NT got DWDM, NN got earlier ATM portion :
e.spire Forges Ahead
with Multiservice
Network
e.spire Communications Inc. is
shaking things up in the business
telephony services market ? and
it?s doing so with technology
supplied by Newbridge Networks.
A Dynamic Competitor
e.spire is an integrated communications provider (ICP) competing with established telecom
companies to deliver cutting-edge services to clients. The company offers small- and
mid-sized businesses, including the SOHO (small office, home office) market, attractive rates
for both traditional voice services and advanced data services including ATM (asynchronous
transfer mode), frame relay, and high speed Internet access.
e.spire has installed 135,000 small business and home
office access lines in more than 35 American markets.
It is seeking to install an additional 100,000 by the
end of 1999, particularly in the mid-Atlantic region
where new fiber optic lines will provide additional
speed and capacity.
The ICP?s growth is driven by several business
challenges that carriers across the United States and
around the world are facing. Albert Ng, Senior Vice
President of Engineering at e.spire, sums up best the
factors that are driving e.spire to expand rapidly and
explains how it can do so using a multiservice platform.
?Customer demand and the changing marketplace are our
primary expansion drivers,? explained Ng. ?The
customers are asking for various services other than just a
plain old transport. On top of that they want one-stop
service from a single company. So, from our perspective,
we have to provide a multitude of services ? value
enhanced services ? to the customer.
?The other side of the equation is that, from a networking
perspective we are going to have to cut costs as much as
we can and the way to do it is to simplify the network and
unify the network rather than having overlay networks.
We are going to have to consolidate them into a single
network that cuts network costs from a capital and
operational stand point.?
First Out of the Gate
e.spire was the first ICP to offer coast-to-coast ATM services in the U.S., using a
Newbridge multiservice platform for frame relay and ATM. The broadband network was
designed to meet demand for high speed data applications, and to alleviate problems with
older networks that were never designed to handle high bandwidth data. Customers were
easily able to switch from low speed services to a broadband network that offered both
improved quality and the ability to deliver cutting-edge applications and services in a
cost-effective manner.
A Running Start
e.spire?s confidence in its infrastructure reflects a similar confidence in Newbridge. When the
company began operations (as American Communications Services Inc., or ACSI) from
scratch six years ago, there was no legacy infrastructure to worry about. e.spire was able to
design an infrastructure from the ground up; one that integrates technologies that have been
in use for years with newer technologies capable of supporting emerging high speed
applications.
Because of the extremely competitive marketplace,
e.spire needed a single network platform that had
plenty of room for growth. It wanted carrier-grade
equipment that could handle traditional high bandwidth
applications, but it did not want to build an Internet
network, a frame relay network and an ATM network
and then have to worry about migrating them together.
e.spire also needed a standards-based platform to
ensure seamless interoperability with other providers,
both domestic and international.
The company?s search led directly to Newbridge
Networks. e.spire has since deployed 45 MainStreetXpress 36170 Multiservices Switches
throughout key markets in the American southeast and southwest to create a high speed data
network. Because the 36170 supports both frame relay and ATM, the platform allowed
e.spire to fulfill its strategy of consolidating frame relay, multimedia ATM, and Internet traffic
onto a single network. The provider got the bandwidth it needed, and enjoyed substantial
cost savings because it did not have to run three separate networks.
?The benefits of the 36170 come in two flavors,? said Ng. ?The first obviously is the
technical superiority, the scalability, the cost-effectiveness, the upgradability. I think the
second has to do with the support that we get from the team at Newbridge, both from a
technical aspect as well as an administrative aspect.
?Newbridge has been able to let e.spire put together an ATM backbone network that would
allow our network to converge, and integrate all kinds of applications, including data and
voice, together in a single unified network. That will give us tremendous economies of scale
and significant savings in operational as well as capital costs.?
Multiservice Management
e.spire?s integrated network is managed by the MainStreetXpress 46020 Network
Manager. The technology?s partitioning capability gives customers the option of viewing and
managing portions of the network that carry their services ? the kind of added value
capability that clients like.
?The 46020 gives us the simplicity of a management tool from the standpoint that it gives us
a single system from which to manage the entire network,? said Ng. ?We can look at the
46020 and see the entire network: where the alarms are and the status of the network. It
also gives us a single depository for all the logical and physical network information.?
Service Introduction ? Fast and Easy
The Newbridge network management system helps e.spire stay at the leading edge of a very
competitive industry. Newbridge technology makes service provisioning fast and flexible and
allows e.spire to provide a range of value-added services and service level guarantees to
customers.
As an example, e.spire recently launched a data service with a guaranteed service level
agreement (SLA) of 99.95 percent availability ? a first in this fiercely aggressive
marketplace.
?We have been bombarded by customers asking for SLAs as a means of assurance for the
reliability of the service that we are providing to them. The demand has been there and now
we are delivering. Originally, we had an internal agreement with marketing to measure the
performance for at least a three-month period until we were comfortable with the network
performance and before we actually extended agreements to customers.?
Ng attributes the launch of this service to several features of the Newbridge solution.
?The 36170 allows e.spire to provide an SLA for three specific reasons,? Ng explained.
?Number one has to do with the reliability of the equipment itself. The second is that the
36170 provides redundant pathing; if one path fails you go to another path. The third is due
to the Resolve package from CrossKeys, a Newbridge Affiliate. Specifically the Resolve
package allows us to measure the end-to-end performance objectives of the customers.?
New Customers, New Services
Recently e.spire was selected by
PictureVision to provide nationwide
Internet access and a backbone network
service for PictureVision?s new digital
photofinishing service, PhotoNet.
PhotoNet technology provides the
foundation for digital photography services
such as Kodak PhotoNet Online, as well
as future applications such as America
Online?s ?You?ve Got Pictures? Services
and Sony?s ImageStation on PhotoNet.
PictureVision, a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak Company, will rely on e.spire?s Tier 1
Internet protocol backbone and access services, and its high speed frame relay and dial-up
Internet access to move digital photographs electronically between customer-designated
Internet addresses and PhotoNet photofinishers nationwide. The potential market is huge;
PictureVision photofinishing partners account for more than 50 percent of all rolls of film
processed in the U.S.
?This is one of the many services that we envision the Internet and our frame network will
allow the marketplace to progress. This is the value-enhanced services that we want to
provide rather than native transport,? said Ng.
?Essentially the PhotoNet service is providing the public with the ability to view their
developed films on Internet sites. What we are providing to PictureVision is a frame relay
network that will allow them to provide this capability to the public.?
In choosing e.spire, PictureVision has opted for a
networking company with a single nationwide
infrastructure, uniform local access and cost-effective
pricing.
?We are proud to be selected by PictureVision to provide
end-to-end network services for PhotoNet,? said Tony
Pompliano, e.spire Chairman and CEO. ?We believe that
our advanced network backbone and high speed access
services will play a major role in driving the growth and
popularity of this next generation service.?
Future Success
Newbridge will continue to work closely with e.spire as it
grows ? expanding its footprint and adding new services
to meet customer demands. To date, this has been a
relationship that has reaped mutual rewards.
?I feel like Newbridge and e.spire have a very close
relationship,? explained Ng. ?We share our strategic
directions with each other. We have regular get-togethers
to look at what the future holds for both companies and to
find a mutual path going forward. Newbridge looks at what e.spire wants and we look at
what the technology has to offer. We combine the two and merge them into a direction that
can be mutually beneficial to both companies.
?Additionally I think the whole industry is moving to a merged network with data being the
premier application. Our direction is to have a merged network with all applications
piggy-backed on top of a single unified network. Having Newbridge as our partner is good.
I think they have the technology. They have the know-how and they have the support to
bring us to that final destination.?
--------------------------------------
SuperComm, ATLANTA, Georgia, June 9, 1998 -- Newbridge Networks today
announced that it is providing a high-performance network solution that has enabled three
North American telecommunications service providers to create InterconX? a multiservice
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network that spans Canada and the United States.
Through InterconX, the three carriers can offer their customers advanced business services
and seamless, fully managed virtual private networks (VPNs).
Earlier this year, e.spire? Communications, Inc. (formerly ACSI), IXC Communications
and fONOROLA Inc., all of whom are customers of Newbridge Networks, announced the
formation of a consortium that is designed to offer services that will meet customers' current
and future demand for enterprise-wide, bandwidth-intensive applications, such as local area
network (LAN) interconnection, frame relay, videoconferencing, e-commerce, distance
learning, telemedicine and Internet access.
"InterconX will set the pace in terms of performance, capacity and service," said Ben Scott,
President and CEO, IXC Communications Inc. "Data communications is a global challenge,
and through this kind of innovative, international alliance with other aggressive leaders in
network communications, we will expand IXC's commitment to innovative service
development, world-class network engineering, and exceptional service delivery. Building on
the foundation of InterconX, IXC will provide WAN connectivity services, virtual private
data network services, frame relay and ATM, as well as IP services."
Customers will also benefit from having a single point of access, providing seamless,
cost-effective solutions for all of their communications requirements. Customers can order
any data service, including ATM and frame relay, from any of the three consortium
members, who will in turn provision their customers' entire enterprise voice and data
networking needs.
The services will be provided over a network that is comprised of more than 60 Siemens /
Newbridge MainStreetXpress? 36170 Multiservices Switches, a high-capacity
multi-service, multi-access platform, designed to support services such as cell relay, frame
relay, circuit emulation, and Internet Protocol (IP). Network management will be handled by
the industry-leading MainStreetXpress 46020 Network Manager. The MainStreetXpress
46020 Network Manager enables operators to control network equipment using
point-and-click path and parameter configuration. Operators can remotely configure nodes,
monitor real-time operations, set up and manage path routes, perform diagnostics, and
isolate and manage conditions that may alter the network's efficiency.
"As a facilities-based integrated communications provider, e.spire has contributed to the
explosive growth of the Internet and high-speed data services," said Jack Reich, President
and CEO, e.spire. "With InterconX, we believe we are creating a vast, powerful network
infrastructure that can meet our customers' needs for bandwidth and robust, integrated
services well into the next century."
The Newbridge solution is a fully standards-compliant, reliable network that offers
round-the-clock monitoring, technical support and proactive troubleshooting. It also enables
partitioning, a necessary feature for the delivery of VPNs, and a cost-effective way of
managing resources, customers and operations personnel. Partitioned management services
enable the three consortium members to extend their service management functions to their
service provider partners, who in turn can partition and configure services for end users
directly.
"By using open, standards-compliant technology and interfaces, the Newbridge solution has
enabled three distinctly different companies to cost-effectively offer enhanced applications
that will benefit all areas of society, including business, education, medicine and home
communications," said Mike Pascoe, Executive Vice President and General Manager,
America's Region, Newbridge Networks. "We will continue to work closely with the
consortium members to ensure we meet their customers' changing needs for
bandwidth-intensive applications, both now and in the future."
e.spire Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESPI) is one of the fastest growing companies in the
United States with revenues of US$59 million in 1997. Headquartered in Annapolis
Junction, MD near Washington D.C., e.spire is a leading provider of integrated
communications solutions, offering dedicated access, local dial tone, long distance, advanced
data, Internet and networking solutions. More information is available at www.espire.net on
the Internet.
IXC Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IIXC) is based in Austin, Texas. IXC's network-based
delivery solutions are designed to address the speed and capacity requirements of the global
communications market. Having recently completed the U.S.'s first new coast-to-coast fiber
optic network in a decade, IXC Communications, Inc. is at the forefront of the industry's
new class of emerging carriers. IXC's offerings include private line, broadband, Internet and
long distance switched and dedicated services. IXC is a publicly traded company listed on
Nasdaq under the symbol IIXC. IXC's Web site is located at www.ixc-comm.com.
fONOROLA Inc. offers its customers a full range of high-quality, competitively priced voice
and data communications services. Headquartered in Montreal, the Company operates
switching centres in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Seattle, Buffalo and New York City,
and, through its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, fONOROLA Corporation, is a licensed
facilities-based carrier in the United States.
Newbridge Networks (NYSE: NN; TSE: NNC) designs, manufactures, markets and
services networking solutions to organizations in more than 100 countries. Newbridge
leverages its relationship with 16 Affiliate companies and strategic alliances with Siemens and
3Com Corporation to deliver seamless, end-to-end solutions. Newbridge customers include
the world's 250 largest telecommunications service providers and more than 10,000
corporations, government organizations and other institutions. Founded in 1986, the
Company employs more than 6,000 people on five continents. News and information are
available at www.newbridge.com.
Newbridge, logo are registered trademarks of Newbridge Networks Corporation.
MainStreetXpress is a trademark used exclusively by Siemens AG and Newbridge
Networks Corporation under license for their comprehensive solutions in broadband
communications. No agency relationship, partnership, or joint ownership of a legal entity is
to be inferred or implied by the use of the term "Alliance".
For more information, contact Corporate Communications.
¸ 1999 Newbridge Network |
