Westell launches new gateway, eyes HD video

Westell Technologies this week introduced a broadband access device that combines multiple broadband technologies into a single unit. Additionally, the company said it was preparing a second version of a recently introduced DSL router to handle high-definition video.

The TriLink Gateway, announced this week, integrates voice over IP, ADSL wireless networking and alternate access into a single device. Like much of the company’s product line, the device, which includes four Ethernet ports and one dedicated WAN/LAN Ethernet port to support fiber to the premises applications, is targeting the home or small businesses and can be self-installed. Perhaps reflecting Westell’s history as a incumbent carrier vendor, the device comes with two VoIP access ports with a POTS backup.

In a presentation this morning at the Needham & Co. Growth Conference, Gordon Reichard, vice president of marketing at Westell, said the company was working on its UltraLine2 router as part of an effort to support HD video. The first UltraLine, which was introduced a year ago, is a DSL modem/router combination that can support ADSL2 and ADSL2+ deployments. The new version will include support for HD signals, Reichard said.

The company, however, is not moving into the set-top box area and maintains that the router/DSL modem and set-tops will remain separate.

“We see inside the home a two-box scenario unfolding where there’s going to be broadband termination device, sometimes called a broadband home router, a broadband communications hub or a broadband controller,” Reichard said. “That will be seperate from the set-top box device.”

Regardless of configuration, the movement of telcos into the video market is one the hottest growth areas for Westell, he added. “This whole movement to video not only provides the ability to replace all eight million devices we’ve already shipped to carriers but it greatly expands our market.”