Huntsville, Alabama-based Adtran started life selling remote office DSLAMs and integrated access devices into the US carrier market, but over the last couple of years it has adopted a strategy of expanding both in terms of its product line with the SMB routers, and geography with the development of its international business.
This has also meant the development of a channel strategy, and Steve Palmer, its international product manager, said it is signing up two distributors per country for a two-tier go-to-market strategy in its target markets in Europe, which for now are the UK, the Nordics, and Italy. We’ll address France and Germany next year with in-country offices, whereas the Nordics and Italy can be managed from our office in the UK, he said.
The new devices in the company’s NetVanta portfolio make up the new 3400 Series of what Adtran calls Multi-service Access Routers, combining router, switch, and firewall/VPN in 1U rack-mountable chassis. The two models are the 3430, which has a list price in the US of $895, and the 3448, which has all the same functionality as the other box plus a fully managed 8-port Power over Ethernet switch, listing at $1,045.
The boxes both come with two 10/100Base-T Ethernet ports for the LAN, allowing for broadband backup or a DMZ configuration, as well as a CompactFlash port for config backup and storage of firmware revisions. They support up to 500 simultaneous VPN users (tunnels). On the WAN connectivity side, they come with a single slot for a NetVanta Interface Module offering two T1/E1 links per NIM.
Palmer said the new devices fit in the portfolio above the NetVanta 344, a $250 device with a single DSL link for the WAN and a 4-port Ethernet switch, and the 3100 and 3200 Series, which have greater processing power and can take a T1/E1 link. Above them are the 4000 and 5000 Series, which have greater port density and support a higher throughput, as well as being fully modular. Above that comes the 24-port NetVanta 7100 we announced earlier this year, which adds an integrated PBX, with all the features needed such as voicemail and auto-attendant, he said.
Adtran’s strategy with this portfolio is not unlike that of several other networking companies that have recognized that the availability of silicon with a lot of the functionality for basic devices makes it possible to mount a challenge to market leader Cisco by providing the main features required by SMBs: a subset of the more extensive list on competing Cisco boxes, but at a lower price, leaving room for channel partners to take larger margins.
