Intelligent network and method for providing voice telephony over ATM and point-to-multipoint connectivity

A system comprising:

• a network device to:
• intercept a connection request sent from a calling party to a second network device,
• determine, based on one or more values stored in the connection request, whether the connection request includes information identifying a Voice Telephony over Asynchronous Transfer Mode,
• process the connection request as a Voice Telephony over Asynchronous Transfer Mode connection request to establish a switched virtual connection (SVC) to provide Voice Telephony over Asynchronous Transfer Mode services when the connection request includes the information identifying the Voice Telephony over Asynchronous Transfer Mode, and
• process the connection request as a data transfer request when the connection request does not include the information identifying the Voice Telephony over Asynchronous Transfers Mode.

A method comprising:

• intercepting a first connection request sent from a calling party to a first network device;
• determining, based on a content of the first connection request, that the first connection request includes a request for a point-to-multipoint connection;
• determining, in response to determining that the first connection request includes a request for a point-to-multipoint connection, whether the calling party is authorized to make point-to-multipoint connections;
• determining, in response to determining that the calling party is authorized to make point-to-multipoint connections, whether an amount of bandwidth requested for the point-to-multipoint connection is within authorized bandwidth limits;
• and
• forwarding a second connection request to the first network device for establishing a connection between the calling party and a called party when the amount of bandwidth requested for the point-to-multipoint connection is determined to be within authorized bandwidth limits.