Veraz announces its Prepaid Services Application, which is the latest solution in its “Any Network, Any Application, Any Device” Family. The Veraz Prepaid solution allows the prepaid service platform to be hosted at a central location on the IP network, while delivering services to multiple regions & countries. According to Veraz, this enables service providers to benefit with significant cost-savings compared to traditional TDM solutions.

This solution utilizes the distributed, modular architecture of the Veraz softswitch, ControlSwitch, along with its uncompromising toll-quality voice capabilities inherent in its line of media gateways. Here's the release:

 Veraz Networks Offers Prepaid Services Application Solution

Maximizing Service Provider’s Enhanced Services Reach

Highly cost-effective IP-based solution compared to traditional TDM alternatives

SAN JOSE, CA—April 26, 2005—Veraz Networks announced today its new Prepaid Services Application solution for service providers. With proven interoperability for best-of-breed prepaid service platforms, multi-national signaling support, seamless any-to-any protocol interworking and maximum bandwidth efficiency, the Veraz Prepaid Services Application solution provides a highly cost-effective and flexible solution for service providers.

Veraz’s latest solution is based on standard off-the-shelf computing platforms for scalable and fault-redundant configurations and prepaid servers that support a rich set of features including on-line credit card validation for recharge, multiple languages, multiple currencies, fraud control and an extensive set of real time rating features.

“VoIP is attractive to new and established service providers as they are actively seeking to keep their costs low while effectively competing in the market with new, differentiable services,” said Kevin Mitchell, Directing Analyst, Infonetics Research. “Prepaid solutions based on VoIP can allow carriers to address new market segments and be accomplished more quickly and economically than traditional ways. Aiming to help carriers with rolling out new services, Veraz turnkey Prepaid solutions complements their core softswitch and gateway offering.”

Being IP-based, the Veraz Prepaid solution allows the prepaid service platform to be hosted at a central location on the IP network, while delivering services to multiple regions & countries, providing significant cost-savings compared to traditional TDM solutions. Further, operational costs are minimized through web-based management of accounts, users and features, including the option of a customer self-service portal.

The cost-effectiveness is further enhanced by the fully distributed, modular architecture of the Veraz ControlSwitch, which enables expansion to new regions with the addition of just the components required for that location. For instance, expansion to a new region may only require the addition of a media gateway without additional investment in application or switching infrastructure. With Veraz’s family of I-Gate 4000 media gateways featuring superior voice quality and industry-leading compression characteristics of up to 12:1, delivers substantial bandwidth savings for prepaid service providers, along with uncompromising toll-quality voice over both TDM and IP networks.

Veraz’s new solution enables the delivery of prepaid services over the widest possible global footprint via support for multi-national signaling variants of SS7 and ISDN-PRI, and seamless any-to-any interworking between TDM signaling and IP protocols such as H.323 & SIP. The ControlSwitch delivers prepaid services to a broad range of end-users served by IP, PSTN and wireless networks. The ControlSwitch’s adaptable signaling framework enables customization of new national variants in a matter of days. Besides enabling rapid entry into new regions to exploit new market opportunities, this allows prepaid service providers to reduce costs via local termination in multiple regions.

The Veraz ControlSwitch incorporates an IP Control Element (P-CSCF in IMS terms) to provide the SIP signaling to interconnect to best of breed pre-paid Application Servers. The ControlSwitch Service Execution Element (SEE) (S-CSCF, Service Coordinator and AS in IMS terms) executes the XML scripted service logic to coordinate the Prepaid Application with other Services offered by ControlSwitch or specialized Application Servers. The ControlSwitch Call Control Element (CCE) (MGCF and MRCF in IMS terms) and IP Control Element provide all VoIP and TDM signaling and control protocols including multi-national SS7 signaling, MGCP, H.248, SIP, OSP, H.323, PRI and CAS are supported, enabling seamless integration across multi-vendor network scenarios as well as providing a non-disruptive migration from legacy infrastructure.

“Service providers offering prepaid services operate in a market characterized by high volumes and low margins,” said Doug Sabella, President and CEO of Veraz Networks. “Veraz’s latest Prepaid Services Application solution allows these providers to integrate a highly cost-effective, yet extremely efficient, system into their day-to-day operations.”

The Prepaid Services Application Solution is the latest release in Veraz’s Any IP Enhanced Applications Solutions family, which enables interactions across any application, any network and any device.