[Box may speed up Pac Bell network]
Advanced Fibre device links lines
BY GEORGE AVALOS
TIMES STAFF WRITER
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An upstart company's deal to provide a new breed of high-tech equipment to Pacific Bell could speed a host of advanced telecommunications services to telephone customers.
Advanced Fibre Communications Inc. on Tuesday announced a contract to sell its principal product to Pacific Bell over the next three years. The equipment -- a box that connects to dozens of phone lines -- makes it easier for telephone and other companies to create communications networks that can nimbly ferry vast amounts of voice and computer data from point to point.
"We will more easily be able to bring in higher capacity services using this vehicle," said John Britton, a Pacific Bell spokesman. "We will be able to leverage the networks that we have in place."
Pac Bell has rapidly deployed ISDN, a high-capacity technology that enables people to connect to the Internet or corporate networks much more quickly than through conventional modems. The company also is testing a product called xDSL that works even faster than ISDN.
What's more, Advanced Fibre's devices can operate on a variety of telecommunications networks. A phone carrier would install the equipment in its central office switching centers and a cable company would install the devices in its head end, the primary system to deploy cable TV signals to subscribers.
"Flexibility is one of the key advantages of our product," dubbed the UMC 1000, said Christine Corlett, a spokeswoman for Petaluma-based Advanced Fibre. "Regardless of the type of wires a phone company uses, it will work.
That could be a key benefit for Pacific Bell. The company's communications network consists of more than copper wires and has evolved into a hybrid of copper, cables, fiber-optics and wireless systems.
To be sure, Pac Bell still depends on copper to a great extent to carry voice communications. But the company has also woven strands of fiber optics into much of the fabric of its phone system. Even more recently, Pacific Bell has added coaxial cables in San Jose to offer cable TV service. And within the next several weeks, the company will launch a digital wireless network in the Bay Area.
"We're not just locked into copper," Britton said. Pacific Bell, which is testing the technology on Catalina Island, would likely deploy it initially in suburban enclaves and rural districts.
The transaction also underscores that small companies can make big gains in the wild telecommunications frontier, which is dominated by giant carriers. Advanced Fibre produced $130 million in sales in 1996, more than double the $54 million in 1995. Profits totaled $7.2 million, more than triple the amount in 1995.
"We've had a tremendous response to our product," Corlett said. Prior to the Pacific Bell deal, GTE and Sprint had inked contracts with Advanced Fibre.
Edition: CCT,ÿ Section: C,ÿ Page: 1
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