Going my way?: Siemens/Newbridge, 3Com pave migration path for end-to-end IP

Siemens, Newbridge Networks and 3Com Corp. announced a new strategy at last week's Networld+Interop '97 designed to help public network carriers speed the migration to end-to-end Internet protocol-based internetworking.

The Carrier Scale Internetworking strategy lets carriers deliver standardized, managed IP-based virtual private networks (VPNs) to enterprise customers, allowing these customers to flexibly expand capacity and benefit from service level agreements (SLAs), different classes of service and other features.

"For carriers, it means meeting pent-up demand for IP services while still controlling the life cycle and operational costs of their networks," said Terence Matthews, chairman and chief executive officer of Newbridge Networks.

"We're looking at how the end-to-end IP infrastructure will develop. For enterprise customers, that means class of service, better reliability and SLA management," said Eric Benhamou, chairman and CEO of 3Com.

With CSI, Siemens and Newbridge-which have focused their alliance on the MainStreetXpress asynchronous transfer mode switch since March 1996-will outfit the MainStreetXpress family with new products and features. Among these are the 36170 internetworking service card supporting access for IP on frame relay, point-to-point protocol or cell services; the 36035 customer premises local area network service units with interfaces for carrier-managed VPN and Internet services; and the 36100 low-speed remote access concentrator.

The most notable additions include the 56020 routing services control point (RSCP) and service points, which interface with existing routers to create service forwarding tables across multiple IP networks and VPNs. The 46020 network manager provides an end-to-end service map of RSCPs, service points and LANs that lets carriers dynamically change service levels and billing parameters.

"RSCPs and service points will allow the easier and more flexible provisioning of services that users want," said Matthews. "This is key to centralized provisioning and rapid deployment of many classes of service so that enterprise customers don't get shoehorned into a one-size-fits-all approach," said Thomas Rambold, president of broadband networks at Siemens' Public Networks Group.

Several 3Com solutions will also be integrated with new features to extend CSI networking capabilities through the user enterprise. 3Com's AccessBuilder multiservices ATM access product, its Total Control remote access concentrator and the NetBuilder II extended LAN/WAN connection chassis will be integrated with CSI service point features. 3Com, however, will not formally join the Siemens/Newbridge alliance.