Oh Lookie. The Carlyle Group owned it's own data center!

[Joanne98]

Which they just sold and AT&T was one of their tenants.

Carlyle office building in L.A. goes for $287M
Washington Business Journal - 12:29 PM EDT Tuesday, August 7, 2007by Neil AdlerStaff Reporter
The Carlyle Group has sold a Los Angeles office building that includes a data center for $287 million.

The D.C.-based private equity firm said it sold the 664,248-square-foot building to Houston-based Hines Real Estate Investment Trust Inc.

Eastdil Secured LLC, a New York-based real estate investment bank, represented Carlyle in the sale.

Carlyle had owned the building, called One Wilshire, since 2001. The property is 99 percent leased to technology giants such as AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ).

CRG West LLC, a Carlyle subsidiary and a manager of data centers in the United States, leases more than 170,000 square feet at One Wilshire, making it the building's largest tenant. CRG West is currently expanding in the building, Carlyle said in a statement.

CRG West, established in 2001, offers data center space across the United States to more than 350 networks, enterprises and universities. The company manages nine data centers, including a location in D.C.
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/08/06/daily18.html


See that! CRG West (Carlyle subsidiary) offers data space to 359 networks, and Universities. maybe there is more to BUSH'S DETERMINATION TO SPY ON AMERICANS THAN MEETS THE EYE!

[Joanne98]

1. CRG West data centers...

CRG West manages eight premier data center facilities throughout North America serving more than 350 of the world's leading networks, communications providers, universities and enterprises. CRG West now manages colocation space in Los Angeles, San Jose, Chicago, Boston, Miami, and Washington, DC. From each of these strategically located facilities, CRG West provides colocation space, connectivity services, and remote hands support.

In addition to colocation space, CRG West can also offer the option to lease private conditioned suites, allowing a company to operate and manage the suite's power and cooling infrastructure according to their needs.

Pictures and locations of facilities at link..
http://www.crgwest.com/Facilities/facilities.html

[acmavm]

2. Gee, Poopy's old cronies didn't even have to leave the building to get

the goods on people.

Wonder if Carlyle own any more buildings with telecom companies as tenants?

[Joanne98]

3. CRG West operates Stealth Communications which developed Voice Peering Fabric.

CRG West Brings Voice Peering Fabric to One Wilshire Building

By PATRICK BARNARD
TMCnet Associate Editor

CRG West announced yesterday that it has brought Voice Peering Fabric (VPF) to the One Wilshire Building in Los Angeles – one of the key points connecting the communications world together.

CRG West operates the One Wilshire Building, which is home to more than 220 communications carriers, including: AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Global Crossing, Level 3, MCI WorldCom, Pac West, Qwest, Sprint, Verizon and XO Communications.

VPF, which was developed by Stealth Communications (which is also operated by CRG West), is a distributed Ethernet network which functions as a voice exchange, or meeting-point, for VoIP traffic. It is considered to be one of the largest VoIP peering points in the world.

http://www.tmcnet.com/news/2006/jan/1284493.htm

[Joanne98]

4. Stealth Comm. Maybe this is what Bush means by the internets!

VOIP Peering: Incumbent Killer?

JUNE 16, 2005



NEW YORK -- Stealth Communications Inc. is aptly named. The tiny company is 10 years old and has only eight employees. It isn’t widely known outside a small circle of service providers that use its technology.

All the same, it could turn out to be an incumbent killer.

Stealth for years has been developing its Voice Peering Fabric (VPF), which many experts say is now one of the largest VOIP peering points in the world. VPF and other VOIP peering points offer a way for providers of VOIP services to link networks and exchange traffic, routing it around the more expensive PSTN (public switched telephone network) and avoiding the less secure public Internet.

What's interesting is these services are becoming more sophisticated. Yesterday Stealth announced it is adding more features to help VOIP upstarts use VOIP peering points to circumvent the PSTN and the public Internet (see Stealth Intros VOIP Peering).

At telx’s Customer Business Exchange (cbX) conference, Stealth launched its ASP Market, which will add a range of important telecom signaling and directory services, including 411, 8xx services, caller ID, local number portability (LNP), and SS7 (Signaling System 7). Initial partners in the project include SNET Diversified Group, Syniverse Technologies Inc., and VeriSign Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN - message board).

With more PSTN-like features like caller ID and LNP being built into VOIP peering points, it will become less important for services providers to access the PSTN -- and this threatens the business of many incumbents.

”Established wholesale providers and incumbents such as AT&T and BT really don’t like this; they can become completely disintermediated,” says Caroline Chappell, an independent analyst and author of a recent Light Reading Insider report on service delivery platforms (SDPs). “This could change the whole structure of how traffic is passed around.”

Stealth CEO Shrihari Pandit says the company’s VPF processed 2.5 billion minutes of VOIP in 2004, and he expects it to do 9 billion minutes this year.

”As VOIP starts growing, you want to redeem the risk of going over the public Internet,” says Pandit. “VOIP networks will eventually replace the PSTN, but they need more interconnecting.”

Stealth also operates one of the largest ENUM databases, offered as a free service to its customers (see ENUM Heads for Primetime and Carrier ENUM Gains Ground). The database now holds 6.5 million numbers, says Pandit. He adds that Stealth is profitable and does $10 million to $15 million in revenues per year, charging service providers a flat per-port monthly fee to connect into the peering point.

Skeptics point to Stealth’s tiny size and the fact that VOIP peering really doesn’t make a lot of money. They also point out that VOIP peering points rarely consist of more than a few Ethernet switches cobbled together with some database software, making the barrier to entry low.

But that's precisely what makes the trend scary to the big telcos, and it’s clear the approach is growing -- like a weed. Stealth isn’t the only one working on VOIP peering fabrics, even though it’s one of the biggest. There are many different forms of VOIP peering. Other peering services from InfiniRoute Networks Inc. and Interoute Telecommunications Ltd. cater to different customer bases. For example, Interoute focuses on connecting incumbent TDM networks to VOIP networks, says Chappell.

Yet another threat to incumbent voice providers, notes Chappell, is if large enterprises start using the technology to create their own large VOIP networks.

There are even more VOIP peering services from providers such as Syniverse and VeriSign that involve specialized database, security, and signaling functions. Stealth caters primarly as a traffic exchange for VOIP pure-play operations such as Packet8 and Net2Phone Inc. (Nasdaq: NTOP - message board).

Telecom experts expect these VOIP connection services to proliferate, offering ever more options and ways to exchange traffic and data.

”VOIP peering is a multi-layer proposition,” says Hunter Newby, the chief strategy officer of telx, which hosts connection points for major services providers. “In order to derive the maximum benefit from it, you first need to understand what you want to do with it. With VOIP peering, like many other things, if it makes sense, solves problems, and saves network operators money, then it will succeed."

— R. Scott Raynovich, US Editor, Light Reading
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=75881&site=lightreading&WT.svl=news1_1

[Joanne98]

5. Karl Rove doesn't need his email accounts anymore...

July 02, 2007

Stealth Communications' Voice Peering Fabric Wins 2007 TMC Labs Innovation Award

By Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Associate Editor





Stealth Communications, a company that specializes in voice peering solutions, recently announced that it won a 2007 TMC Labs Innovation Award from INTERNET TELEPHONY Magazine. The company was recognized for its Voice Peering Fabric solution.

The Voice Peering Fabric (VPF) is a distributed Ethernet network that functions as a meet-point for service providers and enterprises to exchange voice and telephony-related services. This service from Stealth Communications is an economical traffic exchange environment that members can use to connect with one another, avoiding unnecessary delays and relays in the process.

Members of the VPF use the service to buy and sell voice origination and termination services, as well as ASP services while providing complete transparency. The service allows organizations to instantly identify all available networks and services at the most competitive rates. Members are able to then get connected to these networks and services within minutes by using the “fabric” component of the VPF. In addition, organizations can also access the VPF ENUM and SRV Registry, as a toll bypass system, to send and receive free telephone calls across the VPF with other users of the registries.

Each year, TMC (News - Alert) Labs Innovation Awards are bestowed on companies that have demonstrated raw innovation, unique features and significant contributions toward improving communications technology.

“These winners have proven to the staff of TMC Labs that their product or service is truly innovative in the IP communications industry,” said Rich Tehrani, president and group editor-in-chief at TMC, in a statement. “New companies, new products and new services in the IP communications industry are being created all the time. This award distinguishes the companies that make significant contributions in the advancement of this technology.”

Tom Keating, TMC chief technology officer and editorial director for TMC Labs, said that these awards are not based on company revenue or number of products sold. Instead, honors are given based on the concept that a given product or service is innovative.

“Stealth Communications deserves this great honor for creating a ground-breaking IP communications solution,” Keating said in a statement. “I look forward to seeing other innovative solutions from Stealth as the company continues to contribute to the future of the IP communications marketplace.”

To learn more about Stealth Communications’ Voice Peering Fabric, please visit the company’s TMCNet.com channel, Voice Peering.
http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/voice-peering/articles/8128-stealth-communications-voice-peering-fabric-wins-2007-tmc.htm

[Joanne98]

6. I have no idea what this means...

LUXEMBOURG, MIAMI, QUEBEC CITY, VANCOUVER, March 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The IPv6 Forum, along with Viagenie, Stealth Communications and CounterPath Solutions, today announced that a series of successful VoIP calls over IPv6 has been carried out, marking an important advancement in worldwide interoperability among VoIP technologies using IPv6.The VoIP calls, connecting Viagenie in Canada and Consulintel in Spain, were conducted using the CounterPath eyeBeam(TM) softphone through the IPv6 version of Asterisk(R), ported by Viagenie, a consulting and R&D firm in advanced IP networking. The Asterisk-IPv6 server was located on Stealth Communications' Voice Peering Fabric (VPF) network.Asterisk is the most popular and extensible open source telephone system in the world, offering flexibility, functionality and features not available in advanced, high-end (high-cost) proprietary business systems. Asterisk is a complete IP PBX (private branch exchange) for businesses, and can be downloaded for free."Asterisk-IPv6 shows the power of VoIPv6 by avoiding all issues regarding NAT traversal when using IPv4. The presence of NAT for VoIPv4 results in users issues, such as non-connecting calls, one-way audio, non-working DTMF. Asterisk-IPv6 solves all these issues and also brings, together with IPv6, true IP mobility, security and autoconfiguration of VoIPv6 phones," states Marc Blanchet, President of Viagenie."The IPv6 Forum and its IPv6 Ready Program are adding SIP into its test suite to promote SIP and IPv6 interoperability worldwide. This is another major milestone in demonstrating true end to end services," stresses Latif Ladid, IPv6 Forum President."EyeBeam implements the ICE standard from the IETF, providing a migration path from IPv4 to IPv6 networks. This series of calls demonstrates a successful test of IPv6 in a real network and represents an important step toward the widespread deployment of IPv6 technology," said Jason Fischl, CTO of CounterPath."The Voice Peering Fabric ENUM Registry and SRV Registry are fully IPv6 enabled. These registries map telephone numbers to Internet addresses, enabling companies globally to route VoIP phone calls among one another in a peer-to-peer fashion without touching the public telephony networks," said Shrihari Pandit, President & CEO of Stealth Communications. VPF is a distributed Ethernet network that functions as an exchange or meet-point for organizations around the world, carrying over one-hundred billion minutes annually. About the IPv6 Forum -------------------- About Viagenie -------------- About Stealth Communications ---------------------------- About CounterPath ----------------- Asterisk and the Asterisk logo are trademarks of Digium Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respected owners.CounterPath Solutions, Inc.
http://www.ipv6tf.org/index.php?page=news/newsroom&id=2669

[Joanne98]

7. P2P VoIP network traffic doubles

Traffic on the Voice Peering Fabric, a virtual network designed specifically for VoIP interconnections, had doubled since last year, according to its proprietors. Stealth Communications of New York, which launched the VPF four years ago, said the network has surpassed a run-rate of more than 200 billion minutes a year, up from 100 billion in October 2006.

The VPF is peer-to-peer Layer 2 Ethernet architecture for the secure exchange of VoIP traffic and wholesale trading of time and terminations. The system also encompasses VoIP phone number databases that allow carriers to bypass the public telephone network system and call each other directly, further reducing interconnection expenses. VPF traders include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Net2Phone, Packet8, VoIP Inc., RCN, AT&T Wholesale, China Telecom and others.

Arbinet, a similar VoIP peer exchange with offices based in New Brunswick, NJ, runs more than 12 billion minutes a year, according to its biolerplate. The most recent addition to the pool of Arbinet users include ATSI Communications, a San Antonio, Texas, concern specializing in international VoIP connections. The increasing usage of the VPF supports recent prognostications by research firms that consumer VoIP adoption will grow by nearly 250 percent over the next four years.

For more:
- The Stealth announcement is available here
- VPF 101 is here
- A 2006 interview with Stealth President and CEO Shrihari Pandit is here

Related Articles:
Consumer VoIP projected to hit 37 million by 2011 Article
http://www.fiercevoip.com/story/p2p-voip-network-traffic-doubles/2007-08-09?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss

[Joanne98]

8. A diagram of Voice Peering Fabric....

The diagram illustrates a call flow
when using the VPF ENUM Registry.


The VPF ENUM Registry is a multilateral peering service that allows organizations to send and receive calls among members directly, IP end-to-end, for no termination fee . The ENUM registry is based on the IETF (RFC 3761) standard which maps telephone numbers to Internet (URL) addresses and uses a look-up architecture based on DNS.


The diagram illustrates a call flow
when using the VPF ENUM Registry.

1. User initiates phone call
2. Query sent to ENUM Registry
3. Routing information returned
4. If true, call established between the
organizations through the VPF
5. If false, call sent to selected termination
Carrier (via the VPF Minutes Market or a
PSTN connection)
VPF ENUM Registry Call Flow Diagram
Benefits Connecting to VPF ENUM Registry:
Fast, Easy and Secure
NO number registration charges;
NO per lookup charges;
NO per minute charges;
Secure access to update and maintain records;
Call security and quality are in control via the VPF network;
Direct calling between VPF Members who utilize the ENUM registry;
Calls remain in the IP domain, completely bypass the PSTN;
VPF ENUM Registry is an optional service available at no additional cost to all VPF Members;
The VPF ENUM Registry is designed to help VPF Members to
reduce expenses.

POWERED BY STEALTH COMMUNICATIONS
http://www.personalbee.com/215/14476539

[Joanne98]

9. Asterisk Termination and ENUM

Asterisk Termination and ENUM
June 13, 2007
I discovered this interesting Asterisk termination post saved as "unpublished" dated 6-20-2005. I must have put it aside to work on some other projects. I thought I would publish it now since it still has some pertinent thoughts. Reading my article, I couldn't help but notice that it is two years later and there still isn't a sizable intra-enterprise VoIP peering network that I am aware of (with one exception - VPF). As I discuss in my thoughts from 2 years ago, I was hoping for a sort of P2P IP-PBX model where an IP-PBX from Company A communications with IP-PBX from Company B to initiate an outbound call at Company B's local calling rates. The other scenario is that you could simply initiate a call from Company A to an extension at Company B which travels over IP. In either scenario you can bypass ITSPs or the need for VoIP gateways entirely. One option is for Company A to "peer" directly with Company B, by contacting them and configuring some call routing settings. However, Company A would have to contact several companies to peer with before realizing any cost savings.

The other option as I mention below, you would require some sort of trusted third-party to act as a go-between and to centrally organize all the various peers to reach the critical mass needed for real phone cost savings. ENUM is supposed to help with that, but the carriers aren't exactly rushing to offer ENUM and certainly not "free" ENUM services.. One interesting ENUM registry is from the Voice Peering Fabric (VPF). The ENUM registry is based on the IETF (RFC 3761) standard which maps telephone numbers to Internet (URL) addresses and uses a look-up architecture based on DNS They built their own ENUM registry, which is a multilateral peering service that allows organizations to send and receive calls among members directly, IP end-to-end, for no termination fee, including no cost to register numbers or querying the registry. It's free. Let me repeat that - it's FREE! Querying the ENUM registry is free and so is terminating a call to another VPF customer. Thus, as the VPF adds more corporations to their customer list, this also increases the number of FREE calls you can make. Kudos to the VPF which isn't waiting around for public ENUM to finally take off. I expounded the benefits of ENUM in my "ENUM ENUM ENUM!" post, which is a good refresher on ENUM and I compare public ENUM registries versus private ENUM registries.
http://www.personalbee.com/215/14476539