Nov. 4, 2009 (Business Wire) -- Acme Packet®, Inc. (NASDAQ: APKT), the leader in session border control solutions, today announced a series of new capabilities for its Net-Net® Session Director (SD) session border controller (SBC) in support of the GSMA Rich Communication Suite (RCS) and SIP-based interactive communication services for 3G mobile access networks. In addition, Acme Packet has proven interoperability with five RCS client and server solution partners, helping ensure rapid deployment of RCS services. Acme Packet SBCs will be used in seven RCS or related SIP messaging and presence service trials by tier 1 mobile service providers in multiple countries in Europe and Africa during the fourth quarter of 2009.

The RCS initiative is a GSMA-led program driven by service providers and communications equipment vendors that is defining the basis for an interoperable, rich communication experience. RCS services are a new set of SIP interactive services that can be offered over 3G radio access networks and across mobile service provider IP network borders. RCS aims to seamlessly unify the communications experience by integrating traditional mobile circuit-switched telephony with new interactive services such as presence, instant messaging and content sharing enabled by an enhanced address book of the mobile phone. RCS leverages the 3GPP IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture and uses SIP signaling to establish sessions and exchange instant messages, presence information, files and video. Acme Packet is an Associate member of the GSMA and joined the RCS initiative in December 2008.

“Rich Communication Suite is an important foundation for mobile service providers to deliver differentiated services,” commented Diane Myers, directing analyst, with Infonetics Research. “Acme Packet’s newly introduced features illustrate the company’s commitment to making RCS successful by enabling the delivery of SIP-based interactive communication services and the interconnection of mobile networks.”

SIP session control leadership strengthened with new RCS features and functions

Acme Packet’s RCS solution features its Net-Net SD deployed at the access and interconnect borders of the SIP or IMS service network. Acme Packet SBCs provide critical control functions to deliver high-quality interactive communications—voice, video and multimedia sessions—over the 3G IP RAN. For RCS 2.0 services extended to Internet-connected laptops and PCs, the Net-Net Security Gateway provides authentication and IPsec encryption termination to connect these devices to the service core. Acme Packet’s control functions satisfy requirements in five major areas—security, service reach maximization, service level agreement (SLA) assurance, revenue and cost optimization, and regulatory compliance. In IMS networks, Acme Packet SBCs perform the role of the P-CSCF and IMS-AGW for signaling and media control at the access border and the I-BCF and TrGW at the interconnect border.

As a result of the growing interest in RCS—including completed and pending lab and service trials in 2009—Acme Packet is enhancing its Net-Net Operating System (OS) with additional capabilities. Acme Packet Net-Net SBCs will be used at the access or interconnect border of seven RCS or RCS-like trials by tier 1 mobile service providers in Europe and Africa during the fourth quarter of 2009.

The new features significantly enhance the security and control functions for RCS service delivery and increase the capacity of both RCS application servers and Acme Packet SBCs. The specific enhancements to the Net-Net OS include:

• Message Session Relay Protocol (MSRP) support
  Acme Packet SBCs support MSRP for instant messaging and file sharing services as defined by the latest Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) specifications. This includes media support for MSRP server-based and MSRP peer-to-peer deployment models. The peer-to-peer model off-loads application servers, increasing their capacity.
• Denial-of-service attack protection and overload control for IM and presence
  Acme Packet SBCs protect RCS and IMS server infrastructure from denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, misconfigured or misbehaving clients, and non-malicious overloads.