Acme Packet expands SBC lead with new PLDT deal

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company will extend its deployment of Acme Packet's (NASDAQ:APKT) session border controllers (SBCs) to transition its international interconnects from circuit-switched to IP connections. The deal also will allow PLDT to add more network capacity for its growing international wholesale services. PLDT uses Acme Packet SBCs for both residential and enterprise Voice over IP (VoIP) services.

The SBC market continues to be hot, and Acme Packet leads both the service provider and enterprise portion of a highly segmented market of over 20 additional vendors. Research firm Exact Ventures earlier this month said the segment had grown 55 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, driven by strong adoption of SIP trunk and hosted unified communications.

In the case of PLDT, the company carries much of the country's international voice traffic and needed to meet the increasing demands for SIP-based interconnect from international operators. The Philippines has a significant amount of international traffic due to its high overseas population, as well as a strong Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry.

"IP-based networks continue to expand," said Genarco C. Sanchez, vice president of network planning and engineering at PLDT. "We have been leveraging Acme Packet session border controllers since 2005 and achieved benefits from the company's IP interconnect domain expertise. With Acme Packet solutions, we continue to deploy multiple applications and services on various borders cost effectively and quickly."

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