Virtual Access Resolves DSL Blame
Game
By Brian Ploskina, Interactive Week
February 6, 2001 5:01 PM ET
The blame game that goes on when a business' Digital
Subscriber Line is down sounds a little like a playground
squabble.
"The service provider did it!"
"No, the carrier did it!"
"No, it was the telephone company's fault!"
"I want my mommy!"
The whole situation can be downright immature, but then
again, some would say, so is the Internet. Experts
usually blame the situation on non-interoperable
equipment and a nascent technology, but customers
just want their problem fixed. Now.
Hoping to take advantage of this struggle is Virtual
Access, which has designed a Digital Subscriber Line
router that peers through the network to find exactly
where the problem is. And while general-purpose DSL
routers have proliferated, Virtual Access has no problem
coming late to market with one of its own. In fact, it
wouldn't have it any other way.
One could blame Virtual Access' tardiness on the travel
time from Ascot, England, where it is based, but the
company claims it was done on purpose. "Most people
focus on designing hardware that's very cheap, very
quick and very easy," says Philip Smith, vice president
of business development at Virtual Access.
"We spent a little more time understanding the issues
related with the technology, so, by the time we enter the
market, we understand what customers want."
The router, which Virtual Access stoically calls a DSL
Service Managed Gateway, resembles a typical
business-class router, but it includes indicators for
monitoring different components of the network. It also
coordinates with server software hosted by the Internet
service provider, so it can diagnose problems in the
network.
After reviewing the router, Gary Hewitt, project
development manager at British Telecommunications,
says the gateway is designed with "the service provider
in mind." Virtual Access has made a splash with some
of the larger DSL providers in the U.S. as well, such as
Qwest Communications International.
The market for DSL routers has been dominated by
3Com, Cisco Systems, Efficient Networks and Netopia,
which was recently acquired by Proxim. There are also
companies such as Hekimian, recently acquired by
Spirent Communications, that diagnose network
problems without using a router such as the Service
Managed Gateway.
Smith says future incarnations of Virtual Access' device
will function as integrated access devices, converting
voice as well as data into packets for transmission over
an Internet Protocol backbone. |
