Catena Networks Inc. (www.catena.com) is set to change the economics of bringing DSL to customers served by digital loop carriers when the startup firm announces a new card solution today at the Comnet Conference & Expo in Washington, D.C.
The CNX-5 includes a card that pops into existing SLC DLCs, of which there are 18 million to 20 million in service today. Gary Bolton, Catena's vice president of product marketing, says that the product is a much less expensive option than deploying a remote DSLAM, because it offers cheaper and faster provisioning, as well as a truly converged solution for network operators. (Installing remote DSLAMs means rewiring, burying new conduit, securing rights-of-way for cabinets if they're not already in place, and doing a truck roll for each new subscriber.)
The CNX-5 includes DSL upgrade cards, an ATM common card, with T1 and DS3 interface options, and CatenaView network management software. Each of the cards plus the software costs approximately $3,000.
The network operator would pull out two ports of POTS cards in its SLC and insert the CNX-5 card, which supports two POTS and two DSL lines, Bolton explains.
"That's revolutionary because the oldest DLCs out there are now the most broadband-equipped DLCs in the service providers' networks," he says.
"It can deliver DSL almost for the price of POTS at the DLC," adds Deb Mielke, principal at consulting firm Treillage Network Strategies (www.treillagenet.com).
The fact that the solution doesn't require any POTS splitters is also an industry breakthrough, according to Bolton, because POTS splitters are typically required to enable a carrier to support POTS and DSL on the same line. But splitters have to be installed and maintained in person by field personnel, he says. The Catena solution can be dynamically provisioned remotely, eliminating costly truck rolls and rewiring for DLC DSL provisioning, Bolton says.
"That product will be a broadband loop carrier which provides POTS and DSL at POTS economics," he says. "And it's all done in silicon and allows for broadband on every line. And it allows you to migrate from Class 5 to softswitch."
The company has secured commitments from three of the 10 largest U.S. carriers to test the CNX-5. Catena also plans to announce soon a broadband loop carrier for greenfield applications.
