Telecom Italia/Torrino 2000/Westell
Ciao,
Have spent some time on this one (after the Westell announcement), and on the face of it, it appears that Westell's announcement
biz.yahoo.com
is somewhat misleading.
Torrino 2000 seems like an ambitious and interesting project, and while adsl plays a role, it certainly is not the focus. Essentially the town is being provided with its own IP over ATM backbone, a local area network for the municipality. A variety of customer premises equipment is being/has been provided (at no charge) by Telecom Italia for this three year "experiment": ATM switches, IP Routers, Frame Relay-ATM, Cable Modems (cm), A-PON (ATM(?) Passive Optical Network), ADSL, ISDN, and IDN. (Access networks will be fiber, fiber+coax, and copper pair.) CPE:
comune.torino.it
When the project is completed in 1998 (started in 1996) they hope to have 500 broadband users (including all broadband CPE listed above) . This info is confirmed elsewhere. "BB users" are Broadband users. Have struggled a little on interpretation here. This is not to say only 500 people will be using the system, such a total would be much higher. For example a LAN connected through an IP router would seem to be one user, regardless of the number on the LAN...Users seem to be number of "sites" or "street addresses": Deployment plan:
comune.torino.it
These users will be able to use the Turin network free of charge, but will not have internet access (as part of the project). Access speeds will range from 34 Mbps (ATM switches...) for "Large users", laboratories etc, to 14.4 Kbps for narrow band. Sounds like high speed access for small businesses, residences, etc is either cable or adsl:
(From Turin's Home page...probably part of Torino 2000-we can get in?...
Please see notes on translation before translation at end of post.)
"..telematica a larga...via fibra optica.."
Broadband telecommunications employs the IP communication protocols and ATM offering in that way elevated speed for the transmission of audio video and data. The type of access to the Turin 2000 net presently available, the ADSL technology at the speed of 64 kb/s [shouldn't this be 640?] in sending and 1.5 Mb/s in receiving. In short there will be operative accesses over telephone lines and coaxial cable at superior speed. On the Turin 2000 Net there are moreover active services of web hosting, ftp, e-mail, video, and audio on demand. The connectivity to the net of nets-Internet- is permitted only to the ISP subscribers. Note well- to large users access at 34 Mb/s via fibre optic lines will also be offered.
comune.torino.it
Examples in the graphics of the "sexy" stuff: videoconferencing, teleconsulting etc (mentioned in the Westell announcement) all seem to be ATM (not adsl).. :
video conferencing
comune.torino.it
medical teleconsulting
comune.torino.it
Italia Telecom seems particularly interested in "Socrate" (italian acronym for fibre-coax). It is not clear to me whether this is strictly A-POM or has a cable modem component (cable modems are definitely part of the project).
comune.torino.it
comune.torino.it
Italia Telecom seems to have undertaken this project to study not only the technical aspects of various access equipment/networks working together on an IP/ATM backbone (more or less closed), but also to at least begin to explore the cultural impact of such systems on a cross section of a municipality... The beginnings of an "information society"...
So what does all this mean for Westell/Italia Telecom?? First, give Westell credit, they are having their equipment deployed,... maybe not a whole lot of it, but one thing can lead to another... Had been guessing that this was really old news, that maybe the decision to go with Westell was made as far back as '94 or '95. That seemed reasonable as the project started in March '96- decision before initial deployment made sense... On typing the translation at the end of this post, I noticed that adsl selected was " on the basis of the results of preliminary experimentation". That could put the decision as late as the end of phase 0...say late '96. That would give them 5-6 months to ship and deploy by the end of phase 1 in May...?? So it is probably relatively recent news... tho certainly not an August '97 decision by Italia Telecom.
Note from the press release: "Westell's FlexCap2 RADSL equipment has been deployed..." this may be it for central office office deployment..again from the press release "..Future plans for the equipment include the addition of system management capablilities.." (would also follow as the first two of the three phases of the project are now complete).
If I get a second wind, may try asking relevant parties the basis on which Westell was chosen. Seems curious they didn't go beyond "was selected" in the press release... they could have added "win tender", or "was selected due to...." or something stronger. Their PR department doesn't seem shy...
Would also guess that the bulk of the revenues for Torino 2000 have already been booked for Westell (in their last quarter) since the central office equipment seems like it's deployed. More(?) modems will likely be needed in the last phase.. @ $4k a pop that adds up, but altho the number of broadband "users" increases from 60 to 500 that number includes all modes of broadband access and I haven't noticed any emphasis on adsl (if anything there is a curious lack). ADSL line count would be another interesting question (to date and estimated for project), but doubt if Westell will release it if they didn't in the press release... Maybe? or maybe someone in Torino?? Even if the line count is not so great today, now that the equipment is in place, the municipality may build on it in the future (future sales?), and no doubt Westell is getting a chance to show off their stuff...
That the Westell announcement is relatively small news is reinforced by the market reaction to the news (little-altho some portion of the recent runnup could be attributed...) and the tepid Telechoice commentary on the announcement:
"TeleChoice believes that the announcement is another indication that the international service providers are interested in far more than plain-vanilla internet access. Demand for access interactive multimedia applications and private LAN access will mean that equipment vendors will need to provide additional functionality within their systems to enable the applications that cost justify the business case for investment in xDSL."...what about win?....or.. significant?...or...beachhead?..or....- best they can do is "more than plain-vanilla"...? Curious they make no mention of either Westell or Telecom Italia by name.
telechoice.com
I could have this all wrong, but the project as described in the public record (albeit mostly in italian) seems to be a long way from the spin Westell put on it in their announcement. It sounded like Torrino 2000 was the name for Telecom Italia's Westell deployment which as you put it was to "provide ADSL for all of Turin"... (which is also how I interpretted it at first take).
What follow is my better half's translation of "2. Piano per lo sviluppo della sperimentazione". only one of seven parts of "Piano per la Sperimentazione Servizi Innovativi"
comune.torino.it
This document (with its links) is the most informative of what I've found...only posting the most dense and instructive portion:
This is a very literal translation, no attempt has been made to edit ... we're lucky to get this.. (she's kind of tired of hearing about xdsl... and she did translate a lot more than is shown below)... when the translation is cross referenced with the graphics for CPE (6) and Deployment play (13)-both links above- the rough outlines of Torino 2000 are pretty clear:
"Torino 2000...Plan for the Experimentation Innovative Services
....
2. Plan for the development of the experimentation
A plan for the realization of Turin 2000 should take account of a coordinated growth of diverse factors which include: the typology of the users, their diffusion over the territory, the possible architectures of the net and the configurations realizable of the user systems and of the possible net services and available applications, the creation of the objective conditions for the usability of the services.
Phase 0: Laboratory User Setup- March - October '96
Phase 1: Experiment Development- November '96 - May '97
Phase 2: Consolidation- June '97 - December '98
Phase 0: Laboratory User Setup- March - October '96
Objective: To realize the connection by a consolidated modality of a primary nucleus of users- laboratories
Use: 14 Laboratories selected
Access: 34 Mbits/s ATM
User equipment: Switch ATM and/or router; multivendor (Fore, Cisco, IBM...); cost 50-120 MLire; Node ATM Italtel UTXC
Net/Network: Router IP Bay BLN; System DNS for the resolution of names in IP addresses.
Network Server: for the diffusion of information and software; for hosting information for users.
External Access: national/international experiments through Sirius to be evaluated case by case and visibility of Internet.
Phase 1: Experiment Development- November '96 - May '97
Objective: To support the development of innovative services which fully utilize the potential of the network joining about 60 user sites introducing network technologies at furnishing broadband accessibility at most diffuse use (entities/institutions/agencies, associations, schools etc)
Use: about 60 broadband user sites (including those of phase 0; see list of paragraph indications and proposals for the users of phase 1 plus a limited number or users with ISDN/IDN access.
Accesses: Same as phase 0 plus..; Frame Relay on ATM at 2 Mbit/s; Cable Modem (cm) and ADSL (on the basis of the results of preliminary experimentation); accesses ISDN and IDN.
User Equipment: Same as phase 0 plus..; Router (low beam bundle ?fascia bassa/ media)..approximate cost: 3-7 MLire; Cable Modem ADSL Modem approximate cost .7 MLire (about $4k); ISDN or Modem Card
Net/Network: Same as phase 0 plus..; Router and/or unit for ISDN or IDN access; collection systems (ATM nones and IP Router) and systems for access (Cable Modem, central exchange system for the ADSL system, etc)
Network Server: Same as phase 0 plus..; Server for dedicated services ( e-mail, search engines, management of retrieval for retrieval of real time video); Server for hosting dedicated services of the users.
User Server: Same as phase 0 plus..; server for the realization of innovative services developed and realized at the initiative of the user.
External Access: national/international experiments through Sirius to be evaluated case by case and visibility of Internet.
Phase 2: Consolidation- June '97 - December '98
Objective: To spread on a major scale the potentiality of Turin 2000 and experimentation of innovative high-speed access services, evaluating the impact of a wide diffusion of same.
Use: No more than 500 wide band users (including those in phase 1) and spreading of ISDN/IDN users.
Accesses: as phase 1
User equipment: as phase 1
Net/Network: Amplification of phase 1 net to satisfy utilization exigencies (needs/demands)
Network Server: as phase 1 plus other functionality
User Server: as phase 1
External Access: national/international experiments through Sirius to be evaluated case by case and visibility of Internet....." |
