Mark, pardon me, but what is this I'm reading here? LVLT is going to use ATM? Reminds me of an old jingle "my kids used to watch" (cough) on Sesame Street: "One of these things doesn't belong here..."
Isn't this in direct contradiction to Crowe's previous sculpting of LVLT dogma which supports the mantra that they would be using IP in its native form, exclusively, perhaps first using IP Packet over SONET, and then over raw silica, as a means of circumventing all of these traditionalist, switch-head circuit techs such as ATM? Sounds to me like Crowe may be eating a little bit of crow here.
A while back on these boards I stated that in order for LVLT to gain access to large businesses, they'd have to use ATM access technologies at some point, because that is increasingly the way that large firms appeared to be aggregating and grooming their traffic flows from their carriers and other service providers. I didn't hear anyone agreeing with me, but then again, I received no rebuttals. At least not in public, in any case.
But here is a startling (to me) example that speaks about LVLT's "Backbone" utilization of ATM, not even solely that of access. They are citing the ability to scale to OC-48 concatenated, or higher, in their core!
[[ Sidebar Note on the FON announcement: This announcement follows on the heals of FON's recent declarations of their intentions to use ATM to the business and residence over xDSL and other access technologies. Interesting, to say the least. I'd give those switch-head technologies another serious look at this point. Anyone know what RadioShack's line of equipment will use to support FON's ION offerings of the future? Who are they OEMing, in other words? ]]
I think that LVLT's decision to use ATM is profound in several ways, and that it is only a part of a growing trend by highly visible star players that lends increasing credibility to cell-based and other deterministic technologies (such as the use of SONET/Digital Cross-connect Systems at peering sites and NAPs). And just at a time when the undertaker and his crew were sizing up ATM's casket. I'm a little surprised over this change of heart. It could jeopardize the resolve of some of their 'Net theologians who have exhibited ample evidence to demonstrate that they would be loathed to ever use ATM or a carrier that did. Do you think we will see another version of the bible resulting from this move? Or am I making too much out of this?
Maybe CSCO's acquisition of Stratacom wasn't all that bad an idea a while back, after all. When I have some time on my hands I'd like to do some further investigation of the implications of this apparent religious reformation movement.
Later, Frank Coluccio |
