Frontier Corporation First to Select Lucent Technologies'
AnyMedia Access System for Next Generation Access
Equipment
July 17, 1998
MURRAY HILL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE) via NewsEdge
Corporation --
New System Takes Up 50 Percent Less Space;
Alleviates Switch Congestion
Lucent Technologies today announced that Frontier
Corporation (NYSE:FRO) has purchased its next
generation access equipment which alleviates
congestion in central office switches by separating voice
and data traffic.
Called the AnyMedia(TM) Access System, the new
digital loop carrier (DLC) was designed by Bell Labs and
is 50 percent smaller than traditional DLCs.
Frontier will begin installing the system in Monroe, N. Y.,
in August to expand and enhance the capabilities of that
central office. Broader network deployment by Frontier is
planned for September when the AnyMedia Access
System will be generally available. Frontier serves more
than one million local access lines through 34 local
exchange companies in 13 states, and over 140,000
access lines in 29 states as a competitive local service
provider.
DLCs traditionally have acted as an extension of a
switch, connecting customers to the public switched
telephone network to deliver their voice and data
services. The AnyMedia Access System not only
connects customers to the public network, but it also
has intelligent software that separates the data from the
voice traffic and routes it to the Internet or other data
network, alleviating costly switch congestion.
"Our customers' requirements for data and Internet
access are rapidly expanding. The AnyMedia Access
System provides us with a solution to our capacity issue
and positions us to easily incorporate ADSL and other
future broadband services into our network
architecture," said Martin Mucci, vice president of
consumer operations, Frontier Corporation. "Customers
should enjoy faster connections and response times
when using the Internet and other applications that
require a lot of bandwidth."
The AnyMedia Access System incorporates AnyMedia
FAST(TM), a 23-inch hardware shelf that contains the
application packs and software to deliver voice and data
services. Versatile because of its small size, an
AnyMedia FAST shelf can be deployed in central office,
remote terminal or even outside plant environments. For
example, it can be mounted on a utility pole or housed in
a weather-resistant cabinet in a residential
neighborhood.
Designed as a global open platform, the AnyMedia
Access System supports standard network interfaces,
including Bellcore's TR303/08 and V5, so it can connect
to any vendor's switch. The system is also flexible
enough to combine network access from any medium --
including twisted copper pair, wireless or fiber -- into a
single piece of equipment.
"Service providers are looking for an open access
platform that not only delivers low cost voice and data
services today but also has the capability to deliver
emerging broadband services as the market demands
them," said Janet Davidson, vice president, Lucent
Technologies. "The AnyMedia Access System reduces
the cost and complexity to provide voice and data
services through the use of a simple, 'plug and play'
platform."
To deliver the voice and data services, the AnyMedia
Access System uses Lucent's AnyMedia "plug and
play" application packs - line cards that let service
providers "plug-in" services such as standard voice
service or high-speed data services like Integrated
Services Digital Network (ISDN) or Asymmetric Digital
Subscriber Line (ADSL). This flexibility enables service
providers to tailor the services they offer to match the
customer demand in a serving area. For example, the
system could be set-up with all voice cards at first but
then have ADSL or ISDN line cards added incrementally
as customers request those services.
And because each voice application pack can carry 32
lines - the highest number in the industry - it has
reduced the number of application packs needed to
serve an area which means the overall physical size of
the AnyMedia Access System is 50 percent smaller than
traditional DLCs. Getting such high line capacity from
smaller equipment translates into fewer cabinets needed
to serve the same area, as well as lower power,
construction, real estate and right-of-way costs.
To protect the service provider's investment, the
AnyMedia Access System has an ATM-based
infrastructure for delivering next-generation broadband
services. The system can be used in today's
copper-based networks and in the future as service
providers add wireless and fiber facilities to their local
access networks to deliver new voice and data services.
"With the AnyMedia Access System, service providers
will be able to meet the demand for new services by
incrementally upgrading equipment already in their
networks. No longer will they need to buy and integrate
new equipment whenever they want to offer a new
service to their customers," added Davidson.
Frontier Corporation is one of the leading providers of
integrated communications services -- including data
applications, long distance, local telephone and wireless
-- to business customers nationwide. Frontier's
self-healing, "optronics" network provides customers
with faster transmission speeds, unrivaled reliability, and
liquid bandwidth capacity. For more information, visit
the Frontier web site at www.frontiercorp.com
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J.,
designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and
private networks, communications systems and
software, data networking systems, business telephone
systems and microelectronic components. Bell Labs is
the research and development arm for the company. For
more information on Lucent, visit the company's web site
at lucent.com.
AnyMedia and FAST are trademarks of Lucent
Technologies.
CONTACT: Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill | Doug
Broad, 908/559-7520 | Pager: 800/203-5058 | Email:
dbroad@lucent.com | Tom Drummer, 908/559-6425 | Fax:
908-559-2673 | Email: tdrummer@lucent.com | or | Frontier
Corporation | Michele Sadwick, 716/777-6021 | Pager:
888/857-0606 | Email: msadwick@frontiercorp.com
[Copyright 1998, Business Wire] |
