BT to trial cheap leased line alternative

BT has announced plans to trial technology that will give small and medium sized businesses an affordable alternative to leased lines.

Ignite, BT's broadband data division, will begin trials of symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL) technology on 1 December, with plans to offer it commercially by mid-2001.

SDSL is similar to asymmetric DSL (ADSL), which was launched for businesses last month. But while ADSL provides high-speed data downstream and a slower upstream speed, SDSL is the same speed in both directions.

BT said the service would suit small and medium sized businesses which send high volumes of data traffic between office branches, as well as home workers and internet service providers. It will also be aimed at businesses wanting to host their own website and wanting to use voice over IP for voice calls between office branches.

Neil Armstrong, broadband product marketing manager at Ignite, said: "We know there is a lot of latent demand for leased line access among small businesses and believe these products bring symmetric services into their price range."

The telco will offer two types of service: BT Datastream Symmetric, which connects end users to BT's broadband network; and BT Broadband point-to-point private circuits, which connect end users to each other via BT's broadband network.

SDSL services will be offered by third-party service providers and telcos. Wholesale SDSL will also be offered to large corporates with large numbers of offices. Three different data speeds will be offered: 500Kbps, 1Mbps and 2Mbps (which will run at closer to 1.9Mbps).

BT is advertising for 23 service providers, large corporates and telcos to join the trial. These will support a trial of around 300 end users, and BT will equip 12 exchanges in areas densely populated by businesses for the purpose.

Armstrong claimed SDSL would not impact BT's ISDN or ADSL businesses, but might cannibalise its leased line business.

"It certainly isn't a replacement to ADSL, it is merely another weapon in our armoury. I certainly don't see it having a significant effect on ISDN at all. We do see a significant amount of new business generally, but expect some migration from traditional leased line," he said.

BT is touting SDSL as a key enabler of voice over IP. Companies routing internal traffic between branches using SDSL could make significant savings on circuit switched calls.

Links to BT's full pricing details and trial selection criteria can be found at:http://www.bt.com/broadband/moreinfo/