Voice over DSL lifts off - for some

Another favorite DSL capability finally is coming of age. Recently, competing voice-over-DSL gateway vendors Jet-stream Communications and Copper-Com announced deployment contract wins with competitive local exchange carriers. But as a few CLECs take stands and announce active deployments of voice-over-DSL-enabling equipment, other carriers are standing back.

The anxious CLECs that are not waiting are Picus Communications, which is rolling out CopperCom's CopperComplete DSL platform, and Network Plus, which is deploying Jet-stream's CPX-1000 voice gateway and integrated access devices. These are the first equipment rollouts for both vendors.

But along with the rollouts comes a wide variance in opinion regarding the readiness of the technology.

"For CLECs, it's a no-brainer because they need to secure the fastest way possible to deliver voice to customers," said Claudia Bacco, director of DSL consulting at TeleChoice. Naturally, the CLECs rolling out the technology do not see the move as hasty, but wise and a way to leapfrog competition.

Deploying CopperCom's voice-over-DSL solution will give Picus a six- to eight-month lead on its competition, said Peter Cousin, director of marketing for Picus.

So what about the rest of the carriers in the market? For those using a public network, migrating to voice over DSL does not make a lot of sense at this point, Bacco said.

"What they are doing now works," she said. But incumbents will be far more likely to use the solution in areas where copper exhaust exists, although their slow rollout of DSL also will be a factor in their voice-over-DSL rollouts, she said.

GTE is looking at the technology but believes it is in the early phases, a GTE spokesman said.

Qwest Communications named technology as the reason for the hold up on its deployment of voice-over-DSL equipment.

"We are looking at it and believe it is a compelling technology, but the lack of standards and lack of interoperability are cause for concern for us," said Mack Greene, vice president of voice and data product management for Qwest. The carrier is testing of voice-over-DSL solutions in its labs.

"We won't entrust our customer's traffic to the technology until we know it is bulletproof," he said.

Similar responses came from NorthPoint Communications and GST Communications.

"Voice must have reliability and scalability, and we need to be able to test that in a contained environment," said Mike Borsetti, director of technology strategy for NorthPoint.

GST, which has partnered with Co-vad Communications for its eventual voice-over-DSL offering, shared the sentiment.

"We are pushing forward with technical and market trials, but we must be certain toll-quality service is guaranteed first," said Dave Williams, vice president of strategic marketing for GST. The CLEC expects to roll out the service some time next year.

But Rhythms NetConnections appears far more confident in the technology. Voice-over-DSL gateways will be ready for production services in the fourth quarter, said Jim Greenberg, vice president and chief network officer for Rhythms. Although vendors will be able to achieve that goal, they still have a lot to do, he added.

"We believe we can offer quality service this year, but from a [scalability] perspective, that will not happen until next year," Greenberg said.

Rhythms plans to complete the production rollouts and have early adopters [subscribe] this year. The company plans to add scalability next year.