StrataCom Speeds ATM Market Acceptance With New Low Speed Offerings; New suite of ATM products expected to address 70 percent of market demand for wide area ATM access

Business Wire, Oct 23, 1995

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 1995--With a goal of helping users and carriers extend today's campus ATM data architectures, StrataCom today unveiled a wide-ranging suite of new low-speed ATM products for its BPX/AXIS asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch. The new products provide users both cell and frame-based access to ATM using a variety of interfaces with complete interoperability between them.

Among the low-speed ATM products introduced are new modules that support T1 (1.544 Mbps) and NxT1, ATM inverse multiplexing (AIMUX), ATM frame user network interface (FUNI) and support for frame relay-to-ATM service interworking (see note to editors). With the announcement StrataCom becomes the first equipment supplier to support FUNI, AIMUX and frame relay-to-ATM service interworking together.

The new low speed ATM modules were explicitly developed to address users concerns for more cost-effective and flexible wide area ATM services while targeted at three immediate applications:

-- the connection of multiprotocol routers

-- extending campus ATM data network architectures

-- linking wide area ATM switches

User benefits

Key user benefits of these new low-speed products include more ATM access options that can be tailored to application requirements and existing network equipment configuration, seamless and cost-effective migration to broadband services, and the ability to link remote offices requiring multimedia access.

Combined with the company's advanced traffic management and quality of service features, the new low-speed options now provide everything needed for users to access and carriers to offer reliable and affordable production-class ATM services.

In addition, the company said that LDDS WorldCom will be the first carrier to use StrataCom's T1 ATM products to provide low-speed public ATM services and that it has successfully completed interoperability testing with other T1 ATM products including the ADC Kentrox AAC-1 and AAC-3 ATM Access Concentrators and FastComm's LAN SARgent.

"T1 and NxT1 ATM address immediate applications for ATM services which don't necessarily require broadband bandwidth," said Chuck Poston, broadband manager for LDDS WorldCom. "Among the most relevant applications for lower speed ATM include extending the switched internetwork and virtual LAN between geographically dispersed locations and the interconnection of new ATM-based wide area network switches that carry voice, video, data and other corporate traffic."

Why Low Speed ATM?

Unlike high-speed ATM services, T1 and NxT1 ATM provide users with immediate, simple and economical solutions enabling ATM applications to be deployed across the enterprise. In addition, T1 and NxT1 ATM are also designed to more efficiently handle delay-sensitive user traffic such as video, voice or SNA and to provide class of service tailored to application requirements.

"By the turn of the century, over 45 percent of all wide area ATM ports will be at T1 speeds," said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corporation in Vorhees, New Jersey. "In our estimation, T1 ATM has the largest port-count potential of all public carrier ATM interfaces. Without T1 ATM services in the wide area, ATM will continue to languish as users begin to extend their ATM data architectures across the WAN and just can't justify the jump to T3 or OC3 from either an economic or applications standpoint."

Product Details

StrataCom's new ATM products and capabilities are supported by its narrowband interface shelf called AXIS (February 1995). The products include: new 4- and 8-port T1 ATM, optional software for the 8-port T1 ATM module which adds ATM inverse multiplexing support, a firmware upgrade to the company's existing 4-port T1 frame relay card which adds support for ATM Frame UNI (FUNI) as well as frame relay-to-ATM service interworking. FUNI or frame relay protocol is configurable on a per port basis.

The 4-port T1 ATM module, available immediately, is priced at $15,000. The 8-port module will be available in the first quarter of 1996, priced at $24,000. Optional AIMUX software will be priced at $8,000 per module. The AIMUX module is configurable as either a trunk between switches or for user ATM access. StrataCom's AIMUX interface conforms to an interim specification published by StrataCom and supported by ADC Kentrox.

Both StrataCom and Kentrox AIMUX interfaces will be software upgraded to support the ATM Forum's final specification. FUNI will be provided through a free software upgrade in the first quarter of 1996. Frame relay-to-ATM service interworking is available now.

StrataCom

StrataCom Inc. (NASDAQ:STRM), based in San Jose, Calif., USA, develops, delivers and supports FastPacket networking systems for multiband ATM applications in private wide area networks and public carrier service offerings, such as frame relay and ATM. StrataCom's family of products, including IPX, IGX, BPX, AXIS, FastPAD, and EdgeConnect, is used to integrate and transport a wide variety of corporate information, including voice, data, video, LANs, image and and multimedia traffic and narrowband to broadband ATM network applications. Visit StrataCom's home page at http://www.stratacom.com -0-