'We see the access market growing exponentially in the coming years'

What are ECI's plans in the broadband access market in India?

ECI has been supporting the access growth in the Indian market for the past few
years. The XDM Converged Multi-Service Provisioning Platform has enabled our
customers like Bharti Airtel to deploy new services such as broadband data,
voice, and leased lines rapidly to cater to the growing demand from both
residential and enterprise customers.

The search for a scalable and cost effective solution has
resulted in telecom operators embracing a Multi-Service Access Node (MSAN)
solution as their preferred choice for multi-access solution in one box. ECI's
wide range and scalable MSAN solution provides a variety of access deployment
scenarios for fixed and mobile providers to leap forward in their broadband
offerings. ECI will continue to leverage its strong presence in the Indian
telecom market and take full advantage of the booming demand for access
solutions and broadband services.

Do you see substantial growth in this market in India?

Lagging behind the developed world in terms of telecommunications, India is
bridging the gap with efficient administration, legislation, and regulation
efforts. This will serve to push the market forward. We see the access market as
a whole, and broadband access penetration rates in particular, growing
exponentially in the coming years. Private telecom providers are thriving on the
fruits of the newly-opened market and are getting stronger.

What are your new projects in the Apac?

ECI is engaged in an advanced MSAN project that combines both our access and
transmission products in an integrated network. Our continued strong presence in
India won us some multi-year transmission projects. In the last six months, our
activities in China has resulted in many new customers and new channel partners,
which expect to announce in the coming weeks. The prospects that we are focusing
on in the Southeast Asian countries are where we believe there are
potentialities to gain new business in the coming two to three years.

You are a leader in the transmission market in India. What are
the latest offerings? How are you planning to retain and increase market share?

In line with our philosophy, we are focusing on the needs of our customers,
continuously introducing new features which increase the value of our solutions
by supporting new services, and increasing the efficiency of our offering and
tailoring them to the specific needs of this market. We evolve our solutions to
support CAPEX savings through increased density, fanout, and capacity. We enable
OPEX reduction through integrated management and increased automation. We are
expanding our current offering with optimized products that reduce the cost of
our solutions. In addition to enhancing our current offerings, we are developing
next generation product lines that will address the evolving needs of our
customers. ECI is expanding its presence in India to be close to our customers
and extend top-level support to them.

Globally, CTOs are facing a lot of challenges in the wake of
emergence of new technologies. What are their challenges and what solutions will
you provide as a vendor?

There are a few areas that we have been closely following, and where we see
interesting opportunities for development. Main areas include dynamic optical
networks with extended reach and capacity, controlled by ASON/GMPLS; migrating
to packet network, while preserving user's quality of experience; carrier
grade packet equipment, migrating to "non-blocking" broadband access;
using variety of FTTx topologies; and de-centralizing network intelligence for
scalability and security.

Baburajan K

baburajank@cybermedia.co.in