Brooks builds Arizona ATM backbone

Competitive access provider Brooks Fiber Properties plans to announce this week that it will build out its asynchronous transfer mode backbone with Cascade switches. Using the CBX 500, formerly called the Cascade 500, Brooks will initiate the buildout in Arizona by connecting a group of four medical facilities.

Brooks already uses Cascade's B-STDX 9000 frame relay multiservice switches and will integrate the new ATM switches with its network.

The frame switches and the initial positive experience with Cascade were the major reasons Brooks chose to expand using the CBX 500.

Brooks' dealings with Cascade have been excellent, said Jerry Lack, Brooks' director of advanced technology. That, combined with the port density and scalability of the frame switches, helped seal the decision for ATM.

The CBX 500 is designed for ATM's multiservice capabilities. A quad-plane architecture and quality of service (QOS) routing are used to keep diverse traffic types separate as they travel over the same network. The QOS routing guarantees performance of each traffic type.

The first system built in Arizona will serve as a model for Brooks' ATM plan nationwide.

"The cost of managing several separate networks to handle a high range of traffic was very expensive for the hospitals.

"By pooling their resources and billing into a single network, they are reducing costs considerably," said Chris Baldwin, Cascade's ATM business manager.