Softswitching Update: How Will Telecommunications History Treat the Era of the Softswitch?

Will history be kind to the softswitch? As any technology enters the twilight of its deployment years, as is the case with fixed and, eventually, mobile softswitching, it is only natural to consider the technology’s legacy. Approximately a decade into its commercial existence, softswitching must be judged to this point as serving as a major catalyst of the IP transformation movement that has finally spread to nearly every corner of the communications industry. The softswitch, however, has made its mark largely in the core of the network, where its primary role has been to oversee the conversion of long distance voice traffic from TDM to IP. The most indelible aspect of the softwitch’s history may end up being that the technology lost much of its significance at about the same time the VoIP movement reached the edge of the network. As operators continue to contemplate the replacement of Class 5 TDM switches, it is likely that it will not be the softswitch, but instead its successor, that oversees the bulk of the migration. As softswitching and IMS will coexist for the next several years, multiple questions remain unanswered regarding the role softswitches will play in the overall IP transformation during that timeframe. Will most operators that have yet to replace TDM switches migrate directly to IMS or make an interim step by deploying Class 5 softswitches? Which softswitches offer the smoothest and least expensive transition to IMS? Though the mobile softswitch market will remain strong for the next few years, will operators now look more closely at IMS migration roadmaps as competitive differentiators between products?