ADTRAN (News - Alert) is a provider of networking and communications equipment. Its products allow for data, Internet, video, and voice to go across network infrastructures. Among the sectors using the equipment are government agencies, individuals, private companies, and service providers.

Recently, Barry Derrick, product marketing manager of ADTRAN, took a break from the ITEXPO show in Miami to be interviewed by TMC’s (News - Alert) Rachel Ramsey in front of the company’s new booth.

In between appearances on ITEXPO panels and meeting with customers, Derrick explained one of the messages the company was sending out is to “Get customers and resellers and people just to realize ADTRAN is here to kind of enable them to take that next step and grow their business and communicate better and more efficiently and more effectively.”

“The only constant is change,” he added. “We’re just trying to … ride that change … and enable our partners to deliver the best solutions.”

Among the company’s recent news is ADTRAN’s NetVanta 1235P switch. The NetVanta 1235P is an Ethernet switch that uses ADTRAN’s ActivReach Ethernet technology to break down existing cabling and distance limits. It uses Ethernet to support different grades of wiring –such as, CAT5, CAT3 or legacy copper. This technology also allows for greater reach than standard Ethernet without using fiber, repeaters, or additional switches.

In fact, Derrick explained that standards typically say that Internet should be 388 feet from a switch, “but with our technology [it] can extend it to 1,600 feet.” The technology also provides 10/100 Mbps voice, data and Power over Ethernet (PoE) over existing cabling.

“ADTRAN continues to expand its ActivReach Ethernet Switch portfolio … to meet the needs of businesses looking for an affordable path to high-bandwidth voice and data services. The NetVanta 1235P is purpose-built to enable advanced VoIP services while utilizing existing infrastructure for ultimate simplicity in deploying a next-generation network,” Todd Lattanzi (News - Alert), ADTRAN’s director of product management, added in a recent statement.

In many situations, there is legacy wiring in historic buildings or elsewhere, where costs would be high to run new cabling or wiring for voice deployment. “A lot of that wiring is prevalent and hard to change and expensive to change,” Derrick explained. But ADTRAN technology means not having to change the wiring.

“A year ago someone would have said ‘I have to pull cabling’ … and now we have enabled them with technology which says you don’t have to,” Derrick said.