Going back to its roots in a way, Acme Packet has introduced new, decomposed configurations for its Net-Net session border control products. The three new configurations feature separate signaling and media control systems and will be known as the Border Gateway, the Session Controller and the Signaling Firewall.

The systems will still be supported on the company’s Net 4000 and Net 9000 hardware platforms, but the separate configurations provide increased flexibility for service providers’ IMS architectures and other service architectures such as ETSI TISPAN, MSF and PacketCable.

Seamus Hourihan, vice president of marketing and product management for Acme Packet, said the company has been selling an integrated configuration since 2002 that tightly integrates signaling and media control in a single hardware platform. “However, early customers back then wanted something simpler, more integrated,” he said.

The need to scale, a major benefit to decomposition, has driven them full circle.

Within these architectures, the Access Session Border Controller addresses the requirements at the network border where subscribers access the IMS core. The Interconnect Session Border Controller addresses the requirements at the boundary between peering network providers.

Service providers can implement the SBC in either an integrated or decomposed model. An integrated SBC integrates signaling and media control in a single hardware-based system, while a decomposed architecture uses physically separate signaling and media control systems.

“Some of our distribution partners and service provider customers prefer a decomposed SBC implementation so they can scale the signaling and media control elements independently, especially on the interconnect side of the business where there is less complexity,” Hourihan said. “But we aren’t going to fight any religious battles here. We only want to sell product and will offer it either way.”

Acme Packet’s Net-Net 4000 and 9000 series platforms now may be configured to support either the integrated or decomposed SBC model.

Acme Packet will demonstrate its new decomposed Signaling Firewall at Fall VON in Boston Next week. The Session Controller and the Border gateway will be used during the MultiService Forum’s GMI 2006 interoperability event in October.

The three configurations employ Acme Packet’s Net-Net OS software technology. The Border Gateway provides media control for voice, video and multimedia RTP/RTCP flows via an H.248 interface to a master Acme Packet Session Controller, a third-party SIP softswitch or core IMS CSCF signaling element.

The Session Controller provides signaling control and security for voice, video and multimedia SIP message flows. It also uses an H.248 interface to control slave Acme Packet Border Gateways or third-party media proxies/relays. The Signaling Firewall provides security for core SIP signaling elements such as softswitches, IMS CSCF elements and application servers.

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