Nortel rolls out convergence gear

Melds Passport WAN switch with BayRS routing; adds voice to BayStack router.

By Jim Duffy
Network World, 04/30/99

SANTA CLARA -- Nortel Networks has announced a switch that enables branch offices to converge voice and data over frame relay, ATM and IP WAN connections.

Nortel also extended voice-over-IP (VoIP) capabilities to its remote access router.

The new switch is called the Passport 5430 Multiservice Access Switch. It provides high-speed WAN connectivity and supports emerging IP services, including VoIP, Nortel says.

For remote access, the Passport 5430 supports frame relay, ISDN and the Point-to-Point Protocol for IP routing. It also supports ATM and voice/data multiplexing, Nortel says. The switch supports ATM WAN links of T-1, T-3 and OC-3, and it can scale to support up to 300 users, Nortel says.

The Passport 5430 Multiservice Access Switch supports up to 12 T-1/E-1 circuits and 48 analog channels for VoIP. It is designed to go up against Cisco's 3600 series voice-enabled routers, which Nortel claims are 30% more expensive than Passport 5430s.

Analysts caution users not to be seduced by the lower pricing. Customers should get Nortel to demonstrate the device's reliability, scalability and performance capabilities, says John Morency of Renaissance Worldwide. "You don't want a situation where users get sucked into the fact that it's 30% cheaper."

Then again, Morency notes Nortel's Passport WAN switches are proven products.

Also proven is Nortel's BayStack ARN remote access router, which now has a new VoIP module. This module supports up to four analog ports and two optional serial ports for legacy applications. The existing IP QoS features of Nortel's most recent release of BayRS routing software supply voice QoS.

For investment protection and interoperability, the WAN adapter modules for the BayStack ARN can also be used in the Passport 5430. Up to three of these WAN adapter modules can be deployed in the Passport 5430, Nortel says.

The Passport 5430 Multiservice Access Switch is expected to ship in October and will be priced beginning at $7,850. The VoIP module for the BayStack ARN is also expected to ship in October. With one Ethernet port, one serial port and two voice ports, the VoIP module will be priced at about $2,600.