InfoWorld June 8, 1998 (Vol. 20, Issue 23)
Ascend goes the ATM switching route
By Stephen Lawson
Ascend Communications this week will unveil its strategy to simplify telecommunications networks, banking on its ATM switching equipment. The company will give service providers a way to bypass the high cost of traditional networks, integrating those functions into its own GX550 ATM switches.
In Ascend's plan, the ATM switches would feed directly into an optical network core that uses dense wave-division multiplexing (DWDM). IP Navigator, Ascend's implementation of the emerging Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) standard, will set up switched paths across the networks and maintain quality-of-service settings.
"What Ascend is trying to show is that they can massively reduce the cost of higher-bandwidth services," said Frank Dzubeck, president of Communications Network Architects, a consultancy in Washington.
Specifically, Ascend plans to integrate the functions of digital cross-connect system (DCS) and Synchronous Optical Network (SONet) multiplexing hardware into its GX550. DCSes concentrate a wide range of interfaces at a carrier central office. A traditional SONet add-drop multiplexer sits between voice and data switches and DWDM equipment at the network core.
Ascend already has SONet interfaces for the GX550 and is testing interoperability with DWDM gear through the Optical Networking Forum. Future GX550 versions, set for release later this year, will take on DCS functionality to provide multiple connections, ranging from single voice lines to OC-3 (155Mbps) and beyond, on one interface.
Williams Communications, a telecommunications provider that is building a national multiservice network from the ground up, is using Ascend's ATM switches and an optical OC-192 (10Mbps) backbone.
Wayne Price,Williams' manager of technology development, said the company picked ATM because it wanted to offer more than IP services, but did not want to invest in legacy equipment, which he said would require about 10 times the staff to maintain.
Ascend Communications Inc., in Alameda, Calif., is at (800) 621-9578.
Copyright (c) 1998 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.
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