Easing access to the information highway

he Internet has strained carriers' networks with its increased traffic and longer connection times. Vendors at Supercomm '96 demonstrated their latest wares addressing seamless access and robust support for carrier customers. Digital subscriber line (DSL) experienced its own rebirth at the show with traditional telecommunications vendors such as Alcatel, StrataCom and Ericsson revealing products and plans designed to help carriers better support their customers. DSL promises to offer customers more bandwidth for large file downloads and transfers over copper wiring. Alcatel Telecom announced its Alcatel ADSL1000 access device at the show, which includes an asynchronous transfer mode multiplexer that connects to multiple Alcatel asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) modems, encapsulating ATM traffic and transmitting it over traditional copper wiring to users. The ATM multiplexer will have the capability to connect to an OC-3c 155 Mb/s Sonet connection, an ATM switch and an ATM network. "This is the first time we are seeing an end-to-end asynchronous transfer mode solution that offers service providers a quicker path to high-speed services," said Kieran Taylor, broadband consultant at TeleChoice, Verona, N.J. Alcatel's ADSL chip set is a three-chip design based on the discrete multitone ADSL standard. The modems will support 5 to 8 Mb/s transmission speeds, ideal for Internet access and video applications, said Stephen Makgill, business development at Alcatel. Very high-bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL) capability is expected to be added to the access device at a future date. VDSL technology carries traffic at 13 to 52 Mb/s downstream and 1.5 to 2.3 Mb/s upstream over distances between 1000 and 6000 ft. The Alcatel ADSL1000, slated for availability in October, is currently being tested in Belgium. Two domestic carriers and an Internet service provider (ISP) have also committed to testing the product (Telephony, July 1, page 8). On the show floor, StrataCom, recently acquired by Cisco Systems, and PairGain demonstrated the ability of their existing products to support Internet protocol (IP) traffic on an high-bit-rate digital subscriber line (HDSL)-to-ATM network. The demonstration featured StrataCom's BPX ATM switch and Cisco's 4000 router and HDSL Megabit Modems. Although StrataCom has not announced DSL support in its product line, the switch manufacturer is expected to integrate DSL support onto its BPX ATM switch in the near future. The DSL support would be added to the switch as a shelf, similar to StrataCom's Axis shelf, which supports lower-speed traffic on the BPX switch, said Peter Alexander, executive director of marketing at StrataCom (Telephony, July 1, page 8). Amati Communications and Ericsson separately announced new DSL systems that support asymmetrical operation at the show. Amati, based in Mountain View, Calif., announced its Overture 8 ADSL modem that will support transmission speeds of 8 Mb/s downstream and 640 kb/s upstream. Amati also signed a memorandum of understanding with NEC under which the two will work together to develop VDSL products down the road. Ericsson, Richardson, Texas, revealed its Cobra Web line of ADSL products at the show, targeted at customers who want to speed up access to the Internet for traffic traveling over traditional copper telephone wiring. Cobra is slated for general availability in the third quarter. Although DSL stole the main spotlight at the show, more mature technologies for access were prevalent in booths from Northern Telecom, Premisys and Telematics. Vendors were addressing lower prices per port and network support. Individual users are most apt to use ISDN or DSL services to access the Internet, but corporate customers' needs differ. A single corporate site supporting 1000 or more users might find a dedicated link such as a T-1 or frame relay connection more cost-effective and robust for their needs. StrataCom's new Port Concentrator shelf, introduced at Supercomm, is designed to help carriers and ISPs meet increasing demands for network connections by enabling them to add users without having to deploy additional switches. The shelf also enables carriers to offer low-speed frame relay services from 9.6 to 384 kb/s (Telephony, July 8, page 14). The shelf increases the switch's port capacity while also reducing its price per port, said Gary Borad, senior product manager of access products at the San Jose-based StrataCom. Carriers can use the Port Concentrator shelf in conjunction with StrataCom's IPX and IGX-8 switches, increasing the physical port capacity from 24 to 264. The shelf also can be used with the IPX and IGX 16/32 switches, increasing the number of physical ports from 128 to 1200. Frame relay was also at the forefront of the ECI Telecom booth. ECI's Telematics subsidiary, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., announced its NCX FRS800 frame relay switch that will offer carriers a competitive per-port price scheme based on the number of users supported. The switch supports 36,000 frames per second with channelized T-1 and E-1 interfaces for single port provisioning of up to 30 DS-0s. One NCX FRS800 can support up to 1200 DS-0s. Telematics' FairWay congestion management solution is included on the switch. FairWay is an algorithm that allows carriers to allocate and share network resources based on their customers' committed information rate, traffic priorities and network usage. RAD Data Communications, based in Mahwah, N.J., demonstrated its latest frame relay product, its Maxcess-3000 Bandwidth Management access device. The Maxcess supports toll-quality voice, fax and data traffic over frame relay connections. The device uses multipulse maximum likelihood quantization, a voice compression algorithm that allows carriers to offer toll-quality voice support (Telephony, June 24, page 36). RAD's process of data packet fragmentation is the most significant part of its new product. Data packet fragmentation will enable Maxcess users to prioritize frame relay traffic by protocol type such as IBM's Systems Network Architecture, IP or voice traffic. Nortel beefed up its Rapport Dialup Switch at the show with its Secure Public Dial, which allows carriers to securely support telecommuters dialing into their corporate local area networks over the Internet. Secure Public Dial supports Layer Two Forwarding, a proposed standard that will let carriers transport multiprotocol traffic and unregistered IP addresses over the public network. The software package includes user authentication features to ensure security over the Internet. Secure Public Dial will be available in the fourth quarter of this year. Although General DataComm decided not to have a booth to demonstrate its latest equipment, the company did hold off-site meetings at a nearby hotel and made its presence known. GDC, Middlebury, Conn., revealed it will roll out two additions to its Universal Access System line of products that will let carriers better support narrowband traffic over their copper networks. The additions include the Universal Access System 7616 drop-side interface unit and the Universal Access System 7001 T-1 and 7002 E-1 network interface unit. The 7616 interface supports up to three interfaces that support transmission speeds up to 128 kb/s and will eliminate the need for external multiplexers when used with GDC's Universal Access Shelf 7000. The Universal Access System 7001 integrates T-1 multiplexing support into the 7000 access shelf, and the 7002 will integrate E-1 multiplexing into the device. The two interfaces also eliminate the need for external multiplexers and support up to 30 T-1 or E-1 ports. GDC also inked a few new deals at the show to broaden its market presence. The company signed a licensing agreement with Ipsilon at Supercomm, making it one of the first wide area network switch manufacturers to team with the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Ipsilon. GDC also extended its existing relationship with Lucent Technologies. Lucent will sell GDC's Apex ATM switches, making GDC products more readily available to international markets. Ericsson also sat down with GDC at the bargaining table, announcing a strategic partnership that will allow carriers to offer their customers end-to-end integrated ATM and frame relay network management. The most popular topic at Premisys Communications' booth at the show was ISDN traffic management solutions. Premisys, Mountain View, Calif., demonstrated its InterLude server that intelligently routes voice and data ISDN traffic in a carrier network (Telephony, June 17, page 8). The InterLude server enables carriers to better support the increased amount of ISDN traffic coming into their networks. All ISDN calls come into an InterLude server that sits in front of a central office switch. The server routes only ISDN voice traffic onto the CO switch, and ISDN data traffic is routed onto a frame relay or other data switch. RAD Data Networks is joining in with its latest product line that will let carriers offer and support enhanced frame relay services. On the access front, Digital Link and Dynatech Communications released their latest products to help carriers support multiple services. Digital Link, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based wide area network access device vendor, unveiled its latest wares at the show, including its Solo E-1 data service unit. Dynatech Communications revealed its latest wares that allow carriers to support multiple services over the same access device. Dynatech, Woodbridge, Va., announced its DynaStar ATM DS-1 access platform that supports frame relay, IP and X.25 over ATM. Dynatech's DynaStar family also includes its 100 and 500 product lines that now support X.25 over frame relay, which it announced during the show.