Ascend Delivers Customer Network Management...
and Service Level Agreement Reports to Service Providers and
Their Subscribers
Business Wire - May 04, 1998 08:40
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 1998--
Service Providers Can Now Offer Their Corporate Customers 24-Hour,
Desktop Access and Control Over Their Virtual Private Networks
Ascend Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND) today announced two new
Navis network management products that, for the first time, give service
providers a scalable, secure, cost-effective means to share information about
network operations with their corporate customers. The new Navis Customer
Network Management (CNM) Gateway gives corporate customers both view
and control of their Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), 24-hours per day, easily
from their desktops. Navis Service Level Agreement (SLA) Reports deliver
concise information on the quality of their network service.
The Navis CNM Gateway gives service providers a turn-key CNM solution
with a simple point-and-click interface they can use to define different levels of
CNM services and set different levels of privileges for subscriber access. The
gateway opens access to configuration information, fault statistics, real-time
monitoring, and historical reporting information for Ascend Frame Relay, ATM,
IP, and dial networks. In addition, write access is also supported for the first
time, allowing service providers flexible options in allowing corporate customers
to change operational parameters for their VPN to meet real-time network
demands.
"With Web-based access to network information 24 hours a day, businesses
can feel confident about entrusting network operations to a service provider,"
said Pam Dodge, Director of NMS Product Marketing at Ascend CSD. "This
frees corporate IS managers from the expense and trouble of running private
networks and allows them to leverage the economies of scale of the public
WAN infrastructure."
Industry's First Carrier-Class Customer Network Management
Navis CNM Gateway is a carrier-class CNM solution with a scalable
client/server, JAVA, web-based design. A member of Ascend's Navis family of
network and service management products, it can leverage all the information
gathered by other Navis applications.
The Navis CNM Gateway allows access to network information on a
partitioned, secure basis for Ascend's B-STDX 8000/9000 Multiservice Frame
Relay switches, CBX 500 Multiservice ATM switches, GX 550 ATM Core
switches, MAX TNT, and MAX remote access products. Incoming corporate
customers are authenticated and only allowed to see their portion of the network
resources. Information is delivered via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and
encryption to ensure secure transport. Java delivery enables cost-effective
customer access and service provider deployment.
"With Ascend's Navis CNM Gateway, service providers are getting
commercially viable tools they can use to provide real CNM services to their
customers," said Deb Mielke, Senior Broadband Consultant, TeleChoice, Inc.
"This should help to alleviate customer fears that they don't have any control
over VPNs. It will also dramatically help the roll out of wholesale services, and
carrier-to-carrier partnerships."
Concise, 24-hour Service Level Agreement Reports
New Navis SLA Reports give subscribers 24-hour access to information about
the quality of their Frame Relay and dial service, delivered via the Web. The
SLA Summary Reports graph actual network performance against the levels
stipulated in the subscriber's service-level contract.
For Frame Relay, metrics defined by the Frame Relay Forum Draft SLA
Implementation Agreement and measured and rolled into a concise, easy to
understand summary report that maps service quality against service contracts.
The Navis CNM Gateway enables switched dial services to be reported on just
like traditional leased line and Frame Relay links. Service delivery is compared in
real-time against thresholds for both availability and utilization.
Pricing and Availability
Navis CNM Gateway will be available in June 1998. Pricing starts at $10,000.
Navis SLA Reports will be available in June 1998. Pricing is $2,000.
About Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications, Inc. develops, manufactures, sells and services wide
area networking solutions for telecommunications carriers, Internet service
providers and corporate customers worldwide.
Press and Industry analysts, please contact Julie Asher, Alexander
Communications, 404/897-2300, jasher@alexandercom.com. Investors and
financial analysts, please contact Kristina Graziano, 510/747-2345,
kristina.graziano@ascend.com. For all other inquiries please call toll-free:
800/ASCEND4.
For more information about Ascend and its products, please visit the Ascend
web site at www.ascend.com, or send e-mail to info@ascend.com. Ascend is
headquartered at One Ascend Plaza, 1701 Harbor Bay Parkway, Alameda,
Calif. 94502; phone is 800/ASCEND4 and fax is 510/814-2300.
The foregoing statements may contain forward looking statements that are
based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results
could differ materially from these expectations as a result of factors including,
but not limited to, the Company's success in developing, introducing or shipping
new products, competition, the mix of distribution channels employed, the
Company's dependence on single or limited source suppliers for certain
components used in its products, risks inherent in international sales, seasonality
and general economic conditions. These and other factors are discussed in
Ascend's 10-K, 10-Q and other filings made periodically with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. |
