IBM and BroadSoft (News - Alert) Inc., a provider of VoIP application software, have together announced that more than 100 telecom service providers are now using IBM (News - Alert) BladeCenter with the BroadWorks Voice over IP (VoIP) platform.

The companies began offering the solution just 18 months ago and find that this rapid adoption by both large and small telecommunication service providers is driven by their need to quickly deploy and scale new IP-based, converged voice services.

"Telecom service providers are seeking to offer new next-generation network services that leverage the best from the worlds of IT and telecom," said Jim Pertzborn, vice president of telecommunications for IBM Systems Group, in a Friday statement.

"The IBM BladeCenter family with the BroadWorks VoIP platform allows telecommunications companies to quickly deliver new revenue-generating, carrier-grade services at consistently lower costs."

Introduced earlier this year, the IBM BladeCenter HT extends the BladeCenter family to meet stringent NEBS3/ETSI (News - Alert) requirements for telecommunications carrier grade deployments.

The IBM BladeCenter HT is designed to deliver superior performance and high-speed connectivity for network bandwidth up to 10 times greater than previously possible. As a result, telecommunications service providers are able to deliver new, next-generation network services.

The consumer community for BroadSoft includes wireline, wireless and cable operators, in addition to regional competitive carriers, wholesalers and ISPs around the world. Companies using IBM BladeCenter with BroadWorks include Cable&Wireless Jamaica, Centennial, Cox (News - Alert) Communications, Sprint, TerreStar and v2tel.

The Network Service Group (NSG) of NextWave Broadband Inc., a subsidiary of NextWave Wireless, selected the IBM BladeCenter and BroadWorks VoIP solution to include in its wireless network design and implementation offerings targeted to emerging markets and service providers.

"As a global provider of mobile broadband products and technologies to  enable Wireless 2.0(tm), the next generation of mobile communications,  we are always looking for new applications to help our customers take a  next step toward implementing advanced wireless technologies," said  Alan Cameron, senior vice president - engineering and operations, Network Services Group, NextWave Broadband, in Friday’s statement.

"We believe the IBM BladeCenter and BroadWorks solution will provide an IT and telecommunications foundation that will help our customers accelerate deployment of their multimedia offerings."

A competitive Internet Telephony Service Provider in Sweden, DGC, delivers VoIP and mobile integration to enterprises through standalone and integrated access solutions.

"The combination of IBM BladeCenter with the BroadWorks platform  delivers the best support for our mission critical applications and minimizes  upfront expense, while allowing us to scale capacity to keep up with  the anticipated growth of our corporate customers," said Gerry Askefalk, CTO for DGC AB, in Friday’s statement.

"Our customers expect reliability and scalability, and the IBM BladeCenter with the BroadWorks platform allows us to meet those expectations,” said Joe P. Gillette, CEO of Stage 2 Networks, in Friday’s statement. Stage 2 Networks is a New York-based VoIP services company providing Hosted PBX to SMBs in the Northeastern US.

"BroadSoft and IBM are partners whose solutions help us reduce total cost of ownership and give us the flexibility to add additional services without sacrificing performance."

BroadSoft customers include 7 of the top 10 carriers worldwide, and 5 of the top 10 carriers in Europe, as measured by recent annual revenue, and 14 incumbent carriers in the U.S. The BroadWorks application platform has been selected by these carriers to provide VoIP services to business and residential end users.

"The architecture of the BroadWorks platform enables our customers to minimize their upfront expenses and create new service offerings, including voice with video and fixed-mobile convergence solutions," said Robert Weidenfeller, vice president of Engineering for BroadSoft, in Friday’s statement.

"Running our award-winning platform on the IBM BladeCenter family ensures our customers have the performance, redundancy and scalability required for carrier-class service delivery."

Consumers in the residential and business segments alike are increasingly demanding converged services and service providers are scrambling to be able to offer next-generation technologies or risk being stamped out by competitors who can respond to the demand.

With the improvements in quality and consistency of VoIP, and as companies are recognizing the benefits that the technology offers, the adoption rate of this innovation is rapidly growing, creating significant opportunity for companies such as IBM and BroadSoft.

The acknowledgement of more than 100 service providers adopting the IBM BladeCenter with the BroadWorks VoIP platform proves that these two companies are doing something right.

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Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.

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