional European countries will be available in the second half of 2005. VoIP Local Services offers carriers, resellers, prepaid card operators, enhanced service providers and other VoIP telephony providers the ability to originate traffic on the public switched telephone network in different countries using geographic numbers. The traffic is then converted to VoIP on Global Crossing's network for delivery to the customer's IP network via a Session Initialisation Protocol (SIP) interconnect allowing providers to offer converged services to their customers over a single connection. Direct Dial Inbound numbers can be purchased from Global Crossing or can be ported from third-party providers to Global Crossing.
This service offers Global Crossing's customers a local presence in international markets where they do not have a physical point of presence. It provides a cost-effective alternative to traditional voice services as it eliminates traditional time division multiplexing (TDM) and private lines with a single IP connection alternative.
The introduction of VoIP Local Services in Europe follows the introduction of the service in the U.S. in October 2004 and forms part of a growing portfolio of carrier VoIP services that includes Global Crossing VoIP Outbound(TM) and Global Crossing VoIP Toll-Free Transport(TM).
"End-users around the world are demanding cost-effective, highly secure
VoIP services enabling a seamless migration to a fully converged IP network of voice, video and data over a single connection," said Anthony Christie, Global Crossing's chief marketing officer. "Our suite of VoIP services provides an integrated, well-rounded portfolio that allows our carrier customers to design flexible and efficient service platforms to meet the evolving demands of their end-users."
VoIP Local Services benefits established carriers by eliminating dedicated physical connections and gateways to multiple markets and instead connecting all markets over a single IP connection, thus increasing their bandwidth efficiency. New entrants in the wholesale voice market can take advantage of Global Crossing's pure IP approach, allowing them to leverage their investment in VoIP technologies rather then purchasing TDM ports and incremental TDM to VoIP conversion equipment.
Security is a key feature of VoIP Local Services. Global Crossing has deployed session border controllers to provide a secure interconnection point that protects Global Crossing's and the customer's networks from each other. High performance is also guaranteed because traffic is carried over the Global Crossing MPLS private backbone. This minimizes packet loss, jitter and latency to give the requisite service quality demanded by voice and other real-time applications.
Global Crossing provides multiple global IP connectivity options to its VoIP services, including IP Transit, IP VPN and the Internet. This flexibility is designed to meet the diverse needs of key wholesale market segments, from new entrants to established carriers, regardless of their VoIP network architecture.
Additionally, carriers also have a choice for domestic and international voice traffic termination through uncompressed audio (G.711) for highest quality voice traffic, or compressed audio (G.729a) that increases voice traffic capacity by 60 percent. In addition, Global Crossing is now able to support the international standards for compression with silence suppression
(G.729ab). The greater circuit efficiency of G.729 enables service providers to target customers running non-compression sensitive applications.
Global Crossing VoIP Local Services in Europe is the latest addition to
Global Crossing's wholesale VoIP services portfolio. Global Crossing was an early adopter of VoIP, having deployed its global VoIP platform four years ago. The VoIP network currently transports more than 2 billion minutes per month, and approximately 52 percent of all minutes in the first quarter of
2005 were VoIP.
