VoDSL Meets Local Exchange Softswitch
On a Convergence Collision Course
(continued)

The problem is that VoB has been built on voice-over-ATM (VoATM) technology and softswitching has become synonymous with VoIP transport setting the wheels in motion for a convergence collision in the end office of the next-gen network. Both new product technologies have stalled each other in the race to converge the local loop. Carriers have simply not felt comfortable deploying a brand new switching system for end office services, the bread and butter of the phone company, while at the same time relying on the new and suspect packet technology, IP telephony. At the same time they are fearful of the inevitable march of time and technology; i.e. getting stuck with yesterday’s product technology, so they want IP.  Network planners need to see a smooth migration, not an abrupt change in course.  Migration is exactly the right word. Migrating herds eventually return back to the beginning point of their migration and that’s exactly what vendors need to do, come full circle to solve the problem. Carriers want to see investment protection versus the data model that mandates perpetual upgrades and inevitable product obsolescence. Building a network and rolling it out are hard and carriers want to see the operational investment required to support new network elements amortized over many years, not months. Next generation is the most appropriate term for the evolution that is now in progress because human generations are measured in forty-year increments. The new generation of equipment is in it adolescence, requiring more time in the network to mature and eventually displace the legacy PSTN.

We are already starting to see the signs of recognition amongst the vendor community caught like deer in the headlights of the economic downturn. VoB Gateways are being transformed into full-fledged media gateways, moving up the convergence food chain and offering carriers an evolution from VoATM to VoIP. Media gateways are embracing VoB as an optional access interface giving carriers the ability to deploy proven voice over ATM initially with a path towards IP. Softswitches are expanding their horizons to offer services over ATM, IP and yes even TDM transports. These technologies and vendors are adapting so that carriers can hedge their bets for the long-term. There is little question of if, there certainly is question of when but the ultimate form and function of convergence now seem to be clear. Convergence will embrace legacy interfaces and signaling protocols as well as a healthy dose of packet switching while ensuring that services can be delivered over all interfaces to existing and new subscribers alike. That is the recipe for success in a challenging telecommunications market. There is no turning back to the previous generation for the solution to next-gen problems. The future of the next generation is in taking care of the legacy last generation services and connectivity while paving the way for brand new services facilitated by innovations in the underlying technology building blocks of the network.

 Stefan Knight is the Director of Product Marketing for CopperCom. Knight joined CopperCom in January 1998 and has played a crucial role in successfully leading the initial effort to interview over 60 service providers to ensure that the product requirements for VoDSL were designed into CopperCom's Complete DSL solution.

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