Cisco dials first VoIP call from space

SAN JOSE, USA: Cisco announced that it has successfully made the first voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) call from space without any terrestrial infrastructure.

This was a part of the networking equipment maker's latest Internet Routing in Space (IRIS) testing, touted to be marking the first-ever software upgrade of an Internet Protocol (IP) router aboard a commercial satellite, while in orbit.

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Steven Boutelle, CEO, Cisco Internet Routing in Space (IRIS), and vice president, Cisco Global Government Solutions Group, said: "This technology has the potential to transform how government agencies and commercial organizations use IP-based network services to accomplish their missions and business objectives."

The cmpany claims that this represents a radical departure from current communications satellite technology, which relies on ground-based hubs to convey voice and video signals between satellites and end users.

IRIS is part of Cisco's initiative to transform satellite networks. The initiative includes the Cisco 18400 Space Router, a radiation-tolerant IP router for satellite and related spacecraft. The first space router was launched on-board Intelsat 14, a geostationary communications satellite.

Cisco recently teamed up with Astrium to study the applications of space-based routers. In October, Cisco and Astrium had demonstrated IRIS services such as multicasting, which enables the delivery of information to a group of destination computers simultaneously in a single transmission.

Cisco had updated the IOS Software in the router aboard Intelsat 14 to enable a variety of capabilities that are available for Cisco's terrestrial products including Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express, IPv6, Mobile IP and SNMPv3 MIBs (Simple Network Management Protocol version 3 Management Information Bases).

The demonstration was the first use of Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express to make a VoIP phone call via a router in space.