Doug,
There is no doubt that building out pure IP networks is more efficient than having an ATM core. Witness new telco builds like QWEST, ENRON, Level 3 to mention a few in the greenfield space. However, we are also seeing some traditional carriers betting on IP, at least as a side bet. Bell Nexxia, owned by Bell Canada, has built an IP core network using IP over SONET routers from CSCO and using NN switches at the edge to deliver Frame Relay service. This is a radical departure from their tradional architecture, which had 36170s at the core and CSCO routers at the edge.
In the cable space, we are seeing IP over copper terminating in IP head-end routers. Cable companies have fiber rings in the metro covering areas and are carrying IP traffic across GSR routers as well. By adding IP telephony modems (CMTO is one example) a carrier can offer Internet, IP VPNs, local voice and LD voice without ever using an ATM switch in their network.
So yeah, there is a market for ATM core switches. Their is also a huge market for IP only networks for service providers that are using cable as a high speed access technology, new greenfield builds and ILECS that have to protect themselves against the newcomers.
As for IP QoS, the market will solve this. See:
biz.yahoo.com
Cheers,
peppe |
