ITXC Device Eliminates Backhaul for InternationalCarriers, Resellers

By Khali Henderson

Posted: 07/1999

ITXC Device Eliminates Backhaul for International
Carriers, Resellers
By Khali Henderson

Enabling speedy market entry and eliminating backhaul costs for Internet telephony
service providers (ITSPs), ITXC Corp., Princeton, N.J., has developed the SNARC, a device
that attaches through an E1 or T1 port to an international reseller or carrier’s switch
and takes voice and fax calls directly to the Internet for low-cost international call
completion over the ITXC network.

Image: SNARC-itecture

Resellers and carriers typically pay and wait months for installation of backhaul
connections from their switches to their suppliers’ switches. By using the Internet, SNARC
eliminates the need for backhaul.

"The SNARC is a solution which truly takes advantage of the Internet and will
bring the Internet out to the telecom switches of major carriers," says Jeff Pulver, www.pulver.com. "It also gives carriers an immediate
entry point into this new market."

Owned and managed by ITXC, the SNARC consists of a plug-and-play customer premise
device, including all cables, connections and software needed to immediately connect to
the ITXC network, which currently includes more than 115 Internet protocol (IP) points of
presence (POPs) in more than 38 countries.

ITXC Chairman and CEO Tom Evslin explains that the SNARC, along with ITXC’s WWeXchange
Service, gives carriers and resellers immediate access to Internet telephony international
routes without the need for the carriers and resellers to invest in or understand Internet
telephony technology.

Evslin says that SNARC already has been deployed in 15 locations in Canada, the United
States and Europe with about a dozen carriers on a beta trial basis.

"We are the first Canadian company that ITXC selected as its partner for
collocation of their SNARC," says Wayne Silver, executive vice president of Phonetime
International, Mississauga, Ontario. "It’s as if we have an international long
distance gateway right at our own switching platform, with no additional infrastructure or
leased lines."

Now, SNARC is generally available to qualified switch-based resellers and carriers in
deregulated countries with substantial volumes of international calling. Specifically,
Evslin says qualified customers will have their own switch, 3 million minutes per month in
international traffic and must make a 400,000 minute-per-month commitment to ITXC.

Deployment of the SNARC will have the additional effect of growing ITXC’s origination
footprint to rival its terminating footprint, Evslin says.