Lucent Technologies and Axessa Sign Two-Year Agreement for Integrated Services Over DSL - Company Business and Marketing

Cambridge Telcom Report, Sept 6, 1999

Lucent Technologies Monday announced that it has signed a two-year agreement with Axessa, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) based in New Orleans, for its recently announced PathStar Voice over DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) solution. Axessa will deploy the Lucent solution to deliver integrated voice, data and Internet access services over DSL to its business customers in eight cities across the southern United States.

Lucent will supply Axessa with its revolutionary IP-based PathStar Access Server and, through an existing OEM relationship with Copper Mountain, CopperEdge DSL Concentrators. The combined solution from Lucent will enable Axessa to deliver multiple telephone lines and high-speed data services over a single unbundled copper loop at significant cost savings over traditional infrastructure alternatives.

"The PathStar solution will provide Axessa greater flexibility in their target market at significant cost savings," said Harry Carr, vice president and COO, Broadband Carrier Networks, Lucent. "With the PathStar, Axessa will be able to achieve profitability in new markets at a lower penetration rate, while providing its customers with a full suite of voice and data services."

Axessa plans to deploy the network early next year. The company will deliver services in Louisiana and Florida initially, with plans to extend the network to five additional southern states including Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, Arkansas and North and South Carolina.

"Lucent's DSL solution will enable us to provide high-speed, feature-rich voice and data services rapidly at a fraction of the cost of traditional technology," said Tom Nolan, president and CEO, Axessa. "We chose Lucent not only because of their cutting-edge technology, but also because of their superior customer service and willingness to partner with us long-term in helping us achieve our business objectives."

The PathStar Solution

Lucent's solution combines the Bell Labs-developed PathStar Access Server with Lucent's own MultiDSL access concentrators--as well as with Copper Mountain's DSL access concentrators--and packet-based integrated access devices.

By integrating the DSLAM aggregation, edge router, and "Class 5" or local telephony system functions in a single packet-based element, PathStar significantly lowers the complexity of integrated data and voice over DSL service delivery and reduces cost by nearly $100 per subscriber versus the combined GR-303 Gateway and Class 5 Circuit Switch alternatives, based on estimated average sales prices.

The PathStar products deliver essential telephony features such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, Voice Messaging and E911, while simultaneously providing IP-based services such as Internet access and Virtual Private Networking.

Axessa, a division of Columbia Telecommunications, Inc., is a Louisiana based CLEC, offering local and long distance phone services, ISDN, DSL and digital data services, wireless products and services and Internet Access Services to business customers in Louisiana. With offices in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Axessa emphasizes customer service and promotes to its customers that "telephone service is just the beginning" when you become an Axessa customer. A facility based provider, Axessa has one switch in operation (New Orleans) and will provide facility-based services in eight new markets over the next 24 months utilizing the PathStar Server.

Copper Mountain Networks, Inc. develops and markets a comprehensive family of DSL solutions that enable high-speed internetworking over existing copper facilities.

The company's mission is to enable carriers and other service providers to offer a full range of high-performance, cost-effective data and voice services over DSL that are easy to deploy, use, and manage. Copper Mountain's CopperRocket CPE family addresses the bandwidth, reliability, ease-of-use, and cost concerns of remote offices and users. Its carrier-class CopperEdge DSL concentrators and CopperView network management solutions offer a robust and scalable platform for carriers and multi-tenant unit service providers to generate a high return on investment while satisfying the ever-increasing user demand for bandwidth. For more information, visit the Company's World Wide Web site at http://www.coppermountain.com.

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronics components. Bell Laboratories is the research and development arm for the company. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit the company's web site at http://www.lucent.com