Voip softswitch

Byline: Vince Vittore

McLeodUSA will announce this week that it has selected Telica's softswitch to be used in the implementation of its new VoIP service. The carrier plans to launch in Denver, Dallas, Detroit and Chicago in June.

The decision to use Telica's PLUS softswitch architecture came after a vendor evaluation period in which McLeodUSA placed heavy emphasis on the ability of the softswitches to work side by side with its existing Class 5 switches.

"We obviously had a list of features and functionality they had to meet," said Todd Wilkens, group VP of network engineering for McLeodUSA. "Whatever we put in also had to act as a Class 5 cap. That was the criteria that knocked a lot of people out of the arena."

McLeod's service will target both business and residential customers and focus on subscribers with between four and 24 voice lines, said Greg Crosby, group VP of marketing for McLeodUSA.

"The initial application is packet-based integrated access," Crosby said. "It allows us to integrate multiply voice connections and a dynamic data connection over one or two T-1s. Beyond that, we're going to be offering down-market services targeted at residential and small businesses over a DSL connection."