September 24, 2002
ILECs Lead the Way to Next Gen Networks, Services
While the debate rages on among government and industry representatives about how to bring broadband and advanced services to fruition, the focus seems to be on the RBOCs and other large service providers. However, over 1,000 small and rural independent local exchange carriers are out there and many of them seem to be leading the way in innovation.
Last week at the NECA Expo in Las Vegas, among the dozens of exhibitors present were a handful of next generation equipment and service providers such as Next Level and Santera Systems, which provides convergent switches, as well at Telco Systems and Gluon Networks. Both Santera and Taqua, which was not present, are start-up, next-gen switch vendors who have had some noticeable success selling to small and rural incumbent LECs.
Taqua has had tremendous success with RUS (Rural Utilities Service) contracts, and last week announced another one. West Virginia-based ILEC West Side Telephone will cap its existing Siemens DCO switch and grow with Taqua's Open Compact Exchange (OCX) Class 5 platform. "With plans to upgrade our network to fiber and expand our subscriber base, it's imperative that we have GR-303 capability on our switch, something we did not have, without TR-08 interfaces, with our Siemens DCO switch," said Susan Jackson, general manager of West Side Telephone.
Convergent, next-gen switches allow advanced services, as well as cheaper traditional services. Among the latest of the smaller ILECs to announce a foray into video is South Dakota's James Valley Cooperative Telephone Company, which has begun using Next Level's Bundled Service Platform to run voice, data and video over traditional coax lines using VDSL technology.
To save money on equipment costs, James Valley partnered with nine other telcos to purchase a common video head-end system, with SDN Communications' statewide fiber-optic network used to transmit the signals. The partnership also gives these ILECs greater clout in negotiating agreements for content, helping them better match the purchasing power of the large cable companies they have to compete against. Next Level's Geoff Burke notes that such partnerships have become something of a phenomenon around the country, including Iowa, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.
Even the big vendors are seeing the opportunity to sell to the smaller providers. Nortel Networks recently announced that it will enhance its voice and VoIP products to enable independent service providers "to effectively evolve their smaller networks to a more cost-effective 'packet' infrastructure, reducing network migration costs by up to 40 percent." Developed to drive VoIP to the rural market, this new plan includes upgrades to Nortel Networks DMS-10, Nortel Networks Succession Communications Server 2000-Compact softswitch, and Nortel Networks Succession Media Gateway 9000.
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