Ariel Corporation Unveils ATM-based
ADSL System; Turnkey Solution for
Local Exchange Carriers
PISCATAWAY, N.J., May 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Ariel Corp.
(Nasdaq: ADSP) today announced HORIZON(TM), a
comprehensive Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
family of products that gives local exchange carriers (LECs) a
turnkey solution to deploy residential broadband data services
using both ADSL and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
technology. Horizon is the first ADSL product to offer true
ATM Quality of Service (QoS) features, enabling users to
enjoy simultaneous real-time video and data access.
The HORIZON product line consists of ADSL equipment for
the central office, an ADSL subscriber modem and an
Element Management System, which handles all the
operation and management functions. HORIZON gives
personal computer users dedicated, high-speed,
around-the-clock access to video services, the Internet,
corporate Intranets and other on-line services, over standard
copper telephone lines.
HORIZON uses the ATM protocol to deliver Internet Protocol
(IP) traffic from an ISP or corporate Intranet all the way to the
customer's PC. This enables service providers to offer Quality
of Service and security options that are not possible today
with ADSL systems using Frame-based protocols and
networks to deliver ADSL services.
ATM technology provides subscribers with enhanced security,
glitch-free video, and the ability to support multiple
applications simultaneously (such as web browsing, video
conferencing, video-on-demand, and remote corporate LAN
access) over a single ADSL connection. At the same time, it
gives LECs the ability to offer a broader portfolio of products
and services at different price and performance levels. LECs
can also remotely provision and upgrade customers without
dispatching costly service personnel.
"Unlike the first-generation ADSL systems used in early
trials," said David Sobin, vice president and head of Ariel's
Communications Systems Group. "HORIZON does much
more than transport bits at high data rates. It provides all the
operation and management functions needed by local
exchange carriers to deploy real ADSL service, including
provisioning, configuration, security and remote diagnostics.
We will be presenting a series of demos at SUPERCOMM '97
that illustrate these capabilities, as well as demonstrating the
benefits of using ATM protocol to deliver all types of data to
the subscriber."
"We are pleased to see Ariel move forward with an ATM
implementation that supports the cell buffering and Quality of
Service features that ADSL systems need to succeed in the
market," said David Nelsen, Senior Director, Service Provider
Marketing at FORE Systems. "Ariel's use of multiple priority
queues is a significant step forward that allows FORE's
products to extend true Quality of Service all the way to the
end user. We believe that Horizon combined with FORE's
ATM switch will enable service providers to deliver flexible,
reliable and robust ADSL services."
Horizon Specifications
The current HORIZON platform consists of three components:
a rack-mount chassis, which resides in the central office, a
stand-alone subscriber ADSL modem, which uses an ATM-25
port to connect to a PC, and a Java-based Element
Management System (EMS).
HORIZON's Central Office System is a multi-shelf,
NEBS-compliant, rack mounted system which includes
redundant 48V power supplies. Each shelf in the rack
contains its own controller board and multiple ADSL line
cards, providing support for a total of 90 subscribers per
system. By using GlobeSpan Technologies' Rate Adaptive
Digital Subscriber Line (RADSL) technology, HORIZON can
achieve downstream transmission rates (from the central
office to the customer) of up to 8.2 Mbit/sec and upstream
transmission rates of up 1 Mbit/sec, depending on line
conditions.
Connections from the customer premises to the Central Office
are directed to ADSL line cards which split the voice and data
components. Voice connections are routed to the central
office's voice switch; while the data is routed to a FORE
Systems' ATM switch, which provides access to the LECs
broadband data network. From there, standard T1, DS3, or
OC3 connections provide high-speed access to Internet
Service Providers, corporate Intranets, video services, and
other on-line service providers.
HORIZON's ADSL Modem is a stand-alone device that
connects to the PC through a standard ATM-25/RJ-11 port.
The ATM interface supports up to eight virtual circuits, which
enables subscribers to access multiple services over a single
line simultaneously. Inside the modem, a splitter multiplexes
and demultiplexes voice and data traffic, permitting
simultaneous use of a telephone for voice and a PC for data
networking.
HORIZON's Java-based Element Management System (EMS),
supports Operation Administration and Management (OA&M)
functions such as database administration, service and
subscriber provisioning, security, status and performance
monitoring, and statistics management. The EMS software,
which runs on a Sun platform, uses the simple network
management protocol (SNMP) to communicate with one or
more HORIZON systems. The EMS can be accessed from
any PC or workstation using standard web browsers.
Availability and Pricing
HORIZON is available immediately with a list price of $995 per
central office port and $395 for each subscriber interface unit.
ADSL Demos at SUPERCOMM '97
Ariel will be staging a series of ADSL demos at
SUPERCOMM '97 in New Orleans, June 3-5 at Booth
#A5161. These demos will illustrate the advantages of using
ATM to deliver ADSL service to the subscriber; how ATM
enables subscriber access to multiple service types
concurrently (such as glitch-free video in conjunction with a
background file transfer) using QoS options; how ATM
enables local exchange carriers to provision, test, and
troubleshoot the subscriber modem remotely as well as
upgrade the modem's software without interrupting service.
About Ariel
Ariel Corporation is a leading supplier of remote access
equipment for applications such as Internet and corporate
Intranet access, on-line services, transaction processing, and
unified messaging. Besides its carrier-class Horizon ADSL
system, Ariel provides the industry's highest density V.34 and
56-kbps open systems modem pools, up to 24 in a single ISA
Bus slot.
For more information on Ariel products, please see Ariel
Corporation's Home Page at ariel.com. SOURCE
Ariel Corporation
North America,United States of America
PRNewswire
May 20, 1997 |
