Acme Packet announces HD Voice - Xtended Reach, a set of capabilities for its industry-leading Net-Net session border controllers family that bridge HD voice services and applications across IP network borders and ease the transition from standard definition to HD voice. Support for new HD coder/decoders on Acme Packet’s Net-Net 9200 platform delivers the transcoding and transrating flexibility needed by fixed and mobile service providers, as well as enterprises and contact centers, to leverage the new generation of codecs found in audio endpoints such as HD-capable mobile handsets, HD telepresence, and IP phones used in audio conferencing and contact center solutions. Additionally, new codec management functions for Acme Packet’s entire Net-Net SBC family control codec selection and session routing based on codec to optimize subscriber quality of experience.

HD voice features endpoints equipped with wideband coders/decoders that deliver CD-quality audio, enabling a much richer communications experience for both wireless and wireline services. Communications-oriented business functions such as audio and video conferencing and customer service can be significantly enhanced by the life-like clarity of HD voice. The high audio quality levels also improve perception in challenging environments such as international phone conversations and noisy venues. Mobile service providers also view HD voice as a driver for the adoption of fixed mobile substitution, as the single-pair wiring still found in many homes is insufficient for supporting HD phones, many of which require Category 4 wiring or better.

In spite of its promise, delivery of HD voice across IP network borders can be challenging. First, wireline, 3G GSM/UMTS, CDMA and emerging 4G LTE networks each utilize different wideband codec standards. Second, IP networks that support wideband codecs must still be able to communicate with those that do not. Third, calls originated on HD-capable networks are sometimes routed across transit networks that are not HD-capable, leading to degraded voice quality. To address these challenges for VoIP service providers, enterprises and contact centers, Acme Packet’s Net-Net 9200 SBC supports transcoding and transrating for three new codecs:

• G.722 – a wideband codec used in wireline HD VoIP services and applications
• G.722.2 – also known as Adaptive Multirate Wideband (AMR-WB), is the standard codec used for GSM/UMTS-based HD voice services
• EVRC-B – Enhanced Variable Rate Codec Revision B (EVRC-B), a bandwidth-efficient narrowband codec used in CDMA services

Support for these codecs expands the abilities of the Net-Net 9200 SBC to perform wideband-to wideband, as well as wideband-to-narrowband transcoding and transrating in HD-to-HD, as well as HD to non-HD VoIP service and application scenarios. Examples include extending HD VoIP services between HD-capable GSM/UMTS mobile handsets and wired VoIP phones, or peering relationships between service providers who support wideband codecs for HD voice services and those who do not. More specifically, the Net-Net 9200 also supports transcoding and transrating for a broad selection of other wireline and wireless codecs including G.711 a-law & mu-law, G.729a/b, G.729e, G.723.1, G.726, G.728, iLBC, AMR-NB, GSM FR, EVRC-A and EVRC0.

Acme Packet’s HDV-XR, which leverages Net-Net OS across Acme Packet’s Net-Net SBC family, delivers additional features that further assure HD-quality VoIP service across network borders:

• Codec re-ordering elevates wideband codecs to the top of codec preference lists in the Session Description Protocolused to set-up of SIP calls. For scenarios where endpoints use the same HD codec, this ensures transcoder-free operationand preserves HD voice communications end-to-end.
• The Net-Net SBC, as well as Acme Packet’s session routing proxy, the Net-Net Session Router, can route SIP sessions based on the selected codec. If an endpoint uses a wideband codec, the Net-Net SBC or SRP will attempt to route that session over a transit network that ensures it will not be transcoded to a lower quality codec. If the session negotiates the use of a narrowband codec, it is routed along an alternate path configured for standard definition service.