News Release

Cisco Systems Launches Voice Gateway Appliance to Migrate Legacy PBX Networks to IP Communications

Cisco EGW 2200 Enterprise Gateway to facilitate phased migration of PBXs with DPNSS to IP Telephony solutions
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Oct 12, 2004

LONDON, United Kingdom - October 12, 2004 - The new Cisco® EGW 2200 Enterprise Gateway can help organisations reduce telephone operating expenses by facilitating the phased migration from time-division multiplexing (TDM) private branch exchange (PBX) networks to fully converged Cisco IP telephony and IP communications solutions.

The Cisco EGW 2200 gateway is designed as an easy-to-install network appliance to support the interworking of voice signalling protocols, Digital Private Network Signalling System (DPNSS) and Q.SIG, with Cisco CallManager call-processing software and Cisco UnityTM voice mail and unified messaging solutions. Commonly used DPNSS features, such as call-back, extension status, route optimisation, and centralized attendant console, as well as other centralised operator functions, are supported by the Cisco EGW 2200. In addition, the Cisco EGW 2200 helps enable the interoperation of IP telephony voice mail features with legacy voice mail systems.

After completing trials of the Cisco EGW 2200, the London Borough of Camden is currently deploying the Cisco Systems® gateway on its production network.

The London Borough of Camden is one of the United Kingdom's top-performing local authorities, receiving an 'Excellent' rating in the Audit Commission's Comprehensive Performance Assessment in 2002 and 2003.

Cisco Systems worked closely with the Camden Council e-Services team to test the Cisco EGW 2200's capabilities in providing a resilient telephony gateway between the legacy Mitel SX2000 environment and the emerging Cisco IP telephony network. A comprehensive list of DPNSS Supplementary Services features were tested between the two telephony networks; the test was 100 percent successful with all features working on both networks.

Nigel Levens, network support manager at Camden Council, commented: "Camden Council requires a stable, reliable gateway to allow the seamless use of network telephone functions between the emerging IP platforms and legacy platforms. The gateway was tested in a controlled, structured manner over a number of weeks with our live Mitel network. The product does what it promises and gives our business users the functionality that they require whilst we are running both IP and legacy platforms alongside each other."

Tim Stone, head of IP Communications Marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Cisco Systems, said: "The future of communications is clearly based on a converged IP infrastructure for data and voice. Telephone systems that support DPNSS and Q.SIG currently connect more than 45 million extension lines in EMEA*. The Cisco EGW 2200 helps enable the interworking of these legacy systems with today's advanced communications technology and allows customers to migrate to tomorrow's fully converged network at their own pace."

*Source: MZA