Technology
A Unique Solution to Telephony Internetworking
Fixed Mobile Convergence poses a fundamental telephony internetworking problem: How to make a phone on a mobile network interwork with a server on a fixed network? Any solution to this problem must couple multiple networking and computing technologies.
OnRelay’s Telephony Internetworking Protocol (TINP) resolves the FMC challenge of internetworking voice networks, much the same way as IP resolved internetworking of data networks.
TINP relies on parallel independent mobile voice and data connections. The mobile network is used normally for voice transport, but the signalling is independent and end-to-end over a mobile data path.
TINP is covered by US patent no 6,993,360 granted 2006.
MCX Software System
MCX is an OnRelay proprietary software system comprising three key software components:
1) The MCX Server
2) The MCX Mobile Client
3) The MCX Mobile Data Gateway and Service Manager
All server modules are cloud based and hosted on standard OS cloud images in the service provider domain. MCX thereby requires no proprietary or special purpose hardware.
The complexity of building such an all-software mobile office phone system to production quality standard and performance is frequently underestimated. MCX combines hard to replicate software technologies across a number of areas and components:
The MCX Server
MCX is a cloud based software server that executes and installs on standard Linux CentOS or RedHat virtual images on VMware and Xen based cloud platforms such as CA AppLogic and Amazon EC2.
The MCX server uses internet standards and protocols such as SIP, TCP/IP, SSL, Java, LDAP and HTTP wherever these can be efficiently applied.
The MCX server includes software modules for a wide array of technologies including TINP protocol handlers, SIP PBX call control, database management, mobile data network programming (SMS and IP), carrier grade availability / reliability, mobile device management, network management, cloud computing integration and security.
MCX’ heart is its call control modules that handles of a wide range of mobile call flow scenarios for the TINP protocol supported by a proprietary state machine framework for scalable and asynchronous call control processing.
MCX includes numerous proprietary plugins to the open source sipXecs IP PBX to impose service provider features such as tenanting, high availability failover and disaster recovery.
MCX supports carrier grade features such as redundancy, high availability hot –standby failover, multi-site disaster recovery and auto-recovery is included.
The MCX Mobile Client
A key component of the MCX system is the mobile client software that includes a significant number of telecom software modules one usually finds in telecom switching equipment:
Advanced number mapping module for internal to public dialing conversion in multiple countries and internal dialing detection for complex PBX dial plans.
At the core of the mobile client is a TINP call control layer that implements the client side call flow algorithms of the TINP protocol and its voice – data synchronisation mechanisms.
To maintain consistent user interface behaviour across platform the MCX client includes a portable user interface engine with implementations for all major use cases of the system.
A secure and self-configurable mobile client provisioning module that delivers a seamless plug and play rollout model and hides the significant complexities of the underlying system for administrators.
The MCX client is modelled with OnRelay’s proprietary framework for large-scale and portable mobile clients that support a multi-threaded and event driven state machine design.
Mobile Data Networking Software
MCX is delivered to channel partners with a cloud based Mobile Data Gateway server that multiplexes data signalling between all servers and mobile clients owned by the MCX service provider.
The MCX Mobile Data Gateway supports load balanced for scaling to a large number of MCX server and client connections, with corresponding client and server modules for TINP data signalling seamlessly multiplexed across both IP and SMS bearers.
The MCX Mobile Data gateway also utilises 2-way SMS proxy used as a invaluable mechanism for server to client data signalling and push notifications.
Service Provisioning and Administration
MCX supports 100% web based administration with multi tiered management rights.
It also includes a Service Manager module for channel partner to support remote management of customer MCX servers.
The Service Manager includes modules for over the Air (OTA) client installation and upgrade, automatic client-server association, registration and configuration. This allows plug and play user provisioning of mobile clients and configurations.
Open Source IP PBX
To deliver a complete turnkey system OnRelay includes the open source IP-PBX, sipXecs, with its MCX server. Originally developed by PingTel and Nortel, sipXecs is a powerful and scalable open source software IP PBX that is based primarily on the SIP standard. It is maintained by the open source organisation SIP Foundry (www.sipfoundry.org) under an APGL license.
sipXecs also provides a flexible platform for development of unified communications features. Multimedia conferencing is supported via SIP and interoperability with a range of SIP PC Softphones, while Instant Messaging (IM) is supported via the XMPP standard, including federation with a multitude of other public IM services.
