AcuLab
| ACULAB |
|---|
| Official Website: http://www.aculab.com/ |
| Official about page: http://www.aculab.com/company/ |
| Country: Please specify country |
| Location: HQ: Lakeside Bramley Road, Mount Farm, Milton Keynes MK1 1PT. United Kingdom
Aculab GmbH, c/o Florentz und Partner, Bauerstraße 28, 80796 München. Germany 100 River Ridge Drive, Suite 101, Norwood, MA. 02062, USA |
| Founded: 1978 |
| Business: Lawful Intercept |
| Contact |
| Phone: +44 (0)1908 273800 UK
+49 (0) 89 4613 9552 Germany +1 781 352 3550 USA |
| Fax: +44 (0)1908 273801 UK
+49 (0) 89 4613 9553 Germany +1 781 352 4250 USA |
Contents
Background
"Aculab Plc provides computer telephony components for integration into high performance communications solutions ranging from call centers and predictive dialers to prepaid services and mobile military communication units. It offers media processing resources, digital network access, protocols and approvals, IP telephony, fax, and speech processing and conferencing products. The company also provides support services, including pre-sales and post sales technical consultancy, and training and co-marketing. Aculab Plc was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Milton Keynes, the United Kingdom. The company also has sales and support offices in Boston, Massachusetts; Munich, Germany; and Melbourne, Australia, as well as research and development center for IP technologies in Edinburgh, Scotland."
Products
The SS7 signalling monitor and Prosody X media processing platform provide "Lawful Interception" (LI).
"mediation and delivery solutions, with support for additional ISDN connectivity and an MRCP interface to speech engines. These Aculab products can be used as an 'input adapter' that can be implemented in any SS7 network for 'ISUP sniffing' and voice telephony interception. Using a non-intrusive monitoring method, a solution can be deployed that is independent of the network switch type.
Additionally, the SS7 signalling monitor provides developers and systems integrators with a powerful means of creating a variety of applications for operators and service providers with compelling needs. Products can be created: to capture, filter and record network traffic for analysis; generate call detail records; help manage and optimise wired and wireless networks; aid management of mobile roaming and billing; as well as for LI purposes.
Helpfully, Aculab presents an API model with three different decode levels and the developer also has the option of adding alternative, user-defined decoders. Choosing raw HDLC presents Level 2 MSU data directly to an application with no MTP3 or user part decode. An auto-decode facility buffers the MTP3 payload, and can be set for all traffic, or for explicit decode of selected messages. And the ISUP decoder presents ISUP message data to the application, either automatically, or via API control.
The monitor API can co-exist with SS7 signalling APIs (ISUP and TCAP), as well as the Prosody X API. This is extremely useful when enhanced applications, such as interfacing via MRCP to a speech engine for key word spotting in security applications, are needed. Additionally, ISDN or CAS protocols can be used in parallel with the monitor, which means the legal intercept standard format for delivery of data to LEAs can be readily met.
Usefully, protocol variants (e.g., ITU-T, ANSI, China ISUP) are configurable on a per link basis, and traffic from multiple signalling links can be merged into a single TCP/IP connection to an application. Multiple cards can be used for distributed, scalable, high density traffic monitoring, filtering, analysis and recording systems.
Application requirements
SS7 network monitoring results in information, such as the origin of a call, its duration and call frequency, being extracted by an application. And the application should trigger local recording (fully associated signalling) or remote recording (quasi-associated/mobile calls) of bearer timeslots when a particular set of filtering criteria has been met. The powerful search and filter capability of Aculab's SS7 signalling monitor can be used to specify which messages an application needs to capture from within each monitored traffic stream.
Application developers should also be aware of the requirements for mediation and delivery of data to LEAs. The purpose of these terms are defined by LI specifications like ETSI TS 101 671 and the ANSI J-STD-025A standard.
A mediation system collects interception related information (IRI) and content of communication (CC) from pertinent network elements in real-time, formats the information to match the constraints imposed by the different regulatory bodies and standard organisations (e.g., ETSI, CALEA, ETSI-NL), and delivers both data and content via specified interfaces to an LEA.
The delivery function, which mandates separate delivery of different types of information, relates to the capture and conversion of signalling and bearer data into the required legal intercept standard format for delivery to LEAs. Delivery of the interception content is forwarded to the LEA using secure data links. The ETSI specification requires a separate delivery of IRI and CC, with the IRI being delivered to the LEA over a data connection and the CC - the bearer channel call data - delivered over an ISDN connection.
Unsurprisingly, Aculab's enabling technology provides a useful option in this regard, in that it offers software selectable E1 and T1 trunk connections that can be used for the ISDN connection. A great many national and international protocols, together with host independent approvals, are readily available under a cost free licence from Aculab. This includes the SS7 protocols mentioned above (ISUP and TCAP), which are also offered under the same cost free licence. All told, very cost-effective solutions can be easily and quickly deployed worldwide.
How it all fits together
LI occurs through a process that involves legislation and standards, the courts, telcos and operators, LI equipment suppliers, enabling technology vendors, such as Aculab, and LEAs - the FBI, MI5 and others."
Countries using products
80 countries worldwide
Reports
- Prosody X 2007 Aculab
Tech & Business Partners
"As a "Connected with Aculab" partner you can gain access to Aculab's sales, marketing and technical expertise and utilise a myriad of tools, which will enable you to adopt Aculab's technologies quickly and see a swift return on your investment through taking your solution to market effectively."
People Responsible
Board Members
- Alan Pound, Founder and Managing Director
- Ms. Faye McClenahan, Head of Strategic Marketing
- Chris Gravett, Sales and Marketing Director
Management Team
Investors
Major Shareholders
Other Info
IP & Servers
