RAD: well placed for boom in ethernet access

Israel-based RAD Data Communications, named in the Yankee Group report as the developer of "one of the most exciting features of ethernet access equipment" recently opened an Australian office in anticipation of the boom in the ethernet access market.

Udi Furman, general manager of RAD Data Communications Australia, told Exchange "This concept that the Yankee group are trying to focus on is completely new. No one at the moment is looking at this area. It's the ethernet access termination unit...The whole idea is to distribute intelligence to the edge of the network so the carrier will have control out to the customer premises."

This has been the case with legacy TDM and PDH networks, but, according to Furman, the approach being adopted to build IP networks does not lend itself to providing this control. "With IP carriers are introducing big switches and big legacy routers which are not dedicated to the network termination function that they will need."

And, he argues, for smaller carriers which must rely on IP pipes supplied by larger carriers, such as Telstra's Wideband IP service, ethernet NTUs are essential to give them control over the services they deliver to customers. "It is more important to have their own devices to terminate their services, otherwise they have to rely on Telstra's NOC to provide all the provisioning etc... For example, a carrier like Uecomm wanting to provide this ethernet service on an overlay network it is very important to have a dedicated device at the end."

Another market for this type of product, Furman says is to enable legacy ATM networks to carry ethernet traffic. "The majority of the carriers have really robust ATM networks but an increasing need to provide 10 and 100base T to customers. The IP networks are not widespread so they are using ATM to provide the ethernet or LAN connectivity."

He said this opportunity was one of the man reasons for RAD setting up its own office in Australia, which opened last November. "In Europe many carrier are using our devices to provide ethernet connectivity over their ATM networks. We have been chosen by Deutsche Telekom, BT, France Telecom, KPN, Ireland Telecom and recently by Japan Telecom and this is an area we are trying to focus on with Telstra and Optus. That was one of the drivers for setting up our own office."

The company has been selling its products her for ten years in Australia through two distributors, Paclink and PCS, and this will continue. However, "we got a clear message from Telstra and Optus that they want to see the vendor here in Australia," Furman said. Exciting feature of ethernet CPE Yankee identifies as "one of the most exciting features of ethernet access equipment" as being its ability to perform circuit emulation. "These products possess the same capabilities as ethernet network termination equipment with the added capabilities of carrying TDM traffic via ethernet. They connect directly into TDM at the customer location, eliminating the need for the currently deployed separate voice and data architectures. This enables carriers to continue providing legacy services while having the capability of increasing their service offerings through ethernet."

According to Yankee this is not a trivial exercise. "Transforming ethernet from handling best-effort IP traffic to handling time-sensitive TDM data is not simple." It says there are two approaches, both currently proprietary but the subject of standardisation activity "in-band emulation from RAD, which is based on its TDMoIP utilising strict QoS and priority capabilities, and an out-of-band hardware approach known as TDM plus ethernet."

This is not a new technology for RAD. According to Furman, it was launched at Telecom 99 in Geneva, and the company won a big contract as a result. He said ethernet access products incorporating TDMoIP were finding a market with enterprises wanting to gain the economies of consolidating their voice and data traffic on an IP or ethernet network but not wanting to make the investment needed to upgrade their telephony systems to VoIP. "Our equipment can provide clear channels [over an ethernet network] for either E1 or PRI," Furman said.

Enterprise market now the biggest Until recently the majority of RAD's business in Australia, came from the carrier market, about 70 percent in 2000, but with the crash of 2001 this ratio has reversed to 60-70 percent from enterprises, which in RAD's book include utilities such as power companies and railways. "These are a big market for us because they are using traditional technology like TDM and PDH, buy many vendors have declared end of life for these product lines," Furman said.

He believes RAD will be well positioned as these companies move into becoming telecoms carriers and service providers. "It is important for us to be in there to give them confidence in us before they move into becoming telecommunications service providers."

Reproduced with permission from Exchange telecommunications newsletter www.exchange.com.au