A CONVERSATION WITH KEVIN SHEEHAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, HATTERAS NETWORKS

Though Hatteras Networks has been operating relatively quietly for some time, some analysts say that, behind perhaps Actelis Networks, Hatteras is poised to be one of the start-up leaders of a nascent metro-Ethernet-over-copper equipment space poised to grow 15% a year in the U.S. after Ethernet First Mile standards are ratified this summer. Hatteras’ president and CEO Kevin Sheehan spoke with Telephony’s Ed Gubbins about how the company has been getting ready.

On Hatteras’ product evolution: We’ve been quietly building a second generation of products. The first part of that just went out to trials. It’s a busy time. We’re not in a position to announce those trials, but there’s a good number of them--RBOCs, CLECs and IOCs. Some are overseas, primarily in Europe. The first generation, a combination of fiber and copper access, is in two trials now. It didn’t line up too well with today’s economic conditions, so we sharpened up the value proposition tremendously and focused on Ethernet-over-copper probably 18 months ago. With the first generation, we took our best bet on what the [Ethernet First Mile] standards would look like. The standard itself ended up being a little bit different, so the second generation reflects those changes. We’ll be showing it at Supercomm.

On competitor Actelis Networks: We have more of a service-centric architecture than Actelis. I think we have a greater level of quality of service, a greater level of resiliency to the platform.

On broadband wireless: Even with a lot of the new technology, fixed wireless is still something you do when you don’t have wires. It does some great things, but it’s not as good as being hooked directly to the customer. Some of the LMDS carriers are running more of a "Field of Dreams" approach; you have to build out an entire area. The wired approach is more success-based, rather than what some folks are calling a capital leap of faith.