[bellsouth]
hi 9r,
think we should move bell south up on the list for potential orctf/fujitsu customers..
just noticed (again) that curious mention of bell south in the orctf press release from supercomm this last june... (did anyone out there see bell south's "Super Neighborhood"?):
"Orckit demonstrates live DSL solutions at Supercomm '98 State-of-the-art DSL in joint demos around the show
Atlanta, GA, June 8, 1998 -- Showcasing a complete array of DSL solutions, Orckit Communications Ltd. (NASDAQ: ORCTF) will demonstrate DSL at work in real world applications at their booth (#5406) and at multiple locations throughout Supercomm, to be held June 9-11 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta...
Fujitsu Network Communications will demonstrate a live end-to-end ATM over ADSL connection into their booth #6513, using the SPEEDPORT DSLAM system, developed jointly with Orckit, and recently selected by GTE for the world's largest planned ADSL deployment, to date. SPEEDPORT will also be featured in the "Super Neighborhood" which is being sponsored by Bell South..."
at the time this seemed a little odd, as the jpc (including bell south) were committed to alcatel and were showing no signs of looking elsewhere, but now (thanks to the last cc), it seems clear that they are looking for second suppliers.. and in hindsight looking at this press release, maybe some have been at it for some time...
also bell south is part of the fsan consortium: Bell Canada, Bell South, BT, DT, Dutch PTT, FT, GTE, Korea Telecom, NTT, SBC, Swiss PTT, Telefonica, Telstra and Telecom Italia... so it seems possible that in the longer term, there could be a vdsl subplot as well..
the following article has a lot of good info on dlc's and much good orctf/fujitsu stuff... as far as possibly relevant bell south info is concerned, apparently they are currently trialing a "hardened" dslam other than alcatels (and the article also notes that orctf/fujitsu dslam is "hardened")
other interesting orctf/fujitsu info in the article includes linecards and g.lite... apparently in q3 99 gte will be deploying an " integrated line card that supports both voice and DSL data." sounds like orctf/fujitsu's which will be available in roughly the same time frame, but before year end gte "will begin deploying interim solutions.." ... this last comment was made in the context of a g.lite reference...
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"October 15, 1998
THE DLC DILEMMA
One third of America is waiting for carriers to find a way to deliver DSL from the digital loop carrier, but time is running out.
By Annie Lindstrom
Of all the things standing in the way of mass deployment of DSL services, the presence of a digital loop carrier (DLC) between the CO and the customer premises is perhaps the most onerous. Fortunately, solutions are already in the pipeline.
While there is room in most COs for a DSL access multiplexer (DSLAM), which at this time is the only means of delivering the service, nearly every square inch of space is accounted for in the remote terminals (RTs) that house DLCs. Those RT cabinets are designed to provide just enough power, and to dissipate just as much heat, as is needed to operate the DLC.
In short, accommodating a guest such as a DSLAM at the DLC is like welcoming your in-laws for an indefinite stay at your 300-square-foot studio apartment - a real challenge, to say the least.
That challenge would not be so formidable were it not for the fact that roughly 30% of LEC customers nationwide derive their local service from DLCs. Some LECs are luckier than others. Due to its densely packed urban markets, only 15% of Bell Atlantic's customers are served from a DLC. Other LECs, such as BellSouth, serve nearly 40% of their customers from DLCs.
The long and short of it
A DLC allows LECs to multiplex hundreds to thousands of signals that run between the CO and the DLC (or multiple DLCs) onto a feeder cable (copper T1 in older models, fiber in newer devices) that runs between the CO and the DLC. Upon reaching the DLC, or the CO in the case of return traffic, the signals are demultiplexed and connected to the appropriate slot on the mainframe or, at the DLC end, onto distribution plant, or twisted pair, that runs from the DLC to each subscribers' home....
In the 1990s, vendors introduced the fiber-fed DLC, or next generation DLC (NGDLC). Their high-bandwidth backplane enable them to support broadband services such as DSL in existing line card slots.
Although vendors are working furiously to integrate DSL functionality into NGDLC line cards, they aren't ready for prime time yet. In the meantime, customers that want high-speed services are being courted by cable modem vendors. Carriers have their hands full delivering DSL to their CO-based customers, but they can ill-afford to shrug off the remaining 30% who are often the most likely customers to have the need for, and ability to pay for DSL.
The landscape
According to Ron Owens, corporate manager of product development for SBC Communications, one of the RBOC's COs in Austin, Texas, reaches 74% of the lines it serves through DLCs. The large number of DLC-served lines in SBC's Southwestern Bell region is one of the main reasons that SBC has not yet rolled out service there, he adds. Nevertheless, SBC plans to begin providing DSL service to DLC-served customers by mid 1999.
"We are researching which solutions are the best, technically and economically," Owens says. SBC is considering several approaches to the problem. The carrier's first preference is to find a way to put a remote DSLAM into an existing controlled environment vault (CEV) that houses a DLC.
Reltec Corp., which manufactures the DSC*S DLC, is working with several DSLAM makers to reconfigure its RT cabinet to accommodate their DSLAMs (Figure 1), says Ken Neighbors, director of marketing for Reltec.
SBC also is considering the use of DSLAMs that can be deployed in a non-controlled environment, also known as a hardened DSLAM.
"We are real close to having some success with that," Owens notes.
SBC also is evaluating Alcatel's Mini-Ram, a universal mini-DSLAM built for the specific purpose of being deployed alongside multiple vendors' DLCs inside the same cabinet. The solution's Achilles' heel is that it supports only eight ports of DSL.
GTE Network Services, which is in the midst of an aggressive rollout, is not yet providing ADSL to DLC-served customers, which account for 30% of the carrier's 22 million access lines, says Mike Osborn, manager of technology testing. Like SBC, GTE is considering a hardened DSLAM or reconfiguring existing DLC cabinets to accommodate a remote-sized DSLAM.
The Fujitsu Network Communications Inc. Speedport DSLAM that GTE is deploying in its COs is a hardened DSLAM.
GTE also is looking at deploying an integrated line card that supports both voice and DSL data. The carrier probably will not deploy an integrated solution until 3Q 1999, Osborn notes. Fujitsu and vendor partner Orckit Communications plan to develop a line card that will plug into Fujitsu's Factr DLC and make it available about six months after the Universal ADSL (UADSL) specification is ratified, says Bob Laurent, marketing manager for Fujitsu. Meanwhile, GTE will begin deploying interim solutions by years' end, Osborn says...
According to Dirk Palenick, director of advanced networking division for BellSouth, the RBOC is trialing two hardened DSLAMs, one of which is Alcatel's ASAM ATM DSLAM, and another which he declined to name. BellSouth also plans to use the Alcatel Mini-RAM when it begins rolling out service to DLC-served customers by year's end.
"The devices only serve eight to 16 subscribers, but they are portable; so when they fill up, we can take them out, put in a hardened DSLAM, and deploy the Mini-RAM elsewhere," Palenik says.
Integrated line cards also are on BellSouth's "radar screen," he adds, noting that the RBOC has not yet "bought in" to any of the solutions it is evaluating..."
americasnetwork.com
after reading this again, sbc is probably worth watching too...
bye
s
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