Advances could spell faster DSL delivery

From...

by Michael Martin and Tim Greene

(IDG) -- Companies and teleworkers may see their DSL orders fulfilled faster thanks to a raft of new provisioning tools and stronger ties between DSL providers and incumbent local exchange carriers.

While DSL deployment is booming -- consultancy TeleChoice counts 1.2 million lines in the U.S. as of July 1, up 59 percent in only three months -- DSL orders can still take weeks to fulfill.

DSL providers and the vendors that supply them are trying to reduce these delays. Provisioning tools unveiled last week that should speed up the process include Cisco's Order-to-Service scheme for all-Cisco networks and several new products from broadband order provisioning vendor NightFire. Other vendors are taking the wraps off wares at this week's DSLcon show in Boston.

Also last week, SBC Communications and Covad Communications announced an agreement through which SBC will become a Covad reseller both inside and outside SBC's 13-state home territory. Included in the agreement are network performance guarantees designed to allow Covad to better roll out services in SBC territory.

Much of the delay in rolling out DSL services has been attributed to the lack of a seamless fulfillment process between DSL providers, such as Covad, NorthPoint and Rhythms, and ILECs, which own the copper loops over which DSL service runs. When a DSL provider, or one of its resellers, receives a DSL order, the order is sent to an ILEC, which has to ensure that the local loop for the order is qualified to handle DSL.

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Once the loop has been qualified, an ILEC technician will schedule a visit to the order site to do inside wiring. Finally, a technician from the competitive DSL provider will schedule a visit to configure the end user's computer and modem.

"Getting through all these steps takes several days each," says Adam Guglielmo, an analyst with consultancy TeleChoice in Denver. "By the time they coordinate with you and by the time it's all done, it's six to eight weeks, at least if you go through the competitive providers."

Guglielmo believes the waiting period is shortening and will continue to shorten thanks to new DSL provisioning tools.

"This summer there's been an incredible amount of work in provisioning, qualifying, ordering, getting it all automated and making it easier for ISPs and end users to get DSL orders placed, get their loops qualified and tested, and get everything done as quickly as possible with little need for technicians," he says.

Cisco says its Order-to-Service system can automate the DSL provisioning process end-to-end for service providers that have all-Cisco networks. Order-to-Service consists of several software components, including Cisco Network Order Manager, Quintessent's DSLXchange, Turnstone's Copper CrossConnect CX100 and CrossWorks Back Office Automation Software, BroadJump's Virtual Truck Installer and Portal's Infranet.

Craig Johnson, a principal with The Pita Group technology analysis firm in Portland, Ore., says the Cisco plan is good but more is needed.

"We're still in the first or second inning of providing the tools necessary to provision DSL that are comparable to what the old phone system has for provisioning voice services," Johnson says. "We need a mechanism where you do a submittal, get approval and all the rest without getting 50 people involved."

A network manger for a large West Coast bank trying to implement a DSL VPN telecommuter network says the integration of back-office systems provided by provisioning tools will help but won't eliminate all ordering delays.

The wires come from the local carrier and are leased to other DSL service providers in a large percentage of cases. The electronic interfaces can make getting the wire quicker, but the customer still has to wait for the other DSL service providers to complete their job. That lag time is independent of the preparation of the local loop, he says.

"We got so sick of waiting for DSL services that we told our end users to go out and get whatever DSL service you want. Then we send them a [VPN] box to secure the connection," the manager says.

DSL providers aren't relying on provisioning tools alone to improve rollouts. Competitive DSL providers and ILECs are forging tighter relationships to allow them to improve their service offerings.

Covad's deal with SBC last week should allow SBC to become a bigger name in DSL business service. SBC will now resell Covad's business-class symmetric DSL services and also take a $150 million, 6 percent stake in Covad.

Covad also gets a commitment of $600 million in resale revenue from SBC over six years and performance guarantees that set limits on how long SBC can take to provision DSL lines for Covad. The companies have also resolved a series of outstanding legal issues.

"This agreement allows us to continue competing with SBC and serve our customers better," says Dhruv Khanna, Covad's executive vice president and general counsel.

The Covad/SBC deal comes about a month after Verizon announced it was taking a 55 percent stake in DSL provider NorthPoint. The third-largest national DSL provider, Rhythms, has yet to announce a major ILEC relationship.

TeleChoice's Guglielmo notes Rhythms had more cash on hand than Covad or NorthPoint and can probably survive on its own for some time. If Rhythms forms a relationship with a large carrier, Guglielmo anticipates it would be with MCI, which has a large stake in Rhythms.

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