Concentrator on a card' boosts ATM

New Cisco product capabilities may bring asynchronous transfer mode a step closer toward multi-broadband billing service goal. For the optimistic, the news augurs well for T-1 service eventually being provisioned on the fly.

The product announcements last week-new circuit emulation cards for Cisco 7200 routers and LightStream 1010 ATM switches-let customers run voice, video and data without having to buy T-1 or ATM service.

The cards concentrate voice, video and data streams, and packet streams onto a single broadband link, such as an OC-12, OC-3 or DS-3, so they can run across an ATM network. The 7200 card integrates the ATM access multiplexer with the router, so customers no longer have to use a separate multiplexer.

The so-called ATM access concentrator on a card saves the service provider operational costs and provides a more manageable solution than today's setup, said Tom Downey, director of product marketing for Cisco.

However, one engineer cautioned that customers who put their voice, video and data on a single ATM link should design and build a redundant network to ensure that some portion of their voice service is protected from catastrophic outages. "I address it by advising, 'Don't put all of your eggs in one basket,'" said Brad Rhoades, a principal engineer for U S West's !nterprise Networking Services.

Among the applications that the circuit emulation cards offer are PBX connectivity, distance learning and videoconferencing.

The product improvements are exciting because they show that a vendor is taking to heart ATM's promises to integrate voice, video and data, said Don Pace, project engineer for Sprint Advanced Network Systems, Tallahassee, Fla.