Softswitches
To provide services without a physical switch, a soft switch connects to a server (such as a Sun Microsystems or Unix machine) running the application. The softswitch is also connected to the media gateway, the element that is physically connected to the PSTN, IP or ATM network.
A soft switch is also called a call agent, call server or MGC. This is a device that provides traditional call control functions or a Class 4 and Class 5 switching structure. In a mobile network, a soft switch is also referred to as a Mobile Switching Center (MSC). The software switch provides at least the following:
• Smart features that manage connection services for a media gateway or native IP endpoint. • Ability to select processes that can be applied to a call. • Routing of calls in the network based on signaling and information from the subscriber database. • Ability to transfer call control to another network element. • Interfaces and support for administrative functions such as . B. Delivery on failover billing. • Support for multiple protocols, including some subsets of MGCP, Media Gateway Control Protocol (Megaco), SIP, SS7, Call Processing Language, H.323 and Q.931/Q.2931. • DiffServ, Resource Reservation Protocol, Real-Time Transport Protocol, Real-Time Control Protocol, MPLS and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11p. • Conformance/compatibility with specific subsets of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Frame Relay Forum, ATM Forum, IEEE IMS Forum and 3GPP/3GPP2 standards.
