March 2008

Feature Article

Product News

Customer Applications

Articles and Publications

Support Tip

Spotlight Event

Feature Article

What’s New at NMS—PCI Express and the Migration to 64-bit OSs

 By Joanne Babbitt, Product Marketing Manager, NMS, Joanne_Babbitt@nmss.com

Open Access Adds PCI Express

NMS is extending its flexible Open Access application development family to include the popular PCI Express architecture. Supporting up to eight T1/E1 universal ports and up to 6,384 MIPS of digital signal processing, NMS’s CG 6565e series is the industry’s highest density, highest power PCI Express media processing board.

The CG 6565e enables developers to create and deploy sophisticated, converged telecommunications applications, including conferencing, messaging, PSTN and IP call centers, VoIP gateways, PSTN and IP media servers, ringback tones, VoIP and PSTN telephony testing systems, IVR, announcements, and video gateway-video play/record.

The CG 6565e offers all of the key features available in the Open Access family, including:

• Universal port capability that integrates PSTN interfaces, telephony protocols, comprehensive IVR functionality, full-duplex echo cancellation, speech transcoding, MRCP speech, fax processing, conferencing, and 3G video—enabling developers to support these features on a single platform
  
• Single development environment, Natural Access, making it easy for existing NMS customers to migrate to the new PCI Express form factor, and opening the door for new customers to adopt one platform to develop multiple applications
  
• Broad operating system support including Windows, Linux, and Solaris
  
• Scalability that enables users to buy only the number of ports and DSP power they need
  
• IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-enabled, allowing developers to incorporate next-generation technologies
  

Specifically, the CG 6565e features:

• PCI Express 4x, full-height, full-length architecture
  
• Models with 0, 1, 2, 4, or 8 software-selectable T1/E1 trunks, with the 8-trunk model available first
  
• Models with DSP processing power ranging from 1,064 MIPS to 6, 384 MIPS, with the 6,384 MIPS model available first
  
• RoHS 6/6 (lead-free) compliance
  

For more information, check out the CG 6565e data sheet on our web site.

Be part of the CG 6565e beta program.
Contact your sales rep for more information.

If you would like to test drive the CG 6565e, contact your NMS sales representative to see if you qualify for our beta test program that will start in June, featuring the 8-trunk, 6,834 MIPS model. Other models will follow throughout 2008. The CG 6565e will be supported by Natural Access 2008.

Natural Access 2008

Natural Access 2008 will be generally available on 30 June 2008. In this release, NMS will support the beta release of the CG 6565e and begin its migration toward support of only 64-bit operating systems by discontinuing support of some 32-bit operating systems, namely:

• Windows 2000, Professional and Server Edition, 32-bit mode
  
• SPARC Solaris 9—32-bit, 64-bit, and mixed mode
  
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) V3.0 ES, 32-bit mode
  

The existing Natural Access releases that support these OSs will continue to be supported by existing technical support agreements until 30 June 2009. After that time, special support agreements will need to be put in place.

NA 2008 will continue to support the following operating systems:

• Windows Server 2003 R2, Standard and Enterprise Server, 32-bit mode
  
• x86 Solaris 10, 32-bit mode
  
• SPARC Solaris 10, 64-bit and mixed mode
  
• RHEL V4.0 ES, 32-bit mode
  

With the release on NA 2008 SP1 at the end of September, we will add GA software support for the CG 6565e, as well as Video Access support. We will also begin adding support for some new 64-bit operating systems, namely:

• Windows Server 2003, Standard and Enterprise, R2, 64-bit mode
  
• RHEL V5 ES, 64-bit mode; >2 processors
  

If you have any questions or concerns about these new releases, please contact your NMS sales representative.

Register for our June Webinar For more information on both the CG 6565e and NA 2008, as well as information on how to save money in your lab when migrating to PCI Express, be sure to attend our June 10 webinar, "Making the Migration to PCI Express, 64-Bit Operating Systems and More." For details and registration info, visit the June webinar page on our web site.

Product News

New Software Licenses for SIP and PacketMedia HMP Now Available

New software licenses for SIP and PacketMedia HMP are now available. Some of these products replace existing products, in most cases bringing the number of sessions supported for SIP and PacketMedia HMP into line. One new product (82232-128, the license for 128 sessions of PacketMedia HMP 2.0) is simply a change to a more intuitive product number (replacing 82232-28). See the chart below for the complete list of new products and the products they are replacing, if applicable.

The products being discontinued will continue to be available for the next six months. Please start to migrate to the appropriate new products if you currently purchase products that are being discontinued.

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Customer Applications

Novell Teaming + Conferencing

Novell’s Teaming + Conferencing collaboration solution brings together people and the content they need to do their jobs. Users create workspaces and invite other members to participate—both from within or outside organizational boundaries. Novell Teaming + Conferencing make users aware of the online availability of team members and gives them the ability to instant message (IM) with one another, either individually or as a group, or participate in web conferences directly from within Teaming + Conferencing.

But Novell Teaming + Conferencing lacked one key ingredient—the ability for users to easily and quickly add voice conference calls to their collaborative sessions, a feature that other competing collaboration products provided. Novell turned to NMS and our Open Access CG 6060 and CG 6565 PCI boards to assist with adding this capability.

One reason Novell chose NMS is our years of expertise in this market. As Phil Karren, director of collaboration product management for Novell said, "NMS has a solid reputation for supplying quality media processing boards and software to the conferencing industry. Combining Open Access technology with Novell’s Teaming + Conferencing collaboration solution provides audio conferencing capabilities to Teaming + Conferencing customers, providing a rich media experience to our users."

Users of Novell’s Teaming + Conferencing with the integrated CG-based audio capability simply have to click on the "add voice calls" selection to immediately add audio to a collaborative session without arranging for a separate audio bridge for multiple participants. In addition to support for live voice calls for up to 5,000 users, the CG Series media processing boards also support capabilities, such as volume controls, automatic echo cancellation, and bi-directional gain controls, which ensure a productive audio conference experience. With NMS and Novell Teaming + Conferencing, users now enjoy the benefits of on-demand conference calls including:

• Eliminating the need for an external audio bridge—add audio callers through a single mouse click
  
• Reducing travel costs
  
• Accelerating decision making and increasing team productivity—documents are reviewed faster with fewer errors, as live conference calls help quickly close review cycles.
  

For more information on Novell Teaming + Conferencing, please visit Novell’s website at http://www.novell.com/products/teaming/index.html

To learn more about the features and benefits of the NMS Open Access family of products visit http://www.nmscommunications.com/DevPlatforms/OpenAccess/default.htm 

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Video SMS from Smart Communications

More than 30 million mobile phone users in the Philippines now have access to the latest in mobile communications with a new video SMS service offered by Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) and built on NMS technology. SMART, the leading wireless services provider in the Philippines, launched a "Video Avatar" service in December 2007 that allows users to send and receive video messages featuring either live video or a chosen avatar.

SMART customers receiving a video SMS with an avatar will hear the sender’s voice while seeing the avatar speak using matching lip synching. Subscribers with both 2G- and 3G-enabled mobile handsets can view a recorded video message from the sender. They can then respond using their own voice and the avatar of their choice or create their own video-based response, depending on the handset. Compared to basic text messaging, SMART Video Avatar has the added convenience of allowing users to record messages without having to key them in, and the added touch of personalization that comes with the user’s voice and video.

The SMART Video Avatar service was delivered by NMS in partnership with mobile and digital applications provider EGG, one of the top five content service providers in the Philippines.

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Articles and Publications

Video over Mobile IP—Operators Shoot Themselves in the Foot

  By Brough Turner, CTO, NMS, rbt@nmss.com

With ever improving camera technology, it’s only a few years before most people will be carrying high-performance portable webcams with them at all times. What will they use them for? Early indications are coming in from Asia and the EU. Dating and other forms of social networking are hot. Mobile services like "See Me TV" and "Look at Me" let people share user-created video clips. And AlloCiné, France’s largest movie information and ticketing service, offers movie trailers via their interactive voice and video response (IVVR) portal. In fact there’s a wealth of services that are being offered via IVVR.

Read the full article, published in Internet Telephony magazine, here.

Brough Goes Mobile

By Doug Mohney, VON Magazine

Brough Turner, CTO of NMS, talks about future trends in mobile applications in this interview with Doug Mohney of VON Magazine.

Recorded video, a la TiVO, is the way most people already get their video. "Think 20 years from now, you’ll have an RSS feed, [programming] will get streamed down to your TV," Turner said. Mobile users in Asia and Europe are viewing short video clips while waiting for a bus or sitting somewhere, not watching longer shows.

In a few years, your mobile phone will be your mobile TiVO. "Samsung just introduced a phone with a 20 GB hard drive, people have 16 GB [flash memory cards]," Turner chuckled. "If you’re willing to think in a 5-year context, TiVO is pretty feasible on your mobile phone."

To read more of this interview with Brough, click here.

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Spotlight Event

March Webinar Archive Available

AdvancedTCA and the CP-TA: Reducing Time-to-Market for Reliable Telecom Solutions

NMS Communications presented the web seminar "AdvancedTCA and the CP-TA: Reducing Time-to-Market for Reliable Telecom Solutions," featuring Sven Freudenfeld, Chair of the Communications Platforms Trade Association (CP-TA) Marketing Work Group and Telecom Business Development Manager at Kontron.

The webinar provides an understanding of the adoption of ATCA in the telecom market, the role of CP-TA in the AdvancedTCA ecosystem, and how the CP-TA’s efforts are helping to reduce time-to-market with the freedom of choice for ATCA-based solutions. The availability of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, including those from Kontron and NMS, is also discussed.