Keeping pace in the high-speed race: WebSprint rolls out rate-adaptive DSL solutions

WebSprint Communications Inc. is moving quickly to fill out its digital subscriber line product family.

Just a month after it introduced its Campus Runner, a fixed-rate asymmetrical DSL (ADSL) modem, San Jose-based WebSprint is rolling out rate-adaptive DSL (RADSL) products. The company last week announced the release of its CO Sprinter and WebSprinter devices, which together provide RADSL service. The CO Sprinter is designed for central office applications, while the WebSprinter is a customer premises device.

Development of a rate-adaptive solution was a natural progression from the fixed-rate Campus Runner, according to David Hannon, marketing and sales vice president for WebSprint. The CO Sprinter/WebSprinter combination enables the company to tap a new market of customers who may want a DSL solution but need flexibility in allocating the bandwidth.

"There are two considerations," Hannon explained. "With rate-adaptive, one product can determine the highest data rate a line will support. And a service provider, whether it be internal [for campus-type applications] or an [Internet service provider], may not want to allocate the full data rate to any given user."

While the bandwidth isn't allocated dynamically, the configuration can be altered as users' bandwidth needs expand. That allows service providers to offer their customers the bandwidth they need at that moment, and the opportunity to upgrade without further equipment or cable installation expenses. That, in turn, can make high-speed connectivity affordable for more customers.

"For different rates, you can charge different prices, and the customers are buying only what they need," Hannon said. "And you can expand their capabilities through remote configuration changes."

Rate adaptability also means increased DSL range for service providers. While fixed-rate ADSL service can only be provided within 18,000 feet of a central office location, the rate-adaptive variety allows carriers to adjust speeds to levels that will reach customers farther away.

"Fixed access products have a limited loop range. Rate-adaptive can throttle back [transmission speeds] to reach customers that [fixed-rate ADSL] can't reach," said Kieran Taylor, broadband analyst at Telechoice.

Taylor said more DSL equipment vendors are introducing rate-adaptive products.

"It's fast becoming a market requirement [for equipment vendors]," he said. "Not everyone has it, but I'd say they'd need it by the first quarter of next year."

That's because some ISPs have begun deploying ADSL commercially this year, and most service providers, including the major telephone companies, have been testing the technology during 1997.

Hannon said the company hopes to promote the CO Sprinter/WebSprinter combination for one particular application: reverse-rate ADSL. To allow companies to host their own Web sites while routing traffic through an ISP, the CO Sprinter can be placed at the company's site and the WebSprinter at the ISP's central office (see figure). That will allow companies to host sites on their own computers while handling inquiries more efficiently than under a normal ADSL configuration.

QWEST CONTINUES GROWTH

Qwest Communications International Inc. is expanding its fiber network in the southeastern United States, Texas and California by 3000 miles, bringing its total network to 16,000 miles. Qwest said it already has contracts totaling $89.4 million in place to support the $375 million expansion.

EXCEL EXPANDS LNX SOFTWARE

Excel Inc. released a new version of its LNX software, expanding its switching capacity to 1 million busy-hour calls and 30,000 ports. LNX Release 5.1, designed for use with Excel's EXS architecture, also includes SS7 fault-tolerant redundancy and enhancements in reliability andscalability.>CNUnder Currents>TIStrange things are happening>BYPeter Ber nstein

At the risk of dating myself and confirming my kids' belief that I'm hopelessly un-hip, I admit that a favorite skit from my youth was Red Buttons' classic routine, "Strange Things Are Happening." Buttons would take examples from the real world and, with his superb sense of irony and comedic timing, divulge the absurdity of it all. I think Buttons has a whole new career opportunity as a keynoter at telecom industry trade shows.

Just to name a few of the more curious occurrences, we've had:

*The extraordinary sequence of events that led up to MCI and BT renegotiating their supposedly non-negotiable deal.

*Bell Atlantic and Nynex acceding to the Federal Communications Commission's conditions on competition in order to get their merger/acquisition approved.

*The continuing saga of overextended personal communication services license winners' attempts to have their cake and eat it, too.

*The FCC's rejection of Ameritech's bid to enter the in-region long-distance business and using the decision to spell out exactly what it means to comply with the 14 checkpoints.

Who would have believed the usually savvy MCI executive cadre would misstep so badly and so often? Not informing the company that is about to purchase you about your little problem. Putting your own managers at severe personal financial risk just as what appears to be a reverse takeover at inflated prices is about to become a fait accompli. The financial analysts didn't buy the excuse of problems in the core business. The Bell companies with competitors' interconnection agreements in hand had a PR field day, the press had a soap opera, and BT shareholders had a snit. And what about BT? It didn't know about these problems? What happened to "due diligence"?

Bell Atlantic/Nynex proves an old industry bromide, "In driving industry restructuring, regulation is no substitute for business people acting on business imperatives." The Eighth Circuit rules and the Bell regional holding companies win. Bell Atlantic and Nynex immediately accede to much more stringent conditions than contemplated by the court. Make no mistake, there is no stauncher supporter of incumbent carrier "rights" than Bell Atlantic Chairman Ray Smith. However, he decided it is time to move on from defending the local neo-monopoly business case.

The PCS license winners begging the government to extend their payment terms is my favorite of all. It calls to mind the Yiddish term "chutzpah," which some liken to a child begging for mercy after being convicted of killing his parents on the grounds that he is an orphan.

Finally, it is the Ameritech decision from the commission. Kudos to Ameritech for coming so close, especially for pushing the FCC to actually articulate a road map for filling in the missing links. But did Ameritech really expect to basically reverse the Eighth Circuit decision on discount levels via this route?

What may be the most interesting fallout of the past few weeks is the development of the first true difference of strategic direction within the RHC ranks and its relationship to the continuing turmoil at the leading long-distance carriers.

Only recently, SBC Communications Chairman Edward Whitacre was hailed as the "best and brightest" of the RHC chieftains. Indeed, Wall Street was saying that the Whitacre hard line was just what AT&T needed to shore up its flagging fortunes.

Wall Street then hailed Ray Smith and implicitly gave a tip of the hat to Ameritech Chairman Richard Notebaert for moving toward a more competition-centric view of the world.

I lean toward the Ameritech and Bell Atlantic formulations as the way toward future success. However, the vacillation and conflict over which incumbent has the best plan for evolving into a full service provider is confirmation that divining the correct strategy is not as easy as it once looked. Although belatedly and under curious circumstances, BT wisely decided to renegotiate before pulling the trigger on the MCI deal. Strange things, indeed.