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The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is one of the largest, most complex information-delivery systems in the world, and it has also consistently displayed legendary “five nines” availability (99.999%) over the course of many years. However, since the PSTN is based on point-to-point connections across fixed copper lines, each of which is associated with a given number, the PSTN displays highly primitive network-continuity capabilities. Consider the case of financial traders, who maintain direct hotlines to investment banks, and rely on immediate connectivity to make critical trade transactions. Should their office suffer physical damage, such traders would be unable to gain access to their lines from another location for several days, depending on the extent of the damage, representing a loss of multiple millions of dollars a day. If only traders had access to a service that could provide immediate control over their private lines, allowing traders to move them to a new location in the event of an emergency, and switch them back after the crisis was averted. There is just such a service, and VeriSign, a company with expertise in Internet routing infrastructure, security, and telecommunications, is making it possible.

The Power of Internet-Protocol (IP)-Based Communications 
Through VeriSign® PBX IP Connect, organizations can leverage an Internet-Protocol (IP)-based private branch exchange (PBX), and gain all the benefits of IP-based communications, such as the ability to immediately switch the location of lines, or set up a line to ring in two or more disparate locations simultaneously. IP-based phone systems offer cost savings as well, as they are capable of supporting as many as 60 lines over a single T-1; in contrast, Time-Division-Multiplexing (TDM)-based networks are limited to 24 lines. Earlier this year, KGM Circuit Solutions, a specialized telecommunications provider of trader voice, point-to-point, and data services to the financial markets, leveraged VeriSign PBX IP Connect to develop KGM Circuit Solutions® Secure IP Trader Voice Services, a set of services that provide safe, reliable voice lines for the investment banking industry—lines that can be immediately relocated, in the event of an emergency, via a secure Web interface.

“We’re putting control into the hands of the enterprise,” says Tom Kershaw, vice president of next-generation services for VeriSign, “and we’re delivering increased levels of redundancy and resiliency.”

KGM Circuit Solutions launched Secure IP Trader Voice Services in May of this year, and immediately garnered a strong customer list that includes some of most prominent names in the investment banking industry. The company is also engaged in large-scale trials with a growing number of additional banks and financial organizations. Kevin Gurl, president of KGM Circuit Solutions, is highly impressed by the performance and reliability of VeriSign PBX IP Connect. “Our customers rely on us to complete trades with other financial institutions,” says Gurl. “With VeriSign PBX IP Connect, we can offer our clients business-continuity and trader-mobility capabilities that are simply not possible using a legacy TDM solution.”

Inside VeriSign PBX IP Connect  
At the heart of VeriSign PBX IP Connect is the VeriSign Network Routing Directory (NRD), a highly scalable registry capable of facilitating seamless interoperability between the multiple voice-over-IP (VoIP) protocols, such as H323, SIP, and CMSS, all while providing some of the fastest performance and highest reliability in the industry. VeriSign operates the authoritative Domain Name System (DNS) servers that facilitate service to the world’s .com and .net top-level domains, processing as many as 18 billion DNS queries a day, and leverages the same technology for the NRD.

VeriSign’s DNS infrastructure and the NRD are both built on the proprietary VeriSign Advanced Transaction Look-Up and Signaling (ATLASSM) platform, which facilitates extremely high throughput, reliability, and availability, and is also designed to provide seamless performance across myriad protocols. In addition, ATLASSM infrastructures are capable of scaling to support dramatic increases in throughput without sacrificing availability, to handle the growing demands of emerging and next-generation services. VeriSign DNS services to .com and .net, for example, have demonstrated 100% availability for eight years—though Internet activity has exponentially grown during this period—and the service is capable of facilitating many times the throughput that it has handled so far. 

VeriSign PBX IP Connect is also supported by the same security provisions with which VeriSign protects thousands of Web sites and hundreds of global enterprises. Critical data is protected by state-of-the-art encryption, and VeriSign provides perimeter security management at network interconnect points. Leveraging VeriSign’s 24/7 Security Operations Center, VeriSign PBX IP Connect is protected by firewall management, intrusion detection, vulnerability protection, vulnerability alerting, managed VPN, and incident response and forensics services.

Beyond voice services, VeriSign PBX IP Connect is capable of supporting an enterprise’s complete PBX infrastructure, and Kershaw says that VeriSign plans to extend the service to provide enterprise-wide business-continuity services.  

A Trusted Partner 
With experience in Internet routing infrastructure, security, and telecommunications, VeriSign brings a strong set of integrated capabilities to enterprises seeking to leverage converged voice and data networks, and VeriSign is also involved in actively shaping the development of next-generation technologies. VeriSign recently joined the Cisco Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID) Partner Program, which sets criteria for interoperability testing by independent third parties and enables leading product and services firms to deploy innovative business solutions. With a strong background and industry-leading position, VeriSign was able to offer KGM Circuit Solutions a solution that served as the cornerstone for the company’s Secure IP Trader Voice Services, providing KGM’s investment-banking customers with a voice network that not only displays state-of-the art reliability but also seamless, uninterrupted performance in the face of unforeseen outage.

For more information, please see the VeriSign PBX IP Connect section of the VeriSign Web site.