Darren,
Several days ago I posted these messages here:
Message 3843285
Message 3897816
One was a reply to your query about how I felt the network was evolving, and what we could look forward to down the road. I replied with some rather abstract thoughts, admittedly, concerning how the new environment would resemble the PSTN, but only in a routed fashion, with LECs acting as virtual extensions to network access points (NAPs). In a previous post I made reference to a public routed /switched telephone network (PRTN) [now that I think of it, perhaps it should be the PRVDN?] which would assume many of the roles of, and eventually partially displace, the PSTN as we know it today.
Here are some press releases which reinforce those notions. While the articles below speak about xDSL and specific brand routers, they needn't be those particular technologies or manufacture. For the record, I am invested in neither at the present time. It could be cable modem, or wireless, or whatever. The scenarios these PRs paint should speak for themselves.
Note the trailing statement on the second PR which speaks to Billing and Accounting Functions. I think that we will see more emphasis on these capabilities as speculation and action increases concerning some proposed FCC-invoked fees and surcharges for VoIP and other Internet related services in the future, as well as moves towards usage sensitive pricing.
Regards, Frank Coluccio
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Access Manager Ties DSL Data To Many ISPs
April 3, 1998
This really might be the year of DSL.
The hype over digital subscriber line technology has
been blunted during the past two years as deployment
problems surfaced.
But this week, a little-known company called Redback
Networks Inc. will burst onto the scene with an
innovative product that could encourage wide-scale
adoption of DSL services.
The company's first product, the Subscriber
Management System 1000, acts as a traffic manager that
sits between a carrier's DSL access multiplexer (DSLAM)
and an ISP's network.
The SMS 1000 takes a DSL data stream from a carrier's
DSLAM, dynamically associates each stream to the
appropriate ISP, and then performs the translations
needed to get it onto an ISP's IP network. The unit can
support up to 4,000 data streams from multiple vendors'
DSLAMs.
The SMS 1000 removes several obstacles to DSL
deployment. These include the limited geographical
coverage of most carriers' DSL services and the tight link
between a DSL service and a specific high-speed
application.
The SMS 1000 is being tested or used by ISPs
AboveNet Communications Inc., Concentric Networks
Inc., DSLNet and Verio Northern California, and to
overcome limited geographical reach.
For example, Concentric is rolling out a high-speed
Internet access service that uses DSL connections from
competitive local exchange carriers Covad
Communications Co. and NorthPoint Software Ventures
Inc., as well as Pacific Bell.
To accomplish this, an SMS 1000 sits between a Bay
Networks BCN router on Concentric's network and
DSLAMs in each of the three providers' networks. Each
of the three carriers uses a different vendor's DSLAM.
To the SMS 1000, it makes no difference, since it is only
looking at DSL data streams.
Concentric's approach lets it offer a transparent
high-speed service to the user while giving the ISP the
ability to use whichever provider has service available in
that user's area, said Mark Fisher, Concentric's vice
president of marketing.
The SMS 1000 also makes it possible to let a user access
multiple services using a single DSL line. Today, when a
user subscribes to a DSL service, that service is
intimately tied to a specific application, like Internet
access.
Most DSL vendors that have tried to address this
multiservice issue have advocated leveraging ATM
switched virtual circuits in a service provider's
backbone.
But there are many problems with ATM and SVCs. First,
many ISP networks are, for now, routed networks based
on IP and do not use ATM. Even if a service provider's
backbone was ATM-based, there are very few
commercially available ATM SVC services.
The SMS 1000 gets around this problem by dynamically
assigning a user to a service based on the user's action.
"We are bringing the ease of dial-up networking to
DSL," said Larry Blair, Redback's vice president of
marketing. Users would have icons on their desktops
similar to those used in a dial-up scenario. If the users
want to connect to an ISP, they click on the appropriate
icon and this starts a Point-to-Point Protocol session
with the SMS 1000.
The SMS 1000 looks at the user's name and the domain
name. It associates the domain name with the
appropriate network the user is trying to access.
The SMS 1000 is available now. A base model is priced
at $26,980. Interface modules start at $3,495.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
BAY NETWORKS/ Bay Networks introduces DSL services
concentrator
April 3, 1998
M2 PRESSWIRE via NewsEdge Corporation : Product
will take ATM bridged traffic from DSLAMs and convert
to IP packets for routing to an ISP --
Bay Networks, Inc. (NYSE: BAY) today announced the
introduction of the Bay Networks DSL Services
Concentrator designed to act as a gateway that connects
layer 2 DSL networks to revenue producing IP services.
The DSL Services Concentrator software enables Bay
Networks' Backbone Node (BN) routers to offer leading
ATM-based DSLAMs a connection to high-speed IP
networks.
Offering the highest scalability in the industry -- 2048
Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) per slot -- Bay
Networks' DSL Services Concentrator has been tested
with a series of the industry's leading DSLAM products.
"With our highly scalable architecture, Bay Networks is
capable of supporting over 20,000 users per DSL
Services Concentrator," explained Sally Bament, vice
president of product management for Bay Networks
Routing and Protocol Division. "This translates into
savings as service providers roll out the DSL network."
Leading DSL equipment vendors today offer DSL CPE
that function as bridges and transmit user data over the
DSL link using ATM RFC 1483 protocol. A central
DSLAM aggregates the incoming bridged ATM traffic
from these CPE devices and grooms subscriber traffic
onto an OC-3 ATM link. As part of the Bay Networks
DSL Services Concentrator offering, the third party
DSLAM OC-3 ATM link can be handed off to a Bay
Networks BCN router. The DSL traffic is simply bridged
until it reaches the Bay Networks equipment where it is
converted to IP packets suitable for routing through to
the Internet.
In addition, the Bay Networks DSL Services
Concentrator enables service providers the opportunity
to offer value-added services such as VPNs. Bay
Networks' gateway solution is also completely
independent of the physical DSL layer.
"We are completely independent of the DSL modem
technology that is used on the access side," said Kelly
McGovern, vice president of marketing, Bay Networks
Internet/Telecom Business Group. "As the industry
decides on a DSL standard, Bay Networks' solution is
interoperable with, and independent of, the physical DSL
protocols."
Features of Bay Networks' DSL Services Concentrator
include Dynamic Learning Mode, allowing the host
station's MAC and IP addresses to be learned
automatically by gleaning IP and DHCP packets; and
Source Based Routing which routes packets directly to a
gateway address (ISP router) based on source IP address
rather than destination IP address.
Realizing the importance to telcos that the network
infrastructure for DSL be ATM-based -- although
applications and the Internet are IP-based -- Bay
Networks' DSL Services Concentrator bridges the gap
between the transport and applications networks.
Additional enhancements already being planned for Bay
Networks' DSL Services Concentrator will enable service
providers to improve their offerings in billing/
accounting, IP services for VPN and QoS offerings. |
