July 19th 2006

By Johanne Torres
TMCnet Contributing Editor

PSTN and VoIP provider RNK Telecom announced on Wednesday that it will deploy Lucent Technologies' Compact Switch, bundled with Performance Technologies' Point Code Emulation (PCE) system, to expand its coverage in New York and New Jersey, as well as to enhance existing telephony services throughout its Mid-Atlantic network.

"Over the past 18 months, RNK has recorded very significant growth in number of subscribers nationwide, breadth and depth of our service offerings, and in number of employees; we have experienced a 100 percent increase in staffing, taking our total headcount to 140 employees," said RNK's president and CEO, Richard N. Koch in a statement. "By leveraging the Lucent Compact Switch and Performance Technologies' PCE, we have put ourselves in an ideal position to best take advantage of VoIP's continued consumer market penetration, and to translate our existing momentum into new subscribers up and down the East Coast, and across the country."

The Lucent Compact Switch supports more than 20,000 VoIP ports (or more than 80,000 traditional voice lines) on a single integrated platform. In addition to providing VoIP, Voice ATM gateway capabilities, Internet off-load and gateway mobile switching center features, the compact switch also offers CALEA and E911 capabilities.

Performance Technologies' Point Code Emulation system is an SS7 routing feature that offers simplified re-configuration and management of SS7 network elements. PCE allows network reconfiguration to take place without involving connectivity partners. PCE is interoperable with the Lucent Compact switch, enabling signaling/trunk migration and activation of the Lucent switch. This will enable RNK to reduce its need for long-haul circuit capacity while providing significantly more switching capacity.

RNK made news last month when it announced it chose Intrado to expand its current 911 services. RNK will integrate Intrado's V9-1-1 Services into its enterprise, consumer and mobile VoIP services, extending its reach across the continental U.S. (with the exception of Alaska) and Canada.