Yesterday I listened in on a conference call where an IP Voice - no, make that a "data telephony" (e-NET:ETEL) - company stated that they were looking to negotiate OEM agreements with cable modem manufacturers as one of many potential outlets for its products. That would sure be a neat technique to convergence, wouldn't it? They also stated that they were thinking of targeting power companies to incorporate their patented voice enabling technology for use over the power companies' lines, although no specifics were cited. I thought that that was interesting.
I've been in this game way too long (and I only needed to get burnt once) to ever say never to anything, despite how unmeritorious it might appear on the surface. Prior to, and during the Seventies and Eighties, those with vested interests in the status quo used to religioiusly hide behind selective invocations of Nyquist and Shannon to summarily dispel the thoughts of such things. Look what's happening today with modems, dsl, and wireless broadband...
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By the way, and as relates to xDSL, would someone here enlighten me on those subtle differences between an xDSL "access concentrator" and a "DSLAM." I read an an article in last week's Telephony Magazine that would have the reader believe that the DSLAM is designed to utilize ATM on the back end, while the DSL "access concentrator" uses IP routing techniques.
It was my understanding that a comprehensive DSLAM design would take into account either or both, as well as frame relay encapsulation and conventional TR-303/-008, at the customer's and SP's elections. Or is this just an attempt by a select manufacturer, or group of them, at further separation from the legacy approaches of the past, in favor of a total breakout from traditional standards?
Does the article accurately represent a widely held convention (i.e., ATM is to DSLAM, as IP is to an access concentrator) which is universally understood to be the case in the industry? Or is this just another of those marketecture spins, leveraging the current hype of IP's apparent and future dominance. Curious. Any thoughts or discussion on this would be appreciated.
Frank |
