In The News

Cloud-based software provider Metaswitch Networks has contributed the initial codebase to Project Clearwater – a new open source cloud-based IMS initiative that aims to simplify uptake of the network.

To be fair, not all the old line companies have given up on building their own technology for the cloud era. Thirty-year old MetaSwitch is open sourcing it’s new IMS core software to ease cloud development.

“Carriers want to get services out there and offer them in a way that will reduce cost and development time and bring down the per-subscriber cost,” said Metaswitch Director of Corporate Communications Phil Harvey in an interview. “Doing this in the cloud helps them get from Point A to Point B more quickly.”

“Traditional paths to IMS have been expensive and exceedingly vendor-centric,” says Martin Taylor, CTO of Metaswitch Networks. “Our aim is to provide operators and developers with the keys to quickly move to highly-scaled VoIP and VoLTE networks and create tomorrow’s most advanced Web-scale communications applications.

Taylor points out that telcos used to have the largest scale systems, but that is changing. The globe-spanning networks delivering five nines that once inspired such awe, are now common as Google, Microsoft and others build out their own globe-spanning infrastructures. And telco’s know that to keep up they must adopt the same tricks the web scale companies have, like open source software and commodity hardware.

One vendor who’s taken a different approach is Metaswitch, who’s promoting a cloud IMS that was “cloud” from the first, and it’s an interesting study in some of the issues in cloud-based virtualization of network features. Their cloud IMS is called “Clearwater”.

TDS believes Perimeta will enable it to “do more with less,” said Paker in an interview. TDS aims to use the Metaswitch product for new SBC purchases and to upgrade existing SBCs to Perimeta when additional capacity is needed.  NFV also drove Perimeta’s use of centralized equipment control, said Paker. He sees that as an attractive feature, as it “allows us to more closely set and match the capacity required from the network with the equipment we’re putting out there,” he said.

“We are excited about the partnership with Netronome and opportunity to bring this carrier SDN solution to the Open Networking Summit,” said Andy Randall, senior vice president of networking technologies at Metaswitch Networks. “The NFP provides us with the programmable dataplane that unlocks many differentiating features of our control plane software, which is at the heart of devices deployed in every major global carrier network. Together, we are at the forefront of commercializing OpenFlow-based SDN solutions and look forward to building networks with our complementary technologies.”

CEO John Lazar said: “Given Metaswitch’s history of hiring top class graduates from diverse backgrounds, the location provides an ideal base for the company’s continued commitment to developing the industry’s best software engineers. We have a long-standing association with Cambridge, with many of our graduate intake coming from the University. Both Metaswitch and the university are centres of technology excellence so Cambridge was a logical choice for our expanded product development team.”

Expect the Metaswitch you know as the application server, gateway and SBC company to still do all these things but in software, running in virtualized environments on bare-metal servers. Their goal is to sell these solutions to you in order to turn your hardware telco into a software telco.

“AirePBX is one of our fastest-growing products. We are proud of the rich feature set and ease of use. Accession will further enhance and distinguish the product by making communications truly mobile across all devices,” said Daniel Lonstein, AireSpring chief operating officer. “Combine unbeatable features with AireSpring’s fully managed IP network and AirePBX instantly proves itself as the standout among would-be competitors.”

AireSpring Communications said today it plans to deploy Metaswitch Accession technology on AirePBX, bringing unified communications (UC) enhancements to the company’s product.

“As traditional networks become increasingly software based, it makes sense that a session border controller would be one of the first elements of the network to move off of proprietary hardware,” says Steve Gleave, senior vice president of marketing for Metaswitch Networks, which is already testing demand with its own software-based session border controller.

Satellite operator Inmarsat has partnered with Metaswitch Networks to provide VoIP products as part of its Global Xpress broadband network set to launch worldwide in 2014.  Metaswitch is providing Inmarsat with its Metaswitch universal media gateways, MetaSphere multimedia telephony application server, MetaView network management system and Perimeta session border controllers.

"It's a great privilege to be joining the board of one of the UK's leading organisations in the sight loss sector. "I really hope my life experience and business skills will help the charity go from strength to strength." He has just completed a fundraising tandem cycle ride from Land's End to John O'Groats.  Mr Mairs is a senior scientist with international software provider Metaswitch Networks, and will be helping the trust with its extensive research programme on sight loss issues.

Vincent M. Oddo, Birch President and CEO, said in a release announcing the acquisition that "Covista's Metaswitch-based facilities network, which has switching centers in Tennessee, New York City and Los Angeles, is complementary to our current service footprint while also adding some new markets."

Datavo, a competitive local exchange carrier operating in Southern California, is the first announced user of the Metaswitch Networks “Accession Communicator” platform, which turns a hosted solution into a mobile solution.  The way Datavo sells the new capabilities illustrates quite a lot about how small business customers understand value, and how little they understand industry jargon. So part of the sales effort requires starting with concepts they already understand, and building from there. 

“We are delighted that AdvaTel has continued to work closely with Metaswitch to ensure their products remain accredited with our current product line, ensuring a continued quality of support to our customers,” said Martin Price, Director of Business Development, Metaswitch. “Outlook calendar mining gives operators the opportunity to significantly improve levels of service provided to callers.”

The Optical Internetworking Forum approved three security implementation agreements (IAs) and elected several new directors and committee chairs.  Newly elected to the board of directors is Joe Whitehouse of Metaswitch Networks, who will serve a one-year term as the Market Awareness & Education co-chair, Networking.

"Today is yet another significant step forward as we advance our multi-year 'tuck-in' acquisition strategy designed to build customer density throughout our 38-state footprint," said Vincent M. Oddo, Birch president and CEO. "Through this acquisition, Birch continues its recent expansion into southwest Florida. DayStar's Metaswitch-based facilities network, and many thousands of business customers, fit very well into our growing facilities-based enterprise."

“SyncGlobal invested in the TransNexus solution for least cost routing with QOS through the Metaswitch, fraud detection, implementing multiple expanded local calling area products, managing customer specific rated toll products, the ability to analyze near real time customer specific margins on intrastate, interstate, international, and toll free services, and as an application for auditing carrier related toll charges,” said Kyle Williamson, CEO of SyncGlobal.

Metaswitch held its annual customer forum this week with a theme of innovation. That's quite a common theme in the telecom industry these days and like many suppliers of technology to the carrier space, Metaswitch has a vested interest in its customers taking the theme to heart. Metaswitch VP of Marketing Steve Gleave, whose fingerprints are always all over the forum event, summed up the theme early on by urging Metaswitch's carrier customers to get moving. The time for talk about technology and all of its wonderful inventive possibilities has passed, urged Gleave.

Joe Harding, senior vice president of marketing at Integra Telecom, said in a release announcing the service that "[t]his offering allows businesses to focus on their growth and day-to-day priorities, leaving network support and management in the hands of one trusted provider."  Delivered through its partnership with softswitch vendor Metaswitch Networks, Hosted Voice Service is applicable to both single-site and the multi-site medium and large businesses that Integra has begun to target more aggressively over the past two years.

Now that he's back, the former software engineer is describing Metaswitch as a "software company." He's not just trying to sound hip. His four-part strategy provides a glimpse into a company that is helping its customers modernize their networks, while giving them a reasonable path to provide revenue-generating services that businesses and consumers want, over IP networks.

“Integra is a fine example of a service provider that truly values the customer and is gaining the rewards from its commitment to expansion of a comprehensive communications portfolio," said John Lazar, CEO at Metaswitch. "We stand ready to carry out our part in an exciting team that will deliver innovative, readily available services to business customers.”

Integra’s deployment of its new softswitch platform – provided by Metaswitch Networks – opens a number of opportunities for it to pursue. While the company is a regionally-focused carrier based in the Northwest US, it is pushing to extend its reach beyond these confines. Regional carriers have found it challenging to win multi-location enterprise accounts without nationwide reach. Integra’s newly installed Hosted VoIP platform allows it to plug this hole on the voice side and begins to set the stage for the company to move further up-market.

Provider of VoIP Phone and IP communication solutions, Yealink has announced a partner certification for interoperability of the T2X series SIP Phone with the Metaswitch platform, a recognition that signals admission into Metaswitch Networks’ Mosaic Partner Program.  The SIP-T2X Series offers customers high-definition voice quality. Equipped with TI TITAN chipset, it features TI voice engine, HD handset, HD speaker and HD codec (G.722).

John Lazar, Metaswitch Networks CEO, faces a challenge most suppliers to the global telecom business also face, namely how his own business, and that of his service provider customers, will change over the next decade or so. Some of those changes, such as a blurring of “over the top” and “carrier services,” will cause some potential discomfort. 

Edgewater Networks and Metaswitch got together and announced today a new solution geared toward the enterprise VoIP provider market. The new solution takes Metaswitch's MetaView solution and couples it with Edgewater's VoIP installation and monitoring solution, creating a whole new solution that allows providers an easy way to support enterprise operations where different devices from different manufacturers are used on the same network.

"Visual Voicemail is one of a suite of subscriber-facing applications that ETI has developed with technology companies such as Metaswitch," said Frank Gine, President of ETI Software Solutions. "These types of enhanced on-screen applications are a growing part of ETI's product universe and proof that our company has moved beyond provisioning."

Traditional PBXs are on the way out, says Metaswitch Networks. But while they may soon be gone, the company says it wants to make sure they’re not forgotten.  So Metaswitch has launched the website www.rememberwhenpbx.com,  which discusses the demise of the classic PBX and invites folks to submit photos and memories of these warhorses.

Blind cyclist Chris Mairs is to use pedal power to travel from Land's End to John O'Groats and hopes to raise £100,000 for Fight For Sight to fund an Oxford University researcher's scholarship to America.  Chris, 55, will join friend Guy Simpson, 45, on a tandem bike for the 1,000-mile journey to support the charity's work funding research to prevent sight loss and treat eye disease.

This week, Metaswitch Networks is taking the wraps off its hosted business social campaign and has given TMCnet exclusive access to this infographic, which emphasizes the key role that mobility is playing in businesses’ move to IP communications.

“People are moving to IP telephony because of its ability to extend mobility services,” says Simon Dredge, director of technical marketing at Metaswitch, who notes that today’s workforce is very mobile and there’s a new expectation that employees be reachable at all times.

While it is impossible to predict the future, two things are certain:; 1) the majority of business customers are still using legacy TDM trunking to connect to the public network, 2) the vast majority of business customers understand the value proposition and plan to move to SIP trunking in the next 5 years.

Farmside, a subsidiary of Bay City Communications has chosen Metaswitch Networks to address the increasing demand for speedier and more sophisticated communications. With Metaswitch solution deployed into its network, the teleco said that the solution cost-effectively provides their customers with enhanced communication applications on both IP and TDM connections.

Erik Linask talks with Chris Carabello, Director of Marketing, about keeping up at the Cable Show.

Freestyle soccer world record holder Daniel Cutting strikes a pose at the Metaswitch booth.

At the Cable Show in Boston, Metaswitch Networks will showcase its Accession Immersive Multimedia Telephony (IMT), which is designed to enable MSOs to deliver fluid call control between smartphones, fixed lines and tablets.

In conversations with Convergencialatina, Steve Gleave, Marketing VP of the company, has explained that "that line of products was encouraging fixed and mobile operators to strengthen their positions within a context where OTTs and manufacturers of devices obtained more benefits."

Columbus Cloud Voice is offered through partner Metaswitch and is a low cost voice solution for traditional digital landline services. Clients can make VoIP calls, set call rules (ignore specific numbers, forward calls to different phones, send certain calls to voice mail, etc etc), receive voice mails via sms and set up their own automated answer systems.

Are these companies willing to risk further investment in their future, without the aid of federal subsidies, under clouds of regulatory uncertainty and no assurance of seeing a return on that investment? In other words, can rural telcos live in the real world of business? Their major vendors are pushing them in that direction. It's riskier to stand still and not invest, than to push forward and take a chance on the future.

Ken Pyle talks with Steve Gleave, VP of Marketing, about his keynote at IP Possibilities 2012.

Innovative Telephone, the largest telco by subscribers in the Virgin Islands (US), has announced that it has selected Metaswitch Networks to migrate its legacy voice telephony operations on the islands of St Croix, St John and St Thomas to an all-IP solution.

How will mobile operators preserve customers and revenue from threat of over the top service providers (OTT)?  Metaswitch's Simon Williams, SVP Product Management and Marketing, review following mobile network carrier options for competing with OTT providers.

Metaswitch is once again the Platinum Sponsor at IP Possibilities, the leading IP conference sponsored by NTCA and OPASTCO.  Looking ahead to this year's conference, Jane Wigen, Member Relations Manager at NTCA, interviews Steve Gleave, Vice President of Marketing, at NTCA's Annual Meeting in San Diego.  Steve discusses new innovations in the IP voice arena.

Steve Gleave of Metaswitch spoke to Brian Dolby about their football theme at this years Mobile World Congress, as well as some more about what they are up to.

Metaswitch has used a lot of references to kings and monarchs in its buildup to its new multimedia telephony portfolio. Perhaps Mobile World Forum 2011 will be remembered as the coronation for the company's new Accession product line….. Accession is one of the more promising concepts to appear in the IP communications world in a while. It and Metaswitch bear watching over the months to come.

Initially, Metaswitch will offer Accession as a managed service, but the network infrastructure will live within carrier networks. However, down the road the company could offer it to service providers as a cloud-based solution, says Steve Gleave, Metaswitch vice president of Marketing.

Of course, many Metaswitch customers already have at least some of the above-mentioned gear installed in their networks already, so providing customers with the capabilities delivered under the Accession umbrella would be just one more way for them to leverage that infrastructure.

"Early momentum in the battle for customer mindshare has been with the handset vendors and app providers," said Kevin DeNuccio, CEO at Metaswitch. "With Accession, the balance of power swings firmly in favor of the network operator, allowing them to deliver trusted, secure, rich and unique applications around the one true global identity: a telephone number."

“Early momentum in the battle for customer mindshare has been with the handset vendors and app providers,” said Kevin DeNuccio, CEO at Metaswitch. "With Accession, the balance of power swings firmly in favor of the network operator, allowing them to deliver trusted, secure, rich and unique applications around the one true global identity: a telephone number. Accession is very much about timely introduction of these advanced applications – something that we can further accelerate with a managed product offering.”

"Arguments for separating signaling and media functions in a session border controller are well understood.  The commercial benefits of running session border control on COTS platforms are also clear.  Moving the signaling control function into the cloud, and leveraging the economies of generic server platforms and inherent system redundancy is a logical progression.  By detaching SBC licenses from physically deployed platforms, operators can be sure that there are "no SBC licenses left behind" when integrated appliances max out before purchased license limits are reached."

“This was a marquee event for FairPoint to show off its fiber network, and experienced staff … FairPoint performed flawlessly."

“We also saw the future in a Metaswitch that is just 2 feet wide, tall and deep but can handle as many voice customers as several floors of the old switches.”

Honouring excellence and innovation in mobile communications, the GSMA is delighted to announce the nominees for the 2012 Global Mobile Awards!  With a record six hundred - the highest ever number of entries to this year's awards - from across the world and from across the mobile eco-system.

Thrutu from Metaswitch Networks has been shortlisted in the "Most Innovative Mobile App" category.

John Lazar, chairman of Metaswitch, one of the leading communication software companies in the UK, said that Britain's engineering "fraternity" needed to sell itself better to young people. "If you are a bright kid born in Silicon Valley in the US, you end up at Stanford or Berkeley and you aspire to work for Google or Apple or a start-up tech company," he said. "Here in Britain, the brightest graduates feel the force of the City, but they don't feel the pull of engineering.

TMCnet recently asked some of the leading lights in the industry for their thoughts about 2011 and what’s in store for the year ahead. In a year that was again dominated by economic unrest and social upheaval, Metaswitch completed its transition from being primarily recognized as a U.S. wireline softswitch vendor to a global provider of fixed and mobile carrier software applications.

“Ray is a recognized industry leader with considerable experience in network transformation, security, and wireless communications," said Kevin DeNuccio.  "After many years in a broad range of senior roles at the largest equipment vendors and communications service providers, Ray brings the kind of track record that fits perfectly with our plans for the future.”

Like DeNuccio, who joined Metaswitch last year following a successful run at the former Redback Networks--which later was bought by Ericsson--Smets is another executive who can bring his knowledge to a company that's trying to appeal to larger domestic and international Tier 1 carrier customers.

Metaswitch’s Thrutu division illustrates a trend where core network infrastructure vendors are looking to enable their carrier customers with tools and applications beyond the equipment that processes and routes their network traffic. This was a theme heavily emphasized at their recent Metaswitch Forum, held in Las Vegas last month.

What Sets Metaswitch Apart - In an uplifting keynote session, company CEO Kevin DeNuccio made the pitch about the fact that consumers will pay for advanced services and, moreover, that Metaswitch is the carrier partner to help provide them.

Richard Dorey, VP of Sales EMEA at Metaswitch, argues that voice, far from having a limited life span is thriving – albeit in different formats.

Ovum recently spoke at the Metaswitch Forum 2011 about the role of apps in telcos’ future strategies. Two of the recurrent themes at the event were the future of voice, and the increasing availability of third-party communication apps that enable users to make calls and send SMSs. These types of apps present a significant threat to operators as they can damage telcos’ revenue streams and undermine the intimate relationship that telcos have with their customers.

Doug Mohney talks about the migration from TDM to IP and why face-to-face events continue to be important.

The times they are-a-changing and the broader storyline for mobility is that customers want an “immersive, multimedia” experience. They talked about 7 M’s that carriers need to be competitive today, and one that sticks with me is that customers want “moments, not minutes.” Multimedia experiences create those moments that transcend minutes, and nothing does that better than smartphones.

Metaswitch Networks is more diversified and further into its transformation into an IP communications software company. It started out with the mundane business of protocol stacks and stuck gold with its Class 5 softswitch replacement laying the foundation for growth into new areas, such as telephony applications. Today, the company is organized around three major areas: VoIP and Voice Applications, SIP Infrastructure, and 4th Generation Communications. Each area has its own set of products and the company has hinted in no uncertain terms that more products are on the way.

Martin Taylor tells Martyn Warwick that there will have to be a trade-off between services and differentiation on the provision of QOS and that regulators will play a vital part in balancing the demands of the OTT upstarts with the realities of commercial and technological strictures affecting established and incumbent operators.  As Martin Taylor says, "Net neutrality notwithstanding, not all services are are created equal as far as the end user is concerned."  (Registration required to view video). 

Metaswitch is a very customer-focused company. I thought they did a great job positioning their technology in terms of what matters for carriers and their customers.

Great song, huh? John Sebastian at his best - bet you can't get it out of your head now. That's the idea. Now, close your eyes, hum along and then say, "damn, I wish I was at Metaswitch in Vegas this week". Well, if you can't be here, then keep reading my posts, and pick up the Twitter feed (#mforum11) - it's been pretty active. I just wanted to share some thoughts from Day 1. This is my fifth Metaswitch Forum, and it keeps getting bigger and better every year. Attendance is close to 1,000, and it's a great testament to their loyal customer base.

"For our latest Hosted Voice offering, we spent considerable time learning more about what businesses wanted from our service, how they wanted to buy it and what features would help empower those using it," said Julia McGrath, SVP of Marketing and Business Development, Optimum Lightpath. “The result is our next-generation Optimum Lightpath Hosted Voice."

Optimum Lightpath announced the availability of its next-generation Optimum Lightpath Hosted Voice. The cloud-based phone service is designed for mid-market and large businesses and offers several new features, including capabilities to connect mobile workforces. It is based on flat-rate pricing, requires little or no upfront costs and runs on an all-fiber network.

On Monday, I'm flying out to Las Vegas for the 2011 edition of the Metaswitch Forum. I've been out to several of these, and they always do a great job. It doesn't hurt to have a large, happy customer base and great financial performance, not to mention continuously evolving technology. If you follow them, you'll know they launched an SBC a few weeks back - Perimeta - and next week I'll get a detailed update on their 2012 roadmap.

Chicago home phone service provider RCN recently launched significant home phone plan enhancements for all Chicago-area landline customers in an effort to update and improve overall communication and customer satisfaction. The launch of the Metaswitch system ushers in a more advanced platform for phone service, especially in regard to voicemail options.

Metaswitch would describe it as a move into a rapidly-growing market where customers are asking for choices. According to Infonetics Research, service providers are spending $350 million a year buying SBCs. By 2015 (just four years) they will be buying $1 billion a year worth of SBCs. “Candidly, service providers are asking for alternatives,” says Patrick Fitzgerald, Metaswitch Networks VP.

The session border controller market demands massively scalable solutions that support independent scaling of signaling and media and leverages standard hardware for maximum cost effectiveness. And that is exactly what Metaswitch developed from the ground up -- an SBC that can address new session demands and offers a unique distributed architecture.

The Session Border Control (SBC) space has been relatively steady state over the past three to four years, so it is refreshing to watch Metaswitch Networks’ launch of the Perimeta SBC. How well the company does depends on how attractive its new architecture is to service providers and its estimates of future market growth.

Matthews of Metaswitch added that it’s time to stop investment in legacy networks and move the focus to application-based environments in which voice is just one app on the broadband network.

In a recent survey we commissioned, we found that 95 percent of business employees use smartphones and 62 percent of businesses have employees that work from home. This requires service providers to deliver an even tighter integration of the communication experience, creating a consistent experience that encompasses both fixed and mobile devices across both their residential and business lives.

What is at risk is not only today’s revenue but tomorrow’s growth. Adopters of IP voice, particularly hosted VoIP, are twice as likely to adopt other services from the IP service provider, particularly those now categorized as cloud services. The IP pipe, with voice and PBX functionality as the first and most logical application, can serve as a ladder for your customers to your cloud.

The test event, in partnership with the GSMA as part of its global VoLTE initiative, will be hosted by MSF and mobile operators Vodafone and China Mobile in the Vodafone Test and Innovation Centre in Dusseldorf, Germany, and the China Mobile research Institute Laboratory in Beijing, China.

UK-founded company Metaswitch Networks has been shortlisted for the Broadband InfoVision Awards for its Thrutu app for smartphones, which enables a user to interact more effectively with the person they are having a phone conversation with.

Mr. Cronan comes to Metaswitch with over twenty years of management experience at both publicly traded and privately held technology companies. Most recently he served as chief financial officer of Aviat Networks, Inc., a leader in wireless transmission solutions.

Chris Carabello talks about three types of innovation; business model, organizational and services. He talks about the challenges of change and the importance of being faster to meet changing customer needs. He emphasizes the importance of expanding business models and revenue sources by leveraging the network and existing relationships.

A useful interactive app - that is free for the download - has arrived on the iPhone. Known as Thrutu, the app and service allows screen and other interactions between users of both Android and iOS-driven devices in parallel with a voice call for the first time.

Telecom vendors have had limited success helping their operator partners deliver telecom/mobile apps. But Metaswitch seems to be on a bit of a roll with its Thrutu mobile app, launching a new iPhone version today, joining an already-released Android app (CP: Metaswitch continues to push right Thrutu ‘buttons’). Besides the obvious coup of reaching millions of new iPhone users, the move sets up the app – which enables real-time, in-call content sharing between users – to span the two popular platforms.

Steve Gleave, VP of Marketing at Metaswitch Networks says that many service providers he talks to would prefer their sales teams to sell hosted PBXs, rather than premises PBXs, in those situations where hosted is the best customer fit.

Prem Viswanathan, Director of Metaswitch, Asia Pacific, delivers a top down summary of Metaswitch strategy and recent wins in region.

Brian Dolby speaks to Simon Dredge, Diretor of Technical Marketing at Metaswitch in Singapore.  Metaswitch has recently opened an office in Singapore and shares news on new customers in the region.

Metaswitch Networks, a global supplier of next generation telecom infrastructure and applications, today announced new customer wins in Australia and the Philippines, expanding its presence in the Asia Pacific region.

Switching services provider Metaswitch Networks has received orders from Australia and the Philippines, expanding its presence in the Asia Pacific region. Australian telecommunications company CallStream Communications will launch Metaswitch Hosted Business Services to small and medium-sized businesses across the country. In the Philippines, Metaswitch now has four customers in partnership with Pastels. Newly added are incumbent operators General Telephone and Iriga Telephone. Both have announced plans to modernise their networks and will offer enhanced services to their subscribers.

Metaswitch Networks, a leading provider of carrier systems and communications software solutions, today announced that Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's market leader in mobile, Internet and fixed line services, is deploying the Metaswitch Service Broker.

Metaswitch Networks, a leading provider of carrier systems and communications software solutions, today announced that Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's market leader in mobile, Internet and fixed line services, is deploying the Metaswitch Service Broker.

Metaswitch Networks has opened an office at the heart of one of the busiest trading hubs and largest financial centers in the world. Located on Fullerton Road in Singapore, the new regional headquarters will support a growing customer and employee base while helping drive new sales throughout the territory.

RCR Wireless News Interviews Simon Dredge, Director, Technical Marketing of Metaswitch Networks who introduces a new product demo, CommPortal Communicator.

The Metaswitch CommPortal Communicator, which can be private labeled by service providers, is a UC client that bridges wireline and mobile handsets. It presents a suite of hosted PBX services to a classic enterprise desk phone, a mobile handset and a PC. Support is offered for Windows PC, Apple iOS and Android mobile devices.

Metaswitch Networks, a supplier of infrastructure and applications to network operators which has been increasingly targeting the mobility market, is to acquire Colibria, a provider of enhanced instant messaging, presence and network address book solutions. The acquisition adds to Metaswitch’s recently launch Thrutu service, an in-call content sharing experience that enables users to impulsively exchange information during a mobile call.

The addition of Colibria’s IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Rich Communication Suite (RCS and RCS-e) compliant portfolio further broadens the range of options that Metaswitch can now present to operators looking for short, mid and long-term answers to the dual challenges of countering competitive threats and keeping the voice call relevant.

Thrutu, an Android app that allows callers to add location, photo sharing, contact information and a "Prod" function to mobile voice calls, now is available on the Android Market. Thrutu also will be available for iPhone and BlackBerry.

IMS' - the IP Multimedia Subsystem - has been a buzzword in the telecom industry for much of the last decade, offering the promise of bringing wireline and wireless voice together into a modern, modular architecture. However, perhaps now more than ever IMS is truly being seen as the definitive architectural direction for future voice networks.

Metaswitch Networks has made its first-ever acquisition, acquiring AppTrigger, a provider of service broker solutions. The addition of the AppTrigger Ignite platform to the Metaswitch product line-up will enable the company to provide standalone service broker solutions, as well as accelerate adoption of its switching and applications product lines in fixed-line and wireless networks in multiple geographical markets.

Metaswitch Networks has quietly built itself into a significant player in the IP convergence vendor market, drawing on its strengths in softswitches and data protocols. This morning, the U.K.-based company is trumpeting its intentions to build further by announcing the appointment of former Redback CEO Kevin DeNuccio as its new top executive. Current CEO John Lazar becomes chairman, replacing Metaswitch founder Ian Ferguson, who remains on the board of directors.