RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Overture Networks, a leading developer of converged packet access platforms, today announced the general availability of the newest members of the ISG product portfolio – the ISG 140 and the ISG 180. These two revolutionary products deliver differentiated Ethernet services over single or bonded T1 or E1 copper lines and allow service providers to reach customer locations not served by fiber with bandwidth speeds ranging from 1 Mb/s to 16 Mb/s. In addition, the ISG 140 and ISG 180 offer Overture Networks’ new e-Marc™ management capabilities for the Ethernet demarcation point—a requirement for delivering reliable, business-class Ethernet services to the network edge.

Most carriers today deliver Ethernet services over existing network infrastructures to their ‘on-net’ customers via fiber drops. However, carriers are missing out on a large portion of the Ethernet services market potential because they are not able to cost-efficiently serve those ‘off-net’ customers who can only be reached by copper circuits. Vertical Systems Group (www.verticalsystems.com) estimates that only 10 percent of all U.S business locations today are reachable via fiber, while the remaining 90 percent of the market is reachable by copper. Vertical Systems estimates the market size for U.S. Ethernet services at $1.4 billion by 2008.

"Carriers have long sought ways to bring Ethernet services to their customers in a cost-effective manner, but reaching customer locations off a provider’s fiber network has always proved difficult. Overture Networks offers a solution that allows Ethernet services to reach all customer locations. This enables enterprise transition from older networking technologies, such as frame relay and ATM, to newer technologies such as Ethernet," said Erin Dunne, director of research at Vertical Systems Group. "Carriers can now present a solution to their customers that can span regionally or nationally, not just within the metro."

Overture Networks Inc.