From the San Jose Mercury
Posted at 7:03 a.m. PDT Thursday, May 28, 1998
Lucent to introduce
interruption-free software
BY SCOTT MORITZ
The Record, Hackensack, N.J.
Class distinction will soon be available on the Internet.
Lucent Technologies said Wednesday that it is introducing a roster of
Internet switching equipment and software that, among other things,
will give phone and Internet companies the ability to sell higher paying
customers guaranteed interruption-free high-capacity connections.
''Some of us are going to go stand-by, some of us are going to go
coach, and some of us are going to go first class. And those who have
to go first class are going to have to pay a premium for it,'' said Peter
Bernstein, president of Ramsey-based Infonautics Consulting Inc.
Lucent's race into data communications intensifies with Wednesday's
announcement of new Internet-based equipment. Although has not
sold any of the systems yet, after an initial trial period with MCI,
Lucent plans to offer them to phone carriers and Internet service
providers early next year.
Basically, the equipment will be able to manage calls and data traffic
by compressing information into packets, each with their own priority
coding. The switching equipment will be able to read the coding and
send more important information over reserved segments of the
network. In theory, the system would work like a mailroom were
express mail, priority mail, and regular mail are each handled
differently.
Developed over the past year at Lucent's Bell Labs in Murray Hill,
the so-called ''PacketStar'' and ''PathStar'' equipment will rival that
of other companies including Cisco Systems, which has been the
Internet's dominant packet routing manufacturer.
Though filled with communications potential, the Internet's lack of
reliability, because of traffic log jams and system failures, have
deterred many companies from offering extensive phone and data
services.
But if Lucent can make equipment to help carriers guarantee their
Internet-based service, experts say it gives carriers money-making
potential.
''The minute you can define quality of service you begin to stratify,''
said Jim Carroll, President of Carroll-Net a Bogota-based Internet
provider.
''And if there is going to be a high, low, and no quality, you are going
to assign different price tags to it.''
Carroll said his guarantee of quality ends where his network ends and
no assurances can be made beyond that.
''If I knew the technology was there, and I was assured I could
deliver it, sure I would be thrilled to do it and I could list quite a few
customers that would be interested in buying it,'' Carroll said.
Spun from AT&T two years ago, Lucent has been determined to
capture large portions of the growing data communications industry
by both designing equipment and acquiring companies that develop
network equipment.
Analysts say that these switches and recent acquisitions such as
Prominet and more specifically the pending $1 billion buy of Yurie
Systems will help Lucent provide the type of equipment that will
bridge two worlds: one dedicated to voice transmission and the other
that moves sounds, images, and text in the form of data packets. |
