The company's massive multiservice switch adds optical to more traditional media, all on the same box.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [April 3, 2008]

Huntsville, Ala.-based ADTRAN has two divisions, enterprise networking (EN) and carrier networking (CN). The CN division builds products for every piece of a service provider's network, from the core to the edge. At the core, the flagship product is the Total Access 5000 MSAP (MultiService Access Platform).

The idea is that a service provider can have one box taking in data using a variety of protocols and send it as Ethernet through the core. "Keeping Ethernet end to end is important," explains Kevin Morgan, director of marketing for the CN division. "Service providers want to have a scalable product that will not handicap them going forward."

Obviously, the box supports legacy protocols, but the network design envisioned by ADTRAN has Ethernet at the edge. "Where should the platform perform protocol conversion? We believe it should be as close to the edge as possible. We have pseudowire on our product, but the point I'm making is that other competing platforms have to use SONET or ATM which will not support newer high bandwidth revenue generating services."

This is all about IPTV, in the residential market. "The standards bodies have defined how Ethernet should work with VLAN technology, providing QoS and class of service. The alternative is to convert Ethernet into some sort of ATM PVC."

The pieces
The new capabilities are comprised of several components:

• An optical line terminal blade that slots into the Total Access 5000, situated in the CO
• The flexible OSU 300
• The chassis itself

The business case
ISPs are rolling out ever higher amounts of bandwidth to customers, notes Morgan. As individual customers reach 15 Mbps or even 100 Mbps, a DS-3 or T-3, operating at about 43 Mbps, is insufficient for backhaul. ISPs need Ethernet, operating at 1 Gbps or higher. In fact, ADTRAN plans to roll out 10 GigE for the Total Access 500 later this year.

Ethernet at the core allows a wide variety of services to be delivered, and it allows service providers to prioritize those, such as voice and video, that require guaranteed packet delivery.

While in an ideal world, carriers would deliver fiber optic connectivity to every customer, the reality is that carriers need to use their existing networks. Thus, last month, ADTRAN announced a significant customer win, Belgacom, Belgium's ILEC. The ILEC will be using ADTRAN's Ethernet over copper technology to deliver advanced services to customers who don't have Fiber to the Premises (FTTP).

Other carriers will be doing the same.

ADTRAN touts its advantages
ADTRAN's products are modular. Need an arcane protocol? Swap in a new line card. While the company competes with specialist technology providers in every area, it touts the breadth of its offering to carriers. Morgan adds that many service providers use the company's network element management system, and that the dependability of that system gives ADTRAN an advantage in sales.

As does carrier experience. "We've been around for over 20 years," he says. "We understand that there's a transition period with new technologies. Fiber is being deployed in greenfield builds, but the statistics we're seeing from Infonetics and others suggest that 85 percent of businesses today are still served with copper and will be through 2010. Hence, there's a large interest in bonded copper and Ethernet over copper."

The past may be copper, but the future is fiber. Bandwidth is the primary consideration, but there are others. Oddly enough, the price of copper has risen so far that the cost of fiber media is now comparable to that of copper. "If you plow the ground and install conduit, you might as well use fiber optic technology," says Morgan.

As to pricing, the company is not releasing information to the press. Morgan says, "we're number two in the DSL market and we know that pricing factors into our customers' decisions. We're prepared to meet the challenge."

He adds that ADTRAN engineering can help. "We have our own ASIC development group. We can lower the bottom line cost and we can also add in features."

—End