AUSTIN, TEXAS - Everest Connections, a St. Louis communications provider, is planning trials of a cable technology capable of offering 40M bit/sec at DSL and cable modem prices. The trials will begin next year in the Kansas City, Mo., area.
Known as Ultraband, the technology was developed by Advent Networks in Austin, Texas, and runs over hybrid fiber coaxial networks. Unlike cable modems, which must share bandwidth with other cable modems attached to a certain cable branch, Ultraband uses switched Ethernet over cable, creating virtual channels for each user, so users gets guaranteed performance.
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"The existing cable modem technology is fine for basic data and e-mail," says Geoffrey Tudor, Advent's CEO. "We're going to allow more revenue-intensive services that would let service providers make a profit."
Because Advent is offering dedicated bandwidth sets Ultraband apart from traditional cable modem technology, says Adam Guglielmo, an analyst with consultancy TeleChoice."Basically, everyone will have a VPN on the network," he says.
The speeds Advent is offering may seem like a lot, Guglielmo says, but he expects that over the next year users will demand more bandwidth. "It's probably a little ways out before there's big demand for this kind of bandwidth," he says. "But I think Advent would say they're building this for networks of the future."
Everest is slated to begin offering Ultraband services in 2001. Ultraband will be available to other service providers in the second half of 2001, Tudor says.
Applications businesses might run over Ultraband include video and packet telephony, Tudor says. With the bandwidth Ultraband serves, Tudor thinks IT outsourcing firms could use the technology to link clients back to a central site, where the outsourcer could perform tasks such as remote storage-area network backup.
While providers will roll out Ultraband as a residential service, Tudor says the technology will appeal to small and midsize businesses that can't afford a T-1. Because Ultraband uses the same basic infrastructure as broadband cable service and also requires a modemlike box on the customer site, its cost should be comparable to cable modem or DSL service, Tudor says.
Advent: www.adventnetworks.com
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