SUPERCOMM is known as a telco show, but cable companies just kept cropping up in discussions in Atlanta.
In one of the more notable examples, leading softswitch vendor Sonus Networks disclosed its strategy to target the cable company market.
Bob Dye, director of strategic marketing, says the Sonus SMARRT Cable solution is the first complete PacketCable solution, and it is deployable today. The Sonus solution includes all the network-side boxes specified in the PacketCable architecture. The company worked for 16 months on this solution and publicly unveiled it at SUPERCOMM.
PacketCable is the blueprint for IP voice over cable networks the cable industry has created through its joint research and development entity CableLabs. Fully compliant network-based Packet- Cable solutions don't yet exist because CableLabs hasn't certified such products. (See related story.)
Sonus, currently in a trial with one of the top six MSOs, in June was entering a second trial with another major MSO and was going into lab trials with two additional MSOs, Dye says.
Because MSOs don't have to rely on the ILECs for access and already have broadband networks in place; and because the industry with PacketCable has a blueprint to build to, Dye explains, "We think the MSOs are definitely positioned to be the most aggressive adopters of local IP voice."
Dye says Sonus is positioned uniquely to capture significant business from the cable companies since the company has a mature product, already has achieved interoperability with various other vendors' products and has tie-ins to required operational support systems. Sonus customers already carry 3 billion minutes a month of traffic on the vendor's equipment, says Dye.
The next few months are expected to be a pivotal period for the industry as cablecos move deeper into IP voice.
Brett Azuma, senior vice president of market for IP Unity, whose media server is the first and only such product to be included in CableLabs' baseline network labs, expects to see more voice over IP trials from cablecos during the fourth quarter, with early deployments in the first quarter. "Those MSOs doing voice on circuit have capped those efforts," adds Azuma.
"I think it's fair to say the cablecos have money and are still spending it," adds David Bloomquist, director of next generation applications and services with Siemens, which has a broad VoIP product line.
"Cable telephony has potential -- a lot of potential," says Tuncay Gunluk, director of softswitch product marketing OPENet at Lucent. "Cable plant by nature is broadband." Cablecos need to start with the basics, like second line residential, Gunluk says, but their broadband networks position them to deliver enhanced services as part of the package.
Yet despite all the promise seen in the cable industry's move to deliver voice over IP service, a strong dose of skepticism remains.
There are a number of RFPs out from cable that say they expect to roll out voice services this year, notes Eric Burger, CTO with Snowshore Networks and a board member of the International Softswitch Consortium. But Burger says wireless (backhaul now, and enhanced services later) is a better near-term prospect for the softswitch industry.
Laurie Shook, vice president marketing at VocalData, which is focused on call applications and software, also questions how quickly the cable VoIP market will develop. "We had a bunch of college students ask cablecos when will they do IP voice," she says, referring to a recent survey the company conducted. "[Looks like] it's a year off."
