Lucent, Sun offer 'ISP in a box': Aim is to move ISPs to higher-value services

Lucent Technologies and Sun Microsystems are bundling a bevy of networking products and services for Internet service providers, cable companies and other service providers.

The bundle combines Lucent's Internet telephony, remote access and network management systems with Sun's Web server, e-mail server and electronic commerce products to create an "ISP in a box," said Tony Scarfo, director of Lucent's service provider business unit in the data networking systems division.

The idea is to make it easier for ISPs to offer Internet telephony, Internet access, security, messaging, and application hosting services. It also lets Sun extend its reach into the telco service provider market.

"We can deliver a turnkey solution to get [service providers] up and running, or we can augment their [existing] system," Scarfo said. Customers can mix and match services and scale up.

The bundle comprises four components: service provisioning, network access, network security and application hosting. The operations and management are supported by the Sun Enterprise Server and Sun Ultra Workstation. Other options include Sun Solaris operating environment and servers, and the Sun Web Server with Java application programming interface. Sun and Lucent will jointly develop new services in this area.

Access will be provided via Internet protocol-based ISP edge products that connect to the Internet and the public switched network. Products in Lucent's PathStar, PortMaster, PacketStar and WaveStar families will be available for the bundle, as will the Multiservice Switch MX 1000 and DACS II. Lucent's managed firewall and ISDN office routers will provide backbone security.