Sonus Networks Delivers National Communications System (NCS) Emergency Call Suite for VoIP Trunking Networks

Sonus Networks, Inc. has introduced a suite of IP-based voice calling solutions to serve National Security/Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) needs as outlined by the National Communications System (NCS) under the Department of Homeland Security. The mission of the NCS is to assist the President, government agencies, and critical industry through the delivery of NS/EP communications, which require a high probability of completion during periods of network congestion, including crisis or emergency, attack, recovery and reconstitution.

"In the past five years especially, we've seen how critical it is to be able to communicate effectively in crisis situations," said John Graves, government emergency telecommunications service and wireless priority service program director, NCS. "Sonus is a recognized leader in the IP voice world and their new NS/EP feature offering will help ensure that IP networks meet the emergency communications requirements for high probability of completion."

Working in collaboration with the NCS and its integration contractor, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Sonus Networks has developed a robust set of next generation network features that meet the requirements outlined by the NCS. Most recently, the NCS enlisted the support of Sonus to develop two new features to round out its NS/EP services product functionality: Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Resource Priority Header (RPH) and Office Wide Call Queuing (OWCQ), which together identify and allocate resource priority to calls from authorized federal, state, local, and critical industry personnel who have NS/EP missions. Sonus Networks is the first to develop this set of next generation NS/EP features and recently hosted a demonstration in their Richardson, Texas, laboratories for NCS, CSC, other NCS contractors, and a group of leading U.S. carriers. The Richardson lab is Sonus' largest customer integration and testing facility.

"Sonus has been a critical ally in efforts to define IP standards for NS/EP priority needs", noted Dennis Berg, engineering director, CSC. "Now Sonus is the first-to-market with products that realize NCS service requirements based upon these standards".

"There's been a lot of attention around enhanced 911, but just as important is the ability for NS/EP responders to be able to place calls with important information and instructions in times of crises," said Vikram Saksena, chief scientist, Sonus Networks. "We are committed to helping our customers build networks that function reliably in even the most strenuous circumstances, when the ability to communicate is most important."

To ensure that NS/EP communications are being addressed across various network types, the NCS has implemented the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) and Wireless Priority Service (WPS). Sonus' NS/EP product portfolio is designed to meet the needs of each of these two services.