Mark,
There have been contracts that have been routinely let in recent months that will have thousands of DSL lines "each," some tens of thousands, which will be deployed for corporate VPNs.
These don't show up in the residential stats, and their full brunt will not be felt or seen for another quarter or more. Some of these are on one-year rollout schedules. In addition to VPNs and branch systems, they are also being installed in auto teller kiosks, drive-up machines, lotto stands and off-track betting parlors, environmental monitoring stations, you name it.
DSLs are being selected due to their availability, and the ability of their supporting DLECs to exert pressure and get results due to the political realities of the time, and because ILECs have been accommodating them with little resistance (compared to as recently as 18 months ago). The constraint now is "space" in some COs and the ability of the market to absorb the supply of providers that have emerged.
ILECs are now even partnering with them in many cases. And in other cases they are making investments in them, with a hint of some possible grooming for total takeovers.
In many ways, DSL is the only available, economical choice for enterprises to select from when equipping their work-at-homes and remotes, since:
- most top tier Cable Modem operators don't permit telecommuting and SO/HO activity (or, if they do, they exact a premium with stipulations);
- wireless and satellite are not yet robust or ubiquitous enough, and where they are they are priced beyond reality; and,
- fiber to the side of the house and small business establishments is hardly anywhere to be found, YET.
DSL isn't going anywhere but up in the charts, and they will go places that no other medium can get to... that is, for the reasons that they are being implemented. Namely, for secure VPNs with varying levels of QoS for telecommuting and SO/HO applications. Aside from those, many branch systems are beginning to see the merit of regional DSL deployments.
And then there is always the consumer variety of DSL, too, which seems to always receive all of the attention in these discussions.
FAC |
