Mike, I think you have a good handle on what is going on with Northern Telecom. Traditionally, smart telecom suppliers use a strategy where they position themselves to profit from the here and now (circuit switched copper HFC networks) and be prepared for the future (packet switched copper and HFC data and voice IP networks). I congratulate you on sifting through the maze of press releases to piece together what it all means.
As clarification, the ANTEC/NT joint venture that produces Cornerstone, and some other nifty HFC related products (something called Sentinel, which is an HFC reverse path monitoring sytem) is officially called Arris Interactive. And while Cornerstone and the other circuit switched based HFC systems may seem like souped up versions of POTS, which is what they were originally designed for, they have added some new tricks since their first generation. Most now offer an integrated HFC based data port integrated into the "gateway" box on the side of the home, with nx64 kb/s data capability and/or 10baseT interfaces. They're not your father's Buick anymore.
I'd like to interject just one more thought into the discussion. Strictly my opinion. There is a lot of talk, hype, enthusiasm, excitement about voice over IP services and products. And there is definitely a market for IP based voice products. Regardless of the economics and efficiencies of the arrangement there are some key items to keep in mind. First, until everyone has IP telephony capability, the interfaces and gateways between the IP world and circuit switched PSTN are crucial and are not well defined at this time. The compatibility issues, timing issues, feature functionality, who pays for what, network management, and a myriad of other issues at this critical interface have not been worked out.
Second, there will be a reluctance on the part of the average Joe Public to give his main line service that he depends on for services like 911 to IP. This is a huge market that will be terribly hard to penetrate. Reduced cost long distance could be a good market, but quality of long distance Internet service has a ways to go. Could be wrong of course. I'm primarily an engineer, not a marketer. |
