Simplified Wins Allowance For Patent On Device Control In Converged Networks - Company Business and Marketing

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, August 6, 2001

Simplified, has announced that its U.S. patent application with claims covering core softswitch technology has been allowed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The patent for the "System and Method for Communicating with and Controlling Disparate Telecommunications Devices in a Telecommunications Network" includes claims covering the control of devices such as switches and other peripherals within converged voice and data networks.

Awaiting formal issuance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the patent defines systems and methods for controlling telecommunications devices in telephony networks such as those configured to transport and process voice and data calls. The claims of the patent cover network applications where control of devices is achieved via protocol-independent processes. This technology, which is at the core of the Simplified Open Services Platform, enables service providers to deliver and manage any communication service over any network regardless of network hardware infrastructures.

"The work covered in this patent is part of our answer to the market need for hardware-neutral, software-defined services infrastructure," said James Cashiola, CEO and president of Simplified. "We no longer see costly, single-vendor installations as viable in the increasingly commoditized telephony and networking spaces. The key is targeted software to remove hardware differences. We believe this work provides that key."

Because of the broad and significant reach of Simplified's first patent, the company plans to implement a patent-friendly strategy in the marketplace. Upon issuance, Simplified will use its patent rights to encourage customers and hardware vendors to partner with Simplified in adopting the Simplified Open Services Platform when implementing and operating converged networks. Claims allowed by the USPTO read on any network in which calls are processed by multiple network devices, and where such devices include the operations of a voice response facility.

"This grant represents a key portion of our technology portfolio: an efficient software layer to abstract out costly differences in networking and communications hardware," said Trevor Baca, Simplified director of development. "Where traditional softswitch solutions fall short and address only those discrepancies in a single vendor's line, our work goes further to homogenize multiple protocols and product lines." Baca and Senior Systems Analyst Gene Oden are co-inventors of the patented technology.

Simplified has always maintained the vision that all communications will be built on open platforms, and for infrastructure to be truly open, it must be based on software. The Simplified Open Services Platform acts as a central control point for multiple business processes, forming a single software layer to manage and deliver communication services more efficiently.

Simplified's software infrastructure controls multiple devices using multiple protocols at the software layer, giving users the flexibility to build out their networks or merge with other networks without complex hardware compatibility issues or the overhead of costly integration. Because the software is Web-based, users can provision and monitor switching and other network devices and peripherals in real-time from anywhere in the world.

In addition to network management applications, the platform supports financial and services management enabling service providers to extract business intelligence and financial information out of their voice and data networks in order to manage their costs, revenues and profitability in real-time.