Deutsche Telekom Offers German Businesses High Capacity ATM Access
newbridge.com
At a small German start-up, an engineer is using Deutsche Telekom's new high speed Internet service to do interactive computerized
simulations in real time. Across town, a dynamic young advertising firm sends its clients huge multimedia files in the blink of an eye.
For them, as for thousands of small- and medium-sized enterprises across Germany, the affordable new broadband service introduces dazzling new
opportunity. Now Deutsche Telekom customers can download video-on-demand and multimedia files, and perform countless other IP applications, at
breathtaking speeds.
Multimedia Over Copper All this is possible through asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), an access technology that carries data and multimedia
traffic over plain copper telephone wires. Because phone calls use only a tiny fraction of the line's capacity, ADSL is able to simultaneously carry digital traffic
through the remaining pipe, 24 hours a day without the need for dial-up connection.
Deutsche Telekom, Europe's leading carrier and largest Internet service provider, uses ADSL technology to boost existing services like T-ATM, T-InterConnect
and T-Online, calling this new offering Telekom Digital Service Line, or T-DSL.
"With T-DSL, the customer gets efficient T-ATM, multimedia and Internet applications at attractive prices," said Klaus Mense, Director, Product Marketing
Management T-ATM at Deutsche Telekom. "At the same time, the new services will keep Deutsche Telekom ahead of the competition in the fully liberalized
global telecommunications market."
Justifiable Demand Rolled out at the start of the year, T-DSL had 15,000 addresses for interested customers before
the marketing program even got underway, Mense said. One important appeal is that the service shares existing phone
lines, requir-ing no capital outlay and only low monthly access charges.
More important, however, is its remarkable versatility.
T-DSL affords ready access to the carrier's high speed ATM core, a platform centered on the MainStreetXpress 36170
Multiservices Switch. The high capacity broadband backbone offers unparalleled perfor- mance and scalability for
Telekom's T-ATM service. It is also intelligently managed by the industry leading MainStreetXpress 46020 Network
Manager, which offers users a sophisticated -- yet simple to use -- graphical interface.
Customers, meanwhile, can harness the power of ATM for applications such as LAN-to-LAN interconnection, teleworking,
electronic commerce, online entertainment, videoconferencing, and, of course, uninterrupted T-ATM access with T-DSL
at blinding downstream speeds of up to 6 Mb/s. Upstream speeds, from the personal computer to the network, currently
range up to 0.6 Mb/s.
Companies use T-DSL access to link into Deutsche Telekom's T-ATM service, business IP service, called
T-InterConnect, while residential customers take advantage of T-DSL to access Telekom's fast Internet service T-Online.
T-ATM over T-DSL, which will be available in 54 cities by the end of 1999, is one of three popular new T-ATM service
enhancements that Deutsche Telekom launched this year.
Additional Services The carrier now can also offer its corporate customers a specially designed ATM-based
communications service, called T-ATM Area, as well as switched virtual circuit (SVC) services for innovative, high
bandwidth voice, data and multimedia applications. Marketed under the brand name T-ATM, the SVC-over-ATM service
gives customers complete flexibility and control over dial-up traffic parameters, usage, billing and service levels.
Mense said the array of new T-ATM services allows major corporate customers -- such as Siemens, Microsoft, Germany's larger banks and the nation's
biggest university research network -- to implement bandwidth-intensive applications, including intranets and extranets. It also enables them to migrate their
legacy WAN products to T-ATM. By integrating leased line, frame relay, X.25 and ISDN traffic over a single ATM-based corporate network, companies can
protect their past technology investments and generate new cost savings.
And finally, with its global telecommunications partners, Deutsche Telekom is able to offer its T-ATM customers seamless data connections to 40 major cities
around the world.
Delivery Platform and Service Strategy with Staying Power In an interview at Deutsche Telekom offices in Bonn, Mense underlined both the
Newbridge products and the company's business approach.
"The key benefit of the 36170 switch is its scalability and the SVC functionality," he noted. "The 46020 distinguishes itself by its user-friendliness and good
graphical display."
Moreover, Mense said, the helpfulness of Newbridge representatives was appreciated. "Their flexibility, competence and willingness to develop special features
together with Deutsche Telekom has been very important for us."
Indeed, Mense is confident of strong growth in the use of T-ATM for quality corporate networks over the next five years, thanks to a combination of switched
services and the attractive DSL access.
"With that strategy," Mense predicted, "we will penetrate the market for small and medium enterprises." |
