Long-Term Evolution (LTE (News - Alert)) has the ability to unify mobile technologies into a single standard that has global reach, allowing for greater flexibility, a stronger ecosystem, cost reductions and competitiveness. However, industry experts say that delivering existing voice and SMS services in an LTE environment will be a key challenge to operators.

The Voice over LTE Generic Access (VoLGA) Forum was initiated to specify and promote an approach for extending traditional Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) circuit-switched services over LTE access networks.

Sonus Networks, which specializes in Internet Protocol (IP) communications infrastructure technologies, announced that they have joined VoLGA Forum with a new strategy that supports mobile operators in migrating to Long Term Evolution (LTE).

 

Sonus MobilEvolution, the name given to this new architecture, combines Sonus IP-Voice and Multimedia SIP core network technology with Sonus MobilEdge wireless access node for IP-based radio access, the company said.

By joining the forum, Sonus can use MobilEdge as a VoLGA Access Network Controller (VANC) as defined through the VoLGA forum.

With the new platform, Sonus Networks (News - Alert) enables operators to deliver basic voice and SMS services from the circuit core even when using the all-IP LTE radio access network. Also, they can build rich communication experience to end-users through voice and multimedia.

MobilEvolution architecture supports joint interworking of packet and circuit-switched network elements. This feature enables mobile network operators to initially combine a circuit-switched core network for legacy services with an IP-based access and core network for multimedia services.

“With 12 years of experience in transforming networks to realize the benefits of IP, Sonus is now taking the next step to help mobile operators to migrate seamlessly and rapidly to LTE,” said Shailin Sehgal, vice president, marketing and product management at Sonus Networks, in a statement. “Users will benefit from a rich communication suite of services, adding presence, IM, chat, video and content transfer to the basic voice communications experience.”

VoLGA technology enables mobile subscribers to receive a consistent set of voice, SMS (and other circuit-switched) services as they transition between GSM, UMTS and LTE access networks. This would help mobile operators especially in that they can bring the voice and SMS capabilities to their upcoming LTE access network deployments.

VoLGA Forum participants are actively developing a set of open specifications that may be used by vendors and operators of wireless communications systems and applications to develop and deploy interoperable solutions.