Bangkok--Apr 3--New NavisAccess
New NavisAccess software provides service-level management for up to one million ports
Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today launched two new Internet systems products here thereby extending its leadership in the remote access and Internet telephony markets. One is the new APX 8000, which is a multiservice access switch with twice the port density of the nearest competing product, plus ground-breaking "universal port" capability to help large Internet service providers and carriers worldwide to support the growth of new residential and business access technologies and services. The other is the MAX 3000, a remote access concentrator that provides a new level of affordability and scalability for the mid-sized Internet service provider (ISP) and enterprise data markets.
APX 8000 Multiservice Access Switch The APX 8000 helps ISPs and other carriers capitalize on fast-growing markets for dial access, voice or fax over the Internet and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). The APX 8000 also makes it easy for ISPs to resell or lease ports to other ISPs -- a practice known as port wholesaling. New NavisAccess 5.0 network management software, also introduced today, gives network operators for the first time a business-level view of their networks, helping them manage the services they provide to their customers, not just the devices in the network. "The APX 8000 is a next-generation access switch from the industry leader in Internet access and Internet Telephony," said Kenneth Kan, Managing Director, InterNetworking Systems, Southeast Asia, Lucent Technologies. "With the new universal port capabilities and NavisAccess 5.0, the APX 8000 is the ideal switch for large ISPs and carriers faced with growing demand for dial-up Internet access and for anyone who plans to offer value-added services such as VoIP, Fax-over IP, VPNs and port wholesaling over multiservice networks." "The NavisAccess 5.0 software release provides new features and flexibility across Lucent's access line," said Michael Howard, principal analyst of Infonetics Research. "The new NavisAccess release was developed in conjunction with the APX 8000, and yet it extends the universal port and business-level service management capabilities across the entire installed base of MAX TNT products. This is good news for ISPs and carriers who bought Lucent gear." The combined market for carrier-type dial-up Internet access and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems was US$3.7 billion in 1999, according to International Data Corporation, which expects the market to grow to $6.7 billion by 2003. For the year 1999, analyst firms Dell'Oro Group, Synergy Research Group and Cahners In-Stat Group all ranked Lucent Technologies the market share leader in providing Internet access systems to service providers. Jason Nealis, Director of Internet Operations at RCN Corporation, which has tested the APX 8000 for dial applications, said: "This is an exceptionally designed product with the performance and density we need to support our growing business. We have verified that APX 8000 can handle over 2,400 simultaneous calls in our network. Furthermore, given that the APX 8000 runs the same code as the earlier MAX TNTs, migration to the APX 8000 is almost seamless. My engineers felt right at home with the APX within minutes." APX 8000 Multiservice Access Switch Delivers Industry-Leading Capacity The APX 8000 joins the Lucent MAX family of products and the MAX TNT in Lucent's industry leading remote access product line. The APX 8000 provides the greatest capacity and performance for customers deploying high-density multiservice networks. At a maximum of 2,688 ports per shelf, the APX 8000 delivers the industry's highest port density -- double that of its leading competitor. In addition, the system is designed to support a future three-fold increase in capacity to 8,000 ports per shelf. Complementing the high port density of the APX 8000 is a carrier-class hardware design that eliminates any single point of failure. The APX 8000 architecture includes support for full redundancy and hot-swappable cards.
MAX 3000 The MAX 3000, a new highly-scaleable mid-range entry in Lucent's award-winning remote access product portfolio, helps ISPs address rapid growth and continuing price pressure in the consumer Internet access market. ISPs can service, upgrade and expand the MAX 3000 on site, making it easy for them to satisfy customer demand for additional ports and new applications in fast-growing areas. In addition, the Max 3000 delivers features important to the enterprise market, including flexible port configurations, broad protocol and multi-service application support and support for VPNs and security. "This is the first remote access concentrator we've introduced since the merger of Lucent and Ascend," said Joe Sigrist, head of the access products unit in Lucent's InterNetworking Systems. "The MAX 3000 combines market-leading ISP-class features with impressive enterprise capabilities at a powerful new price point for both markets. That's the kind of value proposition that customers expect of the industry leader." Like all Lucent MAX products, the MAX 3000 runs the company's True Access Operating System (TAOS), which supports global voice, data, video and wireless standards. TAOS runs the largest remote access networks in 50 countries. Bill Tidwell, president of Digital Service Consultants, an Internet access and enterprise outsourcing company based in Atlanta, Ga., trialed the MAX 3000. "The MAX 3000 provides the tried and true Lucent MAX interface," Tidwell said. "It's a great fit with our business needs. It does exactly what we need it to do." Mashu, an e-commerce site for network professionals based out of Palo Alto, CA, not only will offer the MAX 3000 through Mashu's web marketplace for network equipment and service (www.mashu.com), but Mashu CEO and president, Percy Kawas trialed the product to support Mashu's own business operations. "The product has the performance an ISP needs and the features an enterprise wants," Kawas said. Lucent's leadership in the remote access market is built on the MAX and MAX TNT family of remote access products, which provide the broadest range of telecommuting, Internet access and remote access solutions in the industry. MAX products combine the functionality of a router, terminal server, ISDN switch and Frame Relay concentrator. They enable enterprises and service providers to support networks of any size and virtually any combination of analog and digital carrier services. The MAX family ranges from the economical MAX 800 for small applications to the MAX TNT, a high-capacity, multiservice carrier-class platform that enables large corporations and services providers to build high-density networks. Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, designs and delivers the systems, software, silicon and services for next-generation communications networks for service providers and enterprises. Backed by the research and development of Bell Labs, Lucent focuses on high-growth areas such as optical and wireless networks; Internet infrastructure; communications software; communications semiconductors and optoelectronics; Web-based enterprise solutions that link private and public networks; and professional network design and consulting services. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit its Web site at http://www.lucent.com.
Additional Information
APX 8000 Multiservice Access Switch This switch boasts unique functionality that enables carriers to support virtually any combination of access services for residential or business subscribers. Using the "Universal Port" capabilities provided by TAOS 8.0 software, the APX 8000 automatically senses the type of incoming call and accommodates it on any available port, where it is processed for transport over an IP network. This greatly simplifies a carrier's network infrastructure and network support operations, since any voice or data access service can be supported on a single platform. Key to the universal port capability is the APX 8000's integrated Voice and Fax over IP gateway. This functionality enables ISPs, wired and wireless carriers to deliver integrated voice/data services and support exciting next-generation applications such as unified messaging. The APX 8000 is suited for a variety of high-density applications including Internet access wholesaling, VPN tunnel aggregation, Internet Call Diversion and as a VoIP Trunking Gateway -- the latter two in conjunction with the Lucent Technologies' Softswitch. Together with the Lucent Softswitch, the APX 8000 provides a complete solution that allows a next-generation carrier to cost-effectively handle toll and tandem voice traffic. In addition, the APX 8000 shares many modules with the MAX TNT, giving MAX TNT users maximum investment protection and flexibility in migrating to the higher capacity, more fault-tolerant APX 8000 chassis. The APX 8000 is fully compliant with NEBS Level 3 specifications, a quality and reliability standard important to carriers.
NavisAccess 5.0 Provides "Business Level" View of Network Services The new NavisAccess 5.0 is a next-generation network management platform for access services - including analog, ISDN, VoIP, frame relay and DSL - that gives service providers a new "business-level" view of their networks. This enables carriers to manage not just individual network devices, but the business services running on the network. NavisAccess 5.0 creates a business-level view of the network via a sophisticated call mapping mechanism, which identifies every call to a Lucent remote access server and associates it with a specific service, service group or customer. This association gives a service provider's operations staff a real-time view of all the services being delivered on the network, even if the services span multiple devices and locations. By grouping services by customer, NavisAccess gives carriers a real-time view of a customer's network traffic, enabling carriers to monitor and deliver priority services, service level agreements, customer network management and port wholesaling. The CORBA-based, multi-server architecture of NavisAccess 5.0 is scalable enough to support over one million multiservice access ports on a single system.
Availability and Pricing The APX 8000, NavisAccess 5.0 and TAOS 8.0 are available immediately worldwide. APX 8000 pricing ranges from $200 to $400 per port depending on configuration.
MAX 3000 Product Features The compact and scalable MAX 3000 reduces real estate requirements by providing high port density. Each MAX 3000 supports 2 T1/E1 lines and 48/60 modems per 1U rack (1.72"/4.4cm tall by 17"/43.2cm wide). In addition, multiple MAX 3000s can be stacked and managed, via Lucent's NavisAccess software, as a single virtual chassis, providing growth capability and system redundancy. The MAX 3000 features a multiprocessor design that eliminates performance bottlenecks. In an independent third-party performance test, Mier Communications found that MAX 3000 per call modem throughput remained constant, even under increasing traffic loads. "I am impressed with the performance and reliability of the MAX 3000. We applied a punishing battery of continued load tests to the MAX 3000 over a three day period and achieved maximum attainable throughput with 48 concurrent calls active. The MAX 3000 exhibited no signs of performance degradation or system instability during any of our tests," said Rob Smithers VP of Technology, Mier Communications. Support for a wide range of VPN and security protocols makes the MAX 3000 attractive for enterprise applications, including Internet, intranet and extranet applications and remote access outsourcing. Protocols supported include L2TP, ATMP, PPTP, and IPSec. IPSec support, today provided via Secure-Connect Manager software, will be enhanced via the addition of IPSec encryption hardware in 2000. The MAX 3000 supports the majority of existing MAX slot cards via expansion slots. It will support VoIP via a mid-2000 upgrade (mid year 2000) via the expansion slots. In addition to support for the complete range of WAN interfaces, an integrated TDM switch enables enterprises to pool port resources and thereby make more flexible, more economical use of incoming T1/E1 lines; for example, an enterprise could use partial T1 bandwidth to support a PBX. New front-to-side cooling and temperature sensors protect against system failure and decrease downtime. A removable system tray and DIMM memory make the system easy to service and helps reduce operating costs. The T1 configuration of the MAX 3000 is available now through Lucent distributors. E1 and BRI base configurations will be available by the end of the year. Pricing starts at US$13,000 list.--End--
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