Industry consortium CableLabs has completed the first in a series of PacketCable 2.0 interoperability events in the PacketCable Application Lab (PAL) in Louisville, Colo.
This inaugural event focused on pre-PacketCable 2.0 IMS core networks, voice application servers, and voice clients.
The weeklong session, held at the end of August, achieved an impressive level of interoperability for SIP-based voice services across equipment combinations from 10 different participating manufacturers, according to CableLabs. Included in the testing was voice interoperability with PacketCable 1.5.
PacketCable 2.0 is an architecture and set of specifications that extends cable’s VoIP platform’s capabilities beyond basic telephony into support of new services such as wireless, fixed-mobile convergence, business communications, video communications, and cross-platform features. Cable Labs says this foundation will fulfill the industry’s vision of having an IP-services delivery platform that allows cable operators to rapidly deploy new services in a cost-effective manner.
Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Gallery-IPT, and MetaSwitch provided the networking foundation for the event with their pre-PacketCable 2.0 IMS core networks. Alcatel-Lucent was recently welcomed by CableLabs as the second major equipment manufacturer to permanently install its pre-PacketCable 2.0 IMS core in the PAL.
Voice application servers were provided by Alcatel-Lucent, BroadSoft, Cedar Point, Gallery-IPT, IP Unity, MetaSwitch, Sonus, and Sylantro. Voice CPE in the form of Embedded Digital Voice Adapters, or E-DVAs, were provided by Broadcom and Motorola. An E-DVA is a DOCSIS cable modem with an embedded PacketCable 2.0 SIP client for making voice calls.
“This event was highly successful, thanks in large part to the excellent level of participation and support provided by the equipment manufacturers,” said Ed Miller, CableLabs vice president of broadband network services. “Having established a solid base of voice interoperability, we’re looking forward to upcoming events when we begin exploring applications that extend beyond voice to cover areas such as cross-platform features, unified messaging, and presence.”
The PAL provides an application showcase and development test bed for the cable industry. It serves as a venue for network equipment providers and application developers to test and demonstrate innovative applications for voice, multimedia, wireless, business, and converged services across PacketCable 2.0.
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