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Five years ago, Lucent Technologies didn't even have a data networks business. Five years later, the networking giant claims 2001 will be the year Lucent strengthens its foothold as an IP market leader.
Just days after a company-wide announcement on Jan. 25 of scaling back with 16,000 layoffs, Lucent's InterNetworking Services group outlined its plan to bring a "service intelligent" IP architecture to carriers, which it claims will take enterprise networks way beyond simple transport and into the realm of customized services.
Lucent appears to be hoping that at least some of its financial troubles will be alleviated now that it possesses a plan for Internet-based equipment. The IP strategy gained momentum last year, when the company acquired SpringTide Networks. Last week, former SpringTide founder and CTO Steve Akers was front and center as part of the Lucent group that pulled back the curtain on the IP strategy.
"This really does culminate what we were trying to do when we acquired SpringTide," said Janet Davidson, the president of Lucent's InterNetworking group.
So what exactly is Lucent trying to do? In essence, Lucent's solutions will try to carry businesses past simple high-speed Internet connectivity and create an IP network architecture that will be dynamic, according to the unique needs and applications of an individual user.
"Next-generation networks will be about more than delivering bandwidth," Davidson said. "New networks will need to allow these service providers to capture more value in the form of applications and services."
Lucent's "service intelligent" IP network contains three key elements. First the network will support the MPLS protocol, using it to create individual, dynamic Internet connections for each user, which will allow personalized services. Second, the "service layer" of the network, which will sit between the access technologies and the network core, will be managed from a services perspective instead of a transport one. Third, the architecture will have unified services management, leveraging Lucent's wireless, data, optical and software solutions.
"The best comparison I can make is like taking a flight from L.A. to New York. In the old networks, it was intelligent enough to get from L.A. to New York, because it was a previously scheduled flight," said Tony Gale, Lucent's vice president of IP portfolio management. "But the network didn't know that one of the passengers needed a low-fat meal, or that they needed a hotel room in New York."
That changes with the Lucent architecture, which will allow an enterprise customer to choose from a variety of customized services, including Internet access with firewall protection, e-mail and corporate Intranet files, or a sales force automation system.
Also last week, Lucent rolled out its next-generation IP service switch, the SpringTide 7000. Building on the SpringTide 5000, the 7000 will be located in the service layer of the IP architecture and will be the service delivery platform for the advanced services.
The SpringTide 7000 will be Lucent's edge routing high-speed networking product and it will feature intelligent mapping of services to MPLS. Lucent said the 7000 reaches new levels of scale with Gigabit Ethernet and Packet over SONET interfaces, and it can serve up to 192,000 user sessions.
Davidson said the core SpringTide group that devised the IP strategy shouldn't be affected by the massive Lucent cutback plan. In fact, she plans on making retention of the SpringTide team a priority as Lucent builds out its IP products over the next two years.
Right now, the SpringTide 7000 and Lucent's IP network architecture are in beta testing with some undisclosed service providers. Lucent expects the solutions to be commercially available by the end of the first quarter.
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