Covergence, the leader in scaling and securing access to VoIP and other real-time services based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), announced that iTalk Broadband Corporation (iTalkBB) will use its Eclipse SIP security solution to deliver the industry’s first secure residential VoIP service. With this new offering, iTalkBB – for the first time – will offer to its residential subscribers fully secure "bullet proof" access to the real-time, multi-modal applications and services that they demand.

As the VoIP market transitions into the mainstream, the expectations of VoIP users are rapidly evolving. No longer comprised of "early adopters" who were simply content to have a cheaper communications offering, these savvy consumers have been conditioned by decades of TDM-based telephony to expect instant, reliable, and secure, “toll-quality” service from their phone systems. These new requirements create difficult new challenges at the “access edge” – the point at which enterprise networks and individual consumers attach to the service provider infrastructure.

The iTalkBB solution has solved this challenge by using Covergence’s Eclipse Session Manager to scale and secure connections at the iTalkBB subscriber-edge that, when combined with Linksys’ SPA2102 broadband voice adapter deployed on the subscriber premises, connect the subscriber’s standard telephone to their broadband Internet connection. Since both the Eclipse and the SPA2102 support the standard for secure signaling (TLS) and the standard for secure media (SRTP), iTalkBB is now able to deploy fully encrypted, validated and authenticated subscriber connections to ensure security that is as secure – if not more secure – than traditional phone systems. The Eclipse also gives iTalkBB the confidence that it will be able to prevent attacks that are intended to disable or disrupt service delivery, gain unlawful access to the service (service theft), and/or gain unlawful access to subscriber information (loss of confidentiality/integrity).

"Security has become one of the primary issues slowing the wide scale adoption of VoIP, particularly within the residential space," said Jack Zhao, president and CEO of iTalkBB. "As the market has matured, our subscriber base has become much more sophisticated, demanding PSTN-like security and reliability, as well as access to the next generation services that VoIP promises. Deploying Covergence’s leading security solution enables us to provide the comprehensive security necessary to grow our subscriber base, and the reliability and flexibility to offer new services that will contribute to our bottom-line line growth."

"Our founding mission has been tackling the fundamental issues around security and reliability of VoIP networks to help speed its widespread adoption for service providers like iTalkBB," said Bob O’Neil, president and CEO of Covergence. "With VoIP becoming much more of a mainstream option for service providers and their customers, the security challenge at the subscriber edge has grown in importance and complexity. With the Eclipse, we can ensure that service providers such as iTalkBB are able deliver the most dependable VoIP networks possible to their subscribers while enabling iTalkBB to develop the revenue-growth opportunities promised by VoIP’s mainstream adoption."

The Eclipse family of products is purpose-built to provide comprehensive security and control for VoIP and other SIP applications, with models already in use today providing secure subscriber connections for service providers around the world.

Covergence will be showing its Eclipse family of products at Internet Telephony Conference & Expo West at the San Diego Convention Center from Oct. 11-13, 2006. For more information on the Eclipse, including additional features and benefits, visit the company’s booth (#907) at IT West or www.covergence.com, or call (978) 823-5200.