Seamless Environment for Speedy Service Delivery

The OmniVox3D Application Server provides a strong and flexible execution environment. It delivers scalability and reliability to deployed applications, allowing a service provider to increase resources for service delivery easily without compromising quality. At the same time, the OmniVox3D Application Server provides flexibility in creating new applications as a result of a tightly integrated OmniView® Service Creation/OAM&P Environment. This seamless environment allows applications to be designed, developed and deployed in days, rather than months, decreasing both time-to-market and time-to-ROI.

See Figure 1 for a sample of OmniView’s browser-based interface, which can be used locally or remotely. Its rich command set for service development includes ASR, TTS, LDAP/IMAP, ODBC, SNMP, C-Sharp, VBScript, JScript, and others. In a SIP-based network, OmniVox3D offloads media processing functions and supports a variety of SIP-compliant components.

Source: APEX

Figure 1. OmniView’s Browser-Based Interface

Modular Design for Varied Network Deployment

Designed with attention to openness and versatility, OmniVox3D can be deployed as a standalone IP-based application server solution or in conjunction with the OmniVoXML® media gateway, as part of the APEX Multi-Service Platform, (APEX MSP™) to serve applications such as Messaging, Prepaid, Conferencing and IVR.

To ensure that it works equally well in either deployment scenario, OmniVox3D has been designed to integrate as a core network element in any standards-based network, including those that must comply with IMS and other standards. An important benefit of OmniVox3D’s modular design is the ability for customers to use varied network configurations to match unique network requirements. Such a design strategy also gives service providers the power to deliver new, state-of-the-art services to subscribers without compromising carrier-grade performance.

Because of its field-proven combined OAM&P and service creation capabilities, OmniVox3D continues to grow in popularity with over 15,000 installations in 95 countries at more than 250 service providers, processing hundreds of millions of calls each day.

The Quest for Interoperability

Dialogic® Host Media Processing Software (Dialogic HMP Software) is an important component of OmniVox3D. Used as a media server, it allows both timely voice and video service creation and successful service delivery. Both products are designed to support the latest open standards to allow easy integration with advanced voice and video technologies.

Dialogic HMP Software performs media processing tasks on general-purpose servers based on standard server architecture without requiring specialized DSP-based hardware. It supports the initiation and termination of multimedia calls, which include SIP-based call control and H.263 video format. The software synchronizes voice and video streams for playback on IP video phones and IP-enabled soft clients and allows connection to a 3G network. Dialogic HMP Software can also deliver only the audio portion of a video call to an audio-only endpoint for 3G/2G gateway functionality.

Because it understands the value of open standards to service creation and delivery in the OmniVox3D environment, Dialogic strives to provide the highest level of interoperability by developing products such as Dialogic HMP Software using SIP, H.323, and 3GPP standards as well as MSML. Dialogic engineers continually perform interoperability testing between Dialogic HMP Software and third-party components, and they focus on adding new standards-based functionality (such as video using 3G-324M) as early as possible. Dialogic’s goal is to help enable APEX developers to accelerate their work and allow them to focus on enhancing OmniVox3D for their customers without interoperability concerns.

Benefits of Dialogic® Host Media Processing Software

Dialogic HMP Software also provides OmniVox3D developers and customers with the advantages of a software-based solution, which does not require specialized hardware for media processing:

• Ease of use — Installing and updating software is easier than installing and updating hardware because these activities are electronic and not physical.

• Flexible licensing — Software resources are purchased separately as needed as part of a software license instead of in fixed bundles of resources on various hardware media board models.

• Easy maintenance — When more processing resources are needed, resources can be added through software licensing rather than media boards, which must be ordered and shipped. In the case of hardware failure, a license can be moved to another server, which is easier than swapping specialized hardware boards that are generally stored as spare parts.

Because OmniVox3D uses Dialogic HMP Software, selling OmniVox3D is easier and more cost-effective since media servers can be downloaded as software, eliminating the need to transport and install hardware media boards. This software-based flexibility reduces costs and increases APEX’s ability to deliver demonstration units and roll out product trials, which, in turn, can accelerate the sales cycle.

Long-Term Relationship Adds Value

Because APEX has worked with Dialogic and its products for more than 18 years (since 1989), APEX is able to use the full range of Dialogic® IP and TDM products to provide solutions to its customers in virtually any deployment scenario. For example, APEX engineers are adept at using Dialogic HMP Software in either a Linux or Windows® environment, which is a result of APEX’s development philosophy of interfacing to media servers and gateways using open standards such as MSML/MOML and VXML.

APEX engineers are also skilled in using Dialogic® HMP Interface Boards, which allow host-based resources and IP transcoding to be accessible from a PSTN interface, and the Dialogic® 1000 Media Gateway Series for seamless IP-PBX connectivity. APEX can also deploy the powerful Dialogic® Multimedia Platform for AdvancedTCA (MMP for ATCA) for its customers who are ready to move to AdvancedTCA. MMP for ATCA can deliver applications such as voice and video mail, video portal, color ring back tones, unified messaging, and audio conferencing over IP and PSTN interfaces in wireless and wireline environments using standard protocols for session and media control.

Design Delivers Service Reliability and Performance

Because of their excellent initial design and wisely engineered enhancements, the OmniVox3D Application Server and OmniView Service Creation Environment have continued to be a leading system for designing, developing, and deploying services since their introduction in 1989. With its integrated OAM&P environment, OmniView can also manage applications from a single point once they have been deployed, whether on a single server or a network of servers for service provider and enterprise customers worldwide.

The OmniVox3D Application Server, OmniView Service Creation/OAM&P Environment and SIP Session Manager are the core elements of the APEX Multi-Service Platform. See Figure 2 for a detailed illustration.

Source: APEX

Figure 2. APEX Multi-Service Platform

Distributed Architecture and Web Technologies

The OmniVox3D Application Server is built around web technologies, making it an excellent fit for high-volume services that require superior performance and reliability. OmniVox3D’s distributed architecture and scalable design provides the ability to create voice and video applications once and run them in multiple environments including Next Generation Networks (NGN) and Advanced Intelligent Networks (AIN/IN). OmniVox3D’s unique design also allows its users to grow, without forklift upgrades, while continuing to take advantage of changing computing and network environments.

The OmniView Service Creation Environment handles the arduous task of designing, developing, and deploying services with an easy, open-standards-based application development environment. OmniView’s browser-based development tool also simplifies and accelerates testing and, equally important, test management. This integration gives application developers the power to decrease prototyping and implementation time while still ensuring applications are robust, which is critical in today’s extremely competitive services market.

OmniVox3D’s open architecture also offers load balancing and fault tolerant configurations, providing an environment with no single point of failure. Thus, OmniVox3D enables the continuous operation of hosted services. The flexibility of distributed systems also gives growth paths to an Application Server that may be configured to meet most network configuration and service requirements.

OmniVox3D works in a wide variety of network environments, from Wireless and IMS Networks, to the enterprise back office that needs to add voice, as shown in Figure 3.

Source: APEX

Figure 3. OmniVox3D Application Server Architecture

The OmniVox3D architecture is designed to interoperate with standards-based IMS network elements including SIP MSML Voice and Video Media Servers, powered by Dialogic HMP Software.

The basic design allows applications to run regardless of the underlying hardware so long as the hardware supports the latest standards.

END Part 2 of 3