How MERA VoIP Transit Softswitch (MVTS) Work with VoIP

Introduced a year ago, MERA VoIP Transit Softswitch Pro, a next generation of the award-winning MERA VoIP Transit Softswitch I, has already gained popularity among VoIP operators. The new product meets the up-to-date requirements of VoIP carriers allowing them to operate to the utmost of their capability. It was an impetus for MERA Systems to launch MVTS I to MVTS Pro Transition Program, a new program especially designed for its existing customers. The main goal of the program is to provide customers with the opportunity to enhance their business via an easy and straight-forward transition from MVTS I to MVTS Pro, a more functional and scalable product, that inherited the best features of a well-known MVTS I – ability to provide smooth equipment and networks interconnection, business-critical reliability and easy system management.

Resembling much of the MVTS I features, MVTS Pro comprises revolutionary new capabilities of VoIP softswitch that give customers the highest capability and scalability. MVTS Pro key benefits include an ultra-high capacity with CPS up to 1000 per traffic entry point combined with distributed architecture, geographic redundancy and dynamic distribution of traffic load which adds to the system’s efficiency and ensures top-level fault-tolerance.

Among competitive edges of MVTS Pro is also a native support of SIP, H.323, SIGTRAN/MGCP/ISUP-R and codec conversion. It should be mentioned that the similar routing concepts of MVTS I and MVTS Pro eases the process of transition for existing customers since they will be able to keep the significant part of MVTS I configuration, especially in respect of routing schemes.

MERA Systems will offer special pricing quotations for those customers who join the program before August 1, 2009. Also in pursuit of try&buy policy, customers will have a possibility to fully understand and appreciate any product of the company before making any transition decision. Therefore, the companies-participants of the program will be provided with a fully functional trial of MVTS Pro including free guidance and technical support for the test period

MERA VoIP Transit Softswitch Pro (MVTS Pro) is a high-performance class 4 softswitch with session border controller functionality. MVTS Pro is designed to dramatically simplify network management chores by providing seamless interoperability of multi-vendor equipment, ensuring network protection and enabling quality of service (QoS) management. Furthermore, MVTS Pro acts as a single point for CDR collection, accounting and other business critical data.

The solution delivers the following benefits:

High level of integration into the existing network infrastructure thanks to a RADIUS interface
Cisco VSA compatibility for the purposes of billing
Distributed modular architecture
Unlimited capacity growth
Geographic redundancy and flexible license distribution
Ease of deployment, maintenance and configuration together with almost unlimited scalability and top-level dependability.

Features

* Advanced Real-time routing/Least Cost Routing/Quality-based routing
* Revenue protection capabilities
* Integrated transcoding
* Integrated pre-paid/postpaid billing
* Automated invoicing
* ENUM-enabled routing, Inter/Intrastate routing and LNP
* SIP <-> H.323 support and codec conversion
* Advanced debugging options
* Multi-level partitioning of hosted deployments
* Disconnect code mapping
* Flexible number translation at different stages of routing through regular expressions

A Carrier-grade Solution for Business

Combined with outstanding system performance and convenient user interface, the 4-in-1 MVTS II solution is a truly unique offer in the VoIP wholesale market offering business benefits to carriers:
* Solving technological (controller, router, switch) and business issues (billing, business processes optimization) with one product
* No time & funds spending for deployment
* Easy start-up launching

What is it?

M4 is a Class 4 Softswitch dedicated to managing VoIP wholesale business (traffic aggregation, exchange, and transit, call termination, etc.).

M4 Switch Manual

Is it M2 or M4?

M2 is an old version of M4. M2 was based on Freeswitch which was slow and buggy. We reworked the system to use Kamailio/SEMS/RTPEngine, improved its performance many times, and named it M4.

In many places in the documentation, you will find M2 references, we will change this with time, but currently, it means that this functionality came from M2 and is still applicable to M4.

Differences from MOR

Below you can see the most important differences between M4 and MOR:

• M4 Switch is designed for wholesales business (Class 4 Switch), MOR – for retail (SIP Trunking, Calling Cards, Call Back, Call Shop, Resellers, etc) and is not optimized for wholesale.
• M4 Switch uses Kamailio/SEMS/RTPEngine as a SIP engine which allows having twice bigger performance compared with MOR which is based on Asterisk.
• M4 Switch logical structure allows to manage wholesale business very easy. Accomplishing the same tasks with MOR is more complicated and you need to dedicate much more time.

Why should I use it?

M4 Switch gives never-seen-before flexibility when managing traffic transit.

• more calls per server (up to 1500 with media [no transcoding], 8000+ without media)
• allow/block certain destinations, callerids
• sell/buy exact destinations from/to suppliers/clients
• configure intelligent priority routing
  • routing and tariff based per Device (not as per User as in MOR)
  • different routing orders for the same Routing Groups
• many other things

Who is this system designed for?

For VoIP wholesale business:

• Wholesale Termination

• DID Forwarding

• SIP Trunking

• GSM Termination

Functionality

Carrier Grade M4 SBC platform with it’s rich functionality enables service providers to run VoIP wholesale business operations with ease

What Does MERA VoIP Transit Softswitch Mean?

The MERA VoIP Transit Softswitch (MVTS) is a carrier-class program developed by MERA Systems Inc. and designed for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) carrier businesses.

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MVTS includes both gatekeeper and proxy functionality, which helps to provide both smooth and flexible traffic management. The MVTS session controller also ensures smooth peering of VoIP networks.

Techopedia Explains MERA VoIP Transit Softswitch

The MVTS is a comprehensive solution designed to simplify network infrastructure and efficiently handle high-volume IP telephony transit across the carrier’s network. MVTS supports a number of protocols, including:

• H.323 v.2
• H.245 v.7
• H.225 v.4
• SIP v.2 (RFC 2543 bis)
• RTP/RTCP
• T.38
• T.120
• SNMP v.1
• MD5
• CHAP
• RADIUS authentification
• RADIUS accounting

There are two types of MVTS architecture available:

• Single-Server MVTS Architecture: Has a system traffic throughput capacity ranging from 30 to 1,500 concurrent calls per server in E1 multiples
• Two- and Three-Level Cluster Architecture: Has a capacity ranging between 4,500 and 4,000 simultaneous call sessions

MVTS is a full-fledged softswitch that provides the following functionality:

• Static and dynamic endpoint servicing
• Two way H.323/SIP translation and conversion of media codecs to ensure interoperability with variegated networks and equipment
• Call detail records and RADIUS application program interface for simple integration with billing systems
• Load balancing and bandwidth management for efficient use of network resources
• A carrier-grade solution that is fully redundant and scalable up to 40,000 simultaneous calls
• Elaborate call routing based on the embedded routing engine and on the external RADIUS-aided method

MERA Systems changed its name to ALOE Systems Inc. in 2010.

Billing

• Support real-time billing, prepaid and postpaid
• Real-time balance update: live calls are dropped if balance is out of credit
• Multicurrency support (Manual or automatic exchange rate)
• Force cut off
• Loop detection mechanism
• Online and aggregated CDRs
• VAT accounting
• Comprehensive financial analysis
• Notification system
• Integrated automated, customizable invoicing system
• Price list/Tariff management
• Import/export of price lists from/to CSV files
• Pricelist generator for originators (customers): compare and analyze pricelists of terminators (suppliers), apply margins, generate new price list
• Configurable billing patterns for call rating
• Configurable rounding method (round/up/down)
• Time zones can be configured on individual Vendor or Client basis
• Low balance notification by email

Routing

• Routing by LCR (Least Cost Routing)
• Routing by Priority (Forced/preference routing)
• Routing by Preset Proportion (Percentage based routing)
• Routing by Quality (Adaptive Routing based on ASR/ACD formula)
• Routing by CallerID (Origination based routing, EU requirement))
• Originator authentication based on IP address, Tech. prefix
• Traffic failover
• Load balancing/sharing for termination endpoints
• Multiple routing plans
• Automatic blockage of unprofitable calls (Profit/loss protection)
• Lines limits for originators and terminators
• Maximum call time limitation
• Unlimited Supplier (Vendor/Provider) Connections
• The dialed number and CLI manipulation. Normalization of number format
• Blacklists, white lists
• Custom processing of SIP Headers
• Test Dialplan tool – Call routing simulator/debugger
• The route to client PBXs by IP addresses – Trunking

Switching

• Signaling Protocol: SIP
• Network Protocols: TCP, UDP, RTP, RTCP
• Audio codec support: G.711 (a/u), G.723.1 (passthrough only), G.729a, G.726, GSM, G.722, Speex (8kHz using 20ms ptime), OPUS
• Codec Transcoding
• Fax support: T.38 Fax Relay Protocol
• Specify audio codec and priority per connection point

Reporting / Troubleshooting

• PCAP/RTP trace
• Traffic reporting for calls
• Charts reports for concurrent calls, call duration, and ASR
• Sales reports for payments, cost, and revenue
• Users reports with full CDR
• Statistical reports based on routes, clients, providers, time, etc
• Export to .pdf or .csv formats
• Flexible Summary/Aggregate reports
• Sales, Payments Reports
• PDF Invoice export
• Profit/Loss Reports
• Reports by Call Hangup Cause, Destinations

Invoicing / Balance Management

• Per-customer invoice templates, including logo
• Multiple billing increments
• Credit limit and prepayment management
• Balance and payments management
• Contact management
• Automatic and batch invoicing
• Exportable carrier, balance and invoice reports

Real-Time Monitoring

• Active Calls (Connected/Ringing)
• Softswitch status
• User Activity
• Detailed SIP logs
• Real-Time Alerts for various situations
• CPU/RAM utilization, hard disk real-time monitoring
• Services monitoring
• Dynamic Provider Quality Deviations from baseline Provider

Security

• IP blocking on failed attempts to register, login, etc
• IP blocking by Country
• Built-in high-performance IP firewall
• Password security controls
• User Audit Logging
• Support setting different authority for different users
• Login uses SHA512, RSA2048 encryption
• Protection against Brute-force attacks
• SSH Blacklisting

Support & Updates

• 24×7 Rapid response ticketing portal
• Remote monitoring
• Ticket escalation
• Entitled to all maintenance releases and major version upgrades
• The in-house Development team for product refinement and extra development
• Remote Support through Secured SSH access.
• Interactive training sessions for all new customers using screen sharing
• Installation and Provisioning support

System Administration

• Network Activity Recorder for analysis and debugging purposes
• Re-rate CDR tool
• Destination/Prefix management
• Access Controls for Web users.
• Complete control Web Interface

XML-based API Integration

• API for integration with third-party ERP, CRM, CMS, OSS/BSS software
• Develop Custom solutions and integrations
• Language agnostic – use any language of choice: Python, Java, PHP, Ruby, etc.
• Manipulate Accounts, Customers and Vendors
• Full documentation available for all API methods

https://wiki.kolmisoft.com/index.php/M4_Switch_Manual