DSL brings ADC units together

ADC Telecommunications is combining its network services transport and ADC Kentrox network access groups for a new digital subscriber line product family expected to be announced this week. Instead of looking outside for access or transport equipment, ADC is planning on an inside link-up advantage.

"We're a single company with strengths in both transport and access," said Rick Gilbert, president of ADC Kentrox. "A lot of others are trying to join two different companies for a solution.

ADC also plans to target businesses with its DSL/asynchronous transfer mode solution, Cellworx, with an initial focus on symmetrical high-bit-rate DSL. The company will add the more-hyped asymmetrical DSL in a later phase.

"We're not hung up on the 'x' in 'xDSL,'" said Lonnie Martin, president of ADC Network Systems.

ADC plans a four-phase rollout, with the last stage including a new product type it calls Service Transport Node. The device is a kind of D-SLAM hub with thousands of DSL links that sits on a Sonet ring, eliminating the need for more ATM switches in the network.

ALCATEL UPS IXC CAPACITY Alcatel Telecom has shipped its first fluoride fiber-based optical amplifier systems to IXC Communications. Alcatel is installing the amplifiers on a two-channel 2.4 Gb/s Sonet route from Fort Worth to El Paso, Texas, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. System capacity is 16 channels. IXC TO PURCHASE LD SERVICES IXC Communications has agreed to buy LD Services, a Southern California-based long-distance provider, for an unspecified amount of common stock. LD serves 33 states with primary service concentrations in California, New York and Illinois. SENTIENT OFFERS ULTIMATE QOS Sentient Networks has added frame relay quality of service to its Ultimate 1000 Any Service on Any Port Multi-Service access switch. The new feature maps frame QOS to the asynchronous transfer mode backbone. ANALOG CHIP ADDED TO DSL STEW Burr-Brown Corp. has designed an analog front-end chip for high-speed digital subscriber line use for integration with GlobeSpan Technologies' ADSL, RADSL and HDSL systems.