Not sure about Cisco, but LU just announced competing products:
newsalert.com
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Lucent unveils IP products for service providers
Reuters Story - May 27, 1998 20:53
NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) - Lucent Technologies Inc
on Wednesday unveiled a portfolio of data network products that
bridges the gap in service quality between data and voice
networks.
The new products will move Lucent into more direct
competition with data networking companies like Ascend
Communications Inc and Cisco Systems Inc , and
allow it to build on its expertise in the traditional voice
equipment market.
"The issue for our customers is how to offer the same
quality of service in the data world as we do in the voice
world -- service that is rich in features and reliability and
that can generate new revenues," said Lucent Chairman Rich
McGinn.
"Lucent understands better than anyone how the data and
voice worlds must work together and we are developing the
next-generation architectures to lead this revolution," he
said.
Lucent, one of the most active issues on the New York Stock
Exchange, gained 1-7/8 to 72.
One product, called PacketStar IP Switch, would prioritize
data traffic -- from urgent business needs to casual consumer
traffic. Dividing data traffic by priority would help eliminate
the crush of traffic that delays transmission.
Service providers could set different prices for different
levels of services, allowing businesses to pay a premium for
guaranteed, fast and reliable data transmission.
Lucent said MCI Communications Corp , starting in
June, will test the PacketStar IP Switch as part of a plan to
upgrade its Internet backbone.
"We think Lucent has shown us a novel design that is an
improvement over existing routing switch technology. We look
forward to working with this new product to determine its
applicability to our Internet services," said Vinton Cerf,
MCI's senior vice president, Internet Architecture and
Engineering, and one of the founders of the Internet.
Another product, called PathStar Access Server, would allow
network operators to offer both voice and data services over IP
networks, including the Internet.
The product would also give customers making phone calls
over a data network the same features typically associated with
traditional phone service -- such as call waiting, call
forwarding, operator assistance and a standard interface to
directory services systems.
With the PathStar Access Server, subscribers may reach any
telephone anywhere around the corner or around the world,
whether it is a packet phone, a standard telephone, a PC with
phone capabilities, on the public network, a corporate intranet
or the global Internet.
The PathStar Access Server, at about $300 per line and half
the cost in a typical configuration, is expected to be going
into customer trial later this year and should be generally
available in the first quarter of 1999.
Another product, called PacketStar Gateway Solution, moves
voice traffic and voice related services over networks that
were designed for data.
This product will allow new and existing network operators
to provide an array of local, tandem and toll voice network
services and emerging data network services on IP and ATM
networks. To simplify network management, the product allows
traditional service providers to consolidate their existing
circuit-based tandem and toll networks into one broadband
packet network.
The PacketStar Gateway solution is expected be available
for customer trials in the fourth quarter and is expected to be
available in the first quarter of 1999.>>>> |
