Multiservice platform vendor Overture Networks today unveils its second product, which was designed to help carriers better serve the small and medium business space. The ISG 2200 is slated to start shipping early next month.
Three-year-old Overture also sells the ISG 5000 multservice platform for medium to large customers. Both products are based on the same software and use the same interface cards, but the 2200 has a single-slot chassis while the 5000 has a four-slot chassis. The 5000 typically sells for between $7,000 and $15,000; the 2500 is about half of that. By comparison, a multiservice switch from Nortel might cost $20,000 or more, according to Overture.
Both the 2500 and 5000 products address what service providers have told Overture they want, say Jeff Reedy, president and CEO, and Chip Redden, senior director of marketing and product management. Service providers don’t want to cannibalize existing services like frame relay and private line, they don’t want to replace their existing infrastructure, they want to offer Ethernet and they want a clear migration to the IP MPLS backbone. Other vendors might require a mux and switch to do that, but Overture delivers all that functionality in a single box.
Overture sees its competitors as Cisco Systems Inc. and Nortel Networks. But Overture to date has provided solutions to alternative carriers and IXCs to data, including new customer PPL Telcom, which is using Overture equipment to deliver high-speed Internet access, PBX trunking and more. Overture, which has been selling products, for nine months, has 10 customers.
