VimpelCom, a leading international carrier operating under the "Beeline" brand in Russia and Kazakhstan, will deploy Alcatel's mobile Next Generation Network (NGN) solution in the Urals. Specifically, VimpelCom will deploy the Alcatel 5020 Spatial Atrium Softswitch, a multi-standard mobile call server for controlling distributed media gateways and managing call/session control for voice and data services. The project is scheduled for completion in Q3 2005. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.alcatel.com
- In September 2004, Alcatel agreed to acquire Spatial Wireless, a start-up offering software-based and multi-standard distributed mobile switching solutions, for approximately US$250 million. Spatial's flagship product, Spatial Atrium, is a multi-standard mobile softswitch that controls distributed media gateways and manages call/session control for voice and data services. It works seamlessly in GSM/EDGE, 3G/UMTS and CDMA networks. It also enables an evolution to 3GPP Release 5 and Release 6 networks via software-only upgrades. The company said that its network architecture allows a mobile operator to invest in only a few Mobile Call Servers spread though a limited number of centralized control sites located in its largest traffic zones, while having a larger number of lower-cost Media Gateways located close to the access network to switch the traffic locally. Spatial's distributed solution is in commercial use and in market trials, with major GSM and CDMA operators in the world, in particular in North America, China, and India - with over one million ports deployed in 2004.
