A Little History Of Coppercom

CopperCom started as two separate companies. In the 90’s, DTI manufactured and sold 200+ Class 4 and Class 5 switches into the network. These switches, the DXC Class 4 switch, and the LXC Class 5 switch, were deployed in every RBOC territory throughout the US. DTI become known for the quality of their product, expertise in installation and maintenance and low cost of ownership alternative to Nortel and Lucent. DTI was a family owned business located in Jackson, TN.
In July 1997 CopperCom was founded in Santa Clara, CA. CopperCom broke the silicon valley startup mold by investing early on in primary market research. Some of the first team members went out and interviewed 60+ service providers to determine the system requirements for voice over broadband in early 1998 when DSL was just starting to be rolled out commercially. In June of 1999, CopperCom launched its Complete DSL product line including an IAD (integrated access device), the CopperCom MXR, and a voice over broadband Gateway, the CopperCom Gateway.
Around the same time frame, DTI was defining a new switching architecture to replace their legacy switching platforms. The company decided to relocate to Southern Florida where there is a larger pool of telecommunications engineering talent. DTI decided to build a state of the art TDM switch with a Class 4/5 softswitch. DTI was the first vendor to introduce the concept of using XML (extensible markup language) as a feature creation language for softswitches.
In September 1999 CopperCom announced an OEM relationship with Lucent for its VoB product line. Lucent was just introducing their Sting DSLAM and beginning to make inroad into the CLEC DSL market.
In January 2000, DTI launched their softswitch the CopperController (formerly known as the TSP) and CSX 2100. At the same time, DTI moved its operation to Boca Raton, FL. and changed its name to DTI Networks.
In February 2000 CopperCom announced a second OEM partnership with Alcatel, a leader in DSL for the regional bell operating companies (RBOCs).
Since the Fall of 1999, CopperCom and DTI Networks had been discussing partnering when it became clear to both companies that softswitches would ultimately need to leverage packet telephony access technologies live VoB. CopperCom designed the Gateway as a packet telephony switch from the get go instead of a TDM switch with packet interfaces like the majority of the VoB competition at that time. CopperCom intended to partner with softswitch vendors to provide “on-net” calling between IADs. DTI Networks recognized that their softswitch could leverage the emerging broadband access market as well as traditional circuit access to subscribers by working with VoB Gateway vendors. After several months of discussions the two companies decided that the only model for delivering a working solution in the early market would be as an integrated vendor. The two companies seized the opportunity to combine complimentary product lines and visions to get a jump on the rest of the market which was in a quagmire of multi-vendor partnerships, interoperabilty concerns, and with very little hope of delivering a working solution. This bold move, the merger of two private companies in March 2000, was soon followed by a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the convergence switch and softswitch market proving that an integrated solution was the only viable approach in the early marketplace.