[asterisk-users] Big time system

[Joe Freeman]

Cary-

Asterisk may carry you a way down this road, but in the end, it's not, 
and was never designed to be a class 5 telecom switch. There are people 
working on a carrier grade implementation that may or may not be fully 
class 5, but I don't know what the status is on that. I haven't gotten 
an answer from Digium on that lately.

What you're looking for are local gateways that backhaul to a central 
switch site with equipment that can support traffic from multiple rate 
centers in multiple LATAs. This gets complicated quickly, especially if 
your rate centers are spread across multiple states.

You'll want some type of Multiservice Access Platform (MSAP). Zhone 
makes the MALC and their newer MXK box. Adtran has the TA-5000 shelf. 
Neither are what you'd call cheap. Both will provide T1 access, DSL, 
SDSL, VDSL, bonded, and even ethernet access to the customer over a 
variety of transport options, including copper pairs.

The Zhone box already has SIP backhaul for voice traffic, and the Adtran 
shelf should have it soon. Today the Adtran box has GR303 backhaul for 
voice.

All that said, what you're proposing indicates to me that you're likely 
to need to establish CLEC certification in whatever states you'll be 
operating. That in itself is not a short process. It can take anywhere 
from 90 days to a year depending on the state, and expect to spend from 
$10K up on legal costs per state alone. Insurance, financial health, and 
other requirements vary by state as well.

The ILECs generally won't even talk to you about establishing colo and 
gaining access to the copper loops until you get the CLEC certificate. 
Generally the process starts by getting the certificate, then 
negotiating an ICA, then trunking services, then colo. Different 
carriers will be easier to work with than others, but they are all a 
pain. AT&T requires you to have a $10M general liability policy in place 
before you can even submit a request for a space availability report.

All this is not to say it can't be done, but to point out that it's a 
very difficult process to negotiate, even when you have done it several 
times. Without experience it can be close to impossible. I'd suggest 
getting a good telecom/clec consultant and a good telecom lawyer (I know 
a few) involved early in the process, or you'll end up spending ALOT of 
money.

Hit me off-list and I can give you more info.

Joe


On 6/24/2010 11:24 PM, Cary Fitch wrote:
> We are an asterisk user... small time system 50-100 users or so.
>
> But, we have an opportunity to get into a big time telecom activity.
>
> It would have 2000 to 30,000 user lines per city, and we would like to have
> those brought back to a central location for control and because transport
> can be more economical than remote site rentals, maintenance and personnel.
>
> We could take the local lines into concentrators (TNTs or equivalent) and
> bring back IP to a central site, or put servers at the remote cities.
>
> Our object is to serve as a "central office switch" for subscribers on
> standard telco service loops.
>
> This isn't a "How many lines can I handle using a Belchfire 2600 processor?"
> type question but a request for pointers to big time systems.  There would
> be no IP path to the end user, "just" copper.
>
> Thank you
> Cary Fitch
>
>