Things are crazy these days. Nike products at a discount. I guess making money on the Fogdog's expected initial public offering and its future e-business beats selling sneakers through many outlets at full price. The name of the consortium seems somewhat nonspecific - at least at first glance. It's called the International Softswitch Consortium.
First glance implies that it has to do with software.
If memory serves, there was even once a software product so named that converted word processing documents composed with one word processing package to another package's format. Today it's done within each word processing package - e.g. the conversion between Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect. Both require hardware, wires and software. Circuit switching has the long ago image of a switchboard operator making physical connections. Although, because the PSTN world has become almost fully digital, the PSTN may have as much software as does the IP world.