IXC introduces OC-X service: New offering targets high-speed broadband apps for carriers, ISPs

IXC Communications Inc. is trying to step to the fore among carriers' carriers with a new service offering. The company describes its OC-X service as the first coast-to-coast, ultra high-speed solution for bandwidth-intensive information.

IXC plans to market the service to both local exchange carriers and Internet service providers as a way to upgrade backbones, expand capacity and increase product and service offerings. Carriers also may find it useful for in-house applications.

"It's a step up from our traditional line of products," said John Fleming, IXC's emerging markets president. The OC-X name stems from IXC's plan to deliver optical-channel OC-3, OC-12 and OC-48 service based on customers' needs, he said. "We plan to sell more in terms of OC-3 and OC-12, but we already have sold some OC-48," he said.

Optical transmission uses bandwidth more efficiently than electrical transmission because it eliminates the need to allocate bits in the data stream to delineate data packets, according to John Hunter, broadband analyst for TeleChoice. Minimizing the need to convert signals from optical to electrical and back also makes for more efficient transport.

But any lead that IXC may have likely will be short-lived. Williams, which only weeks ago announced its plans to build a new network, is accelerating its development plans and will have 32,000 route-miles in place by 2001. Qwest is ramping up service offerings for carriers as well.

"The window of opportunity is fairly short," Hunter said.

OC-X is available in 14 markets, and as IXC builds out its network, it will expand the service to new cities, Fleming said.

"We expect that by the end of 1998, we'll be in all the tier-one and tier-two cities," he said. "We're contemplating additional routes that will take [our deployment] through about mid-1999."