The multiservice agenda

The other evident trend is that of multiservice access devices. Gone are the days when just voice or just data would suffice. To entice masses of customers, carriers must make each fiber count and be able to integrate services and squeeze more capacity out of those fibers than ever before. Vendors and developers are answering those calls at Supercomm.

Once again, the digital subscriber line space is extremely volatile, with numerous new product developments and improvements in deployment. Bringing high speeds over pre-existing copper lines is becoming increasingly attractive as carriers experiment with ways to meet customer demands.

Dog days of DSL DSL chipset provider Metalink will launch its HDSL2-compliant, multirate SDSL2 solution. Together with its multirate capabilities, the SDSL2/HDSL2 solution will enable service providers to extend their reach to serve more customers and tailor services according to individual preferences.

DSL equipment vendor Jetstream Communications will feature its new voice-over-DSL product, the CPX-1000. "The voice-over-DSL products will open new doors to [transmitting voice and data down to lower-line customers]," said Ken Kolderup, director of marketing for Jetstream.

CopperCom Communications also will feature a voice-over-DSL product -the CopperComplete DSL-that is intended to deliver three to 16 local voice lines and high-speed data over DSL. "Our system is carrier-class and is designed with the most stringent telco requirements in mind," said Jennifer Stagnaro, vice president of marketing for CopperCom.

Lucent Technologies will focus on "how to repave the last mile" of access networks for integrated, high-speed voice and data communications. In addition, the company plans to address the issue of interoperability of its DSL solutions, including integrated asymmetrical DSL for the AnyMedia Access System, integrated access devices and optical access technology.

Strategic technology partners Orckit and Fujitsu will concentrate on end-to-end DSL solutions that enable carriers to build their DSL business cases. Under that umbrella, Orckit will feature developments in high bit-rate DSL, very high bit-rate DSL and the ADSL single-chip solution (developed in conjunction with Fujitsu Microelectronics). The two companies also will show their SpeedPort DSLaccess multiplexer, which was also developed jointly with Fujitsu.

Redback Networks will focus on simplifying how a service provider can deliver value-added services over multiple broadband access technologies. The company also will demonstrate its automated provisioning model, DSL and data-over-cable solutions.

Reltec, now part of Marconi Communications, will showcase its G.Lite and full-rate ADSL products, and a Copper-to-the-Curb neighborhood electrical network unit. In addition, Reltec will feature enhanced broadband access Sonet capabilities and the availability of the new broadband-capable DISCHS fiber-to-the-curb configuration.

DSL customer premises equipment vendor Efficient Networks will feature its DSL routers. "We will show our complete product line and [how they work with Efficient's partners' equipment]," said Peter Bourne, director of product marketing at Efficient. The company's DSL routers are designed to provide small businesses, branch offices and small office/home office environments with a cost-effective solution to connect multiple users to the Internet and corporate networks through a single router.

Advanced Fibre Communications will generally "focus on ADSL rollouts and digital loop carrier solutions," said Ryan Koontz, broadband product line manager for AFC. "We will be rolling out standards-compliant, [asynchronous transfer mode]-based ADSL solutions. We've been shipping frame-based solutions and we're moving to ATM or cell-based ADSL solutions."

AFC will showcase a fiber-to-the-curb solution-a remote terminal that scales up to 32 POTS lines. In addition, the company will introduce a G.lite-compliant card, which supports six circuits, and a channel bank that serves as an "ADSL retrofit solution," Koontz said. "It's designed to retrofit all existing digital loop carrier nodes out there today that don't support ADSL."

Concurrently, AFC will showcase a derived voice solution, which takes bandwidth from ADSL and uses it for POTS, Kontz said.

Alcatel will show its addition of HDSL2 and IDSL to the Alcatel ADSL 1000 DSLAM, which is intended to enable carriers to offer higher bandwidth service to businesses and SOHO environments. In the ADSL space, Alcatel also will demonstrate its SpeedTouch ADSL modems, which reside on the customer premises and cover applications ranging from high-speed consumer/residential surfing to high-performance routing.

Fibex will introduce HDSL and ADSL.Lite service cards, and a VDSL card later in 1999.

DSLAM dance In the DSLAM area, several companies will show products optimized for Sonet and packet-based services.

Westell Technologies will showcase its SuperVision DSLAM system, which is a high-bandwidth solution for data-intensive transmissions over copper access loop facilities. The flexible multiplexer platform of the SuperVision consolidates individual access lines into a single high-speed ATM network interface for connection to the ATM switching network.

Atmosphere Networks will highlight its work in the add/drop multiplexer area. "We will showcase our Sonet add/drop multiplexer based on ATM, which is designed to deliver more effective packet-based services and traditional private-line services at the same time," said Alex Dobrushin, vice president of marketing. "We will also roll out additional modules to our Full Service Node-12000."

NEC spinoff Eluminant will introduce its first product, an intelligent access multiplexer, Vista. The product is a OC-3 (155.5 Mb/s)/OC-12 (622 Mb/s) Sonet ADM, designed as a single, compact unit for the customer premises, co-located cages or outside enclosures where space is at a premium. The product is designed to optimize Sonet for use in the local loop.

Alcatel's acquisitions-Xylan and Packet Engines-will also showcase products. Xylan will demo its NetPAC Packet Access Concentrator and Packet Engines will feature its PowerRail switch/router family. The company is introducing new Ethernet LAN and DS-3 (44.7 Mb/s) ATM data interfaces and transport functionality to Alcatel's 1603 SM Sonet access multiplexer.

In the edge switching space, TransMedia will showcase the capabilities of its MMS-1600 edge switch. The new capabilities to be displayed include voice compression, primary rate ISDN, CAS and high-capacity broadband optical service, which allows carriers to offer cost-effective virtual private network voice services across a packet network.

Integration and ATM For the integrated access segment, Adtran is showcasing its carrier-class integrated access product line and introducing the Total Access 1500 product. Where Adtran's Total Access 3000 is designed for DS-1 (1.54 Mb/s) based environments, the 1500 is for DS-0 (64 kb/s) use.

"It's optimized for POTS and special services," said Kevin Morgan, director of product management for the company's carrier network division. "It's half the size of the 3000, easy to install, and it comes in several flavors. A small DLC system can distribute up to 96 POTS lines, or you can configure it for small, mini-channel band system that replaces a legacy D4 channel band. It's three times the density for half the cost." A slimmed-down version, the 750, will also be shown, he said.

AFC will also announce an integrated access device and two international products, a V.5 interface and an SDH Slimline multiplexer.

In the ATM area, AFC will integrate ATM into the DLC architecture "for the first time," Koontz said. "The industry is embracing ATM network infrastructure, and a majority of service providers are looking to deploy ATM-based service from the subscriber to the backbone using the existing [time division multiplexing] infrastructure. It's important to be able to move to ATM or cells without calling for a forklift upgrade."

Star-crossed systems Cross-connects will also be a hot item at the show, with several products in that space.

Turnstone will highlight its Copper CrossConnect CX100, which is said to have a comprehensive platform for management and control of copper local loop facilities. It is aimed at the needs of DSL service providers and features remote DSL loop qualification and testing, automated cross-connecting of copper facilities and tools to aid installation.

The company will also feature new software products that work with service providers' back office systems to further automate provisioning, installation and maintenance of DSL services.

Alcatel will introduce the 1630 GSX global synchronous cross-connect, a service delivery platform that provides narrowband, wideband, Sonet and SDH interfaces and operates at up to 40 Gb/s. Alcatel will also introduce the 1631 SX LMC wideband digital cross-connect, which combines data capabilities with line/ring optics. Alcatel's DG200 Data Gateway, which enables pubic frame relay services using standards-based frame relay/ATM adaptation, will also be showcased.

Telect Inc. will feature its scalable digital cross-connect systems StarDAX, which is supposed to maximize network bandwidth and performance while reducing operating costs and rack space. The company will showcase both a digital cross-connect system and an integrated multiple access platform. The StarDAX system uses a distributed cross-connect fabric that eliminates the risk of single-point failure, instead of the traditional integrated access systems with a primary and a fail-safe matrix to provide cross-connectivity.

Other access products at the show will include multiservice switches, access gateways, Internet access servers and broadband cards.

Newbridge Networks will feature its MainStreetXpress 36179 multiservice switch, which comes with ATM radio interface cards and point-to-multipoint transmitters and receivers and sits on the customer premises.

Alcatel's enterprise division will show the Universal Access Gateway, which came from the acquisition of Assured Access. It provides voice, fax and data services over IP networks.

Ericsson will showcase the Internet Access Server, which operates with the company's AXE switch to terminate modem or ISDN calls and convert connection-oriented traffic to Internet protocol packets.

The network management area will have numerous protection switch developments at Supercomm this year.

One example is Westell Technologies' 3175 automatic protection switch system, SmartLink, which serves up to eight DS-1 circuits. In the event of a circuit defect, loss of signal or bit errors, the system automatically switches the defective circuit to a "hot spare" protection circuit for uninterrupted service. The SmartLink system protects any combination of traditional repeatered T-1 (1.54 Mb/s), high bit-rate DSL, fiber or digital radio links.

The original SmartLink system, which is still being offered, had limited differential time delay tolerance between the routings of the main and the spare spans. In practice, this meant that all of the spans being protected by the SmartLink system had to follow similar geographic routes. This newer version is insensitive to the differences between spans. It is also more suitable for long-haul spans, geographically diverse routed spans or spans transported using different techniques such as HDSL vs. conventional metallic T-1.