Switching used to be something you did with a fellow player’s cards when he left the game for a visit to the bathroom. Nowadays this term has technological significance beyond anything the everyday consumer might consider relevant, yet the results thereof touch every life, every day.
Switching is the process whereby data and voice are carried on networks, sharing and transferring (switching) between networks and platforms. For instance, a Bluetooth message sent to an email address.
The centralised network control and distributed switching inherent in softswitch network design can lead to big savings in operation and maintenance and, of course, transportation costs. Telecommunications softswitching provides the means to drastically reduce existing telephony service delivery costs.
Softswitching enables a smooth migration of signalling and service traffic from the conventional circuit-switched network to a multiservice internet provider (IP) network.
Rhodes University is at the apex of research into softswitch real-time multimedia architecture. Its aim is to develop architecture and services oriented towards the needs and conditions of the local community and also develop the people and skills needed in our country in this highly technical arena.
The project aims to construct a softswitching environment that is relevant to both large industry and small business needs and also have the potential to be exported to other developing countries. New technologies are being designed to integrate services on to existing networks that are highly heterogeneous.
The core features of Voice and Video over IP (VoIP) will be incorporated into a single multiservice IP infrastructure that can handle all network services, including fixed and mobile communications, data services and even TV.
Professor Peter Clayton, of the Centre of Excellence in Distributed Multimedia in the computer science department at Rhodes, who heads the project, says: “We are seeking to address the high level skill deficiency on the one hand and to make direct technical contributions, which will make the telecommunication and IT industries in South Africa more competitive and more relevant to developing markets.
“South Africa is particularly well placed to export solutions to other developing countries, since our problems are primarily developing world problems and our pool of technological skills, though small and under threat, is largely First World in quality.
“Relatively few other countries have this combination. Not many developed countries have the extremely heterogeneous nature of networks we have in South Africa. While highly modern broadband networks are needed by the upper sectors of the economy to help them remain internationally competitive, the users of extremely limited forms of data communication should not be excluded from the information pool and, in fact, represent a large market ready to be tapped.
“We are therefore investigating the viability of new network media opportunities, as well as how to add value to older infrastructure through innovative adaptation of new technology,” says Clayton.
The safe introduction of a softÂswitch into an operator’s existing technology requires the design of an open, standards-based solution that is both robust and resilient. This means, in real terms, applying modern softswitch technology to proven telecom platforms.
“We are looking at establishing a highly flexible and cost-effective IP-based softswitch environment, which will facilitate small business development both directly as a product to be used across many sectors and indirectly to allow for opportunities in the communications supply and service industry for local SMMEs to compete effectively with big international players.
“This has widespread wealth and job creation potential. Information Technology has been identified as one of the key enabling technologies that can bring significant productivity gains to a broad cross section of other economic and industrial activities. Many of the recent developments in the Eastern Cape, such as the Coega deep water port, have a variety of industrial opportunities that can be enhanced by a softÂswitching IT system linking it to other portals,” he says.
“The softswitch project has a strong quality-of-life focus at its application end, which promotes empowerment through access to information, one of the important current issues of our society.
“This includes ongoing field trials within a number of local disadvantaged township schools, from which data about the suitability of the technologies is gathered. The need to involve previously disadvantaged people in the project is further addressed through collaboration with the University of Fort Hare in a field trial in the village of Dwesa in remote rural Eastern Cape and through a range of local SET awareness activities,” Clayton says.
Core studies within this project include carrier services and its applications, incorporating VoIP, fixed/mobile convergence, the local area network needs of interactive multiÂmedia applications, distributed and web services for access, control and network management and the integration of specific multimedia protocols with conventional and legacy networks.
At the business model level, attention is paid to delivery in under-resourced geographic locations, cost-effective solutions for emerging entrepreneurs and the complex needs of heterogeneous network infrastructure. The value in a network derives primarily from the services that run on the physical infrastructure.
Clayton says: “We have already built up substantial momentum and experience with various service and middleware components and architectures. Some of these we have assessed as being on the wane, some are still potential candidates for the longer term [mobile agent technologies, mobile code, Java Enterprise technologies] and some emerging middleware platforms are in fast-growth and adoption mode. The VoIP services under study have become especially important in the rapid deregulation environment of South Africa in 2007 and beyond.”