System and method for providing alternate routing in a network

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium with computer-executable instructions stored thereon, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a processing device in a network, enabling the processing device to establish a telephone call from an origination endpoint to a destination endpoint by performing the operations of:

receiving a destination telephone number at a gatekeeper in a packet-switched network, the destination telephone number being in a private dialing plan (PDP) format associated with a site corresponding to the destination endpoint;

determining whether to route the telephonic call using the packet-switched network or a circuit-switched network based on network selection criteria, wherein the selection criteria includes an available bandwidth measurement, and the available bandwidth measurement is based on a comparison of a number of call counts processed by an enterprise gatekeeper with a specified threshold;

appending a site identifier to the PDP number that identifies the site of the destination telephone endpoint; and

based on the site identifier, initiating a connection to the destination endpoint over the circuit-switched network using the destination telephone number, and initiating call setup procedures at an outbound gateway.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 1 , wherein the selection criteria includes a network resource availability measurement.

3. A gatekeeper for facilitating alternate routing of communications in a packet-switched network, the gatekeeper comprising:

a memory for storing instructions;

a processing module coupled to the memory, and configured to transceive call routing information with a call mediator in the packet-switched network;

wherein the call routing information is associated with a call initiation request sent from an origination endpoint to a destination endpoint, the origination endpoint being associated with an origination enterprise and the destination endpoint being associated with a destination enterprise, the origination enterprise and the destination enterprise associated with a private dialing plan (PDP) over the packet-switched network;

wherein the processing module is configured to determine, according to selection criteria, whether to route the communication from the origination endpoint to the destination endpoint over a circuit-switched network, wherein the selection criteria includes an available bandwidth measurement, and the available bandwidth measurement is based on a comparison of a number of call counts processed by an enterprise gatekeeper with a specified threshold; and

wherein the processing module is further configured to route the communication to the destination endpoint via the circuit-switched network based on a customer-specific identifier (CSID) received from the call mediator, the CSID having been appended to a PDP number associated with the communication by the call mediator;

wherein the processing module is further configured to cause the call mediator to initiate call setup procedures at an outbound gateway in the packet-switched network, wherein the call is to be set UP between the origination endpoint and the destination endpoint.

4. The gatekeeper as recited in claim 3 , wherein the processing module is further configured to provide an address of the outbound gateway to the call mediator.

5. The gatekeeper as recited in claim 3 , wherein the selection criteria includes a network resource availability measurement.

6. A call mediator for facilitating alternate routing of communications in a packet-switched network, the call mediator comprising:

a memory for storing instructions;

a processing module coupled to the memory, and configured to process a communication sent from an origination endpoint associated with an origination enterprise to a destination endpoint associated with a destination enterprise, the origination enterprise and the destination enterprise associated with a private dialing plan (PDP) over the packet-switched network;

wherein the processing module is configured to detect a PDP number in the communication and append a customer-specific identifier (CSID) to the detected PDP number, the CSID uniquely identifying the origination enterprise or the destination enterprise; and

wherein the processing module is further configured to transceive call routing information with a gatekeeper in the packet-switched network, the gatekeeper being able to determine, according to selection criteria, whether to route the communication from the origination endpoint to the destination endpoint over a packet-switched network or circuit-switched network, wherein the selection criteria includes an available bandwidth measurement, and the available bandwidth measurement is based on a comparison of a number of call counts processed by an enterprise gatekeeper with a specified threshold;

wherein the processing module is further configured to initiate call set up procedures to a destination endpoint with an outbound gateway.

7. The call mediator as recited in claim 6 , wherein the processing module is further configured to provide the CSID to the gatekeeper, the CSID enabling the gatekeeper to distinguish between the origination enterprise and the destination enterprise.

8. The call mediator as recited in claim 6 , wherein the processing module is further configured to receive an address of the outbound gateway from an enterprise gatekeeper.