NEWS
-ASCEND COMMUNICATIONS: AGIS launches wholesale dial access business
with mega-POPs based on MAX TNT
Presswire - October 17, 1997 06:29
ASND V%M2 P%M2PR
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M2 PRESSWIRE-16 October 1997-ASCEND COMMUNICATIONS: AGIS launches
wholesale dial access business with mega-POPs based on MAX TNT
(C)1994-97 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
* Leveraging high port densities and economies of scale of the MAX TNT,
AGIS challenges the competition with lower prices and guaranteed service
Ascend Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND) today announced that Dearborn,
Mich.-based Apex Global Internet Services, Inc., (AGIS) the fourth
largest provider of Internet backbone services in the U.S., is deploying
four multi-million dollar facilities by year-end which will be equipped
with Ascend's MAX TNT WAN access switches. These COO-Location
facilities, or regional mega-POPs, are the infrastructure for AGIS'
newest business initiative, AGIS InterDial, a wholesale dial access
service. The company's goal is to deploy 100,000 ports across the U.S.
by June 1998.
Using the MAX TNT, AGIS plans to offer a broad range of Internet
connectivity services, including K56Flex, ISDN, xDSL, Frame Relay and
T1. It will also leverage the enormous capacity of the MAX TNTs to offer
a "Busy-Out Protection Plan" that guarantees service during peak
periods. With the management capabilities of the MAX TNT, AGIS will be
able to provide detailed usage reports to help their customers plan
their growth.
"The introduction of the MAX TNT really spurred us on," says Phil
Lawlor, president and CEO of AGIS. "As a company, we don't believe in
doing things half-way. If we are going to compete in the wholesale dial
business, it will be on a larger scale than anyone else. We recognized
instantly that the MAX TNT was the platform that would give us the price
and performance advantages we needed to differentiate ourselves in a
highly competitive market."
"The MAX TNT is a very powerful platform, and AGIS is exploiting every
aspect of the product, from networking capabilities to capacity to
management," said Bob Machlin, vice president of marketing at Ascend.
"InterDial is unquestionably a showcase for the MAX TNT, and we are very
excited to be part of this very ambitious and exciting program."
The primary target customer for AGIS InterDial is local and national
ISPs who are growing rapidly and need a cost-effective way to add dial
capacity without having to invest in setting up and maintaining their
own infrastructure. Second targets are the corporate customers who want
a service provider that can give them a complete Internet access
solution.
By the end of 1997, AGIS will have COO-Location facilities in
Washington, D.C., Detroit, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay area. By Q1
1998, COO-Location facilities will be up and running in New York,
Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles. Using the MAX TNT WAN access switches,
AGIS expects to deploy several thousand ports in each location and use
the economies of scale of the MAX TNT to price their service at $75 per
port and under. The port-based pricing model in itself is a competitive
differentiator for AGIS; most other wholesale dial access services
charge on a per-subscriber basis. AGIS believes their pricing model will
give ISPs more room to grow by taking advantage of higher
subscriber-to-port ratios.
"Our strategy for the InterDial business is based on the MAX TNT
platform," says Lawlor. "We did an extensive review of all the access
switches on the market and Ascend's product is definitely the best out
there. Ascend has dramatically lowered the cost of ownership with the
MAX TNT it would probably take seven devices to do what we're doing with
a single MAX TNT. Those are the types of economies of scale which make
the wholesale dial access business viable."
About Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells wide area
networking solutions for telecommunications carriers, Internet service
providers, and corporate customers worldwide. For more information about
Ascend and its products, please visit the Ascend web site at
ascend.com, or e-mail info@ascend.com.
CONTACT: Shannon Malliet, Gallagher PR Tel: +1 510 747-2254 e-mail:
smalliet@ascend.com
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