Entanet Wholesale Carrier Services – Broadband (EWCS Broadband) is a managed wholesale broadband service that enables Entanet’s partners to deliver the features and benefits of ADSL2+ to their customers without having to invest significantly in WBC. WBC will eventually replace BT’s current method of delivering connectivity via IPStream Centrals and require service providers to connect to any or all of the 20 WBC Aggregation Points located around the UK, depending on their coverage requirements.
Commenting on the introduction, Entanet’s Head of Marketing, Darren Farnden, said: “EWCS Broadband particularly benefits those service providers who are currently investing in IPStream centrals (i.e. those taking L2TP and LSS), enabling them to accommodate their bandwidth requirements and add the additional components that are required to make up a fully managed product.”
Explaining how EWCS Broadband works, Farnden added: “As a wholesale CP, we will collect traffic from all of the 20 WBC aggregation points (APs) and transport the traffic over a shared MPLS network to any of the other APs or alternatively to one of our existing POPs or data centres.” A broadband private network interconnection (BPNI) will be required for the delivery of service. The BPNI has a minimum requirement of 1GB (due to maximum transmission unit considerations) but can be copper or fibre depending on distance. The exact price of the BPNI will depend on where the partner wants the service delivered to. Some locations will charge both a connection and rental while others will have a one-off charge. Entanet says that partners can connect at a number of locations - a full list of the connection points is available from the company on request.
The announcement coincides with the launch of Entanet’s resale ADSL2+ services, known as 2Plus, and makes Entanet the first CP to release a managed version of its WBC based ADSL2+ services. Partners of other UK CPs have to wait until the arrival of BT’s Wholesale Broadband Managed Connect (WBMC) product before they can offer similar services. “Building out our network to each of BT’s 20 core aggregation points and taking WBC has enabled us to develop a fiercely competitive proposition to those service providers who want to provide own-branded ADSL2+ whilst avoiding the costly investment in WBC,” said Farnden. “EWCS Broadband delivers much greater flexibility and, perhaps most importantly, enables service providers to begin delivering ADSL2+ broadband now, rather than wait until the end of 2008.”