Keep MMDS Alive
During the third quarter, WorldCom Inc. expects to begin building non-line-of-sight "underlay" networks in some of its 13 MMDS markets, which currently are line of sight.
The goal is to reach a greater number of markets with non-line-of-sight MMDS broadband connectivity in 2003, says Kerry McKelvey, president of WorldCom Broadband Solutions. McKelvey says that as a result WorldCom could lower its costs to deliver MMDS by at least half. WorldCom plans to work with a half dozen, as yet undisclosed, non-line-of-sight MMDS vendors to build the "underlay" networks in existing MMDS markets where there's blockage on a line or a lack of access to buildings for radio towers. "So we'll get a very good test of non-line-of-sight using the underlay," says McKelvey.
"We feel MMDS is an extremely valuable and high-demand broadband offering," adds McKelvey. "Often when we see the analyst reports and press reports we see MMDS lumped in with LMDS. We categorize MMDS more like DSL and cable."
Double Down
Free space optics startup AirFiber will have service providers seeing double. The company's new AirFiber 5800, which delivers up to 1.25gbps of capacity, is based on a technology called redundant link controller. RLC can guarantee a bit error rate of 10-12 , explains Michael Sabo, AirFiber's senior vice president of marketing. RLC requires two live free space optics boxes per location. The receiving site takes the best signal of the two links. That way, if a bird or some other barrier blocks one of the beams intermittently, there's no loss or degradation of service, says Sabo. Because there are two live links rather than one live and one standby, there is no delay in the process. "This is not like SONET, which has 50 millisecond recovery," Sabo says. "This is [recovery in] no time-totally hitless."
IP PBX-plus
A new IP-based communications server from Nortel Networks offers business customers secure remote access to corporate calling features and supports a variety of multimedia collaboration capabilities. Succession Communications Server for Enterprise Multimedia xchange (CSE MX), which is suited for managed service or straight enterprise applications, can allow a large company with multiple locations and teleworkers at various sites to link those locations cost efficiently and let remote workers function as they would out of an office, says Tony Pereira, director of product marketing for Enterprise Business Networks at Nortel. Dave Moore, director of enterprise product marketing for advanced applications at Nortel, adds that the CSE MX has "two sides." A client side offering interactive, multimedia collaboration and a networking services side based on IP VPN.
"Now we're back to basics where the emphasis is on more efficient handling of the cash cows of TDM services across optical network interfaces."
--Sab Gosah, Polaris
