Telarix, Inc., the leading provider of Interconnect Business Optimization (IBO) and settlement solutions for content providers, IP service providers and global fixed and mobile operators, has established iXLink, a global electronic business network for the telecom industry. Founded in conjunction with some of the world’s largest carriers, iXLink provides a secure, reliable business-to-business information exchange platform that enables service providers to quickly and efficiently access and share business documents among their trading partners.

Today, service providers must manage business connections with hundreds of other international carriers, each of which is sending multiple rate and dial-code change notifications as well as invoices, declarations and dispute letters each month. However, the lack of widely accepted standards in this business, together with the increasing volume of information exchanged between the carriers, has caused a significant increase in the daily operations workload. As a result, the costly, labor intensive processes and legacy systems used to manage these interconnect agreements in the past are now struggling to meet today’s dynamic business requirements.

iXLink, which is designed as an open service platform for use by all service providers, enables carriers to easily and effectively conduct business with one another. As an neutral business exchange service for the telecom industry, iXLink reduces the costs and complexities associated with interconnection including the purchase and sales processes; international dial code management; billing; invoice validation and settlement. iXLink’s flexible design supports fixed, mobile and VoIP service providers of any size, location or technical sophistication. By electronically exchanging business data and documents, carriers can streamline their interconnection management processes as well as reduce the complexity and administrative costs surrounding daily interconnect transactions.

“In today’s competitive market, service providers are seeking new ways to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of their interconnect business,” said Philip Marshall,

Senior Vice President, Enabling Technologies – Telecom Solutions at Yankee Group. “By directly linking the world’s carriers and their interconnect processes, iXLink creates a paradigm shift in the market that will enable carriers to significantly reduce costs, increase visibility and control over interconnect transactions as well as strengthen overall intercarrier business relationships.”

One of the first services available through iXLink is Price List Receipt which automates the buy and sell transactions among service providers related to international wholesale voice. A typical carrier has agreements with hundreds of other carriers, each of which is sending multiple rate change notifications each month. Each offer can contain pricing for hundreds to as many as 1,000 international destinations forcing carriers to track as many as 500,000 details per month, per trading partner.

iXLink Price List Receipt enables service providers to have all of their trading partners’ price lists automatically validated and translated into a single format and electronically delivered in near real time, eliminating the costly manual processes and financial risks associated with managing large volumes of cost data. Driven by a state-of-the-art analysis engine and flexible import adaptors, iXLink supports a wide variety of data formats ranging from Microsoft Excel to XML to CSV. As a result, buyers can use iXLink to connect with hundreds of suppliers, regardless of their preferred document format.

When a price list is received, iXLink immediately time-stamps and validates each price list against the specific data template established for each unique seller. The seller is automatically notified of any ambiguous data or errors, eliminating the potential for disputes or accidental cost overruns. The system also enables buyers to apply user-defined rules to each price list in order to meet their internal business objectives and obtain greater financial controls.

Once the price list is validated, iXLink automatically translates and converts the price list into the buyer’s preferred format and sends it via VPN, secure FTP or e-mail to the subscribed buyer, enabling routing optimization to begin within minutes of receipt by iXLink. As a result, the buyer’s purchasing team can focus on high value business activities rather than spending costly time on data formatting, validation and analysis.

“The creation of iXLink is a direct response to some of the largest challenges facing the telecom industry,” said Don Lynch, CEO of Telarix. “By creating an industry-wide standard for intercarrier exchange of business documents, iXLink will improve collaboration between carriers while reducing the costs associated with today’s labor intensive interconnect processes.”

About Telarix
Telarix, Inc. delivers the leading Interconnect Business Optimization (IBO) and settlement software solutions, providing telecommunications companies with the ability to easily manage costs and drive profitability on their interconnect networks. Telarix’s innovative platform, iXTools, helps service providers leverage operational intelligence to enable real-time business decisions which improve interconnect operational efficiency and margins. The company’s comprehensive IBO solution allows carriers to proactively manage voice and data traffic almost as quickly as it moves across their global networks. Telarix customers include global Tier-1 carriers such as BellSouth, Embratel, Global Crossing, Golden Telecom, GPTC, KDDI, Deutsche Telekom , Portugal Telecom, Primus, Sprint, Telecom Italia Sparkle, Telefónica, TELUS, Verizon and more. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Vienna , Va. Please visit www.telarix.com for more information.