A grand compromise, Newcomer uses IP and data networks for international calls >BY CHRIS BUCHOLTZ, West Coast Bureau Chief

A new international long-distance service provider is planning to use Internet protocol-based asynchronous transfer mode and frame relay networks to provide low-cost calling to a dozen countries, starting early in 1997.

Mondial, an offering from Toronto-based Alphanet Telecom, will use commercially available backbone data networks to place calls between telephones and fax machines. These private networks will enable the company to offer lower-cost, IP-based calling without subjecting itself to the sound quality and availability problems associated with Internet telephony.

"We looked at using the public data network initially [to provide Internet telephony]," said Michael Reichmann, executive vice president at Alphanet. "We decided that we would be at the whims of traffic and other network factors that were beyond our control, and that was unacceptable for a commercial grade of service."

Instead, Mondial will use IP network facilities from Sprint Global One and a proprietary compression application to reduce the size of the call data packets. Mondial will establish points of presence in the countries it serves, and it will handle service to other countries through the resale of international voice network transport.

The company is focusing its efforts on international calling because "that's where we'll have the greatest impact," Reichmann said. "International calls are by far the most expensive calls there are, and accounting rates for originating and terminating international calls are completely arbitrary from country to country."

Although Reichmann said consumer prices would be "a fraction of the prices offered today by major long-distance carriers," commercial prices for Mondial service have not yet been announced.

Initial service will be offered between the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan. Other countries will be added throughout 1997.

Analysts have continually viewed IP-based transport as an important trend in switching and transmission, although the introduction of ATM-based networks will be key in its widespread use.

"ATM is a grand compromise between the data and voice worlds, and it will work for services like this," said Trudy Barker, an analyst at Dataquest, San Jose. "It's the ideal solution for shared media-type traffic, which is what Mondial is trying to use it for."

ALL ROADS LEAD TO JAVA Sun Microsystems and Lucent have jointly developed a new application programming interface that enables Java-based telephony applications to function with devices ranging from wireless telephones to large servers.

The Java Telephony API defines a reusable set of telephone call control objects, which let carriers use telephony applications across computer platforms. The Java Telephony API will allow carriers to combine Internet and telephony technology components using a single-application environment-a useful tool for carriers seeking to incorporate legacy systems into their plans.

Hughes brings DirecPC home Hughes Network Systems expanded its DirecPC satellite-based Internet access service to the consumer market last week, but its hefty price may deter all but the most hardcore and well-heeled Internet users.

The CompUSA chain of computer stores will sell DirecPC's enabling hardware/software package for $699, which includes a 21-inch elliptical dish and a modem card for the PC. Subscribers will have to pay $9.95 a month for access and will subscribe to one of four pricing packages costing up to $129.95.

Gold in the streets Nynex believes asymmetrical digital subscriber line technology will generate 10% of the carrier's bottom line within the next few years, a top research official said last week. The Bell company is pushing to prove its prediction by expanding its existing ADSL corporate trial and initiating a consumer trial by early next year.

Nynex is adding another Fortune 100 company to its trial with Lotus Corp. (Telephony, Sept. 2, page 12), said Jeff Waldhuter, executive director of research and development at Nynex's science and technology division. Waldhuter led an ADSL technology demonstration titled "Gold in the Streets" in New York last week.

Merger mania 3Com Corp. last week acquired OnStream Networks, a wide area network access company, in order to develop a stronger presence in the carrier market.

3Com, an internetworking firm, picked up OnStream for $245 million, based on 3Com's Oct. 4 closing stock price. 3Com will exchange 3.8 million shares and options for all outstanding shares and options of OnStream.

Putting the OSP on the map By teaming with an established software provider, Lucent Technologies has introduced an alternative for network engineers accustomed to consulting reams of outdated maps as they plan and maintain their networks.

The vendor announced a distribution deal last week with Information+Graphics Systems under which Lucent will integrate the DB-Able software database from IGS into its network creation and management software platform. The database/software combination includes a physical network information component as well as the ability to share data and generate maps from the database.

Behind the scenes at USTA One look at the topics on the U. S. Telephone Association's 99th convention agenda reflects the historic shifts rocking the industry. Workshops offer advice on such varied topics as marketing to win in a dog-eat-dog world, making community relations work, partnering for success and hiring good help.

Federal rulings on interconnection, access and universal service promise to further transform the landscape. Leaders of local exchange carriers and telco-affiliated companies who attend the convention in Atlanta will get advice on how to cope with the changes, but they will also be challenged to change their companies' mindsets and to defend their interests at the state and federal levels.

Universal service: going once, going twice... Carriers have grappled with universal service for years. Everyone has a federal right to telephone service, but the challenge is how to deliver it to rural and out-of-the-way customers without losing a lot of money. Until now, local exchange carriers have been forced to offer service-even at a loss.

Of course, LECs have been receiving subsidies from interexchange carriers and from their own customers to recover costs of universal service. IXCs pay an access charge to LECs, and part of that goes directly to the universal service fund. LECs pass on indirect costs to their customers.

More clout for the copper At a time when telcos are trying hard to make the most of what they have, a new alliance in the videoconferencing industry could give carriers a way to stretch copper resources by adding distribution and video archiving to their business service offerings.

By integrating its VL2000 videoconferencing product with Danver, Mass.-based Opera Systems' video storage server and indexing system, VideoLan Technologies has paved the way for telcos to provide on-demand delivery of full-motion video clips to the desktop.

Sunrise shrinks Sonet test tools A new Sonet testing device will give field personnel the ability to test STS-1, DS-1 and DS-3 circuits from a lightweight, hand-held device. The tool, Sunrise Telecom Inc.'s SunSet STS-1, provides a full range of Sonet testing capabilities in a 3 lb., 10.5 in. unit.

Before the device's release, such testing could only be conducted using much larger "transportable" equipment.