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Technology Stocks : Westell WSTL -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Zephod who wrote (10362)	4/27/1998 12:50:00 AM
From: Zephod	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21342

[Vendors Team Up to Speed ADSL Work] Competitive local-exchange carrier ICG Communications Inc. is blazing an aggressive trail into ADSL services that is likely to be followed by many other CLECs as vendors make progress toward speeding deployment of the fledgling technology. ICG can move rapidly into high-speed asymmetrical-digital-subscriber-line service thanks in part to the progress that Lucent Technologies has made toward simplifying the delivery of ADSL from its switch locations, said Sheldon Ohringer, president of ICG's telecommunications unit. ICG has voice and data services operating in California, Colorado, the Ohio Valley and parts of the Southeast. "Today, we have 30 colocations in central offices completed for voice, and we are now adding data connections," Ohringer said. "By the end of the year, we will be colocated in 100 central offices for voice and data, and we intend to add another 100 in '99." ICG is the first CLEC to announce ADSL deployments on anything approaching this scale. The company has been working closely with Lucent to facilitate integration of DSL gear at the 5ESS central-office switch, including symmetrical and very high-speed versions, as well as the asymmetrical version, officials said. "Our coming into this market is based on an understanding that integration is the key to making ADSL a mass-market service," said Mark Irvin, manager of data-applications products for Lucent's 5ESS line. Lucent has agreed to partner with Westell Technologies Inc., a leading supplier of ADSL systems, in delivering hardware and software solutions that are tightly mapped to the design of the 5ESS-2000, Lucent's top-of-the-line digital central-office switch. By the third quarter, the companies hope to have the first phase of this integrated product line available for deployment, Irvin said. The first phase consists of linking the DSLAM -- digital-subscriber-line access multiplexer, a module that multiplexes ADSL onto multiple subscriber lines -- with the switch within the switch cabinet, Irvin said. Along with compacting ADSL into the space used by the switch, this step will reduce some of the complexity associated with connecting POTS (plain old telephone service) line cards and the DSLAM, he said. By early 1999, the companies intend to offer a line-card solution that will enable ADSL connection by simply replacing the POTS line card with one supporting both POTS and high-speed-data access. This will greatly reduce the time that it takes to install a customer from the central-office end, Irvin said. Further steps toward integration will follow, he added. The Lucent-Westell connection extends the integration effort to many other vendors, as well, including the digital-signal-processor suppliers that each is partnered with and parties to other alliances. These include the Universal ADSL Working Group, created by the telecommunications industry and several computer companies earlier this year. What it all adds up to is that CLECs and telcos alike will be able to add ADSL features to the more than 100 million lines served by 5ESS switches by year's end, officials said. Full text @ 204.243.31.23