(ASCEND) APX 8000

[Matt Holdrege <holdrege@lucent.com>]

Sorry for the press release, but I thought this one might be interesting to 
this list.


Dick Muldoon
508-370-7399 (voice)
508-387-7297 (pager)
rpmuldoon@lucent.com

Paula Horii
908-582-5522 (office)
908-301-0344 (home)
phorii@lucent.com


LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES LAUNCHES NEXT-GENERATION, CARRIER-CLASS ACCESS SWITCH 
WITH UNIVERSAL PORTS FOR VOICE AND DATA

NEW NAVISACCESS SOFTWARE PROVIDES SERVICE-LEVEL
MANAGEMENT FOR UP TO ONE MILLION PORTS

FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2000

MURRAY HILL, NJ  Extending its leadership in the Internet access and 
Internet telephony markets, Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today announced 
a new multiservice access switch with twice the port density of the nearest 
competing product plus ground-breaking “universal port” capability to help 
carriers support the growth of new residential and business access 
technologies and services.
The new APX™ 8000 Multiservice Access Switch helps Internet Service 
Providers (ISPs) and other carriers capitalize on fast-growing markets for 
dial access, voice or fax over the Internet and Virtual Private Networks 
(VPNs).  The APX 8000 also makes it easy for ISPs to resell or lease ports 
to other ISPs -- a practice known as port wholesaling.
New NavisAccess™ 5.0 network management software, also introduced today, 
gives network operators for the first time a business-level view of their 
networks, helping them manage the services they provide to their customers, 
not just the devices in the network.

“The APX 8000 is a next-generation access switch from the industry leader 
in Internet access and Internet Telephony,” said Curt Sanford, president, 
InterNetworking Systems at Lucent Technologies.  “With the new universal 
port capabilities and NavisAccess 5.0, the APX 8000 is the ideal switch for 
large ISPs and carriers faced with exploding demand for dial-up Internet 
access and for anyone who plans to offer value-added services such as VoIP, 
Fax-over IP, VPNs and port wholesaling over multiservice networks.”
"The NavisAccess 5.0 software release provides new features and flexibility 
across Lucent's access line," said Michael Howard, Principal Analyst of 
Infonetics Research.  "The new NavisAccess release was developed in 
conjunction with the APX 8000, and yet it extends the universal port and 
business-level service management capabilities across the entire installed 
base of MAX TNT products.  This is good news for ISPs and carriers who 
bought Lucent gear."
The combined market for carrier-type dial-up Internet access and Voice over 
Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems was $3.7 billion in 1999, according to 
International Data Corporation, which expects the market to grow to $6.7 
billion by 2003.  For the year 1999, analyst firms Dell’Oro Group, Synergy 
Research Group and Cahners In-Stat Group all ranked Lucent Technologies the 
market share leader in providing Internet access systems to service providers.
Jason Nealis, Director of Internet Operations at RCN Corporation, which has 
tested the APX 8000 for dial applications, said, “This is an exceptionally 
designed product with the performance and density we need to support our 
growing business.  We have verified that APX 8000 can handle over 2,400 
simultaneous calls in our network.  Furthermore, given that the APX 8000 
runs the same code as the earlier MAX TNTs, migration to the APX 8000 is 
almost seamless.  My engineers felt right at home with the APX within minutes.”
APX 8000 Multiservice Access Switch Delivers Industry-Leading Capacity
The APX 8000 joins the Lucent MAX family of products and the MAX TNT in 
Lucent’s industry leading remote access product line.  The APX 8000 
provides the greatest capacity and performance for customers deploying high 
density multiservice networks.
At a maximum of 2,688 ports per shelf, the APX 8000 delivers the industry’s 
highest port density -- double that of its leading competitor.  In 
addition, the system is designed to support a future three-fold increase in 
capacity to 8,000 ports per shelf.
Complementing the high port density of the APX 8000 is a carrier-class 
hardware design that eliminates any single point of failure.  The APX 8000 
architecture includes support for full redundancy and hot-swappable cards.
The APX 8000 Multiservice Access Switch boasts unique functionality that 
enables carriers to support virtually any combination of access services 
for residential or business subscribers.  Using the “Universal Port” 
capabilities provided by TAOS 8.0 software, the APX 8000 automatically 
senses the type of incoming call and accommodates it on any available port, 
where it is processed for transport over an IP network.  This greatly 
simplifies a carrier’s network infrastructure and network support 
operations, since any voice or data access service can be supported on a 
single platform.
Key to the universal port capability is the APX 8000’s integrated Voice and 
Fax over IP gateway.  This functionality enables ISPs, wired and wireless 
carriers to deliver integrated voice/data services and support exciting 
next-generation applications such as unified messaging.  The APX 8000 is 
suited for a variety of high-density applications including Internet access 
wholesaling, VPN tunnel aggregation, Internet Call Diversion and as a VoIP 
Trunking Gateway -- the latter two in conjunction with the Lucent 
Technologies’ Softswitch.  Together with the Lucent Softswitch, the APX 
8000 provides a complete solution that allows a next-generation carrier to 
cost-effectively handle toll and tandem voice traffic.
In addition, the APX 8000 shares many modules with the MAX TNT, giving MAX 
TNT users maximum investment protection and flexibility in migrating to the 
higher capacity, more fault-tolerant APX 8000 chassis.
The APX 8000 is fully compliant with NEBS Level 3 specifications, a quality 
and reliability standard important to carriers.
NavisAccess 5.0 Provides “Business Level” View of Network Services
The new NavisAccess 5.0 is a next-generation network management platform 
for access services  including analog, ISDN, VoIP, frame relay and 
DSL  that gives service providers a new “business-level” view of their 
networks.  This enables carriers to manage not just individual network 
devices, but the business services running on the network.
NavisAccess 5.0 creates a business-level view of the network via a 
sophisticated call mapping mechanism, which identifies every call to a 
Lucent remote access server and associates it with a specific service, 
service group or customer.  This association gives a service provider’s 
operations staff a real-time view of all the services being delivered on 
the network, even if the services span multiple devices and locations.
By grouping services by customer, NavisAccess gives carriers a real-time 
view of a customer’s network traffic, enabling carriers to monitor and 
deliver priority services, service level agreements, customer network 
management and port wholesaling.
The CORBA-based, multi-server architecture of NavisAccess 5.0 is scalable 
enough to support over one million multiservice access ports on a single 
system.
Availability and Pricing
The APX 8000, NavisAccess 5.0 and TAOS 8.0 are available immediately 
worldwide.  APX 8000 pricing ranges from $200 to $400 per port depending on 
configuration.
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, designs, 
builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, 
communications systems and software, data networking systems, business 
telephone systems and microelectronics components.  Bell Labs is the 
research and development arm for the company.  More information about 
Lucent Technologies is available on the company's Web site at: 
http://www.lucent.com.
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