Open Access data sheet

SS7 Software
Flexible signaling software for worldwide deployment and
interoperability

N
Application
MS Communications’ SS7 Software provides
developers and OEMs with a new level of call
TCAP ISUP/ TUP
control and message redundancy for high availability
options in the most demanding in-network applications.
SCCP
Part of the Open Access™ framework, SS7 Software is
an integrated SS7 protocol stack working in combination MTP 3
with TX Series hardware and offers switch-specific and
high-availability extensions that meet worldwide telecom MTP 2
requirements. NMS’s SS7 Software includes support of
either Message Transfer Part (MTP) or SIGTRAN at the MTP 1
lower level, as well as the higher-layer protocols, namely NMS-provided—Runs on TX board
Integrated Services Digital Network User Part (ISUP), Figure 1: NMS SS7 Software Stack Block Diagram

Telephone User Part (TUP), Signaling Control Connection

Part (SCCP), and Transaction Capabilities Application Part Features

(TCAP). Redundancy is supported for all layers of the SS7 ■ Modular implementation of SS7 protocol stack with host computer
APIs to MTP layers 2 and 3, ISUP, SCCP, TUP, and TCAP
stack, allowing applications to preserve stable calls or ■ Supports BICC (Bearer Independent Call Control) stack capability as
an extension to ISUP for setting up calls over packet bearer networks
message transactions during maintenance upgrades or in
■ Gives OEMs and infrastructure providers cost-effective access to the
the event of board or node failures. SS7 network for product integration

NMS’s SS7 Software also supports the BICC ■ Support for intelligent peripherals, service nodes, and adjunct
processor applications
(Bearer Independent Call Control) stack capability as an ■ Integrated board-based protocol stack off-loads SS7 protocol
processing from the host computer
extension to ISUP for setting up calls over packet bearer ■ Supports the sharing of a single point code by redundant MTP, ISUP,
SCCP, and TCAP protocol layers
networks. This capability allows network operators to offer
■ Health management interface allows applications to detect and
the complete set of PSTN/ISDN services, including all recover from hardware or software failures
■ Automatic detection and prevention of application message
supplementary services, over a variety of packet networks. overloads (congestion handling)
BICC can be transported over SS7 MTP3 or Sigtran M3UA/ ■ Optional monitor filtering function for passive monitoring of links
without overloading host with unwanted messages
SCTP. The NMS implementation supports Capability Sets 1 ■ Supports multiple originating point codes for links, linksets, and
routes
and 2 (CS1and CS2) for integration with the 3GPP wireless
■ Includes protocols required to support higher-layer mobile switching
networks (Nc) interface. center (MSC) and base station controller (BSC) protocols

This data sheets covers the MTP, ISUP, BICC, TUP,

SCCP, and TCAP support in NMS’s SS7 software (see
Figure 1). Refer to the SIGTRAN data sheet for specific

details on NMS’s support of that protocol suite.

SS7 Software
Technical Description

Two Platforms, One Point on the other board, each layer acts link failure and is therefore able to
Code in a secondary (backup) mode. The automatically handle the board or
Carrier-grade systems require primary MTP3 passes MTP check- chassis failure as specified by the
extremely high levels of network point information, including link, SS7 protocol.
uptime, typically 99.999%. A critical linkset, and route status changes,
TX Series Platforms
requirement in these systems is the to the backup board. The primary
ISUP layer passes SS7 traffic data NMS’s SS7 Software supports both
elimination of single points of failure
to the application. The application the high-performance TX 4000 (PCI)
in SS7 links, SS7 boards, and the
can check-point the information to and TX 4000C (CompactPCI) Series
system chassis. Furthermore, hard-
the backup ISUP layer. In providing platforms, and the basic-perfor-
ware and software upgrades must
SCCP/TCAP redundancy, these lay- mance TX 4000/20 and
be performed without system down-
ers perform check-pointing directly TX 4000C/20 platforms.
time. One solution to this challenge
is with multiple chassis, each with between the primary and secondary Natural Access Program
an SS7 board supporting one or boards before passing the results to Development
more SS7 links. SS7 Software allows the application. Natural Access is NMS’s program-
two TX Series boards to share the An Ethernet connection between ming environment that allows
same point code so that the remote the primary and secondary boards developers to quickly and easily
node sees the pair of boards as a is used to provide monitoring, write applications. SS7 APIs are
single entity. health, and status checks. In the integrated with Natural Access
In this scenario, the SS7 links event of a failure, the back-up board such that applications implementing
and MTP2 layers are active on takes over, using the check-pointed SS7 can also use the other Natural
both boards (see Figure 2). On one data both to know the current state Access services for switching, play
board, MTP3, the higher SS7 proto- of the SS7 network and to allow and record, IVR, etc.
col layers and the user’s application stable calls to remain active. The
remote node views the failure of the H.100/H.110 Ensures Open
can act in a primary (active) mode;
primary board as it would a simple Architecture, Vendor
Independence
The H.100/H.110 bus and switching
Application
Application Application
Application
(Secondary/Backup) (Primary/Active)
(Primary/Active) provides flexibility, openness, and
Application
Checkpointing vendor independence, with access
Information to other resources such as voice and
call processing, modem pools, and
ISUP/TCAP
ISUP/TCAP ISUP/TCAP
ISUP/TCAP
Standby Signalling server

(Secondary/Backup) (Primary/Active) speech recognizers. The TX 4000

Active Signalling server

Stack (Primary/Active)
Checkpointing and TX 4000/20 provide an H.100
Information bus interface, while the TX 4000C
and TX 4000/20C offer an H.110 bus
MTP3
MTP3 MTP3
MTP3
(Secondary/Backup) (Primary/Active) interface, the CompactPCI counter-
SS7 MTP Stack (Primary/Active)
Checkpointing part to H.100.
Information
SS7 Traffic over Ethernet
MTP 1&2
MTP 1&2 MTP 1&2
MTP 1&2
(Active)
(Active)
(Active)
(Active)

STP STP

Figure 2: Redundancy with check-pointing

Technical Specifications
Supported SS7 Protocols Compliance BICC
• MTP Layers 1 to 3 The NMS SS7 protocol stack implements • Q.1901/1902 (CS1/CS2)
• ISUP the following functions and is compliant
with the listed recommendations. In TUP
• SCCP addition, users can take advantage of • Q.721-725, ITU-T, 1992
• TCAP NMS Communications’ Global Messaging
Toolkit, which allows users to create • Q.783, ITU-T, 1992
• TUP
support for any ETSI, ITU, or ANSI-based • GF001-9001
• BICC stack capability supported as an ISUP variant.
extension to ISUP SCCP
• Redundancy is optional for all protocols MTP
• Q.711-715, ITU-T, 1996
• Up to 4 high-speed links (HSL) • ETS 300-008-1, 300-308-2, ETSI, 1997
• Q.786, ITU-T
supported over raw T1/E1 • GF001-9001 (SS7 for National
• T1.112, 235, ANSI, 1995
Refer to separate data sheet for SIGTRAN Telephone Network of China)
support. • Q.701-702, ITU-T, 1992 TCAP
Software Environment • Q.703-704, ITU-T, 1996 • Q.771-775, 787, ITU-T, 1997
• Natural Access 2005-1 SP5, or later • Q.707, ITU-T, 1992 • T1.114, ANSI, 1992
• Operating Systems: • Q.781-782, ITU-T, 1996
Worldwide Deployment
- Windows® 2003, Enterprise and • T1.111, 234, ANSI, 1992
Standard, R2, sp1 NMS customers have successfully
• TTC JJ-90.10 deployed SS7 equipment in major
- x86 Solaris™ 10, 32-bit mode • TTC Q.701-704, Q.707 networks such as AT&T, British Telecom,
- SPARC® Solaris 9, 32-bit, 64-bit, Chung Hwa Telecom, Deutsche Telekom,
• NTT Q.701-704, Q.707
and mixed mode France Telecom, NTT, Orange, Telefonica,
• GR-246-CORE Telstra, and others. NMS has enabled its
- SPARC Solaris 10, 64-bit and mixed
mode • GR-606-CORE customers to deploy SS7 in the following
countries:
- Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® (RHEL)
ISUP Argentina• Australia• Austria• Brazil•
4.0, 32-bit mode
• China ISUP Belgium• Cambodia• Canada• China•
NMS Platforms Supported Colombia• Croatia• Czech Republic•
• EN 300-356-1, ETSI ISUP V.3, 1998
• TX 4000, TX 4000C, TX 4000/20, and Finland• France• Germany• Haiti•
• ETS 300-121, ETSI ISUP V.1, 1992 Hong Kong• Hungary• Iceland• India•
TX 4000C/20
• ETS 300-356-1, ETSI ISUP V.2, 1995 Indonesia• Ireland• Israel• Italy• Japan•
Programming Modules Korea• Lithuania• Malaysia• Mexico•
• ETS 300-356-33, ETSI
Monaco• The Netherlands• New
• Data APIs for ISUP, BICC (implemented • Q.730-737, ITU-T, 1992 Zealand• Norway• Philippines• Portugal•
as an extension to ISUP), TUP, SCCP, Russia• Singapore• South Africa•
• Q.761-764, ITU-T, 1997
TCAP, and MTP Layer 3 Spain• Sri Lanka• Surinam• Sweden•
• Q.767, ITU-T, 1992 Switzerland• Taiwan• Thailand• United
• Management APIs for ISUP, BICC
(implemented as an extension to ISUP), • Q.784, ITU-T, 1996-1997 Kingdom• United States• Vietnam
TUP, SCCP, TCAP, and MTP Layers 2 • T1.113, 236, ANSI, 1995
and 3
• NTT Q.761-764
• Natural Access-based Health
Management API for platform • TTC JJ-90.10
redundancy

Monitoring
NMS offers an extra cost option for
link passive monitoring. To prevent
host overload, filtering passes only
the messages of interest to the host
application. Filters can be set to capture
only specific SIO type (ISUP, SCCP, TUP,
or MTP Management messages) from
a specific originating point code to a
specific destination point code.
For the latest information on supported features an
operating systems, refer to our web site at
www.nmscommunications.com.

NMS Communications
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Fax:  +1 508 271 1300

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Tel:  +852 2926 1820
Fax:  +852 2620 5600

NMS also has offices throughout North America,

Europe, and Asia.

Visit the NMS web site for a complete listing.

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this document.
However, due to the ongoing improvements and revisions to our prod-
ucts, NMS Communications cannot guarantee the accuracy of the
material after the date of publication, or accept responsibility for errors
or omissions. Revised documents may be published when deemed
necessary by NMS Communications.

NMS Communications, Natural Access, and Open Access are

trademarks of NMS Communications Corporation. Freescale and
PowerQUICC are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
PowerPC is a trademark of IBM Corporation. Ambassador is a trade-
mark of Lucent Microelectronics. Windows is a registered trademark
of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Solaris is a trademark or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems,
Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. SPARC is a regis-
tered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and
other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon
an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Red Hat is a
registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark
of Linus Torvalds. All other products or corporate references may be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
OCT08