Posted 05/15/2001
Network Solutions
Fixing DSLFixing DSL
Vendors Help Carriers Plumb More than Pipes from Broadband Copper
By Paula Bernier
Having seen the Internet bubble burst and the demise of a handful of DSL carriers in the past year, the mood at this year's SUPERCOMM is sure to be one of reflection. Where did the telecom industry--and DSL service providers in particular--so drastically veer off course?
The answer seems to be that failed ventures like Covad Communications Co. (www.covad.com) and NorthPoint Communications Group Inc. (www.northpoint.net) made a major misstep in targeting residential customers with high-speed Internet access via wholesale initiatives rather than focusing on business applications. But, many believe the DSL providers left standing can learn from this mistake by revisiting their initial business-focused strategies, moving beyond simple high-speed Internet access to also offer such services as multiline voice, and readying their networks for faster service provisioning.
Back in Business
"Way back in 1998, offering high-speed Internet access to every home and business seemed to make sense," Roland Van der Meer, partner at the $1.5 billion venture firm ComVentures (www.comventures.com), said in a written statement. "Lower the price enough and every kid, mom, dad, and at-home grandma day-trader will want DSL. A service company offering DSL will quickly get enough market share to become profitable, or close to it. Once a DSL company has amassed customers, it can raise prices a few dollars and make a killing."
But then companies like NorthPoint and Covad ended that business myth, he writes. The telcos, such as Pacific Bell (www.pacbell.com) and Ameritech (www.ameritech.com), could afford to sell DSL for $49.99 per month as an add-on service, a loss leader. The startup companies like Covad could not. Now, three years later, Van der Meer notes, the market is repositioning itself to reach a new target audience: business.
According to Bryan Long, vice president of marketing with Copper Mountain Networks Inc. (www.coppermountain. com), two key ways DSL providers can reach business markets best are by offering multiline voice and implementing new network technology to enable them to provision DSL-based services more quickly.
"I think that despite the troubles that have gone on in the industry at the carrier side, the demand still remains very, very strong," Long says. "Everybody still wants DSL. The challenge for the service providers is to be able to provide value-added services on top of that baseline Internet access."
NorthPoint failed and Rhythms Netconnections Inc. (www.rhythms.net) is struggling, notes Long, because they moved into wholesale Internet access, and there's not enough revenue in that. "If they had stuck to the T1 replacement to business--as initially planned--then they would've probably done much better," he says. "Mpower [Communications Corp., www.mpowercom.com] offers five to 15 voice lines on DSL, and they are doing fine."
Revenue from the small business market for VoDSL will explode soon at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 156 percent, from $169 million in 2001 to $7.2 billion in 2005, according to a new report by Research First Consulting (www.researchfirst.com).
Copper Mountain already supports multiline voice on its DSLAM products, via media gateway control protocol (MGCP) to route voice calls to softswitches and via GR-303 interfaces to send voice to media gateways in front of Class 5 switches, says Long.
He says that at SUPERCOMM, the company will announce a new product that sits next to the DSLAM to improve traffic routing for voice. But, that solution won't be a softswitch.
Commenting on the provisioning problem, Long notes that as DSL providers amass more customers, they are getting swamped by the number of virtual circuits (VCs) they have to provision over their ATM-based DSL networks. While Copper Mountain's DSLAM uses IP, as opposed to ATM-based transport, ILECs already have a significant embedded base of ATM-based DSLAMs.
Long says Copper Mountain will disclose specifics at SUPERCOMM about how it will help those ILECs solve their VC provisioning problems.
GigE and VC
Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) appears to be the best fix for ATM VC provisioning issues inherent in today's DSL services, according to Ron Jeffries, director of product marketing at Occam Networks Inc. (www.occamnetworks.com).
Jeffries says his company's new broadband loop carrier equipment, which will be launched at SUPERCOMM, initially will employ ATM for transport. But going forward, Occam feels the remote terminal-to-CO link will be via GigE because no ATM VCs would be required and there would be less network overhead than with ATM.
"In the future, when we have more customers with broadband Internet, it will almost force the carrier's hand to move away from ATM and toward IP," Jeffries says. "Just managing a VC per subscriber would become an incredible nightmare. As you scale up, a VC per subscriber is just the wrong answer."
Occam Networks' new broadband loop carriers provision POTS and broadband data services to subscribers through the remote terminal. The BLC 1100, which is expected to be available this summer for $9,995 to $12,095, is a fixed 19-inch rack solution that supports 24 subscribers and includes Ethernet 10/100 or four T1/E1 connections on the network side.
The BLC 2200, which is expected to be available next year for $40,000 to $95,000, is a modular unit with multiple slots and 64gbps switching capacity. Each slot has 24 ports for a POTS/asymmetric DSL (ADSL) line card. The company plans to introduce a G.SHDSL card for the box shortly.
"Each port on the box supports both POTS and ADSL, and doesn't require any splitter," says Jeffries. "That allows for a much more compact design."
Also touting a solution that collapses multiple functions in a single box is ADC Telecommunication Inc.'s (www.adc.com) Wireline Systems Division, with its Intelligent Access Network (IAN) platform. IAN includes a programmable DSL/voice gateway (MG-1), an application server with a broadband call agent (SBS-1000) and an Element Management System (iMS) with Java-based GUI.
The products offer differentiated broadband services with QoS guarantees; integrated voice, data and multimedia over the same loop; support for all loop technologies; web-based service provisioning; dynamic network connection setup; PSTN interfaces (GR-303, TR-008); and ATM/SONET interfaces (OC-3, OC-12).
Meanwhile, Charles Industries Ltd. (www.charlesindustries.com) will introduce two voice and data transmission products at SUPERCOMM. The High-Speed Voice and Data Link (HVDL) 3.1 system transmits three voice lines and one symmetrical, rate-selectable (up to 1.04mbps) data line over a single copper pair. With a reach of up to 56,000 feet, HVDL 3.1 transmits data up to 200 percent farther than conventional DSL. And with rate selectivity and symmetric upstream/downstream data rates, the HVDL 3.1 serves extended-reach SOHO customers.
Along with the mix will be Charles Industries' slim-profile (one rack unit) IAD. The 360-80 IAD provides flexibility in T1/E1 configuration; hosts multiple channel modules, with options including FXS/DPO, FXO/DPT, E&M, OCU, DSU, 56/64xN or ISDN; and it takes up to three modules per shelf, with independent channel provisioning for up to 30 channels.
Despite what some say is a new focus on multiline VoDSL, Accelerated Networks Inc. (www.acceleratednetworks.com) will show at SUPERCOMM a new IAD called the AN-20-FE, which addresses data only.
It's designed to deliver frame relay connectivity at lower prices than T1s could by putting it over a DSL line. According to Joachim Hallwachs, senior product marketing manager at Accelerated, a fractional T1 typically costs several hundred dollars, while DSL is far less costly. The device delivers one frame relay and one Ethernet port, which can connect to Accelerated's AN-IC Internet Companion, an ASIC-based security device that does IP traffic shaping, firewall and encryption.
MTUs and MDUs
With the focus on business customers, at least a couple broadband access vendors at SUPERCOMM will highlight new products that target the multitenant unit (MTU) space.
The Yankee Group (www.yankeegroup.com) estimates that the U.S. broadband equipment and services market will reach $13.8 billion in commercial buildings and $10 billion in residential buildings by 2004.
At SUPERCOMM, Cygnet Technologies Inc. (www.cygnettechnologies.com) will announce that it is increasing the port density on its very high data rate DSL (VDSL) access concentrator for MTU/MDU applications from eight to 24 ports.
The Sojourner Access Concentrators comprise VDSL and HomePNA 2.0 technologies. Placed in a secured common area, the Sojourner Access Concentrator distributes broadband Internet access throughout densely populated buildings with a multiport device, using Layer 2/Layer 3 functionality with IP routing on Layer 3. For the Asia-Pacific market, a reduced footprint size is available. The Sojourner HomePNA 2.0 Access Concentrator, which is backward-compatible to HomePNA 1.0, will be available later in 2001. The VDSL access concentrators operate with 10/100/1000 Ethernet uplinks, and the HomePNA 2.0 access concentrator operates with 10/100 Ethernet uplinks.
Meanwhile, Cygnet Technologies' Enabler Bridge Remote Units will be highlighted at SUPERCOMM, along with the company's new Enterprise Gigabit Ethernet Switch.
Also targeting the MTU/MDU market with broadband connectivity is World Wide Packets (www.worldwidepackets. com). The company believes GigE over fiber is the ultimate solution to bring high-definition television (HDTV), video on demand, telemedicine, telecommuting, videoconferencing, and other applications to subscribers throughout the world via the Internet, and to deliver it in a cost-effective manner, says Octavio Morales, World Wide Packets' vice president of marketing.
"The aim is to deliver voice, video and data over the same fiber infrastructure," he says. "Our first products were targeted at the residential market. Now we're doing MTU/MDU commercial and residential markets."
Under its LightningEdge brand, the company will show a variety of GigE devices at SUPERCOMM, including its new LE-220 access concentrator, which addresses dense MTU/MDU applications with 48 100mbps ports and four gigabit uplinks.
