SteveG,
Thanks for the URL... for those that can't access it I'll post a few excerpts here... SteveG..I don't think this article argues for ATM edges at.. in fact, to the contrary.
Remote access 1999
Prognosticators point to the remote access
technologies that will best meet your needs.
By Arielle Emmett
Network World, 4/6/98
Your access options are already varied, but they're going
to get even more so in the coming year. The choices
include 56K bit/sec modems, wireless IP telephony,
ADSL, cable modems and secure VPNs, to name a few.........At the high end of the remote access requirement ladder
is the need to tie larger branch offices into the corporate
net. Here it appears frame relay will reign supreme. ...By 1999, corporations looking for multiple levels of priority and QoS may
migrate to some level of ATM and frame relay interworking, says Inbar
Lasser-Raab, a director of product management for RAD Data
Communications, Inc. interexchange carriers, for example, are looking at ATM/
frame relay interworking to satisfy complex access requirements for institutions
with many branch offices, such as banks and retail companies.
This is interesting...by 1999? By 1999 I think it will be too late. Still I agree that at speeds of T1 and above ATM is a better solution, however the market for CPE at these speeds is relatively small today. This coupled with the desire by companies to use IP (simplicity) and the push by vendors to deliever ATM-like QoS will likely mean that, by 1999, the market for ATM CPE will be smaller (see more on this below)...which is the point I've made multiple times. This all said, the market for business using T1 or higher is an order of magnitude smaller than those using <T1. ATM can not scale down...
The VPN boom
In the meantime, branch office connectivity to the Internet is becoming hotter, as
vendors make it easier to accomplish, Lasser-Raab says. For example, small to
mid-size branch offices can access a wide-area IP backbone using a fractional
T-1 access router that has an integral DSU/CSU and a firewall, such as the Rad
Web Ranger II-T-1. As a result, remote access customers can take advantage
of ISP-based network services - including enhanced e-mail, Web access and
enterprise LAN connectivity.
"Enterprises now use the Internet as a WAN, a vehicle to provide remote
access to teleworkers, after-hours workers, remote offices and traveling
employees,'' says Eric Bocish, director of core network services at US WEST's
!nterprise group.
ATM backbone...IP edges......
But Coons says it will take service-level agreements between users and their
carriers or ISPs to address QoS issues. These issues include availability,
reliability and performance in terms of throughput, delay and packet loss.
Carriers are addressing these matters. Concen-tric Network Corp., an ISP in
Cupertino, Calif., is now offering money-back guarantees that latency across its
network won't exceed 125 msec, a real draw for enterprises concerned with
fast access and network performance.
"Concentric runs on an ATM backbone and built its network originally to
address Internet multiuser gaming, where latency is an issue,'' Coons says. "I
don't know of any other carrier in the business ready to rat on itself by
reimbursing customers for lost performance.''
Again... ATM backbone... at no point in this article does is discuss ATM edges. I will remind everyone that YURI builds ATM CPE..not backbone equipment.
ISPs also are looking to offer different tiers of VPN service, says Hilary Mine,
senior vice president of Probe Research, Inc. Using technology such as the
Resource Reservation Protocol, designed to reserve bandwidth on a net, and
additional tunneling protocols for security (see story, page 43), carriers can
offer QoS-type services and carve out secure channels to boost performance,
she says.
What's this?! QoS on IP... Unheard of!
"If you take 384K bit/sec data rates and an IP telephony solution in your
laptop, you could download e-mail or share a document, or talk to another
corporate worker who is mobile like yourself,'' Brodsky says. The principal
benefit, aside from cost, is coverage and ubiquity. "What you're really
comparing this to is a somewhat petrified wire-line infrastructure that's been
promising high speed for years,'' Brodsky adds. "A 3-G wireless system will
provide ubiquitous high-speed access; clearly you want to use that on the road,
maybe at home, or in the office.''
Lone telecommuters and small branch offices also may be able to use cable
modem technology, which zips data across the Internet at multimegabit speeds.
Some cable modems can now reach speeds of 5M to 10M bit/sec, although
most cable providers do not deploy at that level. The success of cable modem
technology for the telecommuting population will depend on how aggressively
cable companies move their outside plant to commercial zones - right now cable
is almost exclusively residential.
TeleChoice's Gage says cable companies are already putting the moves on the
commercial sector, citing US WEST's MediaOne Connect in the Los Angeles
area as a prime example. "It's not a consumer-only product anymore,'' she says.
If op-erators make use of available cable plant and are aggressive on pricing, "it
could work,'' Gage says.
Dataquest's Coons thinks the price is right. "Some advertise around $45 per
month for everything, including equipment lease, the ISP and Ethernet interface
that plugs into your PC,'' he says.
Whichever access methods companies choose now, most analysts are betting
that premium data highways built over the Internet will become increasingly
important.
"The No. 1 change that's happening is an explosion of QoS and bandwidth
requirements for services,'' says Tim McShane, director of marketing, remote
access, at Cisco Systems, Inc. "People are getting on the 'Net and staying on,
continuously using the lines that are open. That means big requirements for QoS
and latency control, and a rich set of protocols to prioritize sessions on the
'Net.''
Corporations will benefit from outsourcing portions of their nets and choosing
access devices that can handle more sophisticated connectivity. In turn,
McShane says, "ISPs are getting ready for where these services are going;
they're making sure the infrastructure will scale appropriately.''
Well, so we all agree on one thing...that QoS is hugely important. If ATM is the only that QoS can be guaranteed than YURI is in excellent shape - at least at T1 and above. But, it appears that QoS on IP is in fact being developed and as I said there's incredible pressure being brought to bear in this area amongst all the IP companies. It's a target...
Gary |
