Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : CACS - Carrier Access Corp -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dvdw© who wrote (65)	10/21/2003 11:12:35 AM
From: dvdw©	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 80

Here is an expanded description of the Alcatel CACS Press release; Very very interesting! Roanoke, Va., Has Hand in Next Big Thing in Broadband Technology Oct 19, 2003 (The Roanoke Times - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- The word "Roanoke" never appears in the press release about fiber-optic technologies shared by Carrier Access of Colorado and Alcatel of France. But the fingerprints of Roanoke-based engineers and software developers are all over this one. Carrier Access' eight-person research and development office in Roanoke designed and built a key component of what Alcatel is now marketing as a system to connect businesses and homes directly to fiber-optic lines. Fiber to the Premise, or FTTP, is seen by many as the next big thing in broadband. Fiber's blinding speed easily eclipses standard business and home broadband technologies such as cable modems and DSL. But FTTP remains something of a novelty for now, in part because of its costs and in part because industry standards were set only about a year ago. The standards guarantee that equipment developed by different companies will deliver identical services. It's also a relatively new technology. Carrier Access and Alcatel say they have tested their products enough to guarantee that Alcatel's fiber-optic network products will work with the terminal built by Carrier Access. The terminal allows a business, for example, to use a fiber-optic connection for data transfer, voice traffic and video. That shoebox-sized terminal, which would be installed in a business, is the design of the Roanoke engineering group. (Alcatel makes its own terminal for home use.) Others have similar devices on the market or in development. But Carrier Access' Roanoke-based director of product management, Dennis Gatens, tells his team the formula is simple. "What I've told people is if the market is successful then we will be successful," he said. There have been plenty of "next big things" that didn't work out in technology. But this one seems like an especially solid bet. No one disputes that fiber optics are a superior method of transferring data of any variety. The speed is unmatched, and one line can support many users without being taxed. Cable modems and DSL offer just a fraction of that capacity. FTTP for many observers represents the next evolutionary step beyond those other technologies, one which companies such as Verizon are betting will eventually be the standard platform for services from telephone calls to high-definition television signals. Verizon said it has aggressive plans to roll out fiber connections in its coverage area in coming years. FTTP already has a place in Southwest Virginia. Abingdon's electronic village, for example, has fiber connections that go right into homes and businesses. Bristol's city government is in the early stages of providing fiber links that carry TV and high-speed Internet in competition with private providers. Gatens said FTTP remains in the "early adopter phase." The list price for a business that chooses the Alcatel/Carrier Access fiber platform is about $2,500 for the unit that supports video, voice and data. As more companies get in the game, that price range will decline steadily. For Gatens and his Roanoke colleagues, the Alcatel partnership is a meaningful victory. Roots of the local Carrier Access office extend years back to the former ITT Industries office in town. Former ITT workers spawned their own company, FiberCom, in the early 1980s. Litton Industries bought that firm in the mid-1990s, then shut it down in 2000. From that pool of expertise, Ken Ferris created Millennia Systems, which specialized in DSL technologies. When Carrier Access bought Millennia, the company had more than 50 employees. But dot-com bubbles, economic troubles and telecom struggles whittled away the office. "It's been rough since then," Gatens said. For Gatens and others here, this latest development involving Alcatel is the best news in a while. And nobody worries that the Roanoke contribution is completely behind the scenes. By McGregor McCance To see more of The Roanoke Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to roanoke.com (c) 2003, The Roanoke Times, Va. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.