The VoIP service providers are paying a significantly higher cost for SS7 traffic. This high-level session covers a case study that involved migration of the service provider SS7/TDM traffic over to SIP trunks.

The second part of the presentation covers migration of the rest of legacy SS7 traffic over to Sigtran. This session is primarily meant to understand the migration strategy and benefits of off-loading the off-net voice traffic to the carriers/partners by leveraging the IP network infrastructure and utilizing the next-generation technology.

Naeem Akhtar Network Consulting Engineer, US SP Voice Day 2 Cisco Systems

Mr. Akhtar has been in voice technologies for more than 14 years, including six years at Cisco Systems. He has taken on the roles of software engineer and consulting engineer. Most of Mr. Akhtar's background encompasses voice, PSTN, VoIP, MGCP/H.248/SIP, ss7/ISDN/CAS, softswitches, and gateways. For the past six years, he has been designing and deploying a voice over cable solution with Cisco Softswitch for major U.S. cable MSOs. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of Karachi, Pakistan.

Raffael Izzo Head of Market Development LATAM Italtel

Since 2005 Mr. Izzo has been coordinating the business opportunity qualification and guiding the Italtel solutions promotion throughout the LATAM market region. In 2000 he joined Italtel, Milan-Italy, covering responsibilities in the area of product management and marketing. With more than 10 years of experience in the telecommunications sector, he has broadened his expertise in voice, data, and next-generation networks and services. Mr. Izzo began his career at STMicroelectronics in the Telecommunication division. He has a degree in electronic engineering from the Polytechnic of Milan.

Syed Khurram Technical Leader Cisco Systems

Mr. Khurram has been with technical services for the last nine years at Cisco Systems. During his tenure, he has held the roles of support engineer, consulting engineer, and technical manager. Most of Mr. Khurram's background encompasses modems, cable, DSL, IP routing, H323/MGCP/SIP, ss7/ISDN/CAS, and softswitches. For the last two years, he has been designing and deploying voice over cable solution with Cisco softswitch for major U.S. cable MSOs. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona and Wichita State University, respectively.

Hubert Legrix System Engineer, Network Intelligence Solutions Thomson

Mr. Legrix develops VoIP softswitches, IPTV middleware, and IMS core-network platforms. In prior positions, he was system engineer in various companies, including Alcatel Brasil (Brazil), Nortel Networks (France and the United Kingdom), and Sycamore Networks (France and Spain). Mr. Legrix brings 13 years of international experience in Latin and Anglo-Saxon countries to Thomson NIS. He holds a master's degree in telecommunications engineering from one of the main telecommunications schools in France, ESIGETEL, and a master's degree in strategy and management of international business from the business school ESSEC.