Over and over again: Pulsecom, Ipaxs combine forces for voice over IP over DSL

Digital subscriber line product vendor Pulsecom and Ipaxs Corp., an IP telephony gateway vendor, are banking on these two hot industry technologies by combining services to market a voice-over-IP-over-DSL solution.

The offering should be useful for corporations, Internet service providers and competitive local exchange carriers alike, company representatives said.

"Now you can sell voice service along with your data services without having to build a telephone infrastructure," said Sassan Babaie, vice president of marketing for Pulsecom.

The package combines Pulsecom's WavePacer DSL products with Ipaxs' OmniAXS VoiceHub, gateway switches and gatekeeper software. Data-centric CLECs have shown the most interest in this combination, Babaie said.

Pulsecom and Ipaxs came together because both saw a need to combine DSL with other services, he said.

Though the solution will be sold to individual corporations, Ipaxs' product line is designed for carriers, said Mohsen Behnam, president and CEO of Ipaxs.

The combination will work well because Ipaxs' products have more processing power than those of other voice-over-IP vendors, added Ed Desrosiers, product manager for Ipaxs.

Other vendors, including Lucent Technologies, are working on combining these technologies, but it is still a fairly new way for service providers to generate revenue, said Claude Romans, an analyst with Ryan Hankin Kent. "If you connect it into a long-distance network such as Sprint's ION, it allows the carrier to bring in voice without the switching, and this can help them avoid access charges," he said. "And for CLECs it's a way to say, 'I've got an extra bell and whistle.'"

The companies are in the process of interoperability testing but expect to be in trials shortly, Babaie said.

As part of the second phase of its global integration services strategy, Ascend Communications will announce this week the launch of an on-line customer support system that includes chat capability and Webcasting.

The support service, dubbed Ascend Online Service, was developed as the result of a series of customer focus groups, said John Pohl, senior director of GIS marketing.

"What our customers had been telling us all along was the phone support model just generally doesn't work," he said. "Even when you're the company's best customer, you don't get the response you need. Also they were dissatisfied with Web support. Even with the knowledge base that some of our competitors are using, you have the same problems."

The resulting AOS is a hybrid that lets customers either solve their own problems or enter into a live chat with a technical support rep. Moreover, the system qualifies customers' questions and directs them to the appropriate support member.

"Customers really want assisted self-service," said Pohl.

AOS initially will support the company's access product line. In January, Ascend will add its core switching products.

In another implementation, Pohl envisions Webcasts during which technical experts could conduct on-line classes incorporating PowerPoint presentations and audio/video discussion. The company also may use AOS to push software updates directly to customers.

Separately, the company announced an equity investment in privately held HydraWeb Technologies. As part of the transaction, Roger Boyce, vice president and general manager of Ascend's enterprise access business unit, will sit on HydraWeb's board.

HydraWeb has developed load balancing/packet-forwarding technology for enterprise customers. However, some of the same technology may be incorporated into current Ascend carrier products, said Boyce.

Added Raj Sharma, president and CEO of HydraWeb, "From a technical perspective, there's becoming no difference between what an Internet service provider needs and what an enterprise needs."