Softswitch : Architecture for VoIP (Professional Telecom) [Paperback]

Frank Ohrtman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071409777 | ISBN-13: 978-0071409773 | Publication Date: December 10, 2002 | Edition: 1

Bypassing the old circuit-switched hardware, softswitches streamline message traffic and provide a much more efficient service development environment. Along with SIP, this technology leverages Internet technologies to replace plain-old-telephone service. Developers who are freed up by softswitch technology to build cost-effective 3G serives will learn how it works and what applications it can support. Network managers making hard decisions about whether to deploy VoIP will learn pros and cons, costs and benefits, and most importantly how to separate myth from reality.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

SOFTSWITCH DISSECTED

SOFT OR HARD? Hardware switches can cost tens of millions and occupy a city block in real estate. Softswitches are a fraction of the cost and the size of a refrigerator. Bypassing big iron can also make for a more efficient development environment, potentially offering more revenue-generating features than a Class 5 switch. If you want to learn how it's done and what you'll risk, read on.

A key enabling technology for delivering telecom services over the Internet inexpensively, softswitches empower new service providers to compete successfully with incumbents. If we equate "cheaper, smaller, and more convenient to use" with disruptive technology, then softswitch qualifies. But what are the drawbacks, where's the hype, and whose claims can you believe? Now this comprehensive reference to softswitch applications, protocols and platforms gives you an inside look at the software. Frank Ohrtman investigates the technology, the marketplace, and the players, so you can:
* Anticipate how softswitches will affect your systems, services, and vendors
* Learn how to get hardware-level quality, scalability, and signaling from a softswitch
* Evaluate softswitch advantages as Class 4 and Class 5 replacements
* Assess billing capabilities
* Make decisions on signaling protocols
* Compare implementation approaches
* Handle regulatory issues

"The telecommunications industry is now going through a part of a cycle that economist Josef Schumpeter would call 'creative destruction;' legacy infrastructure and business model have gone into decline and must be replaced. This book helps to identify some of the successes and technology challenges..." -- Michael H. Khalilian, telecom executive and analyst (from the Foreword)

About the Author

Frank Ohrtman has many years experience in sales of VoIP and softswitch platforms. His career in VoIP began with selling VoIP gateway switches for Netrix Corporation to long distance bypass carriers. He went on to promote softswitch solutions for Lucent Technologies (Qwest Account Manager) and Vsys (Western Region Sales Manager). The genesis of this book lies in answering customer objections to VoIP and, tangentially, softswitch technologies.

Mr. Ohrtman learned to perform in-depth research and write succinct analyses during his years as a Navy Intelligence Officer (1981-1991). He is a veteran of U.S. Navy actions in Lebanon (awarded Navy Expeditionary Medal), Grenada, Libya (awarded Joint Service Commendation Medal) and the Gulf War (awarded National Defense Service Medal). Mr. Ohrtman holds a Master of Science degree in Telecommunications from Colorado University College of Engineering (master's thesis: "Softswitch As Class 4 Replacement--A Disruptive Technology") and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Boston University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 359 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional; 1 edition (December 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071409777
• ISBN-13: 978-0071409773
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,533,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Softswitch kind of explained, June 27, 2005

By 

William D. Tompkins (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Softswitch : Architecture for VoIP (Professional Telecom) (Paperback)

This book, sometimes gets it right and sometimes doesnt. The graphics are not great and they should be. Some of the tables employed are not significant enough to explain the points started. I think this book takes a small bite when it should be taking a large chunk out of explaining the subject matter.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Softswitch at your own risk!, December 20, 2004

By 

G. Lewandowski - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Softswitch : Architecture for VoIP (Professional Telecom) (Paperback)

I got this book because the book claims to evaluate softswitch advantages as a Class 4 replacement. I work for a telecommunications company and one of our projects was to expand our long distance capability at the lowest costs possible. We evaluated the softswitches out there and determined the technology had not matured enough to replace hardware switches.

This book does explain the architecture and protocols, and for many SOHO's out there, it is a viable alternative. However, this book is deceptive in claiming that there is no reason not to immediately migrate from circuit switched Class 4 to a softswitch Class 4. After reading this book I believed that only configuration errors would stop migration, but my personal experience differs from the author.

I have experience to know that the softswitch products out there are either good for small scale migrations or as a MUX between real circuit switch hardware. Claims of Class 4 replacements are vaporware.

Because this book was the first one about softswitch does not make this a 5 star book. There is better white pages out there and sales literature that is better, and more realistic, than this book. I think the 5 star reviews are either shills or someone who has not read this book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Softswitch : Architecture for VoIP, February 11, 2003

By 

Charles L. Roberts (Arvada, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Softswitch : Architecture for VoIP (Professional Telecom) (Paperback)

"FINALLY, someone has taken the time and effort to define softswitch and lay out the architecture for a VoIP replacement of the PSTN. Author Ohrtman goes into painstaking detail to overcome the usual objections to VoIP in general and softswitch in particular, that is: reliability ("five 9s"), scalability,
Quality of Service, features and applicaitons and signaling. Not only does this book lay out the technical details of this revolutionary/evolutionary technology, but the author also delves into the economics and politics of softswitch and VoIP. This book is both a snapshot of the telecom infrastructure of today as well as explaining how the PSTN will be replaced by an all-IP network. No serious telecommunications professional should be without this book!