IRVINE, California, October 2, 2007 – Giving service providers the ability to match bandwidth to the precise needs of their customers, Aktino today introduced asymmetric bandwidth capabilities for its broadband over copper products. The new functionality, enabled by a software upgrade, breaks with the industry’s emphasis on symmetric transmission for business applications and further solidifies Aktino’s position as the leader in backhaul over bonded copper.
Aktino, the leader in delivery of business-class broadband over existing copper wiring infrastructure, said its asymmetric functionality is now available for the AK3000 and AK4000 and will soon be available in the AK5000. The AK3000 provides long-reach DS3 (45 Mbps) services, the AK4000 0-50 Mbps Carrier Ethernet, while the AK5000 is a scalable, shelf-based Carrier Ethernet platform for larger installations.
While DS3 and Ethernet services are traditionally symmetric, Aktino pointed out that there are still many applications in which the downstream bandwidth is entirely consumed, while much of the upstream bandwidth goes unused.
A prime example is IP- or ATM- based DSLAM backhaul, because residential and business DSL services are typically asymmetric. Cell site backhaul and residential and business video transmission are other key applications in which the ability to enable asymmetric bandwidth will be far more useful to service providers.
The asymmetric functionality leverages Aktino’s industry-leading MIMO on DMTTM (multiple in, multiple out on discrete multi-tone) technology in a groundbreaking way – it can double the downstream bandwidth per copper pair beyond the already high symmetric MIMO on DMT bandwidth. The result: nearly 7 Mbps per pair all the way to the edge of the carrier serving area (CSA). This is 600 to 900 percent of the bandwidth provided by legacy HDSL technology.
“This gives the service provider the ability to easily configure the upstream and downstream rates and really tailor them to the needs of their particular applications, ensuring that all the available bandwidth is utilized as efficiently as possible,” said Hossam Salib, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Aktino.
Because of the relationship between transmission rate and distance, the asymmetric feature can be leveraged to maximize whichever is key to the specific application. For example, a service provider using the AK3000 to provide DS3 symmetric service at CSA range can use the asymmetric feature to provide that bandwidth well beyond the CSA range without the need for a repeater. The other option is to reduce the number of bonded pairs needed to provide the same capacity at a shorter range.
That means it takes as few as seven pairs of copper to provide a DS3 and as few as four pairs to provide 25 Mbps of Carrier Ethernet bandwidth. Thus, the copper pairs once required to provide transport or access bandwidth can now be freed for either increasing transport bandwidth or providing more access bandwidth, either of which means significant revenue increases for service providers. Depending on the application, the provider may also see a significant reduction in equipment and copper leasing costs.
“We are seeing major service providers express extremely positive reactions to this feature, and several are interested in deployment, particularly since this can be deployed quickly via a software upgrade,” Salib said. “This is yet another example of Aktino leading the way in demonstrating the power of the existing copper infrastructure and showing carriers how to maximize it for greater revenue.”
About Aktino
Aktino designs and delivers innovative carrier-class long reach broadband over copper solutions that enable service providers to offer a broad footprint of revenue-generating business-class broadband services over existing copper loops. Aktino is a pioneer in the use of industry standard DMT (Discrete Multi Tone) with MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) in the wireline domain. Aktino’s products, including its MEF 9- and MEF 14-certified AK4000 family, the AK5000, the most cost-effective, scalable Carrier Ethernet bonded copper product on the market, and the ATM/TDM-based AK3000 family (the premier DS3 over copper solution on the market) enable service providers to deliver more services to a larger footprint than any other copper-based broadband solution. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Irvine, California, Aktino is shipping products to service providers throughout the world. For more information, please visit www.aktino.com.