Ascend Announces New Modules offering breakthrough Capabilities for Carrier Class frame relay switches:
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 1997--
Company takes worldwide leadership position in multi-billion dollar Frame Relay market, according to four leading industry analyst groups
Ascend Communications, Inc., (NASDAQ: ASND) today announced four new modules for its B-STDX Multiservice Frame Relay 8000/9000 WAN switches offering customers new levels of performance and cost-efficiency. In addition, the company announced it has shipped over one million Frame Relay WAN switch ports since introducing its flagship STDX and B-STDX switches in 1992.
Four leading industry analyst organizations confirmed that carriers and ISPs have consistently selected the company's Frame Relay switches, making Ascend the number one Frame Relay equipment provider worldwide in 1996 and again in 1997. Ascend Frame Relay marketshare leadership has recently been confirmed by Vertical Systems Group, Dataquest, Infonetics and International Data Corporation.
Ascend credits technological innovation for the success of its products, and today extends that technology lead with the introduction of four new modules for the B-STDX 8000/9000 product family: 1) Channelized DS 3/1/0 module, 2) 12-port E1 module, 3) ATM DS3/E3 Cell Switching module, and 4) ATM OC-3/STM-1 Interworking Unit. With this announcement, Ascend continues to provide its customers with new and improved tools to meet all their demands for service, speed and density.
With these new modules, the B-STDX offers the industry's highest port density for DS0 and DS1/E1 at the lowest price per port, the best performance with its distributed processing architecture, and the only multiservice solution that can support both Frame Relay and IP in a single module. In addition, the B-STDX supports integrated ATM with second generation Frame Relay-to-ATM interworking and native cell switching.
"We're committed to continuing to make our service provider customers successful with their current investments in Frame Relay by delivering them new products and services to increase revenue and lower costs," said Bob Sullebarger, Senior Manager, Product Marketing, Core Systems Division at Ascend. "We not only lead the market in port density and cost per port, but also add significant value-add such as Quality of Service (QoS) for differentiated services."
Ascend is the only vendor to provide carrier-class Frame Relay WAN switching that delivers the density, scalability and management features required by service providers to bring Frame Relay services to corporate customers. The company has a history of providing innovative Frame Relay solutions to service providers. Ascend was the first vendor to deliver production-ready Frame Relay-to-ATM interworking more than two years ago. Ascend was also the first to deliver high-speed Frame Relay (at 45 Mbps) and Switched Virtual Circuits (SVCs) for Frame Relay. The company also announced and delivered QoS for Frame Relay with class of service capability through its Priority Frame technology.
Ascend is the only vendor to provide end-to-end network and service management and provisioning for multiservice Frame Relay, ATM, and IP environments through its Navis family of network management products. With the Navis family of products, service providers gain increased control and reduced operations and provisioning costs and new sources of revenue.
Channelized DS 3/1/0 Module
In response to continued strong demand for DS0 connections, Ascend is introducing a channelized DS3 module with channelization down to the DS0 level, which offers twice the density of competitive products and the lowest price per port. A single module can support 28 DS1 channels or 672 DS0 channels, or a combination of both. As with all B-STDX modules the new Ascend DS 3/1/0 module supports both Frame Relay and IP services.
"Our service provider customers are always looking for higher-density solutions, and Ascend has consistently led the industry in delivering higher port densities and lower costs," said Hassan Ahmed, vice president of engineering, Core Systems Division at Ascend. "We are also the only vendor to deliver the network management tools that help service providers automate the configuration and provisioning challenges that come with these high-density solutions."
Ascend's automated NavisXtend Provisioning Server can reduce the provisioning time for a DS0 or DS1 circuit from 10 minutes to 5 seconds. The provisioning server is linked into the service provider's existing order entry systems, creating an integrated operations solution.
12 Port E1 Module
Responding to the growing demand for Frame Relay services internationally, Ascend is introducing a 12 port E1 module that offers three times the density of existing E1 Frame Relay solutions. Like the DS 3/1/0 module, the 12 port E1 module is a multiservice solution that supports Frame Relay and IP, and has a distributed processing architecture to scale processing and port density simultaneously. This module supports ML-PPP software, which allows service providers to bond multiple E1 lines, creating an additional high-speed access alternative to expensive E3 circuits.
Frame Relay-to-ATM Interworking Modules
Ascend is introducing its second-generation solution with two new ATM modules: The DS3/E3 Cell Switching Module and OC-3/STM-1 Interworking Unit (IWU).
By offering Frame Relay-to-ATM connections at up to OC-3 speeds, Ascend is addressing the requirement to scale backbone capacity for Frame Relay networks. The two modules enable service providers to provide both network interworking (connecting Frame Relay devices over an ATM backbone) and service interworking (connecting a Frame Relay device to an ATM device). Service Interworking allows enterprise customers to migrate their corporate headquarters to high capacity ATM while retaining cost-effective Frame Relay at remote offices.
Pricing and Availability
The Channelized DS 3/1/0 module will be available in Q1, '98; with a price per port of approximately $100 (U.S.). The 12 port E1 module is available immediately for $24,000 (U.S. list). The DS3/E3 Cell Switching Module and OC-3/STM-1 Modules are both available immediately and are priced at $33,000 and $35,000 respectively (U.S. list).
About Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications, Inc. develops, manufactures and sells wide area networking solutions for telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers and corporate customers worldwide. For more information about Ascend and its products, please visit the Ascend web site at www.ascend.com, or e-mail info@ascend.com .
Ascend is headquartered at One Ascend Plaza, 1701 Harbor Bay Parkway, Alameda, Calif., 94502. Phone 800/ASCEND4; Fax 510/747-2300.
CONTACT: Gallagher PR
Shannon Malliet, 510/747-2254
smalliet@ascend.com
or
Ascend Communications, Inc.
Lucia F. Graziano, 978/952-1291
lucia_graziano@ascend.com
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