he creation of a switching model that does not have the same restrictions that plague circuit switches, such as intelligent network triggers, application invoca- tion mechanisms and complex service logic. This functional distribution will result in faster and more-targeted feature development and delivery and significantly lower service deliv- ery costs. Softswitches will be architecturally simpler, operationally effi- cient, and less expensive to operate and maintain. A number of corporations have now focused their efforts on the devel- opment of softswitch products. Both Lucent and Nortel announced softswitch products as early as 1999 in the form of the 7R/E (Lucent) and the Succession (Nortel). Today, they have been all but abandoned because the market simply wasn't ready to bridge the gap between the circuit- switched Bellheads and the IP bit-weenies, although both companies have now come roaring back into the fray with Succession (Nortel) and iMerge (Lucent). Today, however, the market is once again growing, and ferociously. Companies like Taqua Systems are beginning the process of reinvigorating the softswitch marketplace. A key target sector is the small rural telephone company. These companies are targets because they can take advantage of the incremental-deployment nature of the softswitch, and because they are one of the few segments that have money earmarked for capital growth. Softswitch was originally intended as a local-switch replacement tech- nology to facilitate the circuit-to-packet migration. The economy, how- ever, has been problematic, and progress has not been as aggressive as the sector would like. In truth, softswitches have been used to replace Downloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com) Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website. Telecom Market Segments Telecom Market Segments lines, not wholesale switches, and while the incumbents are not buying, they ar