The annual Internetcom '99 show, which took place in Moscow on October 5 to 8, 1999, was clearly distinguished from its predecessors by far more solid expositions of Russian networking and telecommunication vendors. Despite of the economic crisis which struck the national economy a year ago, the networking industry experienced a rather dynamic growth during that time. Visitors could see a variety of hardware products, designed from the ground up and manufactured in Russia. The community of domestic vendors has also expanded, involving both start-up companies with their original ideas, the companies utilizing the conversion technologies from defense industry, and well-known VARs moving to their own production.

Three Moscow vendors, Zelax, Cronyx, and Network Systems Group are already well recognized at Russian and CIS markets. Many domestic VARs, Infoart notes, are proud to enlist them in line with the world leading brandnames while stating: "We are business partners of ..." They started their operation a few years ago from various interface cards, short-range modems and protocol converters - the devices which were in especially great demand due to peculiarities of Russian telecommunication systems, like great distances and a mixture of various technologies. Today they offer a great choice of short- and medium-range, leased-line, fiber-optic modems, xDSL devices, Frame Relay access devices and switches, routers for small and branch offices. These products exist in both internal, external and rack-mounted versions. In particular, the new family of NSG-500 access routers may be equipped with a number of interface daughtercards, including high-speed serial ports, SRMs, G.703 cards, with DSL and wireless interfaces to be added in the future.

Granch company from Novosibirsk has also begun with original short-range modems and cards based on this technology (multiport adapters, bridges and access routers). Yet now the company concentrates its efforts on remote control of industrial processes by Web-enabled controllers. The conjunction of a controller with multiple digital and analog interfaces and an embedded Web-server providing access to these ports by means of Intranet/Internet and a conventional browser proved out to be rather fruitful. It is successfully applied in various industries, municipal services, etc. Along with manual monitoring and control, the device can be easily programmed and re-programmed for performing automatic and semi-automatic feedback, with this programming being also possible from remote Web station. Another new product, a splitter-based modem solution for simultaneous voice and data exchange over an existing copper pair, was also demonstrated at the show.

RUSLAN Communications, one of the leading Russian specialists in ATM networking, has done a major step in implementing the concept of multiservice networks down to the user's workplace. At the show it announced ATOMIC 25+ network interface card equipped with voice interface. The card connects a desktop PC and a conventional analog phone set to ATM network, running at 25 Mbps over twisted pair. It completely undertakes voice incapsulation into ATM cells, ATM signaling and other voice-related functions, thus it can be successfully applied even in lower-class office PCs. ATOMIC 25+ is compatible with FORE Systems' drivers and is a part of turnkey solutions for corporate multiservice networks offered by RUSLAN Communications. The adapter, InfoArt notes, is the first ATM device completely designed and manufactured in Russia. Its volume shipments will begin in early December, 1999. Its recommended price is about US$ 200, thus being far cheaper than the few foreign solutions of that class.

Another voice card, destined for IP telephony, was developed by Vocord Telecom company. iX-02 adapter has two analog phone ports and is a full-featured H.323 gateway for connecting PSTN with Internet/Intranet. IX Pro E1 is a similar product for carrier-class solutions and is equipped with two E1/T1 ports. The company also offers the mPORT gateway based on H.323 standard. Its plans call for release of the new generation of the hardware in the near future. The scalable MediaStar communication center will be completely based on open standards and architectures.

CompTek company is also a well-known specialist in wireless data networking and IP telephony. Now it has launched its own production. The practice of wireless data networking in Russia, InfoArt notes, is rather different from the other countries. Unlike Western solutions, wireless technologies in Russia are typically applied for building not flat bridged LANs but metropolitan-wide backbone systems with every node servicing multiple independent subnets. (Providing Internet connection to an office building, inhabited by dozens of companies, or to a multi-storey residential building are typical examples.) Solutions of this sort urgently require routers rather than bridges. Previously CompTek division in Ekaterinburg released new software for Aironet wireless bridges, which was written from the ground up and converted these devices into fully-featured wireless routers. Now the company demonstrated its own product - the new Revolution wirelss router, with not both hardware and built-in software specially designed for IP routing purposes and solving specific problems of MAN wireless communications.

Thus, the show demonstrated the increasing ability of Russian vendors to make their original products. The stage of prevailing "screwdriver technology" and "box moving" is coming to the past. Russian companies have their own know-how and their own manufacturing facilities to enter the markets of high technologies. Russian vendor announces a multiservice ATM NIC

Russian company RUSLAN Communications made a big step forward in implementing the concept of multiservice ATM networks down to the user's workstation. The company is one the top Russian specialists in ATM networking. In course of Internetcom '99 show, which was held in Moscow on October 5 to 8, 1999, the company announced its new product, ATOMIC 25+ network interface card with built-in analog phone interface. The card is used to connect a user's working place, including a desktop PC and a conventional phone set, to ATM network, operating at 25 Mbps over traditional UTP cabling. The network can be used simultaneously for high-quality voice communication (full 64 Kbps without any sacrifices), data transmission, and, optionally, for other types of traffic.

The key feature of the new product is that voice incapsulation into ATM cells, ATM signaling and other functions, relating to phone connections, are completely implemented in hardware. Thus voice communication does not require additional resources from the computer, and basic office-class PC with a free PCI slot is quite sufficient for equipping the working place in the mutiservice network. On top of that, voice communication is available immediately after switching on the computer; by no ways it depends upon the operating system, its current status and applications. The phone set is plugged into RJ-11 jack of the adapter.

Mr. Boris Satovskiy, the Chief Director of RUSLAN Communications, underscored that the new product makes multimedia services available for a broad community of corporate users. Previously ATM technology was primarily applied for backbone connections, yet now ATOMIC 25+ allows every workperson to enjoy the advantages of integrated networking. By now, the leading vendors of telecommunications equipment have not fully utilized ATM solutions for voice and data exchange at desktop level. Russian vendor fills this gap by implementing the advantages of ATM technology in a single product.

The company plans to ship the major part of new adapters within turnkey solutions based on ATM technology. PBX functions in such networks will be undertaken by corporate server. The software for this server is running under Windows NT and is also developed by RUSLAN Communications. The optional component of the system is client software adding new functionality to a plain phone set. Its current version supports about a dozen of advanced services, including call forwarding, call holding, conferencing, etc. From viewpoint of operating system, the adapter is fully compatible with FORE Systems' drivers.

The important thing, Infoart notes, is ATOMIC 25+ being the first ATM hardware fully designed and manufactured in Russia. Its recommended price is about US$ 200. Currently there are very few other products of that class available at the market, with all of them being far more expensive. The total cost of the network solution per user is estimated by RUSLAN officials at US$ 400. The company sees its goal in making multiservice systems twice cheaper than solutions based on traditional technologies.

Volume shipments of the adapter are scheduled for early December, 1999. The company plans to actively promote them not only in Russia, but at European markets as well. Great Britain and Germany are expected to constitute the major share of export sales.

Source: InfoArt News Agency

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