Data solution raises opposition

A company offering a solution to Internet congestion says the incumbent local exchange carriers are cool to the idea because they want to continue dominating their markets by building data overlay networks to handle Internet calls.

GeoNet's solution, called the ISP Access Manager, would leverage ISDN and the Advanced Intelligent Network to effectively turn an Internet connection into a series of short calls instead of one lengthy one. The Access Manager would use ISDN's D channel to manage B channel connections between the user and the ISP. Control information between the browser and the Access Manager would be passed over the D channel. The B channel would be used to download files.

Carriers could avoid or defer the costs of building data overlay networks and gain revenues from increased sales of ISDN lines, said Don Berteau, the solution's inventor and director of intelligent network products for GeoNet.

Given carriers' resistance to having third parties connect to their networks and ISDN's complicated setup, GeoNet's solution admittedly faces hurdles.

Bell Atlantic agreed that the GeoNet solution is valid. But the carrier is concerned about any special-purpose service control point (SCP) that is connected to the network through an SS7 interface. "The SCP is owned and maintained by someone else," said Pat Donovan, member of technical staff at Bell Atlantic's technology planning department.

"We are very protective of the SS7 network," Donovan said. The solution also would require many more people to buy ISDN lines and depends upon some AIN capabilities that are not yet available on all vendors' switches, Donovan said.

Southwestern Bell said it is selling its own Internet congestion solution, the Internet/intranet Transport Service, in 13 markets. The IITS redirects data calls on the originating switch using packet technology.

GeoNet and the Commercial Internet Exchange remain unconvinced. The carriers' solutions are incompatible with ISPs' equipment, the pricing structure is not competitive and ISPs are not allowed to collocate, said Barbara Dooley, executive director of the Herndon, Va.-based exchange.