Nayna brings Ethernet triple-play gear to U.S.

Nayna Networks introduced its Ethernet-based triple-play access equipment this week as it searches for a vendor partner to sell its wares in the United States.

The company has been conducting field trials in Europe and Japan, where Ethernet-based passive optical networking has gained more traction than in the U.S.

Nayna equipment is based on the IEEE’s 802.3ah Ethernet in the first mile standard expected to earn ratification this summer. But the gear also supports legacy telephony and RF video services, allowing service providers to transition to IP triple-plays at their own pace. And it supports both point-to-point connections and the point-to-multipoint architecture of passive optical networking (PON).

One of Nayna’s differentiators is its focus on supporting IP-based video streams of high- definition television (HDTV). A house with four plasma-screen HDTVs would require 80 Mb/s of bandwidth (about 20 per TV), plus about 20 Mb/s for voice-over-IP and high-speed Internet access, said Jim Connor, Nayna’s director of marketing.

“When you fully equip the [Nayna central office] box, it’s like 32 Gb/s,” Connor said. “That’s a heck of a lot for an access box. It’s kind of like nibbling on the metro guys a little bit.”

However, Connor admits he has trouble predicting when the market for IP HDTV might bloom in the U.S.

Another quality of Nayna’s gear that distinguishes it from traditional PON gear is that Nayna’s optical line terminal (the central office device) and its optical network unit (the customer premises device) are interchangeable; they are the same product.

The company plans to introduce a family of 100 Mb/s and 1 Gb/s gateway products in the next two to three months and a DSL product before the end of the year.

Nayna began life as a vendor of all-optical switches but shifted to focus on Ethernet-based broadband access about a year and a half ago to escape the barren all-optical market. By Connor’s account, “Our president [founder and CEO Naveen Bisht] went back to the venture capitalists and said, ‘Hey guys, would you rather I did something else, or do you want your money back?’ They said, ‘Why don’t you go do something else? What did you have in mind?’ [Bisht] said, ‘How about broadband access?’”