Hatteras Wins Telekenex in Partnership with Cisco, Adds TDR to Mid-band Ethernet Gear February 2007

By Paula Bernier

Telekenex Inc. is the first customer to use the joint Hatteras Networks Inc./Cisco Systems Inc. Ethernet solution, the companies announced. In other news from Hatteras, the company said it has added time domain reflectometer functionality to its mid-band Ethernet product.

The next-generation international service provider is deploying the combined solution from the vendors, which are marketing partners, to support its managed Ethernet service in California. Specific services include Internet access, private line and VoIP, which are delivered over a single Ethernet access facility.

The solution from Hatteras Networks and Cisco enables Telekenex to extend business-grade Ethernet technology to all customers at all locations over existing copper infrastructure, a key advantage as we roll out our Managed Ethernet service network-wide, said Brandon Chaney, CEO for Telekenex. Hatteras and Cisco provide a complete end-to-end solution that forms the foundation of Telekenexs compelling last-mile offering, designed to provide our customers with groundbreaking network performance and scalability.

Hatteras Networks HN4000 and HN400 products provide VPN as well as QoS capabilities for prioritized voice services for Telekenex over multiple copper pairs, extending the reach of native Ethernet services to businesses lacking direct access to fiber. Traffic from the HN4000s is then aggregated to Cisco 7600 Series routers.

Beyond just providing equipment to Telekenex, however, Hatteras Vice President of Marketing Gary Bolton said his company is supporting the service providers marketing effort. Hatteras has created a marketing campaign to help Telekenex target their enterprise customers with Ethernet services. We are meeting the charge in making the mid-band Ethernet market happen, added Bolton. The more successful our customers can be in selling these services, the better for us. Hatteras knows the technology, the market and how to sell services to enterprise better than anyone in the space, so we want to leverage that to help our customers be more successful.

As for the addition of time domain reflectometer technology to its products, Hatteras said that will enable its gear to perform functions necessary to support service providers SLAs.

While not a new technology, Bolton said single-function TDR tools available to date are expensive and commonly require a lot of expertise on the behalf of technicians, which use the gear for loop qualification and maintenance, because their results are cryptic, said Bolton. The Hatteras solution, however, allows service providers to plug the TDR into customer-located mid-band Ethernet boxes so the service provider can do these tests remotely from a central office or other remote location, and provides the test results in plain language, Bolton explained. Positioning TDR-capable units at both the CO and customer premises also allows double-ended testing, which provides for the ability to address very long loops, up to 24,000 feet.

Hatteras is demonstrating its new TDR capability at COMPTEL PLUS this week in Las Vegas.

Cisco Systems Inc. www.cisco.com  

Hatteras Networks Inc. www.hatterasnetworks.com  

Telekenex Inc. www.telekenex.com