Hosted VoIP provider GlobalTouch Telecom says it's now "fully CALEA compliant," adding it's leveraged IP Fabrics' "DeepSweep" system to satisfy the necessary government regulations.

CALEA is short for the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act passed in 1994 and dealing in part with the execution of authorized digital communications surveillance warrants (aka wiretapping). The CALEA compliance deadline was May 14, and it applied equally to all facilities-based broadband access providers and interconnected VoIP service providers, with restricted availability of compliance extensions.

As the law states, carriers were permitted to meet their CALEA obligations through the services of "Trusted Third Parties (TTP)," including processing requests for intercepts, conducting electronic surveillance and delivering information to law-enforcement agencies. However, carriers remained responsible for ensuring the timely delivery of information to such agencies and protecting subscriber privacy.

GlobalTouch's turnkey VoIP platform can be completely customized and delivers a suite of services that includes IP PBX with ACD, Auto Attendant, SIP Fax, softphone, conferencing and all network services (DIDs, LNP, 911) and termination to any telephone in the world.

"What separates GlobalTouch from other service providers - hosted, peer-to-peer like Skype and those operators in the marketplace that aren't CALEA compliant and can't even offer 911 protections - is that we own our core technology. As such, complying with this order is much easier for us," says GlobalTouch Telecom CEO Gregory O. Welch. "Professional VoIP services providers are required to comply with legitimate law-enforcement requirements. We intend to provide the appropriate assistance to all law-enforcement agencies while continuing to address the privacy and security concerns of our partners and customers. Our utilization of the DeepSweep technology allows us to do this in a highly effective manner."

IP Fabrics says its "DeepSweep for CALEA" is the first self-contained network surveillance system that provides ISPs with both broadband and VoIP CALEA compliance. A single DeepSweep system functions as the complete CALEA compliance solution, providing the probe, mediation/delivery and administration functions that are commonly implemented as separate devices.