The Cisco PGW 2200 (formerly known as the Cisco VSC 3000) is a carrier-class call agent that performs the signaling and call-control tasks (such as digit analysis, routing, circuit selection, and more) within the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) gateway infrastructure. Taking advantage of a vast Signaling System 7 (SS7) protocol library and supporting industry-standard control protocols, including Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP), H.323, and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the Cisco PGW 2200 provides service providers with the capability to seamlessly route voice and data calls between the PSTN and New World packet networks.
The Cisco PGW 2200 consists of up to five different elements:
- Cisco Media Gateway Controller (MGC) software, running on Sun Microsystems general computing platforms – required
- Cisco Signaling Link Terminals (SLTs) – required
- LAN switch for IP interconnectivity of Cisco PGW 2200 elements – required
- H.323 Signaling Interface (HSI) adjunct processor- optional
- Management products – including the Cisco MGC Node Manager, Cisco Voice Services Provisioning Tool (VSPT), and Cisco Billing and Measurement Server (BAMS) – optional
The following PSTN gateway applications are enabled by the Cisco PGW 2200:
- Voice-over-IP (VoIP) transit
- Primary Rate Interface (PRI) Grooming and Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) Offload
- SIP PSTN gateway
- H.323 PSTN gateway
Q. Why is SS7/C7 support so important?
A. The Common Channel Signaling System 7 (SS7/C7) is a packet-based signaling network used worldwide by service providers to control PSTN traffic. Although it is based primarily on two families of protocols, American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Telecommunication Union-Technology (ITU-T), it has evolved over the years to the point where virtually every country in the world (and many TDM switches) have a custom variant that supports their specific requirements. Within those countries, products that interconnect to the national SS7 network are required to pass stringent interconnection tests before they can pass live traffic.
The Cisco PGW 2200 PSTN Gateway supports rapid development of SS7 variants. The product currently supports more than 90 SS7 variants and is used in more than 50 countries, making it the most widely deployed call agent on the market today.
Additional information, including data sheet and product overview on the Cisco PGW 2200, can be found at:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/vcallcon/ps2027/index.html
Phone System 