TMCnet News
Lucent MAPs Out Product StrategyBy ROBERT LIU
TMCnet Wireless and Technology Columnist
Lucent Technologies took a major step on Wednesday to address a key weakness of its product portfolio by introducing Lucent Multimedia Access Platform (MAP), a pure Internet Protocol (IP)/Ethernet solution that supports multimedia services over copper, fiber and wireless delivery.
“It’s been a big week for us at Lucent,” Rob Piconi, VP and GM of Broadband Solutions at the telecom equipment vendor, concluded during a conference call to brief analysts on the new product strategy. Piconi, of course, is referring to the key customer wins that Lucent has announced over the last few days for its IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) business. But despite those endorsements, the company still faces the daunting task of transforming its access business away from its ATM/TDM legacy base into the IP realm.
“Lucent is singly benefiting from CDMA in wireless, with no enterprise business and struggling to keep up with IP and wireline developments while trying to broaden beyond Cingular in WCDMA,” Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff wrote in a recent report.
And while Piconi tried to plant his best foot forward this morning, he had no misgivings about the need for Lucent to re-evaluate its product portfolio and the timing of the new release. Starting in the first half of 2006, customers will be able to trial Lucent MAP, which is fully compliant with a wide array of interfaces including ADSL2+, VDSL2, IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet Passive Optical Networking (EPON), ITU G.984.x Gigabit Ethernet PON (GPON) at varying upstream and downstream line rates, point-to-point Ethernet and WiMAX.
“2006 is a critical year in next-gen architectures,” Piconi said. “We invest for profitable growth and will continue to invest for profitable growth.”
Lucent MAP is designed to be controlled by the company’s core IMS solution to deliver what Piconi refers to “blended” applications utilizing voice, data and video – the crown jewels of the Triple Play services. The new release “moves away from next-generation DSLAMs,” Piconi said. “This is the right time for us to be introducing a pure IP/Ethernet platform.”
Lucent has carefully crafted the launch to capitalize on key competitive advantages to differentiate its offering. For example, Lucent MAPS incorporates patented technology developed by Bell Laboratories called “SmartPON” – a feature using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) that allows service providers migrate from EPON to GPON simply through firmware upgrades rather than costly hardware swaps.
In addition, as a healthy indication that Lucent knows its target market, MAPS also was designed to incorporate the AdvancedTCA form factor and Linux software – utilizing two of the hottest trends currently in the telecom space. That will help lower the cost of entry points not only for Lucent but for its customers as well.
The new platform is the latest addition to Lucent's broadband access product portfolio, which includes the Stinger DSLAM and AnyMedia IP Line Access Gateway.
Lucent Multimedia Access Platform will be available with a broader introduction by mid 2006.
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Robert Liu is Executive Editor at TMCnet. Previously, he was Executive Editor at Jupitermedia and has also written for CNN, A&E, Dow Jones and Bloomberg. For more articles, please visit Robert Liu's columnist page.
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