Verizon this week said it is replacing Class 5 switches in California and Washington with softswitches to provide voice-over-IP local exchange services in communities in those states.

The RBOC made the announcement at the Supercomm 2004 conference in Chicago.

The changeover is the first step in overhauling Verizon’s circuit-switched local exchange network with packet-based softswitches, which promise to deliver new services to businesses and consumers while saving Verizon money.

Some of the services enabled by softswitches include the ability to monitor incoming and outgoing calls; logging all calls; automatic routing of incoming calls to a cell phone or other locations; and management of all call and e-mail traffic on a PC.

Verizon has already replaced five Class 5 switches in California with two softswitches.

The installations are taking place in Temecula, Elsinore, Homeland, Baldwin Park and Azusa, Calif.; and Mount Vernon, Wash.

Verizon’s softswitch supplier is Nortel. Nortel was awarded an exclusive VoIP contract by the RBOC earlier this year.

This softswitch deployment is the first by the carrier for local service. Last year, Verizon deployed softswitches in its long-distance network to carry national VoIP calls.

In 2002, Verizon installed packet switches in parts of its intercity network. Verizon began deploying VoIP in 1999 with gateways to connect local customers with some long-distance networks.