Trailblazing with High Speed Services
IXC Continues Rapid U.S. Expansion
Bold, aggressive and successful. These three words
describe the nationwide, New York to Los Angeles
expansion strategy IXC Communication announced three
years ago. The dynamic interexchange carrier is now
reaping the benefits of its massive network buildout,
which currently includes more than 9,300 miles of fiber
optic cable. Ultimately, the system will link the top 50
metropolitan centers in the United States with more than
13,000 active fiber miles.
Austin-based IXC is one of the fastest growing telecommunications companies in North
America; a long distance wholesaler thriving on a seemingly endless demand for switched
services and private line networks. The company makes network capacity available to local
telephone companies, national and regional long distance carriers, value-added carriers, cable
and utilities companies, and Internet service providers. IXC services include 1+ switched and
1+ dedicated outbound calling, 800/888 switched and dedicated inbound calling, calling card
and debit card services and high speed digital bandwidth products.
Coast-to-Coast Services
Since IXC began the expansion of its advanced fiber optic network in 1996, it has rapidly
established new high speed links between major cities such as Los Angeles, San Franciso
and New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston and Dallas. It is using the in-ground fiber
system as a foundation to provide sophisticated communications solutions that improve and
extend its customers' service offerings. IXC's Broadband Service solution, for example,
allows customers to increase their revenue potential with coast-to-coast data services. The
company's most recent project, Gemini 2000, leverages its fiber network to deliver next
generation Internet services.
IXC designed its national network to take advantage of the growing demand for high speed
network capacity and mission-critical reliability. It therefore undertook an extensive
evaluation of various vendor offerings to ensure that the solution it selected would provide the
performace, flexibility and scalability its customers required.
Ultimately, Newbridge Networks emerged as the vendor best able to meet IXC's short and
longer term needs. The Newbridge multiservice multi-access solution, based on the powerful
MainStreetXpress 36170 Multiservices Switch, enables service providers to run multiple
services, including frame relay and Internet protocol (IP), over ATM. It also met another
IXC criteria; enabling the company to capitalize on the popularity of frame relay and
versatility of ATM without having to build separate networks for frame and cell relay delivery.
A Competitive Advantage
"We chose the 36170 Multiservices Switch after conducting extensive research on the
product compared to the other major vendors at the time," recalled Michael Vent, IXC's
President of Network Services and Chief Technical Officer. "The criteria were service
delivery, features, price point and relationship. Newbridge came out overall with the best
rating in the four categories.
"Using the 36170 in the IXC network has enabled us to become a major data services
player, allowing us to compete on a tier one level with companies like AT&T, WorldCom
and Sprint. The platform has provided us with the features and capabilities necessary to
provide network services and network managed services to our customers."
The flexibility of the ATM-based multiservice platform has also helped IXC move rapidly and
cost-effectively to market with its latest Internet services offering. The Gemini 2000 network
is designed to run IP over IXC's SONET standard optical core. The company relies on its
ATM-based Newbridge switches to collect and carry traffic into the network's core hubs.
As a technology, ATM provides the pre-deterministic quality of service and policy features
imperative to establishing guaranteed service level agreements (SLAs). Together the three
technologies work well to ensure high speed, high quality Internet service delivery.
Enabling a Graceful Migration
"The advantage the Newbridge technology brings to Gemini 2000 is it allows our customers
to migrate from one application to another very gracefully. If they have frame they can go to
ATM and they can go to IP. It also does it with a minimum of cost because the switch is
dynamic enough to make that change," said Dominick DeAngelo, IXC's Senior Vice
President, Marketing Data Products and Services.
"Newbridge plays a very critical role. If you look at the design that has taken place prior to
Gemini 2000, everybody has tried to put the quality of service — the management of the
bandwidth — in the core of the network and that has not really worked. It has problems. In
using the capability of the Newbridge 36170 Multiservices Switch, we are pushing
intelligence to the edge and we are grooming the customer at the edge. The quality of service
is at the edge of the network, across the network to the far end. Newbridge is the crux of us
doing that."
For wholesale service providers like IXC, managing network services is just as important to
the bottom line as network functions and operations. Most of IXC's customers are service
providers themselves and therefore expect the most sophisticated services from the carrier.
The ability to "see" into and even manage their allotted portions of a virtual private network
delivered by IXC is crucial to customers. And these write and read features also enable IXC
to reduce operational costs by allowing customers to take more responsibility for their service
delivery. The ability to enforce SLAs, troubleshoot and perform rapid fault isolation and
execute many other management functions is all part of today's networking requirements.
And IXC has been pleased with the performance of its management system — provided
again by Newbridge.
Scalable, Multivendor Management
IXC was attracted to the unparalleled performance capabilities of the Newbridge network
and service management portfolio; especially its scalability and multivendor functionality. The
company uses the MainStreetXpress 46020 Network Manager to direct its national network.
It also uses the MainStreetXpress 48020 MultiNetwork Service Controller to gather
information and manage customer services across a variety of networks and service provider
domains.
"The benefits that IXC has gained from the 46020 Network Manager span across all
elements of service delivery. This system is best in class relevant to the ability to provision,
monitor and provide a proxy-type interface for VPN customers or other customers that want
extended managed services. We are very pleased with the 46020 relevant to its ability to help
us provide service excellence," said Vent.
Service excellence, however, also extends to the level of professionalism, expertise and
cooperation a vendor can bring to the table. It goes beyond boxes and solutions and may be
one of the largest contributing factors in the success of any network rollout or ongoing
operation.
"IXC places a high value on the ability of its network partners to work with its own staff to
meet business objectives as quickly and seamlessly as possible," said John Hammock,
Newbridge Senior Territory Manager. "IXC included ‘relationship' on its network criteria list
three years ago and Newbridge recognized that. We value our partnership with IXC because
the company is innovative. We learn from them and also take pride in contributing, through
our leading edge solutions, to their success."
As IXC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Scott points out, the company is
focused on its business and expects its partners to do the same.
"We don't manufacture equipment. We don't do fundamental R&D, so what we need from a
vendor, and what Newbridge provides, is vision in terms of the evolution of technology.
Quality products and services that ride the price performance curve and then a partnership
from a strategy perspective and executing against those opportunities. Newbridge does a
great job of working with us on that." |
