Competitive edge

Telica announces customer as switch vendors gear up for next gen The network edge is getting more functionality and more competitive. At the Next Generation Networks show in Washington, last week, multiservice switch vendors demonstrated their wares, aiming to differentiate their products from others in an increasingly crowded space.

At least two vendors - Telica and Oresis Communications, which develop multiservice switches - are tackling the incumbent carrier market. Though they face formidable competition from the likes of Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies and Nortel Networks, these relative newcomers have grabbed the attention of entrenched carriers.

Telica this week will announce the first customer for its Plexus 9000 multiservice edge switch: Raleigh, N.C.-based Business Telecommunications Inc. BTI, a facilitiesbased provider founded in 1983, offers voice and data services to small and medium-sized businesses via dial-up, DSL and dedicated frame relay. BTI operates a 3800-mile network and plans to expand to 4400 miles reaching 28 cities across the southeast.

Though details of the deal were not disclosed, BTI already has installed the Plexus in four cities, and more switches will be deployed in 2001. BTI was unavailable for comment.

The Plexus switches sit alongside the 5ESS switches that BTI already has installed, said Ali Kafel, vice president of marketing for Telica. "They are not replacing those [5Es], but they do have the ability to do that."

The next gen device alleviates the load on a 5ESS but also can provide voice and DSL services.

The device integrates SS7 signaling, call control and switching capabilities in one platform. "It reduces cost significantly because you don't need an SS7 stack from a third party," Kafel said. "It sits at the edge of the core and is a bridge between the [public network] and the packet cores."

One benefit of a multiservice switch is the flexible migration path to packet networks. "Economic forces are behind convergence, which enables a new class of applications," said Ali Sarabi, president and CEO of Oresis. "Circuit switching is not designed for new services. Data, or the Internet, and voice are the killer apps now, but others will evolve. But the infrastructure has to evolve first."

Oresis is banking on its ISIS-700 OmniService Switch to help push the evolution."Voice, video and data are a must for carriers," said Steve Starliper, vice president of marketing for Oresis. "Next gen providers have complicated tandem [switch environments]. They need enhanced services, multiservice switching and tandem capabilities in [a device] that also supports the existing platform."

The OmniService Switch is "essentially transparent. It can plug into the carrier [net-work] and complement the existing infrastructure," Starliper said. It combines the functionality of a media gateway and a softswitch and supports tandem switching, ATM, frame relay and IP in one box.

"It will evolve to a Class 4 replacement," Sarabi said."We are not doing Class 5."

The first release of the product, due in first quarter 2001, supports DS-1 to OC-48 links. The software is integrated into the media gateway and allows for remote provisioning at the DS-0 level. "Within minutes you can provision in software," Sarabi said. "That is a breakthrough technology."

The integrated functionality in a multiservice switch is a key attraction for carriers looking to simplify their networks.With fewer network elements, reliability increases, and the network is easier to manage. "With one switch, we increase the density [and enable] broadband access down the road," Kafel said.

Sarabi agrees. "The OmniSwitch is integrated enough to get the cost/performance advantage but open enough to add [enhanced] features to generate revenue."

But to compete in the established carrier space, the switch must have high density. Both products satisfy the need in a modular fashion. Telica's Plexus supports three DS-3s per line card, for a total of 60,000 DS-0s per system, Kafel said.

The Oresis offers 56 DS-1s per blade, and the chassis has two switching and control slots and 18 interface slots. The blades - regardless of technology - can fit in any slot, Sarabi said.

"We're a pragmatic enabler of next gen networks," Sarabi said. "We give carriers the tools to make the transition, and they can evolve on their own terms."