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Interview with Irit Gillath, VP Product Line Management

Q. Telco Systems recently introduced a new indoor FTTH gateway. How does this product differ from other indoor gateways like the EdgeGate 232? A. The EdgeGate242W offers several advantages over the EdgeGate232 in a cost effective manner. It has 4 Ethernet ports as well as WiFi 802.11b/g so that home networking could be easily provided. In addition it offers enhanced management capabilities including support for TR-069 which is emerging as

On top of that, it offers a unique mechanical design which enables tiered installation of the fiber and later the electronics.

We also offer an option of RF overlay to support non-IPTV customers who want to maintain the use of their existing video headend.

Q. What is the advantage of being able to install hardware and electronics separately for residential applications?

A. Being able to install the fiber first in a secured cable management (either indoor and/or outdoor) allows for higher flexibility and lower cost. It allows providers to install a lower cost infrastructure prior to service registration. Once the customer signs the service, adding the electronics piece and activating the service is as easy as a click of plastic. In fact, in the EdgeGate242W it is so simple that the end user could do it, saving the service provider a service visit by a technician.

Q. Unlike the EdgeGate 483S, the new EdgeGate 483D has dual Gigabit uplinks. How will these be used by service providers?

A. Dual uplink for the CPE allows for several advantages and options in deployment. First it allows the service provider to create redundancy to the customer connection and protect the link. Further more, it allows the service provider to save ports in the CO switch by eliminating the star topology which requires a port for each house. Dual uplinks on the EdgeGate 483D enable multiple houses to be connected over two ports in the CO. This is essentially splitting the service to multiple houses with no need of splitters - active nor passive, still allocating each home a different level of service and different level of upstream and downstream.

Q. Are these products undergoing RUS acceptance, and if so, when do you expect to receive it?

A. Telco Systems has just completed the acceptance of all of its fiber to the home product line to the RUS acceptance list. This now includes the T5C-XG which provides multiple 10Gig aggregation, the T5C family and the EdgeGate product line in both indoor and outdoor versions.

Q. Is Telco Systems exhibiting in the FTTH show?

A. In Telco Systems booth 733 you could see our FTTH solution as well as our business T-marc line. I’ll be giving presentation also in the Expo Theatre on Tuesday, September 29 at 1 pm entitled “Active Ethernet at Work – a Real-Life Deployment”. I would love to meet you and discuss your plans and your customer needs.