6/98 CWI article on GE in WAN
totaltele.com
In the second of her reports from Silicon Valley, Elizabeth
Biddlecombe investigates the infiltration of Gigabit Ethernet into
the telecomms market and asks if the local area technology can
go the distance
Gigabit Ethernet is a natural migration
option for the hoards of users who
have LANs built on Ethernet
technology. But what is its potential for
expansion into the realms of the wide
area network and telco markets?
According to Extreme Networks,
based in California, US, there is
growing interest from this sector. So
keen is the company to cater for the
telco customer that it has produced a
switch specifically aimed at the telco
market. Launched in May, the Summit
GbX guarantees a Gigabit Ethernet link
for 80km (which can be extended to
100km). "Gigabit Ethernet can only
guarantee distances of up to 5km, so
deployment is limited to campus networks," said Tony Lee, product line
manager. "But Summit GbX allows the deployment of full-duplex Gigabit
Ethernet over long distances via private or leased single-mode fibre-optic lines."
Given that the Summit GbX was developed in direct response to the express
needs of telcos and Internet services providers, it gives a clear indication of
exactly how these customers intend to deploy the technology. "We have had a
number of telco and ISP customers who are seeking to tie their own Gigabit
Ethernet networks across distances from 50-100km," said Diana Miller, product
manager at Extreme. "However, offering Gigabit Ethernet services to their
customers certainly is the next logical step," she added.
Extreme is not the only company in Silicon Valley to foresee a happy marriage
between the telco segment and Gigabit Ethernet. San Jos‚-based Berkeley
Networks, which began shipping its exponeNT range of switches (which
incorporate WindowsNT with application-aware hardware) in May, also bases
its belief in the demand for Gigabit Ethernet among telcos on talking to
customers. "We have relied on our contacts in the industry and our combined
experience of dealing with customers," said Donal Byrne, vice president of
marketing and product management. 'A large ISP' in the US and a 'large
Japanese telco' have expressed interest in the exponeNT range. Berkeley is in
the process of talking to system integrators, including telcos, and value-added
resellers in Europe, though these partnerships are still being developed.
Wide of the mark
But the consensus among analysts is best summed up by John
Matthews, principal consultant at Ovum: "Gigabit Ethernet is not the sort of thing
traditional telcos are looking at. It could be used for a bridge between LANs,
but it is not going to interface very well in the bigger wide area market. There
may be a market niche aiming products for business communications to provide
a wider service linking sites within a city. It is more likely to appeal to a new
entrant, especially one from a data communications background. Even then it will
be a bit of a niche product."
However, when it comes to the back office he is more positive: "telcos are likely
to use it internally in their own LANs." This view is echoed by Paul Zagaeski,
senior industry analyst at Giga: "Various devices, switches, routers and servers
could be Gigabit Ethernet. There is a greater acceptance of ATM technology in
the service provider market for CLECs (competitive local exchange carriers),
ISPs and traditional telcos, but they may not need the complexity of ATM for
their internal network- especially when it is so expensive."
Byrne looks to the product itself by way of response. "The exponeNT switch is
not for a WAN application per se, but ideal for WAN connections into high-end
routers in the telco's own network since the switch performs better under load.
Interest will probably be from the new telco market since it is more focused on
IP."
Byrne adds that it is also far more efficient than traditional crossbar switches, due
to higher buffering, "important in the telco market since the cost of bandwidth is
so high. And the telco market, in its race to provide value-added services, is
turning to Windows NT as the platform of choice."
Operators themselves seem less certain. Gigabit Ethernet is available from WorldCom International but, as Gynette Kershaw, international marketing communications programme manager, explains, it is only available on a one-to-one basis. "It won't be a standard product. We haven't actually offered it yet as no one has asked for it. We really only envisage demand happening on a metropolitan level."
So it appears that, at least for now, Gigabit Ethernet will be consigned to enterprise-scale deployment.
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