Last week saw the managed network service provider Ascom Timeplex Inc roll out an 18-month roadmap for its core product family, the Synchrony range of local and wide area network products. The company also announced details of the first Synchrony family enhancements by including support for the Q.Sig range of digital PABX signaling protocols, in addition to DPNSS, to prepare its customers for what it calls the spread of digital PABX usage across Europe. Support for both protocols will enable users of Synchrony networks to connect PABXs handling internal and external voice traffic, such as customer enquiries located at multiple, national and international sites. According to Ascom, the majority of PABXs can now be interconnected to its networks, to allocate bandwidth only when voice calls are set up, leaving the rest of the bandwidth free for data traffic. Chris Tolmie, worldwide product manager for Ascom Timeplex, claimed: This means that network managers can benefit from substantially more efficient use of leased lines, and deliver higher services to their internal and external clients immediately. Over the next 18 months the company plans to add wide area network ISDN options; new integrated access Frame Relay and legacy data traffic access devices for office operations, plus more multiple protocol handling functionality; a LINK gateway module for migrating the installed Time Division Multiplexer base; and a range of Asynchronous Mode switching products. The LINK gateway will ship in July while wide area network ISDN options will follow by the end of the year.
