Ciena beefs up broadband access line

Ciena today made its first significant access announcement since the acquisition of Catena, unveiling a broadband loop carrier geared to DSL overlay deployments.

The CNX-100 BLC, which was part of an avalanche of five announcements from the vendor, is designed as an extension to existing digital loop carriers such as Lucent’s SLC-96, Fujitsu FDLC and FACTR, Nortel DMS-1 Urban and Marconi DISC*S.

Ciena has been getting input from carriers that they want to get close to universal broadband coverage but after a certain level, they reach a point of diminishing returns on the investment, according to Malcolm Loro, director of product marketing for the vendor’s Broadband Access Group. At the same time, carriers need to continue supporting existing services, he added.

"We asked if we could build a box for universal access for all of the narrowband services and broadband services," Loro said. "There’s no heavy work required at the site."

From a physical perspective, the CNX-100 is a low-profile shelf that can be deployed directly into existing cabinets. The unit can support both copper and fiber network interfaces and allows carriers to grow in increments as small as four-ports.

Additionally, Ciena will continue using Catena’s element management system for the CNX-100, a fact that the vendor is expecting to play a major role in marketing the product.

"[Carriers] are hesitant to introduce new vendors into the network because of all the work that goes around that [OSS]," Loro said.

While supporting ADSL now, future implementations of the CNX-100 will include support for ADSL 2+.

"The reality in the marketplace is no one has it yet and you’ll start seeing ADSL 2+ CPE around the end of the year," he said.