Acme Packet, a provider of session border control solutions, has reportedly announced a series of new capabilities for its Net-Net Session Director session border controller in support of the GSMA (News - Alert) Rich Communication Suite and session initiation protocol-based interactive communication services for 3G mobile access networks.

 

Additionally, the company said that it has proven interoperability with five RCS client and server solution partners to help ensure rapid deployment of RCS services, which are a new set of SIP interactive services.

 

A GSMA-led program driven by service providers and communications equipment vendors, the RCS is defining the basis for an interoperable, rich communication experience. The RCS services can be offered over 3G radio access networks and across mobile service provider IP network borders.

 

RCS aims to unify the communications experience by integrating traditional mobile circuit-switched telephony with new interactive services, including presence, instant messaging and content sharing. It leverages the 3GPP IP Multimedia Subsystem (News - Alert) architecture and uses SIP signaling to establish sessions and exchange instant messages, presence information, files and video.

 

“Acme Packet’s (News - Alert) newly introduced features illustrate the company’s commitment to making RCS successful by enabling the delivery of SIP-based interactive communication services and the interconnection of mobile networks,” said Diane Myers, directing analyst at Infonetics Research (News - Alert), in a statement.

 

Acme Packet’s RCS solution features its Net-Net SD deployed at the access and interconnect borders of the SIP or IMS service network. In order to deliver interactive communications—voice, video and multimedia sessions—over the 3G IP RAN, Acme Packet SBCs provide critical control functions.

 

Company officials said that, for RCS 2.0 services extended to Internet-connected laptops and PCs, Net-Net Security Gateway provides authentication and IPsec encryption termination to connect these devices to the service core.

 

Additionally, Acme Packet is also enhancing its Net-Net Operating System with additional capabilities. Company officials said that Acme Packet Net-Net SBCs will be used at the access or interconnect border of seven RCS or RCS-like trials by tier 1 mobile service providers in Europe and Africa during the fourth quarter of 2009.

 

The specific enhancements to the Net-Net OS include message session relay protocol support; denial-of-service attack protection and overload control for IM and presence; differentiated, service-based routing policies for presence, IM, video and voice; session replication for lawful intercept of multimedia communication; support for millions of subscribers and IM sessions.

 

Noting that RCS is critical to enabling new services in today’s increasingly competitive 3G mobile communications environment, Seamus Hourihan (News - Alert), vice president of marketing and product management at Acme Packet, said that the company is “well-positioned” to help mobile service providers transform their 3G broadband networks into versatile platforms for delivering even richer communication services in terms of both functional and monetary value.

 

Acme Packet is an associate member of the GSMA and joined the RCS initiative in December 2008.