VON Canada 2005

Session ControllersFor Fun and ProfitJonathan Richards

jrichards@seaboardgroup.com

Session Border Controllers Defined

• SBCs control real-time session traffic at the signaling, call-control, and packet layers as they cross a packet-to-packet network border between networks or between network segments

• SBCs are critical to the deployment of VOIP networks because they address the inability of real-time session traffic to cross network address translation (NAT) device or firewall boundaries

• Signaling protocols such as H.323, MGCP, and SIP transfer information including media session endpoint IP addresses and UDP port numbers in different layers above OSI Layer 4 (IETF TCP/UDP)

• This information cannot be seen by a normal firewall or NAT device, so the subsequent sessions set up are not recognized, do not pass through firewalls, and have incompatible IP addresses across NAT boundaries

• SBCs allow NAT and firewall traversal, normally by incorporating those elements with signaling controllers for the required signaling protocols

What are the issues for carriers SBC’s?

• Vendor Interoperability• Security• Dynamic Transcode – example convert from G.711uLaw

to G729 • Support for lower layers of the stack – example MPLS

Layer 2 TLS QoS as in 802.1Q vlans• Voip protocol conversion –

– IN – MGCP <–> OUT H323 or SIP

• Regulatory – E.911 / CALEA• Mobility –3GPP & IMS or UMA (Unlicensed Mobile

Access) - Cellular to VoIP (WIFI) call transition

Where did these guys come from?

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5

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2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

SBC Vendors

Vendors

• BP International Inc. • Acme Packet Inc. • AG Projects • Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

• Ingate Systems AB • Intertex Data AB • Jasomi Networks Inc. • Kagoor Networks Inc. /Juniper • Marconi Corp. • Mera Systems Inc. • NeoTIP SA • NetCentrex SA • Netrake Corp.

• Network Equipment Technologies Inc. (net.com)

• Newport Networks Ltd. • NexTone Communications Inc.

• Quintum Technologies Inc. • Sansay Inc. • Snom Technology AG • Sonus Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:

SONS) • Tekelec Inc. (Nasdaq: TKLC) • Veraz Networks Inc. • Versatel Networks Inc

UMA Background• Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology provides access to

GSM and GPRS mobile services over unlicensed spectrum technologies, including Bluetooth and 802.11. By deploying UMA technology, service providers can enable subscribers to roam and handover between cellular networks and public and private unlicensed wireless networks using dual-mode mobile handsets. With UMA, subscribers receive a consistent user experience for their mobile voice and data services as they transition between networks.

How UMA Technology Works

Current UMA SIP Client/Wifi Phones (Beta 2/2005)

Business Voice/Voip/UMA SME/SMB

Blackberry 7780 Blackberry 7270/90 UMA/Wifi

What will Drive UMA/IMS?

• Increase of Smart-Phones from 2% to 20% of mobile terminal market in 2007

• Windows 2003/Mobile Edition PPC SIP UA’s exist:– www.xten.com– www.sjlabs.com

• Linux Embedded Smart-Phones with SIPUA entering market

• Prevalence of Enterprise Wifi AP’s• Wifi is a true “global” wireless standard• MS Smart-Phone deal with Flextronics

Carriers see the need for SBC

• Carriers see the need for session border control

• prospects for SBC specialist vendors are generally bright

• Carrier requests for proposal (RFPs) specifying session border control functionality are appearing

• For some SBC startups, there are multiple sales-channel options, ranging from direct sales to partnerships with large incumbents

Mobile/IMS convergence is growing in importance…

• Carrier VOIP architecture futures and vendor strategies are realigning around the requirements of fixed-mobile convergence (UMA?)

• Most of the major incumbent vendors are now following the 3rd-Generation Partnership Project's (3GPP) IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) standard

• The most advanced work on modifying this standard to accommodate fixed-access working and legacy PSTN service migration is being done by the TISPAN NGN group of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)

• If SBC signaling control will be integrated into the softswitch or not will not be resolved until the move to an architecture based on IMS is well underway

SBC’s provide scale for ITSP’s

• Many startup ITSPS have relied on OSS solutions– SER– Asterisk– Vocal/VOVIDA.org– GnuTel/Open Gatekeeper Open H323

• Reliance on Firewall rules / static configs such as DMZ’s for ports 5060 / 1720 etc.

• Scale for remote voip enterprise deployment is an issue without SBC

• Single end-points work well (SIP) behind modern firewalls

• Possible solution: IAX / Asterisk IPPBX at client edge?

How do ITSP’s Recoup CAPEX on SBC’s

• SME/SMB product offerings such as managed IP PBX’s or IP CENTREX like services

• MMS services will only scale with Session/Border control

• Wireless/Mobile integration such as UMA requires SBC

• Reduce Provisioning and Management (OSS) issues– “flow-through provisioning”

Issues

• For the carriers SBC should reduce costs at the customer care/call center level

• Increase scale of VOIP deployments• Reduce complexity of VoIP deployment• Enhance customer experience: “all VoIP deployments

are not created equal”• Successful carrier VoIP deployments are not as easy as

cvs’ing SER or ASTERISK and entering “make ; make install”

• Open Source transport protocols such as IAX might offer some interesting tools for the SBC vendors

Thank you!

www.SeaboardGroup.com