Thread,
A very interesting article from tele.com about IXC and cable modem/HFC testing.
This IXC field test rolls up many of the last mile cable issues we've been discussing:
Telecommuting;
VoIP/Cable;
VPNs;
QoS/Encryption;
IN/AIN access;
and more.
From: teledotcom.com
Enjoy, Frank Coluccio
=================================
Taking Work Home
IXC Communications tests cable-based VPNs for
telecommuting
By Carl Weinschenk. Carl Weinschenk is executive
technology editor for tele.com. He can be reached
atcweinsch@cmp.com
Today marks the cable industry's entry into the widely pursued
market for virtual private networks (VPNs). Four
companies--IXC Communications Inc. (Austin, Texas), Cisco
Systems Inc. (San Jose, Calif.), high-speed data provider The
ISP Channel (a subsidiary of San Francisco-based SoftNet
Systems Inc.) and cable operator Cablevision of Lake Travis
(Austin, Texas)--are scheduled to launch a telecommuting trial
today, using Internet protocol (IP) technology over cable
infrastructure.
The trial is beginning with a small group of home-based IXC
employees, letting them access all the applications and data
available to an IXC worker sitting next to the watercooler,
says Chris Rothlis, IXC's vice president of new product
development. Within six months, the trial will develop from this
"friendly user" test to a beta test with potential customers,
Rothlis says.
The goal of the trial is to set up VPNs between homes and
offices, via the cable headend and IXC's wide-area network
(WAN). Cablevision of Lake Travis uses modems from
Com21 Inc. (Milpitas, Calif.). Packetized voice will be
handled by Cisco's IP phones at the customer premises. The
public switched telephone network (PSTN) will be reached
via a gateway at IXC headquarters. A Cisco call manager will
provide gatekeeper functions designed to control packet
delivery and not overwhelm the system. The companies intend
to implement IP Security (IPSec) encryption later in the trial.
Applications to be tested include four-digit dialing to other
telecommuters and office workers, use of the company PBX
for local and long-distance calling and always-on remote
access to company databases. IP packets will be delivered at
1 Mbit/s; upstream speed is 200 kbit/s. "This is the ultimate
work-at-home scenario, where computers are online full-time
with broadband modems, the service connects through the
company's PBX and video can be supported," says Jess King,
the owner of Cablevision of Lake Travis. The system, which is
not part of Cablevision Systems Corp. (Woodbury, N.Y.),
serves about 7,000 subscribers in the Austin suburb.
The new service is being developed despite the lack of ready
standards supporting a number of functions. For instance, the
cable system must deliver voice and other applications with
quality of service (QoS) and low levels of latency, or packet
delay. The cable industry has settled on a standard for this, the
second version of the Data Over Cable Service Interface
Specification (DOCSIS). With DOCSIS 1.1 released only
weeks ago, however, no gear is ready. Instead of waiting
around for DOCSIS 1.1 products to show up, the partners
will use proprietary packet prioritization and queuing
techniques from Cisco. Under Cisco's so-called
"tag-switching" approach, packets that need
prioritization--such as those transmitting voice or video--carry
identifying flags and are handled accordingly. Unflagged
packets are put in a queue to wait their turn.
Likewise, standards groups are just starting to sort through the
knotty problems of providing IP networks access to the
intelligent network (IN) and advanced intelligent network
(AIN) technology now used on the PSTN for voice VPNs
and other advanced services. Again, instead of waiting for this
to be worked through--which may take years--the system will
use proprietary AIN-like features from Cisco. Similar
development projects are in the laboratory stage, but this is the
first deployment, says Boyd Peterson, vice president of
consultancy The Yankee Group (Boston). The question that
emerges: Why would IXC go to all the trouble of trialing a
cable-based VPN if key techniques underlying the system are
going to change? The answer is that much of what has to be
mastered to make VPNs work on hybrid fiber/coax (HFC)
cable systems is independent of the standards. "It's order
entry, provisioning, billing," says Rothlis. "A lot of the issues
are not DOCSIS- or QoS-related. If I can get in early and
learn my lessons and learn with my employees, I'll be ahead of
the game."
The end goal is a suite of products for small, midsize and,
eventually, larger corporations. IXC could someday make this
technology a standard element on its enterprise gateways.
IXC, which targets small and midsize businesses, won't decide
on when the technology will become a product until after the
trial, Rothlis says. The decision will be based on the state of
standards, how the gear performs, the technology's scalability,
IXC's ability to support it and customer demand, he says.
The demand issue won't be a problem if current VPN trends
continue. The market will increase from $500 million this year
to $4 billion next, according to market watcher Infonetics
Research Inc. (San Jose, Calif.). Various Internet service
providers (ISPs) and local and long-distance telephone
companies are seeking to fill this demand using a number of
access technologies. For its part, IXC is considering
expanding this basic technology model beyond HFC to other
access techniques, such as digital subscriber line (DSL),
wireless and dedicated links such as T1 (1.544 Mbit/s),
Rothlis says. For now, though, the focus is on cable.
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