In 1999 Inter-Tel, Inc. announced that a Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) interoperable version of its award-winning Vocal'Net IP telephony gateway software would be released in Japan. Distribution would be through NTT International (NTTI) and NTT Communicationware Corporation. The gateway software interoperates with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) switches and SS7 signaling.
SS7 is a signaling protocol used within traditional telephone networks for providing call control between network locations. In Japan, SS7 capability allows caller information to be transported across NTT carrier networks quickly and efficiently. As a result, network features like calling party I.D., call forwarding and call blocking can be implemented transparently over IP with the Vocal'Net gateway.
With the addition of SS7 support, the Vocal'Net gateway can be incorporated transparently into an existing NTT SS7 telephone network. With Vocal'Net, SS7 capability becomes available over an IP network as well as a traditional telephone network. For example, a Vocal'Net gateway can receive call information from an origination SS7 telephone network in Tokyo, transfer it across Inter-Tel's Vocal'Net IP gateway, then deliver it to a destination SS7 telephone network in Osaka. SS7 functionality is generally considered to be critical to the widespread deployment of Voice-over-IP (VoIP) technologies by major carriers such as NTT.
NTT International commercially released over 100 Inter-Tel Vocal'Net IP telephony gateways since April 1999 for Japan.
"This represents yet another milestone in the strong relationship among NTT International, NTT Communicationware and Inter-Tel," said Steven G. Mihaylo, Inter-Tel, Inc. chairman and CEO.
Shuji Arima, NTTI's senior vice president, multimedia systems department said, "We believe that Inter-Tel's Vocal'Net software is the first SS7 Voice-over-IP product in Japan, and SS7 is the essential function for IP telephony from now on. The SS7 interoperability makes the Vocal'Net very attractive to the telecommunications industry, ISPs, and companies with heavy long distance traffic."
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About NTT International
Established in 1985, Tokyo-based NTT International has successfully conducted 350 telecommunications and data communications consulting and engineering projects in 50 countries worldwide. Multimedia is one of the keywords of NTTI as the company also introduces outstanding foreign multimedia systems and products to the Japanese market and at the same time develops business in foreign markets by making international versions of systems made with the state-of-the-art technologies developed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. NTTI has distributed Inter-Tel's Vocal'Net family of products for NTT and major companies in Japan since 1997, conducting sales and providing technical support to customers concerning Japanese Network Interfaces.
NTT Communicationware Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT. It provides a wide range of telecommunications-related services, such as the development, production, operation and maintenance of systems, software and related equipment; sales and lease of system software and related equipment; construction; and billing services. It also provides services for planning, training, and consulting, as well as dispatching personnel to clients. It also provides NTT with communications software and systems services to support the corporation's telecommunications business, as well as assistance in developing software to achieve greater efficiency in NTT's network operations. NTT Communicationware employs approximately 5,300 people and has assets of approximately 600 billion yen with 20 billion yen in capital.
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