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Technology Stocks : Voice-on-the-net (VON), VoIP, Internet (IP) Telephony -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (2611)	4/12/1999 9:34:00 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3178

Internet Protocol Networks are Still Two Years Away According to New Report From Analysys April 12, 1999 CAMBRIDGE, U.K.--(BUSINESS WIRE) via NewsEdge Corporation -- - VoIP gateways must prove themselves - IP on ATM provides quality-of-service support today Full service telecoms networks based on Internet Protocol (IP) platforms will not be deployed for another two years, according to a new report from telecoms consultancy, Analysys (www.analysys.com). The report entitled 'Next Generation Networks: Integrated IP Architectures' finds that there are still missing elements in the architecture for carrier-scale IP networks, particularly the voice gateways, end-to-end call control, quality-of-service support (except when over ATM) and network management facilities. "Carrier-scale voice gateways have been announced, but have yet to ship, never mind prove themselves in real networks," says Margaret Hopkins, Principal Consultant at Analysys and the report's lead author. "Products from companies such as Cisco are on the market but have yet to be trialled in a network supporting millions of simultaneous calls." Whilst most data traffic is now IP, say the authors, the technology must prove that it can also reliably and efficiently handle the voice traffic which provides the bulk of operator revenues. However, given the speed of innovation in the Internet world, it is likely that IP will eventually overcome these hurdles. "The fact that it is now possible to transport voice on IP (VoIP) makes it feasible to integrate voice with data on a packet network," added Margaret Hopkins. "The rapid growth in the use of the public Internet and the proliferation of corporate intranets and extranets strengthen the case for operators to optimise their networks in this way." The case for IP is supported by other compelling factors. There are sizeable cost savings (up to 50 per cent) for both network operators and corporate users which integrate their systems on one platform. From this, further scope for new areas of added value will arise. The drive towards IP is also being pushed by IT equipment vendors, determined to capture market share from traditional telecoms equipment makers. The falling costs of transmission bandwidth and increasing computer power are also making fast packet networks much cheaper to build and run. "Datawave operators, such as Qwest and Carrier1, see IP as an opportunity to undercut traditional carriers from a lower cost base," added Margaret Hopkins. "They do not have the legacy systems of the traditional operators and can carry large volumes of IP traffic using the latest DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) technology to provide very cheap capacity. " Few commentators doubt that IP will become the application protocol of the future, but many, including some of the companies profiled for this report (Carrier1, Qwest, Cisco, Lucent, Nortel, Marconi and Juniper), do not think it is inevitable that IP will become the predominant network protocol. TOs, vendors and standards bodies have spent a decade working on and promoting ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) as a multi-service platform, and like the public switched telephone network (PSTN), it is unlikely to disappear just because IP has become the predominant application protocol. Many operators have successfully deployed IP on ATM to provide the quality of service that current VoIP lacks. "The likely evolution path for existing networks is to create a packet network alongside the PSTN, which supports voice as well as data, and to configure it to behave like another transit switch," said Hopkins. " Operators will then migrate voice gradually to the new platform as and when they require the facilities which that platform provides." Written by Margaret Hopkins with Adrian Rawlings and Karin Sherwood, the report is published by Analysys Publications and is available either in paper format or electronically via the Web (www.analysys.com/publish) at a cost of US$2330 or US$2690 respectively. NOTE: An executive summary of this report is available on request from Analysys Publications. <<Business Wire, 04-09-99, 08:16 Eastern>> CONTACT: Media: \| Analysys Publications, Cambridge \| Laura Hobbs \| Tel: +44 (0)1223 341300 \| Email: laura.hobbs@analysys.com \| or \| Martin Brooke Associates, Cambridge \| Martin Brooke \| Tel: +44 (0)1223 264050 \| Email: martinbrooke@dial.pipex.com [Copyright 1999, Business Wire]