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Welcome to another issue of RAD at a Glance, the newsletter from RAD Data Communications about developments in the communications industry.

ACCESS TRENDS

Bridging the Gap between E1/T1 and E3/T3 for Cost-Effective Transport of High Speed Data

The proliferation of bursty, high speed LAN traffic over lower speed leased line circuits has led corporate WAN managers as well as access network service providers to look for cost-effective solutions to getting more incremental bandwidth at a reasonable price. True, prices for E1/T1 circuits have been declining in the past several years and a host of higher speed services over cable modem, xDSL and wireless have come onstream. But these don't fill the void for business customers who need synchronous links in the 3 Mbps to 18 Mbps range. Unfortunately, E3/T3 lines continue to command a hefty price. What's more, these circuits are not readily available or ubiquitous.

The alternative - and it has been making a comeback of late - is to use a multilink technology that offers scalable connectivity at incremental data rates greater than 1.5 Mbps/2 Mbps and up to 15 Mbps/18 Mbps, beyond which an E3/T3 link may be economical. There are several multilink technologies available, described below.

Transparent Inverse Multiplexing
One common method used for low cost transport of high speed traffic is inverse multiplexing at the physical layer, which splits any type of transmission, such as LAN-to-LAN transmissions or videoconferencing, over several smaller trunks, and reconstructs the larger trunk on the other side of the link. The end user therefore pays for several, low cost E1/T1 lines instead of a high speed trunk. RAD's IMX line of inverse multiplexers, for example, transmits up to 8 Mbps over multiple E1/T1 links. They support bandwidth on demand for most efficient use of network resources, and the bonding protocol for inverse multiplexers, enabling them to interoperate with other vendors' equipment. RAD is releasing the IMXi-4 intelligent inverse multiplexer, which supports SHDSL for increasing distance to 6.6 km (4.1 miles) with a throughput of 8.04 Mbps.

Assures ATM Quality of Service
Inverse multiplexing over ATM (IMA) is a service offered by carriers for passing ATM traffic over multiple E1/T1 links. IMA provides ATM's quality of service, although you pay for the overhead characteristic of ATM. RAD's ACE family of ATM access products are commonly used in IMA applications to extend connectivity of STM-1/OC-3 traffic beyond the reach of the fiber network by splitting the transmission over the more ubiquitous E1/T1 network. IMA is also used in 3G cellular networks that have an ATM backbone for connecting Node Bs to the transport network. RAD's LA-104 high speed ATM-based IAD employs IMA over SHDSL to achieve rates of up to 9.2 Mbps, to distances of up to 4 km (2.5 miles).

Multiple Services over a Single Link
Equipment supporting MLPPP (multilink point-to-point protocol) splits high speed IP, Frame Relay and X.25 transmissions over low speed PPP links. The different data types are divided over all the PPP links simultaneously, speeding up delivery. MLPPP provides bandwidth-on-demand, adding or removing links as needed. MLPPP can also be used by service providers to give customers high speed access when only low speed links are available. RAD supports MLPPP in its WEB RANger line of Internet access routers, FCD-IP access unit with integrated routers, FCD-IPD dual E1 router, and packet switching products.

A Growing Need
The need for high speed access is expected to continue to grow, based on the increased demand for broadband services. Until such time as scalable, incremental Ethernet services are universally available, multilink access solutions such as inverse multiplexing and IMA will deliver broadband traffic at an affordable price.

GENERAL NEWS

RAD at SUPERCOMM

Visit RAD at SUPERCOMM, Stand 23247, June 1-5 in Atlanta, where we are showing new products that offer a migration path to next generation networks and enable new services in existing networks. The innovative transitioning technologies incorporated in these products include Ethernet over SDH/SONET, compressed voice over circuit- or packet-switched networks, DSL over fiber and TDM over IP.

SUCCESS STORIES

Italy's EdisonTel Deploys RAD's Integrated Access Devices to Offer New xDSL Services

EdisonTel, the Italian telecommunications company controlled by Edison S.p.A., selected RAD's LA-140 and LA-110 ATM integrated access devices (IADs) to deploy ISDN voice and Ethernet over ADSL links for small and medium-sized business customers throughout Italy. In addition, EdisonTel will deploy RAD IADs to provide Circuit Emulation System (CES) leased line services over its ATM/SHDSL infrastructure. The equipment is being supplied and integrated by CIE Telematica, RAD's Milan-based authorized distributor. RAD's MMS modem sharing device enables two lottery machines to send transmissions over the same modem, enabling the Lottery to increase sales while minimizing expenses. Full story

India's Largest Mobile Operator Lowers Costs and Speeds Deployment with RAD's Compressed Voice System

AirTel, India's largest mobile operator and a member of the Bharti Tele-Ventures group, deployed RAD's CVS compressed voice system based on the Kilomux multiplexer platform to maximize bandwidth utilization of leased lines used for cellular backhaul. At each MSC, the Kilomux-2100 multiplexer compresses traffic from six E1 lines onto one E1 line, significantly reducing the number of lines AirTel leases from the incumbent carrier, thereby achieving the lowest possible connectivity costs between MSCs. Full story

NEW PRODUCT

Fast Ethernet over STM-1/OC-3 Links

RAD's RIC-155 converter transports a full Fast Ethernet payload over STM-1/OC-3 lines. Compared to the alternatives - routers or ATM devices - the RIC-155 is the most cost-effective method of transporting Fast Ethernet over the existing SDH/SONET network. It is ideal for transparent LAN services, backhauling IP DSLAM traffic, transmitting Ethernet over 155 Mbps wireless links and connecting enterprise LANs over leased lines. Full story

WHAT'S NEW ON-LINE

Ensuring Quality of Service for TDMoIP

A new White Paper discusses the infrastructure elements, bandwidth requirements and Quality of Service (QoS) parameters necessary to control the consistency of the link for TDMoIP traffic.

TDMoIP Site Gets a Facelift

See the newly updated TDMoIP Web site for a comparision between TDMoIP and VoIP.

Industry Insights, Issue 4

This month's Industry Insights column by technology editor John Williamson discusses VoDSL and leased lines over DSL, how wireless operators save money and opportunities in the MTU market.

Enhancing Cisco Networks with Products from RAD

We have updated the RADFrisco site with new applications that integrate RAD products into Cisco solutions, to help Cisco partners, VARs and end-users find high quality, cost-effective ways to maximize the performance of their networks.

Download Our 2003 Russian Catalog

RAD's 2003 product catalog in Russian is now available for downloading

Sincerely,
Shari Ingerman
Senior Editor, RAD Data Communications