Catena Networks Creates New Access Architecture for the Mass-Market Deployment of Broadband DSL Services.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 2001

At COMNET 2001 in booth number 4108, Catena Networks today announced its development of a new access architecture, which will enable the mass-market deployment of residential Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) services. This new architecture will provide carriers with a smooth, cost-effective migration path to the converged, packet-based public network.

The exploding demand for residential broadband services has created an urgent need for service providers to deliver DSL at high volumes. According to market research firm RHK, the high-speed DSL Internet access market is expected to grow from 2.4 million subscribers today to about 19 million by the end of 2004. Still, more than 40 percent of residential subscribers are unable to get DSL because they do not meet specific connection criteria or because deployment hasn't kept pace with demand in their area.

The challenge is that today's DSL data access network is being designed as a separate overlay to the voice network. This data overlay network is satisfactory for the deployment of niche, business-oriented services, but it is not scalable for consumer mass-market deployment.

"In order to deploy mass-market DSL to residential subscribers, carriers must deliver DSL to the growing number of remote subscribers served by Digital Loop Carrier (DLC) systems," said Claude Romans, co-director of access networks for RHK. "Catena has developed an architecture that terminates the loop at the first access point and has the potential to offer carriers a way to deliver high-volume voice and DSL services to remote subscribers."

For carriers to successfully deploy mass-market DSL, a fundamental change in the access network is required. A new, converged access architecture is needed to overcome last-mile barriers to DSL service for residential subscribers. Network elements in this architecture must satisfy the escalating demand for DSL service and handle growing numbers of users served from existing and future remote terminals.

Catena's solutions will enable mass-market deployment of DSL and access network convergence by integrating POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) and DSL on every line.

"Unlike other solutions that attempt to combine POTS and DSL, Catena's solutions integrate POTS and DSL into a single access termination point," said Bob Machlin, president and CEO of Catena Networks. "This level of integration enables us to create an architecture that will simplify the access network, solve deployment bottlenecks and dramatically reduce carriers' capital and operational costs."

Catena's converged access architecture will significantly reduce the capital and operational costs of deploying DSL service by providing DSL on every line, at prices approaching POTS-only solutions. Every subscriber line will support lifeline telephone service and will be "DSL ready" the moment it is installed, which means that service providers can scale service rapidly, without additional capital costs, as their DSL demand grows.

All operations, provisioning and maintenance can be performed remotely. All DSL service requests will be handled through completely hands-off remote provisioning from the network operations center. No truck rolls will be required.

Catena's highly integrated POTS+DSL architecture will eliminate the need for separate, overlay access equipment such as POTS Splitters, remote DSLAMs and adjunct cabinets. This converged access network will significantly reduce complexity and points of failure, resulting in greater network reliability.

Service providers will have full spectrum connectivity to the subscriber loop, which will greatly simplify testing and loop qualification and enable future services such as higher-bandwidth ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line). Further, Catena's architecture supports optional voice packetization, on a per-line basis, at the line termination point. There will be no forced trade-off of packet voice ports for DSL ports.

Catena's new access architecture will enable service providers to deliver broadband services today and seamlessly transition to the new, converged packet-based public network on a line-by-line basis -- with the network architect in control of the where and when of implementation.

The first in a series of solutions in Catena's new access architecture is the CNX-5 broadband ADSL system. (See accompanying release, "Catena Networks Introduces First in Series of Solutions Enabling Mass-Market DSL and Seamless Migration to Converged, Packet-Based Public Network.") Catena's CNX-5 is a card-for-card upgrade for the more than 20 million subscriber lines currently served from Lucent SLC(R) Series 5 (SLC-5) DLC systems. Catena's CNX-5 broadband ADSL system enables service providers to deliver POTS and ADSL services on any copper pair, without reducing the number of available POTS lines.

About Catena Networks

Catena Networks will enable the mass-market deployment of broadband DSL services and help carriers migrate to a converged access network that integrates their volume voice and DSL operations. With Catena's solutions, service providers can deliver integrated voice, data and video services to residential subscribers more quickly, cost-effectively and profitably than ever before. Headquartered in Redwood Shores, Calif., the company operates a world-class research and development facility in Kanata, Ontario, Canada (near Ottawa) and has more than 240 employees across North America. Founded in 1998, Catena is a privately held company that has secured more than $100 million in venture financing. For more information, please access www.catena.com.

Catena, Catena Networks, and the Catena Networks logo are trademarks of Catena Networks, Inc. All other trademarks or service marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.