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Publication: Light Reading
Date: 17th June 2003
Title: PacketFront Launches VDSL Products

STOCKHOLM -- PacketFront, the next generation broadband infrastructure provider, has announced the immediate availability of plan 997 & 998 compliant VDSL[1] products, giving businesses and consumers the option to now receive True Broadband Network[2] services over copper access infrastructures. This announcement represents the second phase of PacketFront's Total Broadband Initiative strategy, which began with the announcement of the company's unique BECS system for the control and provisioning of multiple broadband services over Ethernet.

By introducing VDSL into its product portfolio, PacketFront's unique BECS system now works over an increased range of physical access infrastructure. The BECS system can be deployed by network operators in cat. 5/6 copper, fibre, and existing Telco copper environments without interoperability issues or major new investment. This enables network operators to provision and manage users, devices and services, while the access method itself remains transparent.

"This is a major advance in the provisioning of competitive broadband services provided by multiple providers," said Martin Thunman, CEO of PacketFront. "While fibre is still the most future-proof physical media, there are many situations where VDSL is an excellent alternative for the delivery of True Broadband Network services - for instance, where time to market is an issue or for PTTs that wish to leverage their existing copper infrastructure."

"As we have delivered our solutions to customers around the world, we have also received a plethora of requests for the capabilities offered by the BECS to be made available over other types of physical media, including DSL, CableTV networks, and shared infrastructures such as Wireless LANs. Network owners have the same concerns, regardless of the type of physical infrastructure - too few services and spiralling OPEX costs - and these are areas in which PacketFront can really help," continued Thunman.

PacketFront's Total Broadband Initiative is a comprehensive roadmap for the roll-out of the company's control, provisioning and routing solutions across a wide range of physical media. Following the introduction of PacketFront's Ethernet solution, the launch of plan 997 & 998 compliant VDSL products completes phase two of the roadmap. Phases three and four are expected to be completed by Q4 2003, with the introduction of products supporting VDSL with extended capabilities and ADSL+/2 respectively. Phase five will consist of cooperation with partners and suppliers to make the BECS available for shared media such as wireless, PLC and cable TV.

Since PacketFront's formal launch in Europe in October 2002, the company has received an enormous amount of positive feedback from the broadband industry, and has announced deployments at: Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm's 'wired city'; NESA, Denmark's largest utility company; plus a number of other Scandinavian utility companies. This has created demand for the unique advantages of PacketFront's Intelligent Broadband Solution to be made available for non-fibre networks.

The PacketFront plan 997 & 998 compliant VDSL solution consists of the following products:

• The ASR 3100 VDSL router comes with 8/16/24 port options. The ASR 3100 supports bandwidth up to 11 Mbps in both directions (frequency usage according to plan 997).
• The ASR 3200 VDSL router also comes with 8/16/24 port options. Bandwidth capabilities of up to 18 Mbps in both directions (frequency usage according to plan 998).
• There is a matching version of the PacketFront multi-service switch for each router: the CPS 109 and the CPS 119 respectively.

PacketFront's plan 997 & 998 compliant VDSL solution also comes with VDSL filters for office and consumer implementations that prevent interference with telephony services on the same line. They also act as multiplexers that enable both the telephone and the VDSL modem to be connected to the same line.

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