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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeff Jordan who wrote (25083)	12/1/1997 11:58:00 PM
From: sepku	Respond to of 61433

>>>Style, I'm looking at my official Ascend product guide. It says: 2,016 concurrent modem sessions or 4,032 ISDN or 56/64 Frame relay connections 150 T1/FT1/E1/FE1 frame relay connections per system. Highest density,lowest cost-per port in the industry.<<< Thank you Jeff, for verifying what I suspected. Style Pts.

To: Jeff Jordan who wrote (25083)	12/2/1997 4:22:00 AM
From: Elroy	Respond to of 61433

<< my official Ascend product guide. It says: 2,016 concurrent modem sessions or 4,032 ISDN or 56/64 Frame relay connections 150 T1/FT1/E1/FE1 frame relay connections per system.>> Jeff, Don't get me wrong, but your guide says "system", and I'm pretty sure that means 3 TNTs linked together, so don't confuse it with one TNT. I believe one TNT can terminate 50 T1 frame relay conections or 672 Basic Rate ISDN connections. One T1 frame relay module for the TNT has 10 T1 connection ports, and one TNT can hold five of these modules, thus fifty T1 frame relay connections per TNT, and 3 TNTs per "system". I'm pretty sure that one TNT box (as opposed to system) can terminate only 192 analog modem calls. I am positive that one Total Control Hub with the new Hiper Access Cards (which can terminate 24 calls each) is capable of handling more analog modem calls than one TNT box (not what Ascend calls a system). This is all from memory, but my memory is pretty accurate.

To: Jeff Jordan who wrote (25083)	12/2/1997 6:11:00 AM
From: Ron Masson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

Jeff Jordan wrote: > > I'm looking at my official Ascend product guide. It says: > > 2,016 concurrent modem sessions or 4,032 ISDN or 56/64 Frame relay > connections > > 150 T1/FT1/E1/FE1 frame relay connections per system. > > Highest density,lowest cost-per port in the industry. > > Jeff > It just goes to show! Never believe what SOME people say in their > posts! NOT EVEN IN THE BALL PARK ON THIS ONE! Jeff, Unless Ascend have introduced some new technology that I'm not aware of yet (quite possible), I can't see how they can possibly support 2016 concurrent modems in a single TNT (even if it is a 3 shelf system). Warning: Non-technically inclined readers should feel free to press "Next" here. Maybe your official Ascend product guide is referring to some new technology that is going to be released in the new year. Following is my understanding of the TNT's current capabilities - please correct me if I am wrong. The TNT is a 16 slot chassis. It supports 8 port channelised E1/T1 cards that take up a single slot and 48 port 56K digital modem cards (DM48) that take up two slots. If I put 6 x DM48 and 2 x channelised T1/E1 cards in the TNT, a single shelf can support 288 modems. In a three shelf configuration the TNT can support up to 672 modems because apparently you waste a slot (a T1/E1 card) in the second and third TNTs in a 3 shelf configuration. Keep in mind that a single TNT is 14" high. Hence, it supports 288 modems per 14" (single shelf configuration) and 672 modems per 42" (3 shelf configuration). Now let's look at the current port densities and rack space requirements of some of Ascend's competitors - 3Com (USR), Cisco and Bay Networks. 3Com (aka USR) Total Control Hub (TCH) -------------------------------------- I think that Elroy had it right with the TCH. Until fairly recently, the TCH had fairly low port densities because it only supported quad modem cards. However, 3Com has recently released the 24 port T1 and 30 port E1 HiPer DSP cards. The TCH now supports 336 modems per TCH for T1 and 420 modems per TCH for E1. Given that the TCH is 8.75" high, you should be able to fit almost 5 x TCHs into the same rack space as a 3 shelf TNT (43.75" for 5 x TCHs vs. 42" for 3 x TNTs). So for roughly the same amount of rack space, the modem densities are as follows: Ascend TNT (3 shelf) - 672 modems for T1 or E1 3Com TCH (5) - 1680 modems via T1 & 2100 modems for E1 The biggest problem with the TCH is that it only supports x2 whereas most ISPs and customers in my part of the world (Australia, New Zealand & Asia) are demanding K56Flex. However, the TCH will be software upgradeable to support V.PCM when the real 56K standard is ratified. Cisco AS5300 ------------- The AS5200 was a joke. Apart from its lack of processing power and port density, it also didn't support E1 R2 signalling which meant that it was difficult to sell into most of Asia, Latin America, parts of Europe and New zealand. The AS5300 has addressed the processing power and R2 issues, but the port density is only doubled from the AS5200. The AS5300 can support 4 x T1/E1 and 96/120 modems respectively in a 3.4" high package. It is by no means a carrier class RAC, but you could fit 12 of them in the same rack space as a 3 shelf TNT. The results: Ascend TNT (3 shelf) - 672 modems for T1 or E1 Cisco AS5300 (12) - 1152 modems for T1 & 1440 modems for E1 Cisco support K56Flex and will be software upgradeable to support V.PCM. Bay Networks 5399 ----------------- Warning: I work for Bay but I'll stick to the facts You can fit 13 x 5399 blades in a System 5000 chassis. Each 5399 can either support 2 x T1/PRI and 48 modems or 2 x E1/PRI and 60 modems. That means that you can support 1248 modems (T1) or 1560 modems (E1) in a single System 5000 that is 22.7" high. So 2 x 5000 will roughly fit into the same space occupied by a 3 shel TNT (i.e. 45.4" for Bay vs. 42" for Ascend. The modem density results: Ascend TNT (3 shelf) - 672 modems for T1 or E1 Bay Networks 5000 (2) - 2496 modems for T1 or 3120 modems for E1 Bay Networks currently supports x2 on the 5399 and will also support K56Flex in January. x2 and K56Flex will not be supported on the same 5399 blade, but they can run on different 5399 blades within the same 5000 chassis. The 5399 will aslo be software upgradeable to support V.PCM. The only reason that I rattle off all of these facts are that port densities and rack space are BIG issues for ISPs and Telcos. The higher the port densities and the smaller the rack space the better. Needless to say there are plenty of other issues involved in a RAC purchase(e.g. price (cost per port), ease of configuration/management, relationships, cost of changing vendors, installed base, heat output, etc.) I'm sure that Ascend will be releasing higher density products in 1998 that will help them to fend off their competitors. Like you, I think that you should be careful taking posts on the Ascend SI thread as gospel. However, I would be even more careful about believing something that was printed in a vendor's product brochure. Afterall, brochures and product guides are prepared by the spin doctors in the marketing department, not by the engineers that develop the product :-) RPM