50-30-05 A Guide to Network Access and Pricing Previous screen Options Nathan J. Muller Payoff When shopping for services, not only do communications managers have more network access options from which to choose, but more attractive pricing plans as well. Introduction The rate at which net network services are being introduced and price revisions are issued is due as much to the easing of regulatory constraints as to advances in communications technology. Many of the new ways of accessing services can improve networking efficiency. New pricing plans can provide services more economically to users. For the purposes of this article, the different types of access available to users are categorized as basic access, consolidated access, alternate access, and special access. Basic Access Basic access entails the establishment of a physical connection from the customer premises to a local Central Office port. The connection can be dialed up as needed or provided to the user with a dedicated facility, such as a T1 line. Dial-Up Connections In the case of a dial-up connection, once an idle port is seized, the user has access to a variety of services and associated call-handling features provided by the Local Exchange Carrier within its Local Access and Transport Area. If the voice or data call is destined for a location outside the local access and transport area (LATA), the local exchange carrier (LEC) hands it off to a designated interexchange carrier's Point Of Presence, where the call is transported to the local exchange carrier (LEC) at the destination Local Access and Transport Area. The user is billed for each call, based on time and distance. With Integrated Services Digital Network, billing also takes into account the amount of bandwidth used for the call. Long-distance or interexchange carrier (IXCs) are required to interface with local telephone companies using points of presence. Apoint of presence, or POP, is a serving office set up in each local access and transport area (LATA). It is the point to which the local telephone company connects its customers for long-distance dial-up and leased-line communication between local access and transport area (LATA). The local segment of a dial-up or leased-line circuit is maintained by the local exchange carrier (LEC) at each end, whereas the interLATA portion of the circuit is established and maintained by the interexchange carriers (see Exhibit 1). Billing for dial-up connections is according to time and distance. With a leased line, however, the user has full-time use of the carrier-provided facility and pays a fixed monthly fee based on distance, regardless of how much the line is actually used. End-to-End InterLATA Circuit Previous screen Bandwidth on Demand A relatively new wrinkle in the basic access concept is called“bandwidth on demand,” in which the user dials up bandwidth in increments of 56/64K b/s to meet specific applications requirements. This can be accomplished with a customer premises device called an inverse multiplexer. In essence, inverse multiplexing allows users to dial up the appropriate increment of bandwidth needed to support a given application and pay for the number of local access channels only when they are set up to transmit data, image, or video traffic. Upon completion of the transmission, the channels are taken down. This obviates the need (and high cost) for private leased lines to support temporary applications. Under the bandwidth-on-demand concept, extra switched bandwidth can be dialed up to support temporary applications, accommodate peak traffic periods, or reroute traffic from failed private lines. Advantages to this approach include: · The immediate availability of bandwidth. · The user pays only for bandwidth used, according to time and distance. · The elimination of the need for standby links that customers are billed for whether fully used or not. Nynex Enterprise Services. To compete with vendors of inverse multiplexers, the regional Bell operating companies have introduced bandwidth-on-demand service of their own. New York Telephone, for example, offers Nynex Enterprise Services. Customers get up to 100M b/s of scalable, managed bandwidth within 24 hours of placing the order. The amount of bandwidth can be adjusted on a time-of- day basis or within one hour of a customer request. The service is priced 10% to 15% less than leased lines of equivalent bandwidth. Discounts are available depending on the length of contract, and there is no installation fee. The drawback is that this service requires fiber optic connections; also, the service is available only in New York State for interconnecting local sites. Although Nynex Enterprise is the first service of its kind, it is likely to be followed by similar offerings from other local telephone companies. Innovative data service offerings are the most practical way for the local exchange carrier (LEC) to compete with alternative access carrier service. Consolidated Access A relatively new access service offering consolidates multiple services over a single access line. One example of this type of access service is AT&T's Static Integrated Network Access (SINA). SINA is designed to eliminate the cost of maintaining separate access lines for private line services and switched services, because the traffic over the two types of access lines can be combined over the same Integrated Services Digital Network access line. This means that a user can access AT&T's Accunet family of private line services, Software Defined Data Network (SDDN), and Accunet Switched Digital Services over a single access line instead of having to pay a separate access charge for each type of service Previous screen (see Exhibit 2). Consolidated Access With integrated services digital network (ISDN) Primary Rate Interface service, the 23 64K-b/s B channels carry voice and data traffic to a Digital Access and Cross-connect System at an AT&T Central Office. The DACS separates switched voice from data and sends it to the carrier'sSoftware Defined Network (SDN) or Megacom services. Switched data traffic is sent to AT&T's Software Defined Data Network, while other data can be sent over AT&T's Fractional T1 offering. AT&T also provides local access to its InterSpan frame relay Service via integrated services digital network (ISDN) primary rate interface (PRI) trunks. In this way, Frame Relay traffic can be combined with AT&T's other switched and dedicated network services. AT&T's Definity G3 Private Branch eXchange is equipped to support SINA. In combination with the PBX's nxDS0 capability, customers can size bandwidth and access, through the same local access line, a variety of services that support LAN traffic. US Sprint and MCI offer similar integrated network access services. Sprint uses integrated services digital network (ISDN) Primary Rate Interface to support access to dedicated and switched voice and data services; first, users must purchase an integrated access controller, which is a network hub that includes special software. The new service offering is targeted at small and midsize sites, many of which have been unable to cost-justify integrated services digital network (ISDN) primary rate interface (PRI) for conventional voice and data applications. Alternate Access Alternate access, also know as “bypass,” entails the use of facilities from a carrier other than an Local Exchange Carrier to get direct connections to the long-distance facilities and services of interexchange carrier or value-added network providers. These alternate access carriers include regional teleports and metropolitan fiber companies, some of which compete directly with the local telephone companies by providing businesses with the means to bypass the local exchange and same money on local access lines and usage charges. Typically, alternate access carriers offer service in major cities, where traffic volumes are greatest and, consequently, where businesses are hardest hit with high local exchange charges. Teleports. A broad array of services, ranging from Fractional T1 to Synchronous Optical NEtwork Transport Broadbank transmission, are offered by alternative access carriers. Teleport Communications-New York, for example, offers Fractional T1 services as well as DS-0 and sub-DS-0 services to business customers in New York City and northern New Jersey. Through the use of intelligent T1 multiplexers and Digital Access and Cross-connect System systems, the company provides bandwidth in any multiple of 56/64K b/s. It also offers continuous quality monitoring and extensive remote diagnostic capabilities from its network control center, as well as line changes and reconfigurations that are computer- controlled through a Digital Access and Cross-connect System. Some teleports offer sophisticated leading-edge services. Teleport Chicago, a subsidiary of the NY-based Teleport Communications, has a Synchronous Optical NEtwork Transport-based fiber network that allows long- distance carriers and businesses in Chicago to transmit data at Previous screen speeds of 150M b/s and above. Advantage Customers. Among the advantages of alternative access carriers are: · They offer less expensive and more reliable access service and solve problems faster than the local exchange carrier (LEC). · They offer advanced network protection capabilities, mostly in the form of dual fiber rings. When one ring fails, the other is activated automatically to handle the traffic load without any loss of customer data. · Some disaster recovery firms have cooperative arrangements with alternative access carriers whereby bandwidth is made available to customers during emergencies when private communications systems may be knocked out. In some states, the public utility commissions have mandated that the local telephone companies provide local connections to the alternative access carriers, so they can more easily serve business customers. The Federal Communications Commission has ordered the regional Bell operating companies to open up their Central Office to the equipment of alternative access carriers seeking to provide leased-line access services, and to allow competitors into the local central office for purposes of routing switched traffic to long-distance networks.