The GSMA-defined IP eXchange (IPX) solution was created to address these issues. IPX is a standards-based, secure and qualityenabled managed IP network for delivering interactive multimedia services across any type of service provider’s network, including fixed, mobile, cable, ISPs, ASPs, and Over the Top (OTT).

1. GENBAND Intelligent IPX Solution
May 2012

2. GENBAND Intelligent IPX Solution
IPX at a Glance Provided they follow commonly agreed upon technical speci-
As more fixed and mobile carriers and service providers fication and use consistent commercial models, a variety of
increasingly move to IP-based networks, the complexity carriers, including wholesale International Long Distance (ILD)
required to interconnect these networks grows dramatically. operators, IP transit carriers, or GRX operators, can offer IPX
Strategies for interconnecting IP networks, including those services. The GSMA IPX architecture was granted additional
based on heterogeneous access technologies, have been ad legitimacy in late 2010, when it was adopted as a baseline
hoc to date, resulting in solutions that do not provide well- for an interconnect specification composed by the I3 Forum,
defined IP connection models, guaranteed Quality of Service a consortium of nearly 40 predominantly fixed telecommuni-
(QoS) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs), or a standard- cations providers.
ized economic model for interconnect compensation.
While the consensus forming around the IPX specification for
The GSMA-defined IP eXchange (IPX) solution was created to next-generation IP voice and data interconnection has helped
address these issues. IPX is a standards-based, secure and quality- to jumpstart the fledging market, several industry trends and
enabled managed IP network for delivering interactive multimedia technological advances are now creating additional demand
services across any type of service provider’s network, including for the secure and guaranteed exchange of multimedia ser-
fixed, mobile, cable, ISPs, ASPs, and Over the Top (OTT). vices. The rapid build-up of LTE-based mobile networks, many
to be underlined by an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based
infrastructure, for example, is expected by industry observers
to incentivize mobile operators to form partnerships with IPX
providers, potentially accelerating the growth and develop-
ment of IPX services.
Benefits of IPX
A key advantage telecom service providers hold over OTT
players is service quality. Quality is paramount to the success
of mobile service providers in particular. Achieving end-to-
end service quality is not a trivial endeavor, however, as mo-
bile operators are challenged by over-the-air packet loss and
propagation delay. An IPX-based transit route, accordingly,
is viewed by many operators as the only acceptable intercon-
nection option that can guarantee service quality.
Potential costs reductions is another benefit. The steady
The IPX specification provides a blueprint for the construc- erosion of per-minute long distance charges and the wide
tion of a next-generation interconnect solution that conforms penetration of alternate IP termination options offered by OTT
to four key principles (see below), which the GSMA has providers, threatens the sustainability and growth of carri-
deemed vital for a successful IP Interworking solution. ers, such as Wholesale ILD providers, whose business model
heavily relies on high-volume origination and termination
1. Openness to connect all types of service providers of voice minutes. IPX offers these carriers the opportunity to
2. Guaranteed quality create new monetization opportunities, such as charging for
3. Cascading payments guaranteed quality of services or new interconnection op-
4. Extremely efficient connectivity regime – one contract, tions, including transit only interconnection and service-based
many connections. bilateral and multi-lateral interconnections. To GRX operators,
the opportunity exists to create new revenue on top of exist-
ing volume-based data interconnection by evolving toward
IPX compliance.
2

3. GENBAND Intelligent IPX Solution
Additional IPX benefits are summarized in the following chart: IPX Challenges
Interconnecting disparate TDM networks is far simpler than
Benefits to IPX Providers Benefits to Service Providers the interworking of IP-based networks because much of the
Provides value-added Enables competitive differ- complexity of TDM interconnect has been worked out over
services, such as interwork- entiation by delivering new recent decades. Moreover, TDM communication is governed
ing between mobile and interactive IP services, such largely by a single control protocol and media type (voice).
fixed operators, by enabling as voice, video and mes- Accordingly, the interworking of IP traffic, which involves
signaling normalization and saging, over an end-to-end multiple control protocols and media types, poses significant
media transcoding IP network challenges. The IPX, therefore, is tasked with overcoming
The ability to increase Allows service providers to multiple barriers that are not associated with TDM interwork-
revenue by charging for effectively compete with OTT ing. To overcome these barriers, an IPX provider must have
guaranteed-quality VoIP ser- players by delivering guar- the ability to offer service providers the following:
vices across fixed, mobile, anteed quality of service
and OTT service providers • Awareness and deep visibility into services being
Provides differentiated multi- Obtain both technical and exchanged
service, multi-lateral intercon- commercial interoperability • Enforcement of quality of service at each interconnect
nect over the same intercon- assurance hand-off
nection backed up by SLA • Ability to assure end-to-end security and quality
and quality assurance • Mitigation of interoperability risks
Enable secure and seamless Ease technical, commercial, • Ability to maintain per-service, per-connectivity-based
interconnections between and administrative burden SLAs
service providers and appli- to maintain multiple bilateral • Correlation of session records for accurate billing and
cation/ content providers agreements by having single mediation
contract with IPX provider
for multiple interconnections The IPX Proxy
Provides new services such Reduces CAPEX and OPEX The critical element in an IPX network is the IPX proxy.
as VoLTE roaming across to maintain multiple tech- Located at the borders of an IPX network, the IPX proxy’s
IMS networks and RCS-e nologies to interconnect with main functions are to provide security and interoperability,
interconnects across islands peering partners enforce quality and commercial policies, account for all sessions
of mobile networks that traverse the IPX provider’s network and provide advanced
Offers new session-based Extends service reachability policy-based routing. To provide these functions in an IPX setting,
rather than minute based by interconnecting with a a market-ready IPX proxy solution should feature strict compli-
services, by providing inter- large community of service ance with the requirements of the GSMA IPX specification, as
connects for rich IP-based providers across the globe well as offer a resume of extensive deployment in major IPX
multimedia services such as networks around the globe.
VoIP, video telephony, IM,
presence, image transfers, GENBAND Intelligent IPX Solution
and video transfers, etc. GENBAND is a market-leading supplier of next-generation
voice and multimedia infrastructure equipment. The GENBAND
Improve their time-to-market
Intelligent IPX solution enables secure and seamless IP intercon-
to deliver new services
nection of fixed and mobile voice and multi-media traffic. Unlike
backed up with QoS and
solutions that address only a portion of IP interconnect require-
SLAs
ments, GENBAND’s Intelligent IPX solution is a standards-based,
single-vendor solution that enables the interworking of traffic
from GSM and non-GSM operator networks, TDM-based fixed and
mobile networks, and SIP-based VoIP and multimedia networks.
3

4. GENBAND Intelligent IPX Solution
GENBAND Intelligent IPX Solution Architecture
GENBAND’s standards-compliant, secure, simple and modu- diversity ensures broad global coverage and service extendibil-
lar architecture enables IPX providers to offer predictable ity to any service provider, including TDM, IP, Cable, OTT, ASP
interconnection services with robust security and seamless or ISP , irrespective of the mobile or fixed origin or destination
interworking between myriad devices, protocols and net- of traffic. A complete list of protocol and specification support is
works. The scalable commercial offering assists operators in contained in the following chart.
launching new revenue-generating services that are backed
up by service level agreements (SLAs) that can be matched GENBAND IP Solution Offers Market-Leading
against each diverse service flow. Protocol Diversity
GENBAND’s IPX solution provides unmatched capabilities:
Robust security: Security features include topology hiding,
B2BUA, IP rate limiting, TLS, IPSec, SRTP, access control list,
dynamic blacklisting, authentication, media filtering, traffic
policing, deep packet inspection, logging and auditing.
Any-to-Any Interconnection: Supports interfaces such as
C7/SS7, Bearer Independent Call Control (BICC) for legacy
mobile interconnects, SIP, SIP-I (with large number of national
and international ISUP variants), SIP-T, H.323 and Nb/Nc. This
4

5. GENBAND Intelligent IPX Solution
Seamless interworking: The GENBAND IPX solution en- Intuitive routing: To further improve the quality of inter-
ables seamless interworking between adjacent networks owned connects, GENBAND’s IPX solution ensures route quality,
by multiple operators for the delivery of voice and multimedia performance, and profitability through global addressing
services. It provides a wide range of flexible policies to seam- and routing based on criteria such as cost Least Cost Routing
lessly interoperate multi-vendor and multi-protocol environments (LCR), profitability, percentage distribution, network analytics
utilizing different network addressing technologies, whether and service quality and route availability. The GENBAND
IPv4, IPv6 or variations of SIP. It provides IP-to-IP media trans- solution supports standard interfaces to query external route
coding and trans-rating with extensive codec support for fixed servers using ENUM or SIP Redirect (RFC 4904), enabling
and wireless interconnects. the blending of on-board route policies with external route
databases.
SMART interconnects: In addition to supporting basic
QoS assurance mechanisms, such as traffic classification using Simple and sensible operations: A major require-
DSCP marking and CLID transparency, GENBAND’s IPX solu- ment of network operators is that new platforms can easily
tion provides Session Management Analytics and Reporting integrate into existing infrastructure and back-office systems,
(SMART) Management. SMART Management is designed to ensuring that Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and
monitor, analyze, report and enforce network-wide quality and Provisioning (OAM&P) costs are minimized. GENBAND’s IPX
performance at interconnection points on IPX proxies. It pro- proxy simplifies operations by providing easy-to-use menu-
vides extensive service visibility with built-in Key Performance driven controls to centrally manage, provision, and administer
Indicators (KPIs) to monitor network- and service-level quality the quality and performance of all interconnection points
at each interconnect hand-off and enforces policies to assure across the entire network.
SLAs.
Detailed billing and settlement: Ensuring the traffic
While a properly designed IPX proxy ensures a secure, robust traversing an IPX provider’s network is properly monetized
and interoperable IP border, the SMART management solution is a paramount concern. The GENBAND solution produces
provides visibility into the traffic that traverses the network authoritative session detail records (SDR) for every session
edge, adding the analytical capabilities to dynamically modify type -- (voice, video and IM) – providing more than 100 fields
the call routing behavior based on a combination of business of information that can be utilized for billing, settlement,
policies, network QoS and interconnect performance. The performance measurement, and troubleshooting.
result is a network that is not only robust and secure, but one
that provides the business flexibility needed to deliver high Lower total cost of ownership (TCO): The GENBAND
quality services. IPX proxy delivers several unique capabilities designed
to drive costs out of the overall IPX solution. The solution’s
GENBAND SMART Management Solution architecture enables operators to build new services without
adding new hardware, a critical cost element for operators.
GENBAND’s IPX is complemented by a common manage-
ment system that further enables operational costs reduc-
tion. By delivering the solution on commercial off-the-shelf
hardware, with common sparing and inventory for multiple
applications functions, the GENBAND IPX proxy offers excel-
lent investment protection. Another TCO-reduction feature of
GENBAND’s IPX proxy is a media transcoding solution with
a centralized pool of DSP resources that can be shared by
multiple IPX proxies. This further enables cost reductions by
optimizing the utilization of expensive DSP resources.
5

6. GENBAND Intelligent IPX Solution
Turn-key solution deployment: GENBAND’s state- into the IPX network. Virtualization also enables a unique op-
of-art professional services capabilities complement its IPX portunity for IPX providers to generate new revenue streams
solution with skilled personnel to assist IPX providers at every by offering managed and hosted SBC services to service
step in the adoption process -- from design through deploy- providers and other international wholesale carriers.
ment and service management. GENBAND leverages best
practices and years of experience in migrating more than 40 GENBAND IPX Solution Elements
million TDM lines to IP to provide turn-key implementation of GENBAND’s end-to-end, standards-based IPX solution utilizes
an IPX solution with end-to-end accountability. GENBAND’s S3 Intelligent Session Border Control-
ler, G-Series media gateways, C-Series call control
Delivery of new revenue opportunities: GENBAND’s and GENView RSM. The S3 SBC provides advanced
IPX solution creates new opportunities for growth and IP In¬terconnect and IPX proxy functions, such as session
ex¬pansion by enabling operators to expand their network management, security, policy enforcement, IP signaling and
capabilities and offer new types of services. These new media protocol interworking and advanced real-time session
service opportunities, which are highlighted in the following monitoring and management. The market-leading G-Series me-
chart, are intuitively segmented into four classes. dia gateways provide interworking and transcoding of voice
and multimedia across IP, TDM, fixed and mobile networks.
Opening up New Revenue Opportunities GENBAND’s C-Series call control solutions provide media
resource and gateway control, as well as IP-to-TDM signaling
interworking (SIGTRAN, SS7, BICC) and advanced voice and
multimedia services. Common management is provided by the
GenView™ network management system with built in SMART
Management solution.
GENBAND’s IPX solution is further differentiated from com-
peting platforms when delivered on the GENBAND GE-
TM
NiUS platform, the industry’s only unified IP switching and
networking platform supporting multi-purpose IP solutions.
The GENiUS platform integrates all the components – secu-
rity, interworking, call control, routing, media handling, and
management – in a scalable IPX offering. The ATCA-based
GENiUS platform includes and advanced middleware layer
(GENWare) and an integrated common management layer
Virtualized SBC: Built on the market-leading GENBAND (GENView) that enables operational simplicity.
S3TM SBC, the GENBAND IPX proxy solution is unique in sup-
porting a virtualized environment, allowing a single system to
be segmented into multiple, virtual ones. Each partition can
be managed and branded individually, allowing operators
to construct a “cloud-based” offering. This capability also
removes the requirements for IPX operators to deploy SBCs as
dedicated hardware for each service provider interconnect
6

7. GENBAND Intelligent IPX Solution
Extend Your Network without Limits with
GENBAND Intelligent IPX Solution
With the communications industry continuing to evolve at a
rapid pace, operators require solutions that can solve today’s
requirements and adapt to meet tomorrow’s challenges.
Operators pursuing opportunity in the IPX environment
require solutions that can assure complex services integrate
and operate across multiple technological ecosystems and
do so while providing a higher level of service quality than
ever before. GENBAND’s Intelligent IPX solution has been
designed to meet the needs of IPX providers, enabling the
secure, simple, and scalable support of multimedia session
connectivity between diverse IP networks.
About GENBAND
GENBAND is a global leader of IP infrastructure solutions,
enabling enterprise, service and content providers around the
world to evolve communications networks through IP innova-
tion. The Company offers market-leading Switching, Ap-
plications, Networking and Service solutions, with products
deployed in over 600 customer networks spanning more than
80 countries. GENBAND is headquartered in Frisco, Texas,
and has vast resources in R&D, sales and support spanning
more than 50 countries. To learn more, visit us on the web at
www.GENBAND.com.
7