Global Crossing, which operates one of the largest IP communications networks in the world, has reportedly added an automated business-to-business Local Number Portability (LNP) interface, as well as a new Calling Name Delivery Service (CNAM), to its VoIP Local service - an inbound local service that provides Direct Inward Dialing/Direct Dial Inward (DID/DDI) functionality through a single IP interconnection. In addition, the company has extended the service into Rome, Milan and Hong Kong, as well as 83 additional communities in the U.S.

VoIP Local Service lets customers originate traffic on the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in different countries using geographic and non-geographic numbers. The traffic is then converted to VoIP on Global Crossing’s network for delivery to the customer’s IP network. The service enables users to bypass traditional time division multiplexing (TDM), private line and foreign exchange service fees by providing a single IP connection for local calling.

The newly-added automated business-to-business LNP interface lets telephone subscribers retain their phone numbers when they change local or wireless carriers, just as they do with long distance carriers. This new feature gives Global Crossing a competitive advantage with its service provider customers by automating the number porting process, thus saving them time and money.

“Number porting is our number one customer service request, and fast, accurate, reliable port-ins are critical to our subscribers,” said Mehdi Salour, vice president, service delivery and support at 8x8 (News - Alert) Inc., in a press release. “Global Crossing’s automated LNP allows us to quickly port over our subscribers’ previous numbers, thereby minimizing the amount of time the customer must pay the old vendor for the previous lines.”

The new Calling Name Delivery Service (CNAM) gives service providers and enterprises using VoIP Local Service the ability to display calling party name, along with calling party number, on inbound calls (similar to caller ID).

“The key to being a successful provider in the VoIP market is to offer as wide a range as possible of different VoIP solutions, and providing these solutions globally is key to effectively meeting the needs of multinational enterprises,” said Jan Dawson, vice president, U.S. Enterprise Practice at OVUM. “Providers that can combine these two attributes are at the leading edge of global players.”

In addition to these improvements, Global Crossing’s VoIP Local Service has been extended to Hong Kong and Italy, supporting the existing suite of VoIP Outbound and converged IP services in these two markets. The service has also been extended to 83 additional towns and cities in the United States. Global Crossing also announced it has deepened its coverage in the U.S. More specifically, Global Crossing has added another 83 rate centers within the existing CLEC footprint it serves. By providing these additional markets with Global Crossing VoIP Local Service, the company also can expand the availability of other features, such as VoIP Community Peering, the company’s all-IP end-to-end service.

Global Crossing’s global, fully meshed MPLS-based network delivers VoIP calls with minimal latency, packet loss and jitter. Because it is a dedicated network - fully maintained and managed by Global Crossing – the problems associated with routing VoIP over the public Internet are avoided. The company’s VoIP platform carried more than 30 billion minutes during 2006.

Further strengthening the reliability of Global Crossing’s network is the fact that it already supports IPv6 – the next generation Internet Protocol which will radically increase the number of available IP addresses, and enable service providers to roll out advanced services under the banners of IP convergence, fixed-mobile convergence, multi-media collaboration and multi-casting. Furthermore, with IPv6, every device connected to a network - wireless or otherwise - can have its own dedicated IP address, thus facilitating true end-to-end communications with greatly simplified transcoding schemes. The number of IP addresses under the current protocol, IPv4, is expected to dwindle down to nothing by 2010. Having support for IPv6 will also enable Global Crossing to implement advanced security features in the future.

In other news, Global Crossing announced today that it has landed a two-year contract to provide Brazilian carrier GVT with its GigE IP Transit services. Specifically, GVT – one of the fastest growing carriers in the Brazilian market - will use Global Crossing’s fiber-optic network to provide its customers with high speed Internet, VoIP and IPTV. GVT is doing this not only to improve the quality of its services, but also to help meet growing market demand.

“With GVT added to our customer roster, Global Crossing now provides services to many of the most important carriers in Latin America,” said Dale Miller, Global Crossing’s senior vice president for carrier sales in Latin America. “Our relationship with GVT underscores our strong position in the carrier segment in Brazil, and we’re thrilled to support their success in this market through our reliable and secure IP network.”

GVT will use Global Crossing’s comprehensive, end-to-end network management System to monitor traffic 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to improve the quality and reliability of its services. The carrier will also benefit from Global Crossing’s uCommand - an industry-leading Web-based account and network management tool, available 24x7, which allows customers to monitor their network, create utilization reports, establish end-user and product accounts, and view monthly billing reports.

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Patrick Barnard is Assignment Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.