Occam Networks announced an Emergency Stand Alone (ESA) feature for its BLC 6000 System, making it the first broadband loop carrier to provide emergency services calling and local station-to-station calling during network or equipment failures.
Occam said its new ESA system supports all Occam BLC 6000 POTS lines, whether under the control of the Occam 6640 GR303 gateway or a third-party soft switch. When remote subscribers become isolated from the primary central office switch the ESA system manages call control for the isolated network segment. The system can be configured to route E911 calls to local emergency service facilities and to complete local calls, a capability unique to the Occam BLC 6000.
The ESA system can also be used to replace remote switches in many network applications. When in ESA mode, the BLC 6000 supports basic call features such as Caller ID, Call Waiting and 3-Way Calling for local station-to-station calls.
The ESA system also supports multiple hunt groups for defining access to emergency services. The hunt groups enable the ESA system to support multiple remote COs and their individual local emergency service facilities. The service provider can create recorded announcements to provide subscribers with information about commonly dialed numbers and prefixes, such as long distance numbers, that are unavailable during a network outage.
The new ESA system begins field trials next week and is expected to be available in July 2005. http://www.occamnetworks.com
