Now that Cyber Monday (News - Alert) 2009 has officially arrived, consumers are spending work hours clicking away online, wading through piles of e-mails touting merchandise markdowns.  

 

And in the IP communications world, carriers too, are comparison shopping for products that allow them to offer customers premium data services.

 

According to Johnnie Grant, a product manager at Patton (News - Alert) -- which makes business and carrier-class network access, connectivity, VoIP and triple-play equipment -- carriers are actively pursuing connecting businesses to metro networks. 

 

“Ethernet enables them to expand their service offerings and EFM is the key standard making this migration easier,” Grant told TMCnet. “EFM enables Ethernet penetration and standardization into the Access Networks, eventually eliminating non-native transport methods such as Ethernet over ATM in the Access Networks.”

 

In just two months since Patton released its RocketLink model 3202 G.SHDSL CPE modem, which delivers first-mile Ethernet services at up to 22.8 Mbps, the Gaithersburg, Md.-based manufacturer told TMCnet it has seeing a growing interest among enterprises, universities and service providers.

 

“Our inquiries are anywhere from [those interested in] clean transmission environments like business LAN extensions to noisy railway car applications,” Johnnie Grant, a product manager for Patton, told TMCnet.

 

By helping operators deliver new revenue-generating services with the infrastructure they already have, the modem helps preserve capital investment, Grant said.

 
In September, Patton began taking orders for the 3202 model.

 

The needs for the technology depend on the market segment. Service providers, for example, are installing the RocketLink EFM CPE on customer premises to quickly and cost-effectively roll out profitable broadband Ethernet services to businesses, governments, schools and other organizations.

 
Patton’s EFM NTU eliminates the trouble and expense of installing fiber-optic cable by using existing, pre-installed bundles of twisted-pair cable to deliver broadband network access in the first mile. Compliant with ITU-T G.991.2 and IEEE (News - Alert) 802.3ah, Patton reps said its 3202 G.SHDSL.bis EFM (also known as 2Base-TL) CPE offers the reliability of Ethernet connectivity with unmatched rate and reach.

The RocketLink Model 3202 EFM modem employs Ethernet over SHDSL (EoSHDSL) to extend connections up to 1.6 miles/2.6km at symmetrical nx64 rates up to 22.8 Mbps – and uses EFM Bonding to combine up to four copper pairs (eight wires) into a single communications channel.

 

Additionally, RocketLink 3202 features an on-board four-port fast-Ethernet switch with QoS and CoS. VLAN (802.1q) supports four levels of priorities, traffic flow control and rate control.

“Service providers have also been interested in the 3202 because the EFM bonding allows them to offer high-speed premium symmetrical data services to customers that they could not previously reach using older G.SHDSL equipment,” Grant told TMCnet. “ADSL2 is an inexpensive long reach technology but is asymmetrical. VDSL2 is blazing fast but has very limited distances, especially when used symmetrically. The G.SHSDL EFM is an excellent gap filler.”