DSLAM VENDORS THINKING SMALL, UBIQUITOUS

While much of the excitement among broadband vendors at Supercomm rotated around serving the largest carriers’ fiber-to-the-premises plans and bulking up DSLAMs, a handful of vendors were going in the opposite direction, pushing line-powered micro-DSLAMs that serve as few as eight subscribers per box. And while such low-density units can be pricey, they help carriers fulfill the promise of offering 100% broadband coverage.

Extel Communications, an Australian vendor making its second appearance at the show, was giving Supercomm attendees a sneak peak at a second release of its expanded DSLAM line, which includes an eight-port version. The company, which currently is in four field trials (including one at Brandberg Telephone in Kentucky), is targeting the product as a “fill-in” for carriers that either want to extend their broadband reach to remote areas or have holes where broadband demand is light.

“A lot of times, we’ll sit alongside a larger unit,” said Daryl Chaires, account director for Extel.

Pedestal Networks, one of the first vendors in the market with line-power DSLAMs, also has made most of its revenue by providing add-on boxes. Cincinnati Bell is deploying Pedestal’s 24-port unit. However, the company doesn’t plan to delve into anything smaller than that, said Corey Geiger, vice president of marketing for Pedestal.

“Once you get below that level, the price per port starts to get pretty expensive,” he said.

Likewise, Net2Net is currently selling a micro-DSLAM that has 12 ports, but probably won’t go below that level despite a reduction in material costs for DSLAMs, said Matt Byrd, vice president of marketing.

“You just get to a point where your price per port is so high,” he said. “Even in 12-ports, you’re at $200 per port and that’s about $100 too high. On our next-gen ADSL 2Plus [DSLAM] we’re not even doing 12 ports; we’re going to do 24 ports, and street price is going to be about the same as our 12-port because costs have come down so much.”