Service providers, during the last fiscal, deployed multi-service switches and access multiplexers to provide managed data network services and broadband DSL services.

The industry leader in providing multi-service switches was Tellabs, which grabbed 33 percent of the WAN switches market. Its large customers included VSNL, MTNL and BSNL. The competition in this space came from Alcatel, whose switches got deployed in large projects like ASCON III and the Indian Army ATM backbone, and Nortel . The partnership with ITI helped Alcatel. Unisphere, however, made its presence felt with the HCL Infinet implementation. The Digital Local Carrier (DLC) multiplexer market saw Alcatel emerging as the strongest player with 36 percent market share, RAD following with 32 percent and i2i Media with 13 percent.

The encouraging fact was the emergence of large WAN deployer’s on the users’ side. To name a few – Western Railways, ONGC, Transworks, Intelenet Global Services Ltd, Amex, idlx/efunds, GE Capital Int Services, exl.service.com – all deployed switches that enabled ATM connectivity globally or across the country. Some of these bought multiplexers as well for multiple streams of data coming in and going out.