Clear links LANs with IP Express

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Clear Communications wants to exploit growing corporate demand for bandwidth with the launch of IP Express, a wide area network (WAN) service.

The service, which will initially link Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, will provide a way to link local area networks (LANs) in these cities.

Transport services senior manager Jane Hindle said the service was launched in response to a customer requirement for broadband connectivity.

"The growth in data traffic has been staggering - over half of the traffic moving over our network is data rather than voice," she said.

"Up to now all data transfers have been transmitted as a data overlay on the existing voice network architecture. IP Express will carry data in its native environment rather than trying to make it fit into a traditional telco network."

IP Express product manager Matt Watkins said the system used fibre optic cable to provide a 10Mbps Ethernet link of the same bandwidth as the LAN. Until now anyone connecting two LANs over existing copper cables had to choose between narrow bandwidth frame relay or costly ATM services.

Mr Watkins said IP Express would provide a cost effective alternative to these two services, but the price would vary according to the bandwidth and the type of services required.

Clear's first customer for IP Express is Compaq, which used it to link its three offices in Auckland with branches in Wellington and Christchurch. A further site in Hamilton has also been linked to the network by frame relay.

Compaq's director of professional services, Kimbal Riley, said his company had "acted as a beta tester," and that IP Express was delivering up to 200 per cent faster performance at a lower cost than the previous network.

"They love it at the Wellington office. The server doesn't time-out with long e-mails anymore."

Mr Watkins said IP Express may be rolled out to other cities if demand was there. Services Clear intends to provide over IP Express include telehosting, application service provider (ASP) services, videoconferencing, voice over IP, network encryption and backup services.

IP Express can also be used to provide internet access, but Mr Watkins did not expect it to be adopted as an alternative to ADSL in the residential market.