AppTrigger Pioneers Industry First Application Session Controller.

Application Session Controller Provides Seamless Voice, Video and Data Rapid Application Delivery across Ever Evolving Networks

RICHARDSON, Texas -- AppTrigger, Inc., a leading developer of application delivery solutions for the telecom marketplace, today announced the release of the industry's first Application Session Controller. The new Application Session Controller is a highly scalable, carrier grade network platform that allows IMS, VoIP and legacy intelligent network (IN) applications to be immune from the ever-evolving network by providing a purpose-built IP/TDM solution that protects service providers and application developers from the constant "re-write" and "re-connect" of today's application deployment model. This future proofing technology ensures that network connectivity does not become the long pole in the time to market battle.

Service Provider Application and Service Delivery Challenges

Converged wireline, wireless, and IP service providers require the ability to offer seamless application behavior to their subscribers across multiple networks in a pre-IMS network environment, but the underlying networks are constantly evolving as service providers add new network functionality, build out new networks, and take advantage of new technologies. This constant network evolution creates a lack of cross network to network feature transparency, and impedes rapid and seamless application delivery as each application must be repeatedly stovepiped into the evolving underlying network. To ensure seamless application behavior across multiple networks, today's options include re-writing the applications to add appropriate signaling or call control into the application, or utilizing additional and costly general-purpose equipment such as soft switches, signaling gateways and media gateways to provide the necessary rich call control and signaling required for network connectivity. These solutions only compound the non-reusable "stovepiping" deployment model, create numerous management and cost challenges, and do not keep up with the ongoing network evolution. Today's solutions simply do not address the evolving networks impact on applications.

A New Solution Is Needed

The Application Session Controller allows service providers to maintain a competitive edge with a purpose-built application network delivery architecture all in one system, which provides the application specific call control functions independent of each network via a multitude of open standard APIs, signaling, media and the feature inter-working between disparate networks that converged and consolidated applications require. This purpose built solution supports multiple application platforms/servers and eliminates costly network connection stovepipes. By ultimately insulating the applications from the hard to manage ever-evolving network requirements, it results in increased ARPU by speeding time to market for essential voice, video and data applications and CAPEX reduction by eliminating unnecessary additional general purpose network elements.

"The Application Session Controller is an innovative approach to telecom networks, enabling service providers to manage evolving network layers for rapid application deployment and to introduce new services faster," said Ronald Gruia, Principal Analyst of Emerging Telecom with Frost and Sullivan. "AppTrigger's Application Session Controller eliminates the inefficiency of gateway stovepipes at the network layer while enabling service providers to maintain and support legacy applications - even while deploying and growing their next-generation IMS architectures."

Application Session Controller: Key Features and Functionality

AppTrigger's Application Session Controller provides multiple open standard APIs to suit the requirements of application developers and service providers. Designed to support multiple simultaneous applications, the network element resides at the application layer, and sits between the application layer and the core network to provide and manage connectivity to the evolving network, and insulates the application server farm from the network below. It supports wireline, wireless, and IP protocols to ensure unparalleled feature transparency, and simplifies the operational efficiencies by providing a single network layer management interface.

Key features include:

* Media and Signaling Subsystem - The media functions convert to and from various bearer traffic formats as necessary to ensure that any combination of circuit- or packet-based applications and networks can interact with each other. Additionally, media functions include media server capabilities such as Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) detection and generation, announcement record and playback, and conferencing. These functions ensure that all of the necessary network and user information is supplied to the application for appropriate service execution. The signaling interfaces play the critical role of connecting to all types of legacy and next generation call set-up and call control signaling networks. This ensures transparent delivery of services across legacy and next generation networks using a variety of protocols.

* Call Control Subsystem - This software subsystem includes a built-in call model that enables an application to intervene at any point during a call as necessary to facilitate service delivery. It executes call switching and routing, as well as number translations based on information provided by the media and signaling functions or instructions received from applications through an application control interface.

* Application Control Interfaces - The application control interface provides the critical connectivity between a variety of applications and the Application Session Controller. The call control and media and signaling subsystems create an abstracted view of the network. The application control interface presents the view in a consistent manner to the application regardless of the underlying network. The Application Session Controller supports a wide choice of interfaces including Call Control XML (CCXML), SIP, a more powerful custom Application Programming Interface (API), and Parlay/Parlay X.

"Given the competitive nature of the communications market and the demand for value-added, innovative services, we recognized the traditional application deployment model is a barrier to success for application developers and service providers," said AppTrigger president and CEO Chris Todd. "We're very excited to introduce the industry's first purpose-built Application Session Controller as it meets an underserved and critical need to insulate applications from the evolving network layer. The Application Session Controller finally ensures feature transparency to converged carrier subscribers in the marketplace and operational application deployment efficiencies for the service provider."

About AppTrigger, Inc.

With over 30 deployments worldwide, AppTrigger is dynamically changing the telecom application delivery marketplace by empowering its customers to insulate their revenue-producing applications from the challenges of the ever evolving fixed-line, mobile, and IP networks. AppTrigger's Application Session Controller provides a purpose-built unique combination of media, signaling, call control, and a family of APIs for multi-network, converged application deployments. In an environment of ongoing network evolution, AppTrigger delivers time to market advantages, reduces application deployment costs, and provides feature transparency across disparate networks. For more information, please visit www.apptrigger.com.