Frank, I will certainly admit this is a subject in which I am way over my head. I posted an article from PC Week which discusses "integrating voice and data traffic on an ATM-based switching platform" by combining the Passport 8780 Packet Voice Gateway in the providers central office with the Passport Multiservice CPE switch on the customers premises. I am also posting the press release from Nortel on the same subject which says "MultiService Connect transcends current Frame Relay Access Device (FRAD) or Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) voice/data integration in two very powerful ways. First, current solutions only enable the integration of voice and data for intra-enterprise or "on-net" communications. Businesses must continue to maintain separate network access for telphony through the PSTN, reducing any cost advantage gained from the integration. Secondly, current solutions provide only near toll quality voice capabilities. Users may be willing to tolerate sub-standard voice quality for internal conversations, but this is unacceptable for customers." The press release talks about "an open, standards based solution", rather than a proprietary one. The press release says: "All of this traffic can be transported to the carrier's network over a single ATM link." I do not have the technical expertise to evaluate how much of this is hype or whether this product will really offer Nortel a competitive advantage in the near term. We are entering the fourth quarter in which the carriers usually dramatically increase their equipment purchases. If Nortel can sell these switches, it will certainly help.
Yours comments are certainly appreciated.
Ken
-NORTEL NETWORKS: Nortel Networks announces
the first complete voice/data access solution for
carriers
Presswire - October 16, 1998 13:37
M2 PRESSWIRE-16 October 1998-NORTEL NETWORKS: Nortel Networks announces
MultiService Connect, the first complete voice/data access solution for carriers
(C)1994-98 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
-- Based on the new Passport 8780 packet voice gateway and Passport 4740
multiservice access platform, Nortel Networks sets a new standard for
high-bandwidth, high-speed, multi-function capabilities over a single connection
BOSTON -- Nortel Networks'* [NYSE: NT/TSE: NTL] MultiService Connect is a
revolutionary, integrated-access technology that provides carriers the first complete
voice-plus-data access integration platform over a packet based infrastructure. Nortel
Networks' MultiService Connect enables a service provider to efficiently bundle all
services (including local and long-distance telephony as well as data communications)
over a single connection. The need for multiple access links is eliminated and carriers'
customers will be able to conduct multiple voice calls, fax transmissions, data
communications links, run advanced applications, and access the Internet over a
single link. Customers no longer have to lease separate, often underutilized links for
each service. Bandwidth is dynamically allocated to IP and other bursty data while
maintaining full toll-quality voice.
"MultiService Connect is revolutionizing the way carriers will deliver services to small
and large businesses alike," said Clarence Chandran, president, Carrier Packet
Networks, Nortel Networks. "It provides the carrier with the capability to converge
data, voice, and video traffic into innovative, revenue-building service packages, while
reducing the end-user's total communications costs. With MultiService Connect, a
virtual point-of-presence is created by the carrier on the customer's premises. This
provides the carrier with the ability to efficiently deliver to end-users the new services
they want."
"Economic advantage will be achieved by those carriers that manage to consolidate
network infrastructures," said Lee Doyle, vice president, Worldwide LAN & Data
Communications at International Data Corporation. By enabling carriers to provide
multiple services over a single network, MultiService Connect can reduce carrier cost
structures. Doyle continued to say, "by using packet-based backbone technology, the
network cost to deliver a typical voice call will drop to a fraction of the cost of that
same call on a traditional circuit-switched voice networks."
MultiService Connect also provides the foundation for redefining the competitive
landscape for local and long distance telephony as well as data communications
services. Carriers, including Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs),
Inter-Exchange Carriers (IXCs), and even Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs)
that want to extend their capabilities outside of their territory, must lease T1 access
lines from local service providers. By collapsing separate, independently managed
service networks onto a single T1/E1-integrated access facility, MultiService Connect
will allow these competitive carriers to reduce the cost of delivering service to the
customer-access.
MultiService Connect transcends current Frame Relay Access Device (FRAD) or
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) voice/data integration solutions in two very
powerful ways. First, current solutions only enable the integration of voice and data
for intra-enterprise or "on-net" communications. Businesses must continue to
maintain separate network access for telephony through the Public Switched
Telephone Network (PSTN), reducing any cost advantage gained from the integration.
Secondly, current solutions provide only near toll quality voice capabilities. Users
may be willing to tolerate sub-standard voice quality for internal conversations, but
this is unacceptable for customers.
MultiService Connect Product Platforms The unique capabilities of MultiService
Connect are due to the combination of the revolutionary Passport 8780 Packet Voice
Gateway and the new Passport 4740 MultiService Access Platform to provide an open,
standards-based solution.
The Passport 4740 is a multiservice access platform that delivers both cost-effective
performance and service flexibility. The Passport 4740 is designed to support a wide
variety of standards-based user services, including digital T1/E1 voice, frame relay,
TDM/circuit emulation, and IP services. All of this traffic can be transported to the
carrier's network over a single ATM link. Crucial in maintaining toll-quality voice, the
Passport 4740 features advanced, fully integrated voice compression, echo
cancellation, and delay management technology.
The Passport 8780 Packet Voice Gateway, located within the service provider's point
of presence, provides a point of consolidation for traffic originating from multiple
Passport 4740s. The Passport 8780 can serve as a relay for end-user data traffic to
existing public data networks and/or the Internet. The key functionality of the
Passport 8780 is its efficient bridging of voice traffic between Passport 4740s and the
public switched telephone network (PSTN). The Passport 8780 delivers reliable PSTN
toll-quality voice integration, and is optimized for carrier-scale density and scalability.
Equipped with standards-based, high-density, DS-3/E3 channelized interfaces, the
Passport 8780 interoperates with most PSTN voice switches, supporting the
interworking of both CAS and CCS signaling. It features a powerful digital signal
processing (DSP) server architecture, which delivers advanced voice processing
density and quality, optimized for carrier-scale applications. The Passport 8780 can be
configured with multiple DSP-based voice-processing server cards, with each card
supporting 720+ simultaneous voice channels. A single Passport 8780 shelf can
support up to 3000 DS0 voice channels.
MultiService Connect Open Standards Both the Passport 4740 and Passport 8780 have
been designed with full support of open standards. Both support channel-associated
signaling (CAS) as well as common channel signaling (CCS) for optimal call control
flexibility. MultiService Connect products feature ATM Forum-compliant interfaces
and traffic management capabilities. Both the Passport 4740 and 8780 systems support
highly efficient AAL-2, an emerging standard for voice telephony over ATM.
AAL-2-based voice encoding provides enhanced Quality of Service (QoS) and takes
advantage of the binary characteristic of voice communications by making all the
system bandwidth available to data when no one is talking, resulting in increased
networking efficiency and improved data traffic performance.
Pricing and Availability The Passport 4740 and Passport 8780 are in initial trials now
and will be generally available during the first quarter of 1999. Pricing for MultiService
Connect will start at about US$10,000 per site in a minimum carrier deployment.
Nortel Networks works with customers worldwide to design, build, and deliver
telecommunications and IP-optimized networks. Customers include public and private
enterprises and institutions; Internet service providers; local, long-distance, cellular
and PCS communications companies, cable television carriers, and utilities.
Nortel Networks' common shares are listed on the New York, Toronto, Montreal,
Vancouver, and London stock exchanges. Nortel Networks had 1997 revenues of
US$15.5 billion and Bay Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nortel Networks, had
revenues of US$2.4 billion during its most recent fiscal year. The combined company's
workforce totals approximately 80,000 employees worldwide.
* Nortel Networks, the Nortel Globemark and How the world shares ideas are
trademarks of Northern Telecom. |
