Pac-West Telecom Inc. (Booth 808) is using the COMPTEL show this week to provide a progress report on its national expansion and its alliance with VeriSign.

The 25-year-old company traditionally has focused on offering service in California, but last year it announced a plan to provide VoIP and Internet access services across the entire continental United States, with a goal to cover 55 to 60 percent of the U.S. population, in about 400 rate centers, by the third quarter of this year, explained Reid Cox, corporate development vice president. As of late August, Pac-West was 56 percent to that goal, but most of the work needed to be done upfront due to licensing requirements, etc., he added.

In announcing the planned expansion last year, the company said it was intended to provide a nationwide, single-source solution targeted at VoIP providers, wireless broadband providers, ISPs, carriers and others to provide IP-based services. Pac-Wests service offering will include the services and network supplier diversity required by ISPs to provide dialup Internet access, as well as a comprehensive suite of services enabling VoIP providers to offer carrier-class voice services. These services include local telephone numbers; connectivity to the PSTN; as well as access to industry telephone databases to provide services such as E911, 411 and local number portability.

Many of those services tie into the relationship Pac-West has with VeriSign. That deal was announced in January, but the joint offerings for which Pac-West will bundle VeriSigns signaling and database services with its network wont be generally available until the fourth quarter of this year. VeriSign will supply Pac-West with back-office and database services including Calling Party Name (CNAM), LNP, SS7 and provisioning services. Pac-West will contribute voice and data network services such as trunking, switching and IP transport. The result will be a VoIP service bureau that features LNP, E911, directory listings, customer ordering and service interfaces with nearreal-time notifications combined with IP and PSTN bearer and signaling networks for near-real-time service activation.

Pac-West www.pacwest.com