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This article, written by Paula Bernier, originally appeared in xchange online, July 31, 2007. © 2007, Virgo Publishing. Reproduced with permission.
MetaSwitch Offers 'Telephony-Optimized' Take on SDP
Like IMS before it, everybody seems interested in getting a piece of the SDP pie.
For example, MetaSwitch at NXTcomm is pushing further into the applications sphere with the introduction of what it's calling a service delivery platform (SDP).
There's no standard definition for SDP, but what most folks think of when you say service delivery platform these days is a Web-based solution for creating and deploying a variety of services, and interfacing to necessary OSS and BSS systems at the service provider, regardless of the type of service or network. The idea behind this new generation of SDPs, being promulgated at IT vendors like BEA Systems Inc., IBM Corp. and Oracle Corp., is all about breaking down single-service silos.
However, while Martin Taylor, MetaSwitch's senior vice president of product management and strategy, says its MetaSphere SDP theoretically could work for any application, he indicates that this product is optimized for telephony-type applications. That makes sense, given MetaSwitch is a softswitch vendor. But it kind of goes against the idea of breaking down service silos.
In any case, Taylor says it would be more difficult for "general-purpose" SDPs from companies such as those mentioned above to create and support some of the applications MetaSphere aims to address, given MetaSwitch has a "mastery of telephony."
The MetaSphere solution includes a service creation and personalization environment as well as pre-packaged applications.
MetaSwitch already offers an application and services environment, and some pre-packaged applications, notes Taylor. What's new here is the service-creation environment and some new or enhanced applications. The Java- and XML-based service-creation and personalization environment offered under the MetaSphere umbrella is referred to as SCAPE.
"SCAPE is the tool that allows for new IVR capability to become developed quickly through a GUI," says Taylor. The MetaSphere solution overall aims to help service providers and their partners create and introduce new services and features "at Google lab speed as opposed to BellLabs speed," he adds.
SCAPE supports carrier-grade availability and scalability to tens of millions of users via clustering of commercial off-the-shelf server hardware; a service capability interaction manager to facilitate interaction between multiple applications; and a library of common services providing access to media server, session control, virtual home subscriber server data storage, diagnostic, provisioning, auditing/logging and billing functions. Another key element of the MetaSphere SDP is CommPortal, MetaSwitch's previously announced user interface.