Global Alliance
Overview
The advent of SIP and ENUM technologies has led to the proliferation of VoIP based communications. With the promise of significant cost advantages, improved quality and the opportunity to deploy revenue rich advanced multimedia services, the benefits of VoIP communications are clear.
However, the benefits of VoIP communications are usually limited to within the service providers own network. In the vast majority of cases, calls that need to go between networks are still reliant on the PSTN interconnect infrastructure which means traditional transit and termination cost structures are imposed and new IP based services cannot be supported.
Service providers require a secure and scalable interconnection solution that will facilitate seamless interoperability, routing and interworking between multiple next generation IP networks to address the challenges of:
- Ensuring calls are routed as ‘IP all the way’ between networks to preserve call quality and exploit the revenue potential of new multimedia services
- Creating and managing multiple interconnect agreements from interoperability testing to peering policy management and enforcement.
- Negotiating commercial agreements and settlement rates between interconnected networks
- Ensuring network security across multiple interconnection partners
The Global Alliance addresses these challenges
Global Alliance Overview
Global Alliance service is a suite of policy driven, neutral and trusted Carrier-ENUM registry and interconnection services that allows service providers to realize the benefits of IP communications by enabling secure and seamless routing between VoIP, NGN, IMS, and mobile networks.
Global Alliance simplifies the process of interoperability and interconnection between networks. With a single connection to the Global Alliance interconnection hub, service providers are able to bypass the PSTN to exchange VoIP traffic with over 100 networks worldwide under the policies and settlement terms they choose
Features
Service Providers have the option to create or join 'Peering Communities' which have common business interests and interconnection rules. Rating and settlement is agreed on a bi-lateral basis which effectively replicates the PSTN interconnect model but with the benefits of VoIP calling.
Free AllianceTM
The Free Alliance is the world’s largest free call community with over 100 service providers. Members of the community have agreed to exchange traffic settlement free enabling them to offer preferential rates to their subscribers.
XConnect Registry Services
Xconnect Registry services enables interoperability and interworking of the Global Alliance with other registries and number databases globally.
Enables international carriers to query national LNP databases to determine the optimum routing for fixed and mobile ported numbers in the destination country (only available in certain countries and dependent upon regulatory compliance).
SuperQuery extends the capability of Global Alliance to include interoperability with other global Carrier-ENUM registries.
SuperQuery: GSMA PathFinder Service
PathFinder is a GSMA managed service operated by NeuStar. It is an interoperable, industry wide solution, enabling the routing of global IP service interconnect traffic. Interoperability is particularly important in facilitating the uptake of emerging services such as MMS, IMS, and Packet Voice.
PathFinder underpins this growth, promotes the introduction of new services and revenue streams, and helps operators control costs.
SuperQuery extends the reach of the Global Alliance to all service providers on the GSMA Pathfinder network and the GSMAs 750 member mobile operator community.
SuperQuery gives Global Alliance members the option to initiate queries to the Pathfinder Registry and to have numbers published in the PathFinder Registry the GSMA Carrier ENUM community,
Community Portal
Community Discovery.
Members have access to the Community Discovery database which contains details of all Alliance members including contact details and information on their locations and types of services provided.
This allows members to easily search and discover networks that maybe of interest to develop new business opportunities with based on common business models, peering policy and commercial terms.
Market Intelligence.
The Community Portal provides access to market intelligence from industry leading bodies, giving members in-depth insight, statistics and analysis on market trends and commentary on their peers and competitors.
Member Forum.
Alliance members can post requests and questions on a Member Forum to seek assistance and highlight any requirements or services which they can provide.
Traffic Monitoring and Reporting
The Traffic Monitoring and Reporting feature provides real-time traffic statistics and data to ensure traffic is routing optimally and to identify issues across the network to maintain Quality of Service (QoS) to subscribers.
Number Discovery.
The number discovery feature allows Alliance members to discover the range of telephone numbers which can be reached via Alliance and the service provider the number belongs to.
Alliance In & Alliance Out.
Members can utilise XConnect's ENUM registry to enable premium-quality IP termination on a global basis and earn per-minute payments from inbound traffic to their network.
Web 2.0 Interconnection
Web 2.0 Interconnection extends subscribers free-call reach by enabling peering with Web 2.0 and IM communities such as Google talk.
Global Alliance Benefits
Offered as a managed service, Global Alliance allows members to:
- Reduce costs, improve quality and deploy new advanced IP services by keeping by calls as VoIP end to end
- Efficiently determine optimal call routing information including number portability corrected data to ensure calls are routed correctly
- Simplify the interconnection process by interconnecting once to the XConnect hub and removing the need to create multiple bilateral agreements and undertake numerous resource intensive interoperability tasks.
- Provide a single source for data provisioning so that members do not have to provision data to multiple registries.
- Easily create peering relationships with networks based on their geographic location, business type and services supported.
- Manage peering policies to control the types of traffic exchanged and the settlement terms
Global Alliance Technology
The Global Alliance service is underpinned by industry leading network technology, which includes the following features:
Community Portal
Community Portal provides the Member’s business and operational interface to the Alliance, including member discovery, peering request and policy management, and traffic monitoring and reporting.
Peering Policy
Peering Policy creates and enforces peering rules for the types of traffic exchanged between Members.
ENUM Registry
ENUM Registry contains all member telephone numbers and URIs. Supports call query via ENUM or SIP to query servers which are either hosted or can be co-located within the SP network.
SIP Signaling Hub
SIP Proxy which provides interworking between the various member implementations of SIP, and provides signalling security, thus isolating each operator from the complexities of other operator networks and simplifying the interconnect process.
Media Relay
Media Relay provides NAT traversal, ‘no media detection’ and media security for RTP traffic.
Network management
The Global Alliance network and traffic is monitored and managed on a 24x7x365 basis from the XConnect Network Operations Center (NOC).
For more information: Please contact PortingXS at:
info@portingxs.nl or Tel: +31 15 251 69 69
Number Portability solution - 'Inports'
