The OTN has been operating since 1999, providing a free resource to qualified members/customers of the VON Industry and has helped to accelerate widespread interoperability by equipment vendors. By being both vendor and service provider neutral we offer the industry a unique opportunity to address issues that many service providers and venders are experiencing. By being Protocol Agnostic, the OTN is a place where vendors supporting, H.248, H.323, MGCP, OSP, SIP, XML and other protocols can collocate equipment and conduct virtual ad-hoc interoperability demos, meetings and testing. The OTN is a meeting point where no participant needs to worry about specific configurations. The OTN exists in three forms, the Standing Environment located at the pulver.com office in Melville, NY; the full traveling version that is operated at selected pulver.com events throughout the year, and a smaller traveling version that is operated as a pedestal style exhibit at non-puver.com events.
The pulver.com Open Test Network (OTN) Standing Environment is a permanent site on the Internet where vendors and service providers can utilize VoIP equipment from 20 vendors (and growing) freely for interoperability and application level testing. The OTN has also been developed to allow application developers to test and demonstrate their software on a variety of equipment. The OTN is unrestricted and thus enables companies to test outside their internal networks. The site can be used for demonstrations and as a reference point for company and inter-company testing. Through the OTN, vendors and service providers will have a common ground to help progress the emerging standards. The configuration of the equipment that is part of the OTN will be published to all participants. If a specific "non-standard" configuration is required for a particular test, the OTN staff may be available to reconfigure equipment. They may be available for limited assistance with tests. The OTN has a full class 'C' address at its disposal, as well as a PRI connection to the PSTN. The connection to the PSTN, can be shared by all media devices through a PBX that is installed in the OTN. The PBX can groom connections to media gateways as PRI, Robbed Bit, or POTS lines.
A "Pavilion Version" of the OTN will also be available at every VON show. This provides Vendors, Developers and Service Providers a face-to-face meeting environment to resolve any issues that arise from tests performed within the standing environment. It also presents a forum for participants to announce successful interops and demonstrations. In conjunction with the standing environment, the "Pavilion Version" allows participants to create end-to-end demonstrations of IP communications. Participation is open, like the network itself, to any qualifying vendor in the VoIP community. The requirements for participation in the Pavilion Version is that a vendor have a presence in the Standing Environment and that they also have a booth at the pulver event at which the OTN is implemented.
A "Table-Top" Version of the OTN will travelt to smaller Pulver events where space does not permit a Pavilion Version. At a table-top version, only end-user devices will travel to the the show. All infrastructure equipment and software in the Melville Lab will be accessed via the Internet in order to demonstarte interoperability.
In the future, a Pavilion-style presentation of the OTN will be presented a certain non-pulver events. This will allow OTN participants the opportunity to demonstrate their products at a reduced cost, while still enjoying the "enhanced-presence" of a large booth.