InterOp report from Pat, written on Tom's account]
My biggest excitement this week came with the GTE press conference yesterday. I'm not sure how much is understood simply because it takes some understanding of what's going on behind the scenes to connect the dots.
The trials have been successful and have been expanded. Actually, the modems were shipped beginning in January. .
After the press conference I spoke with Bill Kula who showed a different side of his personality. The corporate solemnity gave way to exuberence when he talked about GTE's plans for entering the high-speed bandwidth field. He said the committment begins with the CEO and goes down from there. The company is being re-organized based on this new challenge. In fact, the ceo has been heard saying this is the biggest opportunity GTE has ever had.
Well, it sounds good to me. As for the timing of deployment, Kula says they'll announce it when it's "bullet-proof." That means everything possible contingency examined and fully understood. The ADSL part is a slam-dunk. It's the provisioning that's the challenge. They'll get there ---- hopefully about the time the chips are ready.
One fear that was mentioned was the possibility of a telco's current employees deciding to set up their own businesses if installations become profitable.
There's also the challenge of selling DSL solutions while not shooting themselves in the foot with the loss of T1 customers. The guy at Alcatel referred to this as "controlled crash." There are many unanswered questions, certainly.
This is definitely a jerky post. Sorry.
Talked to PacBell and they're excited about their ADSL trial with the Los Angeles Public School System. It's not really a focus market, but since they need 6Mbps, we stand a good chance of getting the contract. What I found interesting was the fact they've asked Alcatel to submit a system for consideration and they've not come forward with one. Considering they're part of the consortium, it's curious. Another point he made was the fact they're tied to standards. He said they won't sign a vendor unless they have written proof they're standards-compliant. I asked another guy at PacBell about CAP aand he said it works in the lab but in the real world noise interference not only interrupts the system, but crashes it. Hmmmm. . . . guess that won't work.
This same young man --- probably against the rules --- said there was alot happening he couldn't talk about.
About line codes, the head guy said he didn't really want his customers to have to decide between two. He wants the distinction to be price and service. Period. I also asked what they'd do after the LA school trials --- would they do extended trials --- and he said, no, they'd go straight to deployment.
I don't have a lot of time and there are people standing around me here in Amati's booth, so I won't write much more.
The GTE press conference made it clear they're absolutely serious about the high-speed bandwidth market. The next few months will have them moving from trials into deployment, and Amati's stands a great chance of being one of their primary vendors. I'm not sure how this will work considering they're small. We'll find out eventually.
Time to sign off. RC's feeding me candy. :))
Cheers!!
Pat |
