Monday, August 22, 2005

OnFiber unveils alternative local access offering


NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: OPTICAL NETWORKING
08/22/05

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* OnFiber's local access offering
* Links related to Optical Networking
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Nokia
Empower Your Mobile Enterprise

Nokia believes that business mobility will fundamentally change
the way work gets done-and for the better. To allow the entire
organization to get the most from this paradigm shift in
productivity, Nokia Enterprise Solutions focuses on delivering
increased efficiency through enhanced mobility. Learn more by
downloading this white paper today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110838
_______________________________________________________________
SPLIT-ANALYSIS WIRELESS SECURITY

Wireless security tools perform security analysis in sensors
scattered throughout a wireless LAN or in a central server, but
both options have drawbacks. A blended approach to wireless
security lets sensors and servers share the job of analysis.
Find out how split-analysis could boost wireless security on
your network. Click here:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110717
_______________________________________________________________

Today's focus: OnFiber unveils alternative local access
offering

By Jim Duffy

Metropolitan area network provider OnFiber this week is expected
to unveil a local access offering designed to provide customers
with an alternative to incumbent carrier facilities.

Called AdaptiveLink, the service provides customized,
fiber-based access bandwidth to companies looking to move
transport beyond the copper loops and SONET speeds typically
offered by RBOCs and interexchange carriers (IXC). AdaptiveLink
also is targeted at those companies looking to employ multiple
carriers for route diversity whose choices are becoming fewer
now that RBOCs are buying up their IXC counterparts - SBC
acquiring AT&T and Verizon purchasing MCI - and regulatory
frameworks around unbundled network elements and broadband
Internet access are being dismantled.

"The access market is becoming more proprietary," says OnFiber
CEO Danny Bottoms. "Ninety-five percent of access is still
controlled by the Bells. People need choices."

In addition to providing more choice, AdaptiveLink is intended
to provide bandwidth options other than T-1 and DS-3 for
companies looking to support critical applications such as
disaster recovery, business continuity and data storage. It also
is designed to address what OnFiber says are security
shortcomings of the legacy copper infrastructure of the
incumbents that encompass hundreds of central offices - each of
which represents a point of failure in the network.

OnFiber augments its own T-1 and DS-3 TDM transport services
with wavelengths and Ethernet. Bandwidth scales from 10M to 10G
bit/sec.

OnFiber also says it can turn service up within weeks instead of
months that it now takes.

"We're the ultimate bypass [around] the RBOC," Bottoms says.

Analysts say AdaptiveLink is an outgrowth of OnFiber's
AdaptiveBuild product, which is a customized WAN offering for
inter-city connectivity.

"It is a segment of that process [in which they] take their
knowledge of how to build big networks - finding fiber and where
it's supposed to go, avoiding certain geographic obstacles, and
figuring out the best way of carrying data or traffic," says
Brian Van Steen, a senior analyst at Ovum-RHK.

Van Steen says OnFiber's major challenge in selling AdaptiveLink
will be to wean companies off of the incumbent facilities
they've used for years. Customized services are generally priced
at a premium, he says.

"How many companies can actually afford a customized solution?"
Van Steen asks. "You're definitely talking Fortune 500 company
or equivalent. [The incumbents] are obviously all targeting the
large companies with large revenue potential. It's going to be
competitive."

The requirements of midsize to large companies are becoming more
complex, Van Steen says, so the market for AdaptiveLink might
expand beyond the Fortune 500 to the Fortune 1000.

OnFiber is initially rolling out AdaptiveLink in San Francisco
and Washington, D.C., two metropolitan areas where it has 600
route miles in each city and where each has more than 10,000
businesses.

AdaptiveLink also is intended to increase OnFiber's penetration
into the access market. Twenty-three percent of the carrier's
revenue is from access, while 27% is from what OnFiber calls the
Business Networks market - disaster recovery, business
continuity and storage - and 50% comes from Metro Core
carrier-to-carrier sales.

"We need to own the network and the customer in order to be
successful in the long run," Bottoms says.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Google goes berserk
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical5328>

2. Cisco to juice 6500 switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical5327>

3. Windows worm beginning to spread
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical5512>

4. IT staff shortage looming
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical5330>

5. Test: CipherTrust tops encryption field
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical5329>

Today's most-forwarded story:

Cisco to juice 6500 switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical5331>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Jim Duffy

Jim Duffy is managing editor of Network World's service provider
equipment coverage
<http://www.networkworld.com/topics/service-providers.html>. He
has 18 years of high-tech reporting experience, including over
12 years at Network World. Previously, he was senior editor at
Computer Systems News and associate editor/reporter at
Electronic News and MIS Week. He can be reached at
<mailto:jduffy@nww.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Nokia
Empower Your Mobile Enterprise

Nokia believes that business mobility will fundamentally change
the way work gets done-and for the better. To allow the entire
organization to get the most from this paradigm shift in
productivity, Nokia Enterprise Solutions focuses on delivering
increased efficiency through enhanced mobility. Learn more by
downloading this white paper today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110837
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Optical Networking newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/optical/index.html
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE
WIRELESS LANS BUYER'S GUIDE: THE GOODS ON 185 PRODUCTS

We've compiled the largest buyer's guide ever on wireless LAN
equipment. Whether you're looking for an access point, PC Card
or trying to decide between 802.11a, b or g, take a look at the
information that vendors have provided us. We've got the goods
on 185 products. Click here for more:
<http://www.networkworld.com/bg/wlan/index.jsp>
_______________________________________________________________
May We Send You a Free Print Subscription?
You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered
at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by
receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. Apply
today at http://www.subscribenw.com/nl2

International subscribers click here:
http://nww1.com/go/circ_promo.html
_______________________________________________________________
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail
newsletters, go to:
<http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/Changes.aspx>

To change your e-mail address, go to:
<http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/ChangeMail.aspx>

Subscription questions? Contact Customer Service by replying to
this message.

This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com
Please use this address when modifying your subscription.
_______________________________________________________________

Have editorial comments? Write Jeff Caruso, Newsletter Editor,
at: <mailto:jcaruso@nww.com>

Inquiries to: NL Customer Service, Network World, Inc., 118
Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772

For advertising information, write Kevin Normandeau, V.P. of
Online Development, at: <mailto:sponsorships@nwfusion.com>

Copyright Network World, Inc., 2005

No comments: