Startup FirmLaunches Edge-Access Platform

New device aggregates high-density circuits and facilitates deployment of outsourced services. Goes into beta testing this summer.

by Ted Stevenson ISP-Planet Managing Editor [May 19, 1999]

A team composed of former senior executives from Bay Networks and DEC's Network Products Group recently launched Northchurch Communications, Inc., to offer a new edge-access solution for service providers delivering IP-based services.

The Northchurch platform, the SAS 7000, combines high-density circuit aggregation with deployment and service-management capabilities. According to a company spokesperson, this is the "first carrier class edge device combining service offerings into a mission critical access aggregation platform, supporting enhanced subscriber services through policy based routing." The solution will allow ISPs to more easily and quickly provision accounts, as well as offer Class of Service differentiation and Quality of Service management.

Michael Spayer, an analyst at the Yankee Group in Boston, characterized the Northchurch product as "a strong offering in a very competitive market," citing its scalability and the rich softwaere feature set as strengths that differentiate it from competitors.

The SAS 7000 will aggregate high-capacity leased lines, frame relay VCs, cable modem head-ends, and ATM VCs, as well as dial access networks. The device will allow functions now typically residing on customer premises (for example, firewall, voice-over-IP gateways, VPNs, traffic shaping) to be moved onto the provider's network and outsourced. It also provides centralized, but customer-controlled, policy management, directory management, service monitoring, and capacity planning.

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