For Immediate Release
ATIS 1200 G Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005	Contact: Trish St. Michel Phone: 202-434-8851 E-mail: tstmichel@atis.org www.atis.org

Hop Counter Guidelines Aimed at Reducing Network Disruptions

January 23, 2006, Washington – ATIS’ Network Interconnection and Interoperability Forum (NIIF) has included a set of Hop Counter guidelines in the NIIF Reference Document, Part III, “Installation, Testing and Maintenance Responsibilities for SS7 Links and Trunks” (ATIS-0300011) in an effort to reduce potential looping situations within and between interconnecting networks.

The text recommends that service providers set the Hop Counter value range at 15-20.  Setting the counter too low might prevent some calls from completing, but setting it too high or not setting a Hop Counter value has the potential to tie up network resources when calls get stuck in an infinite loop.

The guidelines also include the treatment in the absence of a Hop Counter parameter in the Initial Address Message (IAM); recommendations that the recipient switch should not reinitialize the Hop Counter; hop counter settings for Emergency Telecommunications Service (ETS) calls as technologies evolve; and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP-I) considerations.

The NIIF Reference Document, Part III, is available in the ATIS Document Center at www.atis.org .

About ATIS

ATIS is a technical planning and standards development organization that is committed to rapidly developing and promoting technical and operations standards for the communications and related information technologies industry worldwide using a pragmatic, flexible and open approach. Participants from more than 350 communications companies are active in ATIS’ 23 industry committees and Incubator Solutions Program. www.atis.org

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