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Pannaway: Turning Copper and Fiber into Gold (Part II)By TED GLANZER TMCnet Communications and Broadband Columnist Sigh, we've all heard them before; the siren calls of companies proclaiming that they have Triple Play solutions; the claims are full of sound and fury, yet signify no actual deployments. Perhaps the reason is that Triple Play means much more than taking the three ingredients – high-speed Internet access, broadcast-quality video, and toll-quality voice calls – and slapping them together for customers, all while sending one instead of three bills for the services. No, the key to Triple Play is making the solution work for both the carrier and the consumer through integration. For carriers, integration means the ability to easily manage and scale their networks based on their needs with ease, while still remaining cost effective. For consumers, integration means the seamless delivery of services along with the addition of IP-based features, such as receiving caller ID on their televisions, at lower prices. It is in this regard that Pannaway Technologies, Inc.'s Service Convergence Network (SCN) stands out, because it delivers an honest to goodness integrated solution that enables their target market - rural telcos - to deliver Triple Play services over a single broadband connection, be it copper (ASDL2+) or active fiber (FTTH). The SCN is a suite of applications, such as the Personal Branch Gateway (PBG), Residential Gateway NID (RGN), Personal Broadband Modem (PBM), Broadband Access Manager (BAM), Broadband Access Router (BAR), Broadband Access Switches (BAS), and Call Control Manager (CCM). The BAS is a key component of the SCN by serving, according to Pannaway, as an ASDL2+ aggregator, digital loop carrier and internetworking switch with Ethernet capabilities, replacing a DSLAM, DLC and ATM to IP gateway. The stackable IP DSLAM manages the converged traffic of up to 48 premises; multiple BAS units can be interconnected to support thousands of subscribers. In addition to delivering quality digital IP video capability and doubling traditional data bandwidth rates to 28 Mbps, Pannaway’s BAS delivers SIP-based VoIP calling. Furthermore, the BAS enables telcos to deliver something no other Triple Play service provider can offer: Primary Line VoIP, including lifeline/E911 support and guaranteed quality of service. Backtracking for a moment, among the Triple Play services, voice is the most difficult to provide telcos, according to Pannaway CTO Michael Skubisz, because of the regulatory requirements that go along with traditional telephone service. "That's when it gets complicated," agreed Kevin Brown, Pannaway's vice president of marketing, during an interview with TMCnet. "The hard part is how to meet the regulations . . . how do you make VoIP act like traditional phone system?" If the power goes out or there is a disruption in Internet service, Pannaway's premise devices will automatically switch over to analog/POTS (since it's DSL and not cable, it already has analog/POTS built in) – without changing the phone number. No battery backup is necessary at the premise because, anytime electrical power is lost, a relay trips the customer premise devise, automatically connecting the phone line directly to Pannaway's BAS located in an RT or CO. The BAS provides the phone service to the customer, including up to eight hours of battery-backup-to-the-premise provided over the line. Other advanced telephony features include CallerID pop ups on television screens. On the video side, telcos can offer their subscribers HDTV and Video on Demand. According to Pannaway, this integration is possible because the SCN is "preconfigured to prioritize IP video and voice without degradation from other bursting non-critical Internet and gaming applications." With this prioritizing capability, subscribers will not experience streaming IP video pixelization or breakups in IP calls if someone starts downloading a huge file. The end result is that Pannaway's solution offers rural telcos a low-cost alternative to "forklift overhauls" of their existing ATM-based networks, which are prohibitively expensive. Also, the Pannaway solution enables telcos to monitor their networks from centralized locations, thereby reducing costs associated with truck rolls, etc. Two Pannaway clients offer great examples of the possibilities available to rural telcos that are either afraid of, or are already losing, subscribers to cable, VoIP and wireless companies. According to one case study, Cross Telephone Co., a rural ILEC based in Oklahoma, was experiencing the loss of its subscriber base of 9,000. Enter Pannaway, which enabled Cross to deploy Triple Play digital services that "not only recover[ed] declining subscriber revenue, but [satisfied] the consumer appetite for better and faster interactive communications." According to the study, other solutions would have cost Cross between $2,500 and $3,000 per subscriber to upgrade its network to deliver Triple Play. Pannaway's solution cost Cross approximately $j00 per subscriber. "Pannaway's IP solution integrated with our existing ATM equipment seamlessly," said David Wright, Cross Telephone Company's general manager. "A single Gigabit uplink transported over our existing SONET/ATM-based network was all that was required for connectivity between our [central offices]." In another example, is 90-year-old Allendale Communications, an independent telco with 7,000 telephone subscribers, which lost 280 telephone subscribers between January and June 2004. The loss was attributed to local university students, who were living off campus, using their cell phones. Allendale faced a choice: either upgrade its services or lose business to its competitors. Allendale, according to a case study, chose to expand the services through Pannaway's solution, offering the "newest technologies" to its subscribers, while transitioning from a telephone provider to a broadband communications provider. The results were clear. "Pannaway has far exceeded our expectations and continues to assist us as we turn up new subscriber communities," said Hilda Wittingen, marketing director of Allendale Communications. "The company has even designed customized high-touch marketing materials and campaigns for us which we use to professionally market to new neighborhoods as service Furthermore, Allendale commended the client service that Pannaway provided during the roll out and transition. "During August 2004, Allendale Communications connected over 300 customers to our new broadband IP TV service and we did it in less than three weeks," said Cal Gulker, plant manager for Allendale Communications. "Pannaway staff members were on-site for most of the deployment, assisting with equipment installation, service monitoring and as needed trouble-shooting. We truly have received the best vendor support we have ever experienced." All of which explains why Pannaway is riding high, what with its recent announcements of 200 percent revenue growth in Q2 05 versus Q1 05 and 10 new agreements with IOC and CLEC customers located throughout North America. Keep your eye on Pannaway – they aren't going away any time soon. Note: Michael Skubisz, Chief Technology Officer for Pannaway, will be speaking at TMC’s 2nd Annual VoIP Developer Conference ( http://www.voipdeveloper.com ) in San Francisco. ----- Ted Glanzer is assistant editor for TMCnet. For more articles by Ted Glanzer, please visit: http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100033&nm=Ted%20Gl anzer |