Turin Networks Inc. has stepped over the corpses of Appian Communications and Coriolis Networks to win a spot in NTT Communications Corp.'s network. Turin announced today that the carrier is using its gear as the customer premises component to a new Ethernet leased line service it is offering called Ether Arcstream (see NTT Picks Turin for Ethernet Deployment).

NTT Com is offering Ether Arcstream, a data-only service with performance guarantees at a premium price, all over Japan to large companies and ISPs. Customers are using it for applications such as linking together several branch offices via a transparent LAN.

The Turin box NTT is using is the Traverse 600, a six-slot system designed to sit in office buildings or on the metro access ring. The box combines a Sonet add/drop multiplexer, a digital crossconnect, and edge switching capabilities.

"[Ether Arcstream] is not something you want to do with a bunch of routers," says John Webley, Turin's president and CEO.

In this particular application, NTT isn't tapping into Turin's crossconnect capabilities, but is using the Traverse 600 to direct an OC48 uplink to a separate broadband digital crossconnect, which feeds into core routers. Turin was brought into the deal by its distribution partner Mitsubishi Corp.

Turin won't say how big a deal this is for it financially. The NTT service is relatively new, and there's no guarantee that businesses will want to trade the multiple E1 leased lines they might be running now for the new broadband links.

But this is a significant win for Turin. In a race to provide NTT Communications with high-speed managed Ethernet services over an SDH network, Turin outlasted Appian and Coriolis, which were both on NTT's shortlist, according to a source close to Turin. Both Appian and Coriolis closed this year (see Appian Closes With No Cigar and Coriolis Shuts Down).

Having outlived several competitors, Turin's hanging in there to see where NTT will take it in the next few months. "If they roll out what they say they're going to roll out, they will have met my entire business plan for this year," Webley says.

— Phil Harvey, News Editor, Light Reading