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Spediant Systems is the latest vendor to move into the multiloop DSL equipment arena. The Orckit spinoff expects to begin lab tests of its EML 8000, in the first quarter of next year. The EML 8000 is scheduled to become generally available in the second quarter of 2003.
The EML (which stands for Ethernet MultiLoop) 8000 fills the bandwidth gap between T1 and DS3, explains Randy Nash, vice president of business development. The solution, which bonds up to eight copper pairs into one logical bundle per customer, was designed to help incumbent telephone companies target businesses with 50 to 200 employees with new services that better meet their bandwidth requirements.
Nash notes many customers are outgrowing copper-based services at DS1 and DSL rates, but that fiber is only available in select markets and most Tier 2 and 3 metro markets still don't have fiber reaching to small- and medium-sized businesses. With multiloop DSL, carriers can offer higher rate services and can do so at longer reaches. For instance, the system delivers more than 18mbps at a 3-kilometer reach and more than 10mbps at up to 4.2 kilometers.
The Spediant system comprises a one-unit high pizza-box-size unit delivering 10/100mbps and E1/T1 connectivity; the central office shelf, which includes line and management cards, initially works in a point-to-point configuration with an edge switch. The SHDSL-based system, which will sell for $2,500 a line, can operate over DSL or, using passive splitters, over a POTS connection.
Nash says Spediant's new product will be in the same general category as SHDSL products from ADTRAN and ADC Telecommunications and newer products from the likes of newcomers Actelis, Hatteras and Symmetricom.
Actelis Networks this fall launched its first product, the MetaLIGHT 1500, which bonds multiple copper pairs to deliver even more bandwidth than the Spediant product, but at a higher cost.
The Actelis technology, a point-to-point solution based on G.SHDSL chipsets, delivers five to 60mbps of bandwidth (using eight to 30 copper pairs) and a reach of up to 18,000 feet, says marketing director David Perry.
The Actelis product can be used in several applications. It can work with a router in a metro Ethernet scenario to deliver up to 10mbps service over copper to the customer. Perry says Actelis is looking to incorporate Layer 2 Ethernet functionality (that is, router functionality) into its product at a future, undisclosed date. A second application is delivering DS3 (45mbps) transport over multiple copper pairs.
"A speculative fiber build isn't something that really can be done today in light of today's capex" concerns, he says. "Our system can go in in four hours, and service providers can turn up revenue-bearing services ASAP," adds Perry. "They can then trench fiber if they want and turn customers over to that" and redeploy MetaLIGHT elsewhere. The product can also be used to backhaul ATM traffic from DSLAMs in remote terminal to central offices.
A MetaLIGHT link, which consists of two shelves including a channelized or clear channel DS3 plus four T1s, lists for $40,000. The product already is in use in commercial deployments at various service providers in North America, which Actelis had not named at press time.
Spediant and Actelis both point out the benefits their solutions offer as compared to solutions based on inverse multiplexing over ATM from companies such as Symmetricom. Perry of Actelis says at 3 milliseconds, MetaLIGHT has relatively low delay compared with copper bonding solutions based on IMA, some of which have delay of up to 100ms, which means the Actelis solution can support voice and video as well as bursty data, he adds. Nash says Spediant's low latency technology also allows it to handle delay-sensitive TDM traffic.
Don Skipwith, Symmetricom's vice president of business development, says only two of his company's four products are based on IMA. The company offers one-, two-, four- and eight-pair products based on G.SHDSL. The four-pair product is IMA based and the eight-pair product can be either end-to-end bonded or IMA, he says. Applications for the products, which offer a reach of up to 12,000 to 14,000 feet, include Internet access, LAN extension, backhaul and converged networking.
Hatteras Networks also has announced its intention to offer Ethernet-based last-mile solutions over both copper and fiber. The company expects to deliver a solution offering 1 to 10mbps connections at up to 12,000 feet, says Richard Williams, director of marketing. The company plans to formally announce its product, which is now in beta tests, when it has a carrier deal to announce, he adds.
