ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Access equipment maker UTStarcom Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI) has a few things up its sleeve for Supercomm 2003, besides a gigantic booth and a demo station. One of those things is a smaller version of its AN-2000 IP DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer).

"We're trying to shorten the length of the local loop so that the last mile becomes the last half-mile," says David Howard, UTStarcom's wireline product manager.

The stackable AN-2000 100B system is a 24-port DSLAM for use in carrier central offices or remote cabinets. More of the product's technical details will be available at Supercomm, the company says, but the unit is already deployed in small numbers with one of UTStarcom's privately held customers in India.

Though UTStarcom's folks were a bit coy, the carrier in question is likely Tata Teleservices Ltd., the privately-held carrier that has already deployed 56,000 lines of UTStarcom's larger DSLAM (see UTStarcom Scores in India).

Advanced Fibre Communications Inc. (AFC) (Nasdaq: AFCI) and Alcatel SA (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP:PA) also sell smaller DSLAMs, as does Zhone Technologies Inc., which offers a 24-port box called the Raptor 100 (see Zhone's Raptor Grabs at DSLAM Market). UTStarcom has made much hay in the DSLAM market in the past two years, but it still trails Alcatel in worldwide market share.

Among other players in the market, LM Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY) is worthy of note because it's launched a modular DSLAM that's particularly scaleable. Each module is the size of a video cassette and supports 10 DSL lines (see Ericsson Launches Ethernet DSL Push).

— Phil Harvey, Senior Editor, Light Reading