VoIP, VPN, Costa Rica, CLA: New solution-featuring platforms from Lucent and several key Lucent partners will enable Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the sole telecommunications provider in Costa Rica, to rapidly develop and launch capabilities such as VoIP and Virtual Private Networks (VPN).

Lucent’s contract will mean deploying elements of the company’s IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) service architecture and a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) solution to offer next-generation voice and data services.

ICE will initially use the Lucent solutions to provide VoIP calling, pre-paid services and VPNs, targeting the international segment for both business and residential customers. In addition to VoIP services, ICE is preparing to offer its customers a comprehensive set of IP-based services, including high-speed Ethernet connectivity. Here, the Lucent platform will allow ICE to rapidly develop and launch these new value added services.

As another component of the solution, Lucent will supply ICE with products from a wide range of subsidiaries. Lucent Worldwide Services, for example, will provide multi-vendor network integration services for the project. "Through this portfolio, Lucent will provide a broad range of Value over IP solutions designed to help ICE to introduce multimedia services that combine voice, data and video capabilities," said Javier Falcon, regional vice president for Lucent Technologies in Latin America.

Lucent's IMS-ready VoIP solution for ICE includes the Lucent Compact Switch, which provides the media gateway and gateway control functions, Lucent Feature Server, which is an IMS-compliant server that offers call session control and Class 5 telephony applications, and Lucent Communication Manager, a next-generation applications web portal solution, and Lucent Ethernet Routers (formerly of Riverstone Networks). In addition, the Lucent Compact Switch permits seamless interaction between IP networks and traditional wireline and wireless networks and can serve as a building block for carriers that choose to migrate to an the IMS architecture.

Technology from Lucent partners also features in the contract: Juniper Networks' M320 routers, Acme Packet's Net-Net Session Border Controllers, Dorado Software's RedCell MPLS Manager and VPN Service Centre, and BayPackets' Agility Platform. Network security features are based on the Lucent VPN Firewall Brick(R) as well as the Lucent Security Management Server (LSMS).

more info: www.grupoice.com ; www.lucent.com