Alliance Produces Enhanced IP Data and Fax Services for Businesses and Consumers
Washington, D.C., ComNet -- January 26, 1999 -- GTE and Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced the deployment of enhanced Internet Protocol (IP) services. These services will be delivered over GTE's Global Network Infrastructure (GNI) using an innovative network architecture that was jointly developed and relies largely on Cisco technology. GTE's high-speed, high-capacity IP network will deliver IP fax, Internet call waiting, unified messaging, and other services. These services are a tangible and significant result of a strategic alliance between GTE and Cisco involving technology collaboration, product development and joint marketing.
The GTE network leverages IP technology to provide these new services to business and residential customers. GTE and Cisco have collaborated to develop enhanced IP network capabilities, and these have been used to deliver differentiated GTE services including:
- IP fax (PC to fax; enhanced fax to e-mail; enhanced fax to PC; enhanced fax to fax; fax inbox; and fax broadcast)
- Internet call waiting (management of voice calls while on the Internet)
GTE is also developing unified messaging, Voice-over-IP, and other enhanced IP-based services to take advantage of this new network architecture.
GTE chose Cisco in 1997 to help build its IP network. The two companies built this national network using Cisco's wide area network (WAN), high-end routers (Cisco 7500), multifunction mid-sized routers (Cisco 3600) and dial access platforms (Cisco AS5300). The companies used the Cisco AS5300 IP/PSTN Gateway, Cisco Gatekeeper and CiscoSecure products to rollout GTE's enhanced IP services.
"Cisco's technology, creativity and commitment to delivering complex IP network solutions have been critical to our success in building this new network and in quickly bringing these services to market," said Paul O'Brien, vice president of GTE Internetworking and general manager of IP telecom. "Cisco has been a partner in every sense of the word and has demonstrated the ability to deliver carrier-class technology."
"GTE's enhanced IP network is a nationwide leader, and we congratulate GTE on the rollout of a suite of new services that will provide more functionality to businesses and consumers," said Don Listwin, executive vice president of Cisco Systems. "Cisco and GTE will continue to collaborate to develop leading edge products and services for the New World of telecommunications."
Differentiated Services for GTE Customers
GTE's enhanced IP telecom services provide a suite of innovative, cost-effective IP-based communications services that will improve productivity and simplify users' lives. These services integrate the capabilities of leading communications software developers, GTE's Global Network Infrastructure, and Cisco hardware to deliver leading-edge IP services.IP Fax
GTE IP Fax is an outsourced, IP-based fax sending and receiving service that increases the productivity, reliability and security of fax transmissions while reducing the total cost of fax ownership. GTE IP Fax provides users with powerful new features such as broadcast faxing, delivery confirmation, personalized inbox and e-mail integration. Users can access their incoming faxes through the Internet from anywhere in the world and send faxes to any fax machine or e-mail address worldwide from their desktops. In addition to generating tremendous operating efficiencies, GTE IP Fax helps users realize substantial savings in avoiding purchase, operation, or maintenance of costly fax servers.Internet Call Waiting
Internet Call Waiting allows dial-in Internet users to manage incoming phone calls while online. An incoming call triggers a pop-up screen informing the call user and identifying the caller. The user can then notify the caller to call back, answer it, or simply ignore it. Internet Call Waiting users avoid the need for a second phone line and gain the added convenience of monitoring and managing incoming calls.Cisco Products: Providing New Services for GTE Telephony over the Internet
Cisco products used to deploy the new, differentiated services for GTE subscribers include:Cisco AS5300
The Cisco AS5300 is designed to support the growing volume of dial-in and voice connections to service providers and corporate networks. It delivers optimum performance for as many as 60 voice sessions or as many as 240 concurrent analog modem calls and ISDN B channels. A flexible, multi-service universal access server, the Cisco AS5300 raises the bar for performance in high-traffic, real-world environments.H.323 Gatekeeper for Service Providers
The Cisco H.323 Gatekeeper is part of Cisco's carrier-class VoIP solution. The Cisco IOS. software-based H.323 Gatekeeper provides address resolution, bandwidth management, user authorization, and policy management capabilities for H.323-based data, voice and video conferencing traffic on LANs and WANs. It also generates accounting records and supports H.323 terminals, gateways, and Multipoint Control Units (MCUs). The H.323 Gatekeeper is compatible with the Cisco Multimedia Conference Manager software.CiscoSecure
The CiscoSecure ACS product line consists of access control servers that determine who may access a network and what services they are authorized to use. The ACS stores a profile containing authentication and authorization information for each user. The authentication process validates user identity, and authorization information determines what a user can access. An access control server can be used simultaneously with dial up access servers, routers and firewalls. Each of the network devices can be configured to communicate with an access control server, making it possible for a service provider to centrally provision and control dial up access. CiscoSecure can also be used to secure corporate network devices from unauthorized access.About GTE Internetworking
GTE Internetworking, a unit of GTE Corporation (NYSE:GTE), offers customers, from consumers to Fortune 500 companies, a full spectrum of integrated Internet services using IP networking technologies. GTE Internetworking delivers complete network solutions, including dial up and dedicated Internet access, high-performance Web hosting, managed Internet security, network management, systems integration, and Web-based application development for integrating the Internet into business operations. GTE Internetworking draws upon its expertise in funded research and development of advanced technologies, including satellite networks, packet radio networks, multi-gigabit routers, network and information security, and speech recognition, and GTE's strong existing telecommunications services, including local and long distance, wireless, paging, video, and Internet.GTE is one the world's largest telecommunications companies and a leading provider of integrated data, voice and video services.
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet.Cisco, Cisco IOS, Cisco Systems, Cisco IOS and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
