VoDSL Meets Local Exchange Softswitch
On a Convergence Collision Course

Stefan Knight
Director of Product Marketing
CopperCom
October 29, 2001

You can’t sidestep the issue today--telecom has been leveled a mighty blow. Just as many new technologies were hyped as holding high promises during the market boom, industry watchers now question whether or not these technologies ever had a leg to stand on during this market bust. Carrier spending may have slowed, but the fundamental basis for and viability of the technology has not changed. Pontificating about next-generation technologies and how they will revolutionize the network overnight is not only unfashionable but also reckless. But it has always “really” been this way -- hasn’t it? Hasn’t every new technology taken longer to introduce into the public network than the attention spans of the investment community and the media? It appears that the telephone network doesn’t adhere to Moore’s Law, Internet or data economics; the three fundamental tenants of the “new economy”.  It appears that the PSTN, in fact, adheres to the fundamental laws of economics and good business planning. The demise of our telecom stock portfolios is a prime example of this point. So, is it time to reposition your telecommunications products as defense weapons systems? The thought had crossed my mind, but no. The question remains, what is going on and what do we do now?

The focus of this article is on two of the recent “darlings” of telecommunications hyperbole that are falling from grace though thriving, if modestly, in their formative stages of real-world deployment. Voice-over-DSL (VoDSL) was born at a time when many industry experts were declaring DSL technology a non-starter. The hype of VoDSL started to take root in 1999 and by 2000 the technology had been transformed into voice over broadband (VoB), packet voice over any physical transport. In the heat of the moment, VoDSL was declared the cure all for the ailing competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) industry.

Softswitching was born out a simple translation of SS7 signaling to ISDN signaling that allowed Internet service providers (ISPs) to become CLECs overnight, reducing their facilities costs by up to 90 percent. Early pundits that scoffed at ISDN deployments surely would be surprised to learn that there are more than 330,000 ISDN PRI ports in the network today. A large number of these ports were deployed between 1996 and 2000, long after it became fashionable to declare ISDN dead. But just like early VoDSL, softswitching has undergone a transformation into a product technology that not only healed the ailing ISP industry, but that could eventually bring about total network obsolescence and replacement of the legacy PSTN with voice-over-IP (VoIP). Just like VoDSL, it is starting to fall out of favor, the most recent in a string of indicators for telecom vendors.

Dropping below the hype on the radar screen we find that both technologies work and are being deployed, offering real value for carriers. Established CLECs like Broadview Networks, Focal Communications and Choice One have all used VoDSL/VoB to cost effectively reach subscribers and maximize their service revenue on the other end of a UNE. Even the incumbents have embraced the products and are quietly rolling out services as they build a critical mass of successful customers. Softswitching is taking hold most notably in large accounts that need cheap ISDN PRI ports and less notably, but even more viably among regional carriers like Eureka-GGN and RIO Communications, deploying new end offices. Most surprising and promising is that regional IOCs (independent operating companies) are becoming CLECs in adjacent markets and embracing both technologies to win against the incumbents.

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