Brockville, ON, CA, September 21, 1999 (autumn equinox) ---
Despairing there were no posts all day, I set out to find something --- anything --- to share on such a quiet evening. Oddly enough, among all these pages, there are some interesting bits of information.
And for any who've followed my journey, I flew into Syracuse, rented a car and drove till it was dark. That took me to the St. Lawrence River and since there weren't any hotels/motels in sight (no doubt hiding among trees), I continued to this delightful town.
Okay, tonight's reading:
telecommagazine.com
[Read the whole article if you can, and for those on a time crunch, here's the NN bit:]
. . .Bill Pearon, director of global product marketing, Newbridge Networks
ATM has been on a roller coaster ride of criticism lately. Not a year ago, IP proponents were ushering in the premature demise of ATM due to the meteoric proliferation of IP-based applications and services. Only after the sobering realization that IP-based services accounted for less than 4 percent of service provider revenues in the United States in 1998 did the tide turn back to ATM?s strengths as an enabling technology. After all, ATM was designed specifically to provide efficient adaptation and consolidation of multiple services, both legacy and emerging. Furthermore, while emerging IP services promise to be the growth engines of tomorrow, legacy services provide the revenues today.
ATM?s maturity and acceptance is also due, in large part, to its proven ability to deliver services in as reliable a fashion as its predecessor networks. It is living up to its original intention to be a resilient multiservices protocol. There are also several unexpected benefits from ATM?s capabilities. Not only have multiple services been rolled off a single platform, but now multiple network functions are being performed within a single ATM platform, resulting in a simpler, flatter infrastructure. Digital cross-connect functionality, Class 4 voice switch functionality, integrated DSL delivery and direct LMDS radio interfaces are just a few of the recent creative implementations on ATM platforms.
Most interestingly, however, is ATM?s role in the future of IP core networks. ATM is providing the transitional solution for IP?s limitations in quality and legacy service adaptation. IP core platforms are utilizing ATM backplanes and IP QoS schemes are mimicking ATM?s capabilities as IP continues to evolve as a future core network protocol. This cooperative existence will continue well into the next decade as ATM?s enabling capabilities provide the springboard for IP?s credibility and robustness in the network core.
, , , ,
sbc.com
DataComm. Moving data fast in a swiftly changing world.
Data communications has become the fastest growing part of our industry. And it's a crucial component of our company.
At SBC, we believe being a global player means being able to meet the telecommunications needs of our customers anywhere in the world, with a full range of solutions. To that end, in some parts of our market, data now surpasses voice as the primary traffic on our networks. This change in our market is opening up an exciting opportunity for IT professionals to get involved in Internet Protocol (IP), IP routers, ATM and DSL at SBC, we're aggressively upgrading our networks and enhancing our data infrastructure with the latest IP routers, increased SONET speeds and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM).
We're also continuing to improve our ISDN, Frame Relay and ATM networks for higher capacity in the future. In January, we announced the nation's largest DSL rollout. In February, we formed an alliance with Williams to provide a solid, seamless ATM backbone. And in March, we partnered with AOL to offer their huge customer base our DSL services. All these steps are key elements of our central strategy - to offer the greatest number of services to the greatest numbers of people. So, if you're interested in changing the way the world works, learns, shops, and plays, SBC Communications is definitely the place for you. . . .
At the end of June, we had substantially completed all upgrades to our networks and systems. We will continue to test our upgrades through the end of the year. The bottom line is when customers pick up the phone on January 1, 2000 our network will be ready to serve them, just as it always has. And so will our wireless, date, Internet and other services we provide.
wilcom.com
Andover, MA - July 21, 1999 - Northchurch Communications, a provider of next-generation edge access platforms for delivering IP-based services, today announced appointments to its recently formed service provider advisory board. The newly appointed board members will work together with Northchurch to provide valuable insight on the technical issues facing service providers, and will advise Northchurch in the development of the most advanced edge access device being brought to market. Tom Cassa, vice president of engineering at Northchurch and also an integral member of the management team, will chair the board. In addition to Cassa, the members include:
Matt Bross, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Williams Communications Group, Inc., a unit of Williams (NYSE: WMB), which provides a full range of communications and energy services. Mr. Bross was the architect for the Williams ATM backbone network, which has been recognized by industry organizations for its simplicity, efficiency and innovation.
Dr. Rick Bubenik, executive vice president of network engineering at SAVVIS Communications, a leading national Internet and networking service provider. Throughout his career, Dr. Bubenik has been involved with the latest in ATM and switching/routing technologies, beginning with his research on switching fabrics at Washington University in the mid-1980s to his current involvement with the Northchurch advisory board. In the early part of his career, he worked on developing one of the first commercial ATM products, and later received four patents on switching/routing technologies while employed at Ascom Nexion.
Mike Gaddis, president and chief executive officer of a new start-up company that will focus on solving Internet backbone congestion problems. Mr. Gaddis was previously the executive vice president and chief technical officer for SAVVIS Communications, where he was the architect of SAVVIS Communication's award-winning Internet backbone.
Joe Provo, manager of Internet technology evaluation for RCN Corporation (Nasdaq: RCNC), the nation's first and largest single-source, facilities-based provider of bundled communications services to the residential market. Mr. Provo has been a computing systems and IP network consultant since 1990, and was the founding engineer and network architect from 1994 to 1998 at UltraNet Communications, Inc. until its acquisition by RCN.
The goal of Northchurch's technical advisory board is to leverage the many years of experience these leaders have in conceiving, designing, developing and implementing networking technology in their various positions. The advisory board members will work closely with Northchurch, helping to build a better understanding of the technical issues facing service providers, and will advise Northchurch in the development of its Service Access Switch.
"The leaders of Northchurch's Advisory Board are powerhouses within the service provider industry, and have played a prime role in the definition and validation phases of Northchurch's edge solution," said David Sawyer, president and CEO of Northchurch. "We will continue to rely on the expertise and market intelligence that they have amassed to create the most technically advanced edge product, capable of handling both high-density aggregation and service deployment needs in a single product."
Tom Cassa, Northchurch's vice president of engineering and chairman of the advisory board, was previously the vice president of engineering at Argon Networks, a carrier-class core router company eventually acquired by Siemens. Mr. Cassa also led the development of one of the first commercial multi-service ATM switches while vice president of engineering at Ascom Nexion, later acquired by Fujitsu. His carrier-class product design experience, along with his knowledge in the required Layer 1, 2 & 3 technical disciplines, positions him as a pivotal part of the board.
Technical Advisory Board Members
"Service providers need to deliver greater value-added services, against enormous infrastructure strains, in order to stay competitive," said Matt Bross of Williams Communications. "Northchurch's Service Access Switch is the first product of its kind to offer the high-end, carrier-class capabilities that are required of service providers in order to deliver the best possible services to our customers."
Mr. Bross, currently senior vice president and chief technology officer of Williams Communications Group, Inc., founded Critical Technologies, a successful Internet startup based in St. Louis, MO, which Williams Communications acquired in 1997. He then became chief technology officer for Williams' wholesale broadband network, which re-launched its nationwide plans in 1998. He became chief technology officer of the parent Williams Communications earlier this year.
"There is currently a void in the marketplace for high-capacity access concentrators that meet the technical requirements of service providers and combine features such as flexible access speed interfaces with differentiated service capabilities, dual switching/routing functionality and sophisticated VPN support," said Dr. Rick Bubenik of SAVVIS Communications. "Northchurch uniquely fills this void with its high-performance Service Access Switch. . . . "
telecommagazine.com
>>>>>>>
Turning now to Bell Atlantic:
bellatlantic.com
What was pending in the earlier Y2K report:
bellatlantic.com
Now appears to be deployed:
sbc.com
bellatlantic.com
And from IBM, a sure cure for insomnia:
research.ibm.com
research.ibm.com
|
