PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 20, 1995 -- Hewlett-Packard Company today announced HP OpenCall, an open-system-based intelligent network architecture that allows service providers to be more competitive and to deploy enhanced services such as number portability, mobility management and voice recognition quickly.
HP OpenCall combines HP's strengths in open systems to provide, in conjunction with its partners, fully integrated, high-performance intelligent-network solutions. It is an architecture that scales from small systems to large ones that demand high performance to meet mass-market transaction volumes. Services being deployed using the HP OpenCall solutions architecture include virtual private networking; mobility management, for example, wireless or internetwork roaming; single-number services; enhanced 800-number services; and calling- and credit-card services.
"In operations support systems, HP OpenView is helping service providers reduce costs, while the HP OpenCall solutions architecture will enable service providers to deploy value-added services in their multivendor switch network quickly," said Andre Meyer, general manager of HP's Telecommunications Systems Business Unit. "This will increase network utilization and boost their revenues."
Components of HP OpenCall already have gained widespread acceptance in the industry over a short period of time, undergoing rigorous testing with some of the most demanding operators and network-equipment manufacturers in the world. For example, HP's OpenCall Service Control Point (SCP) platform has been delivered to operators in the United States, Europe and Asia, and the HP OpenCall SS7 platform has been deployed in more than 100 networks spanning 37 countries.
The key components of the HP OpenCall solutions architecture include HP OpenCall Signaling System 7 (SS7) platform, HP OpenCall Service Control Point (SCP) platform, HP OpenCall Service Creation Environment (SCE) and HP OpenCall Enhanced Service Platform (ESP). (Descriptions of the HP OpenCall components are attached.) These components incorporate several new features and an HP OpenCall Service Management System platform that will make it easier for service providers to specify, provision and manage new services.
HP OpenCall includes a special message-set compiler that, for the first time, allows any standard or proprietary switch-specific message set to be supported, making multivendor intelligent-network solutions a reality. In addition, HP OpenCall permits seamless integration of different protocols, such as Intelligent Network Application Part (INAP) and Mobile Application Part (MAP), on the same computing platform.
Existing intelligent networks are characterized by a combination of standardized and proprietary interfaces, further complicated by ever-evolving standards. The HP OpenCall solutions architecture conforms to current standards and is designed with flexibility in mind -- ensuring efficient and easy integration into multivendor networks. This flexibility is made possible with a modular approach that uses open high-level application programming interfaces among components and provides tools that enable customization of services for specific network requirements.
The HP OpenCall run-time environment incorporates a full set of development tools based on its robust HP-UX(1) operating system. HP-UX runs on HP 9000 servers, the industry's broadest range of binary-compatible computer systems, which are based on HP's PA-RISC(2) processor.
Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 99,900 employees and had revenue of $25 billion in its 1994 fiscal year.
(1) HP-UX 9.X and 10.0 for HP 9000 Series 700 and 800 computers are X/Open(tm) Company UNIX 93 branded products.
X/Open is a trademark of X/Open Company Limited in the UK and other countries.
UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited.
(2) PA-RISC stands for Precision Architecture-reduced-instruction-set computing.
HP OpenCall supports applications requiring Signalling System No. 7 (SS7) connectivity, such as Service Control Points, Service Data Points, Intelligent Peripherals, Service Nodes, Adjunct Processors, Base Station Controllers, Short Message Service Centers, Home Location Registers, Authentication Centers, Equipment Identity Registers, SS7 mediation systems and fraud-control solutions. Components of the HP OpenCall solutions architecture can be integrated or used individually. HP OpenCall products are managed through sophisticated Management Information Bases (MIBs) to interface with other Operations Support Systems (OSS) using standard network-management protocols.
Widely deployed throughout the world, including North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia, the HP OpenCall SS7 Platform is the cornerstone of the HP OpenCall product family and a key component of HP's OpenCall solutions architecture. It has been certified with switches from Alcatel, AT&T, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Italtel, Nokia, Nortel and Siemens; it also meets American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) requirements. A number of switch vendors already have incorporated the HP OpenCall SS7 platform into their own products.
Unique software features, in addition to the field-proven HP 9000 systems, enable fully resilient SS7 platforms that extend the mean time between failures into thousands of years. New management features facilitate seamless integration with Telecommunications Management Networks standards and de-facto standards such as HP OpenView. The HP OpenCall SS7 platform also includes the availability of new protocol variants and multistandard stacks that address all SS7 markets and application areas.
The HP OpenCall SCP Platform provides a complete run-time environment that incorporates access to an in-memory real-time database with very high performance to allow services to be managed on a per-subscriber, per-call basis. With the capability to support multiple stacks, the HP OpenCall SCP platform can support message sets and standardized interfaces such as the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) Core INAP, Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) Release 0.1/0.2, IS41 and MAP Phases 1 and 2.
The HP OpenCall service creation environment (SCE) can be delivered with HP OpenCall SCP platform and provides a state-of-the-art graphical user interface that supports the whole development chain -- from graphical service creation through simulation/validation to network deployment. A new feature adds multiple-level access, enabling users to write services using multiple programming paradigms. Users have access to the entire message set as well as the use of higher constructs, such as building blocks and decision-tree technology. This feature permits services to be customized easily and safely by different classes of developers and users, without jeopardizing the network. The open-systems approach to the HP OpenCall SCP platform allows other SCE to complement or replace HP's OpenCall SCE.
Another key component of the HP OpenCall family, the HP OpenCall SMS Platform, provides a standard SQL interface to the real-time SCP database and enables the management of mated-pair SCP's. The HP OpenCall SMS platform permits the supervision, administration and provisioning of services, as well as the management of the HP OpenCall SS7 platform.
The HP OpenCall enhanced services platform consists of an SCE, a systems manager and a voice-processing computer system. Telephony and voice capabilities on the HP OpenCall ESP are provided by voice-processing cards and network interface coupled with a matrix switch to allow configuration flexibility and organization of the voice ports. HP OpenCall ESP offers a large range of voice capabilities -- such as DTMF digit collection, voice playback and record, and fax store and forward -- and provides connectivity to the network using T1, E1, ISDN, PRI and ADSI. The Dialogic voice-processing cards have an efficient open DSP architecture that can run sophisticated voice processing algorithms, such as voice recognition, text-to-speech and fax.
The HP Telepace hardware offers VME and EISA standard buses to accommodate boards from the open market. The HP OpenCall ESP supports on Signaling Computing System Solution Architecture (SCSA), an emerging standard endorsed by more than 100 companies. As the SCSA standard becomes stable, HP OpenCall ESP will offer the SCSA application programming interface, a component of the SCSA architecture that provides independence between the applications and the underlying voice-processing components.
State-of-the-art technologies from HP partners are available on the HP OpenCall ESP and offer service providers a broad choice of solutions to increase their service revenues.
Hewlett-Packard Company aligns itself closely with "best-in-class" vendors and works closely with these partners to extend the breadth of applications available on the HP OpenCall solutions architecture for Network Intelligence. These solutions have gained widespread acceptance in the industry over a short period of time and have undergone rigorous SS7 conformance testing with some of the most demanding operators and network-equipment manufactures in the world.
Nortel, Aldiscon Ltd., Italtel, Nokia and Fujitsu all deliver Network Intelligence solutions on HP OpenCall platforms. The AT&T Service Management System also can be used to manage the HP OpenCall SCP platform. Enhanced voice, facsimile and data serves on the HP Enhanced Service Platform are available from companies such as Aethos Ltd., Precision Systems Inc., Telecommunications Premium Service, Starcom and others. Key technologies, such as voice recognition and matrix switching, are provided through partners such as Dialogic and Summa Four.
For more information on a technical level, please contact the HP IN Program Managers in the following regions:
Americas: Garry Irvine -- Tel: (408) 447-5509 or Fax: (408) 447-6452 Europe: George McGregor -- Tel: (33) 76 626206 or Fax: (+33) 76 621620 Asia/Pacific: Barry Hill -- Tel: (65) 279 2303 or Fax: (+65) 278 5319
