12/15/97 Am. Network 80
1997 WL 8917775
America's Network
COPYRIGHT 1997 Advanstar Communications Inc. Copyright 1997 Information Access
Company. All rights reserved.
Monday, December 15, 1997
ISSN: 1075-5292
Ascend unveils end-to-end xDSL system Has introduced its DSLTNT central office
concentrator
Ascend Communications Inc. (Alameda, Calif.) has unveiled a
carrier-class concentrator and SDSL-based CPE router which, when
combined, provide an end-to-end solution for carriers wishing to
provision xDSL services.
The DSLTNT central office (CO) concentrator supports a range of xDSL
services - including IDSL, SDSL, RADSL-DMT and RADSL-CAP - as well as
traditional data services. The concentrator reportedly features the
highest port density of any remote access concentrator along with the
lower power consumption required by carriers. The DSLPipe-2S is a
customer premises router that bonds two SDSL lines together for up to
1.544 Mbps bandwidth (T1). The router also can provide 768 kbps
transmission over a single SDSL line.
'It is extremely important to have a flexible platform so that we can
adapt our services as market demand evolves,' says Mike Henry, president
of MegaINet Inc. (Chicago). The DSLTNT provides 'plug and play'
modularity, he says.
'Carriers can only keep up with [xDSL] demand by pulling together
their own solutions using multiple products from different vendors,' a
method that can be costly and harder to manage, according to Ashok
Dhawan, general manager of high-speed access products at Ascend.
Carriers and Internet service providers (ISPs) can replace banks of DSL
modems, Ethernet switches and routers at the CO with the compact DSLTNT
concentrator.
The DSLPipe-2S router can support T1-equivalent bandwidth that service
providers can, in turn, sell to their corporate customers. The CPE
router provides full security, including support for industry-standard
PAP and CHAP authorization and authentication protocols, remote
provisioning and management, as well as the ability to consolidate
IP/IPX and frame relay traffic over the same line, according to Ascend.
With one platform, carriers can deliver xDSL services to corporate
users, ISPs, and home office workers and telecommuters. A standard 7-ft.
rack supports either 1,344 IDSL ports; 1,440 SDSL ports; 540 RADSL-CAP
ports; or any mix of services. Plug-in network cards are available for
DS3, HSSI, T1, E1, serial WAN, 10BaseT and 100BaseT Ethernet.
Moreover, because the system supports a variety of virtual private
network (VPN) protocols (including L2TP, PPTP, ATMP, FR Direct and IP
Direct), carriers can offer VPN services to corporate customers or
segment their own networks so they can resell bandwidth to smaller ISPs.
Both systems are part of Ascend's MultiDSL product family. The DSLTNT
base chassis with ADSL support lists for $8,900. RADSL-CAP modules were
being sold at press time for $4,995 (six-port card). The DSLTNT features
softkey upgradability to SDSL and IDSL. The DSLPipe-2S sells for $1,650.
---- INDEX REFERENCES ----
COMPANY (TICKER): Ascend Communications Inc. (ASND)
ORGANIZATION: ASCEND COMMUNICATIONS INC.
INDUSTRY: Communications Technology; Telecommunications, All (CMT TEL)
REGION: United States (US)
Word Count: 412
12/15/97 AMNETWK 80
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