Time Warner Telecom (tw telecom), a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) visited Cerent’s headquarters in Petaluma, on August 17, 1999, to check out the capabilities of this upstart startup. Visiting executives included Ray Whinery, Executive Vice President (Engineering, Technology and Field Operations), Tony Thakur, Vice President of Technology and Architecture, and Michael Khalilian, Director Technology Applications Development. Cerent sales representatives Dave Cesca and Stephen Zielke, who hosted this customer event, had only been with the company for six months and one month, respectively.
Earl Turner, tw telecom’s Chief Architect, who I interviewed for my book project, worked with Tony Thakur on network architecture for the Time Warner “properties.”
Todd Murphy, another Cerent sales rep, who worked the Time Warner Cable account in Denver, wrote, on October 22, 1999, “They intend to use the 454 as [an] OC-48 with DS3 drops and some OC-3/OC-12 drops. Tony has no current plans for TLS, but Earl said he may want to run their TWTC ISP traffic via the Ethernet card.” Murphy added, “Tony said the interoperability testing will be conducted with their Lucent and Alcatel cross-connects.”
Earl Turner, tw telecom’s Chief Architect, who I interviewed for my book project, worked with Tony Thakur on network architecture for the Time Warner “properties.”
Todd Murphy, another Cerent sales rep, who worked the Time Warner Cable account in Denver, wrote, on October 22, 1999, “They intend to use the 454 as [an] OC-48 with DS3 drops and some OC-3/OC-12 drops. Tony has no current plans for TLS, but Earl said he may want to run their TWTC ISP traffic via the Ethernet card.” Murphy added, “Tony said the interoperability testing will be conducted with their Lucent and Alcatel cross-connects.”
Cerent’s Multi-service Provisioning Platform (MSPP) soon became a hit with tw telecom and was rapidly accepted for deployment across most of its metropolitan markets, especially after it passed all of the interoperability testing with other vendors’ equipment.
Dave Cesca recalls the time of the telecom meltdown in 2001, “When the market started crashing and the revenues went away, i.e., the voice revenues went away, service providers had to figure out how to deliver cheaper services. To the customer premise, T1 wasn’t cutting it, T3 wasn’t cutting it, and SONET wasn’t cutting it. More service providers were putting Ethernet capability into their buildings because customers were also asking for Ethernet to the building. The cost points for Ethernet came down to a point where it was more cost-effective to deliver Ethernet to the building and do so over a SONET box like the Cerent 454.”
Dave Cesca recalls the time of the telecom meltdown in 2001, “When the market started crashing and the revenues went away, i.e., the voice revenues went away, service providers had to figure out how to deliver cheaper services. To the customer premise, T1 wasn’t cutting it, T3 wasn’t cutting it, and SONET wasn’t cutting it. More service providers were putting Ethernet capability into their buildings because customers were also asking for Ethernet to the building. The cost points for Ethernet came down to a point where it was more cost-effective to deliver Ethernet to the building and do so over a SONET box like the Cerent 454.”
Cerent’s ‘327’ product arrived, renamed as the Cisco ONS 15327. CLECs, such as tw telecom, helped to define this “baby brother” companion product to the ‘454.’ Dave adds, “The ‘327’ was critical. We needed the central office box, if you will, or the backbone box at the central office and we needed the edge box to connect to the customers and to really scale the business and bring the services onto their network. You could put a ‘454’ out there, but to really get to the smaller offices, you needed the ‘327.’”
Dave believes tw telecom was the first ‘327’ customer. However, as he recalls, “The ‘454’ still outsold the ‘327,’ but it was a super-critical component in the smaller offices.”
Earl Turner told me during our interview in 2013 that tw telecom bought about one ‘327’ for every ten ‘454s’ across the tw telecom network. More and more landlords were accepting MSPP-based gear located within their buildings.
Tony Thakur said on July 19, 2000, at the ICM Conference in Washington, D.C., “Vendors: Please provide old and new services on one platform; multiple boxes to manage is not what CLECs want.” He continued, “You will see metro-DWDM for carriers and next generation SONET for others requiring service aggregation. Overlay networks will be built. [The operators] must be able to point and click so any wavelength can be set-up from A–to–Z.” He highlighted the importance of Next Generation SONET equipment, like the Cerent 454, for data applications.
Stephen Zielke recognized the importance of Ethernet functionality on the Cerent 454 and Cerent 327 platforms too. During our October 2015 interview he noted how the optical team dodged the bullet on some of the failures of the Cerent team’s early Ethernet program (the so-called E-series cards). The Ethernet program became very important to grow the optical business as TDM interfaces waned. He said, “We failed with the E-series and we failed with the ML-series. We got it right with the line-rate G-series cards. Those cards were winners."
Steve’s assertion is seen by many Cerent pioneers as unfair, especially since the E-series program was key to penetrating the CLEC and ISP markets, the very market Steve was hired to tackle, which he did very well.
The history of Cerent’s E-Series Ethernet/Fast Ethernet plug-in is a story in itself. In short, the E-series solution was optimized for voice engineers to embrace data traffic in a TDM-based, service provider network. The E-series, Bob Bortolotto writes, “was designed, on purpose, to have nothing to do with IP, which is a layer-3 protocol. The purpose of the E-series was to statistically multiplex Ethernet traffic as transparently as possible (layer 2) over SONET TDM transport. This is exactly what our CLEC customers wanted at that time. They certainly didn't want an IP router inside their SONET ADM. The G-Series plug-in was the same basic card but with gigabit Ethernet interfaces and some other additional capabilities (like link aggregation).” As far as the ML-series Ethernet cards were concerned, Bob adds, “When you are part of Cisco, everything migrates to IOS, so that was the directive, good or bad.”
Dave believes tw telecom was the first ‘327’ customer. However, as he recalls, “The ‘454’ still outsold the ‘327,’ but it was a super-critical component in the smaller offices.”
Earl Turner told me during our interview in 2013 that tw telecom bought about one ‘327’ for every ten ‘454s’ across the tw telecom network. More and more landlords were accepting MSPP-based gear located within their buildings.
Tony Thakur said on July 19, 2000, at the ICM Conference in Washington, D.C., “Vendors: Please provide old and new services on one platform; multiple boxes to manage is not what CLECs want.” He continued, “You will see metro-DWDM for carriers and next generation SONET for others requiring service aggregation. Overlay networks will be built. [The operators] must be able to point and click so any wavelength can be set-up from A–to–Z.” He highlighted the importance of Next Generation SONET equipment, like the Cerent 454, for data applications.
Stephen Zielke recognized the importance of Ethernet functionality on the Cerent 454 and Cerent 327 platforms too. During our October 2015 interview he noted how the optical team dodged the bullet on some of the failures of the Cerent team’s early Ethernet program (the so-called E-series cards). The Ethernet program became very important to grow the optical business as TDM interfaces waned. He said, “We failed with the E-series and we failed with the ML-series. We got it right with the line-rate G-series cards. Those cards were winners."
Steve’s assertion is seen by many Cerent pioneers as unfair, especially since the E-series program was key to penetrating the CLEC and ISP markets, the very market Steve was hired to tackle, which he did very well.
The history of Cerent’s E-Series Ethernet/Fast Ethernet plug-in is a story in itself. In short, the E-series solution was optimized for voice engineers to embrace data traffic in a TDM-based, service provider network. The E-series, Bob Bortolotto writes, “was designed, on purpose, to have nothing to do with IP, which is a layer-3 protocol. The purpose of the E-series was to statistically multiplex Ethernet traffic as transparently as possible (layer 2) over SONET TDM transport. This is exactly what our CLEC customers wanted at that time. They certainly didn't want an IP router inside their SONET ADM. The G-Series plug-in was the same basic card but with gigabit Ethernet interfaces and some other additional capabilities (like link aggregation).” As far as the ML-series Ethernet cards were concerned, Bob adds, “When you are part of Cisco, everything migrates to IOS, so that was the directive, good or bad.”
Stephen has a point though. Unlike the G-series cards, those ML-series cards also required IOS functionality, inside of the Cerent operating system (VxWorks). Although the bigger Cisco team lost some credibility with that approach, since Cisco’s IOS was not a carrier class operating system, Cerent’s development team within Cisco weathered the storm and Ethernet interface sales on the ‘454’ soared.
Case in point. I talked with Curt Kavalo, a network technician, in March 2014. He was working that day in the Ashtabula, Ohio central office, which was once part of the former Alltel footprint. He looked at the front of the original Cerent 454 for me, in operation since 1999, complete with its signature purple shelf cover installed, and saw it functioning with version 7.02 software.
He said, “It’s been plugging away as far as I know. We were just working with this thing yesterday; we removed a DS3 in favor of an Ethernet interface. And I love the software. It’s user friendly.”
Fifteen years in operation and it’s still upgradable from TDM to Ethernet – not too shabby.
2003 Era for tw telecom
By March 19, 2003, the following customers were using tw telecom’s Metro Ethernet services over a Cerent 454 infrastructure. A tw telecom press release boasted, “Customers already experiencing the value of Time Warner Telecom Native LAN services include: First Tennessee National (Memphis), Bank of the West (San Francisco), Epic Imaging (Portland, Oregon), Carondelet Health Network (Tucson, Arizona), New York Unified Court System (Albany, N.Y.), University of Rochester (Rochester, N.Y.), Chase Manhattan Mortgage (Columbus, Ohio), . . .” and many more.
A couple of industry analysts praised tw telecom’s capital investments, in spite of the telecom meltdown just a couple of years before: “A lot of carriers are delaying capital expenditures in the hopes of boosting short term financial positions, and that's a huge mistake, because it gives competitors with foresight the opportunity to take your customers away with broader and more cost-effective services,” says Daniel D. Briere, CEO of TeleChoice, a telecommunications industry analyst. “Time Warner Telecom is not only willing to make that CAPEX spend, but they've already done it, and have launched and populated several leading edge metro Ethernet services. This raises the ante in the metro loop in all the markets where they offer service.”
He said, “It’s been plugging away as far as I know. We were just working with this thing yesterday; we removed a DS3 in favor of an Ethernet interface. And I love the software. It’s user friendly.”
Fifteen years in operation and it’s still upgradable from TDM to Ethernet – not too shabby.
2003 Era for tw telecom
By March 19, 2003, the following customers were using tw telecom’s Metro Ethernet services over a Cerent 454 infrastructure. A tw telecom press release boasted, “Customers already experiencing the value of Time Warner Telecom Native LAN services include: First Tennessee National (Memphis), Bank of the West (San Francisco), Epic Imaging (Portland, Oregon), Carondelet Health Network (Tucson, Arizona), New York Unified Court System (Albany, N.Y.), University of Rochester (Rochester, N.Y.), Chase Manhattan Mortgage (Columbus, Ohio), . . .” and many more.
A couple of industry analysts praised tw telecom’s capital investments, in spite of the telecom meltdown just a couple of years before: “A lot of carriers are delaying capital expenditures in the hopes of boosting short term financial positions, and that's a huge mistake, because it gives competitors with foresight the opportunity to take your customers away with broader and more cost-effective services,” says Daniel D. Briere, CEO of TeleChoice, a telecommunications industry analyst. “Time Warner Telecom is not only willing to make that CAPEX spend, but they've already done it, and have launched and populated several leading edge metro Ethernet services. This raises the ante in the metro loop in all the markets where they offer service.”
By October 2003, Mike Rouleau, tw telecom’s SVP, Business Development, reported that their network had more than 17,000 local and regional fiber route miles across 44 markets with nearly 3,700 buildings lit with fiber-based services. Their national footprint was interconnected with fiber and an IP backbone in what Cisco would call an IP + Optical solution.
Rouleau cited a May 2003 IDC report that tw telecom offered the most comprehensive Metro Ethernet Access speeds in the greatest number of markets (44 of them across 22 states) and with the greatest variety of applications (Transparent LAN Services or TLS, Fibre Channel, Internet Access, and ESCON for storage).
“Time Warner Telecom offers one of the most comprehensive metro Ethernet portfolios on the market today, encompassing point-to-point, switched multipoint and premium SONET-based Ethernet flavors, as well as Internet access over Ethernet,” said Ron Kaplan, Research Manager, IDC. "But offering services is not enough. Success in metro Ethernet hinges on fiber availability, and Time Warner Telecom has its own extensive metro fiber networks already in place. Combined, these two elements make Time Warner Telecom well-positioned in the metro Ethernet services market.”
“Our Native LAN services deliver Ethernet, Everywhere, Easily. That's tomorrow's network, available today!” Rouleau added. And both the Cerent 454 and the Cerent 327 had plenty of horsepower under the hood to ensure tw telecom met with success in the metro marketplace.
2013 Era for tw telecom
Fast forward a decade later: By November 7, 2013, tw telecom continued to grow. The service provider's on-net footprint sported a total of 19,648 buildings connected to its fiber network, up from 3,700 buildings ten years earlier.
“By accelerating the expansion of our existing markets using our established operational teams and infrastructure, as well as entering new cities where our customers already have networking needs, this expansion gives us quick access to current demand and an accelerated path to greater revenue opportunities,” said John Blount, tw telecom's chief operating officer, in a press release.
The timing of this expansion came as tw telecom reported that it earned $393.2 million of revenue in Q3 2013, up 1 percent sequentially and 6.6 percent year over year.
Less than two years later, tw telecom was acquired by its competitor, Level 3, primarily for its Ethernet services offerings and large installed customer base across the United States. Success begets success and Cerent’s evolutionary optical transport platform played a key part of tw telecom and many other service providers’ success introducing Ethernet-based service offerings.
Rouleau cited a May 2003 IDC report that tw telecom offered the most comprehensive Metro Ethernet Access speeds in the greatest number of markets (44 of them across 22 states) and with the greatest variety of applications (Transparent LAN Services or TLS, Fibre Channel, Internet Access, and ESCON for storage).
“Time Warner Telecom offers one of the most comprehensive metro Ethernet portfolios on the market today, encompassing point-to-point, switched multipoint and premium SONET-based Ethernet flavors, as well as Internet access over Ethernet,” said Ron Kaplan, Research Manager, IDC. "But offering services is not enough. Success in metro Ethernet hinges on fiber availability, and Time Warner Telecom has its own extensive metro fiber networks already in place. Combined, these two elements make Time Warner Telecom well-positioned in the metro Ethernet services market.”
“Our Native LAN services deliver Ethernet, Everywhere, Easily. That's tomorrow's network, available today!” Rouleau added. And both the Cerent 454 and the Cerent 327 had plenty of horsepower under the hood to ensure tw telecom met with success in the metro marketplace.
2013 Era for tw telecom
Fast forward a decade later: By November 7, 2013, tw telecom continued to grow. The service provider's on-net footprint sported a total of 19,648 buildings connected to its fiber network, up from 3,700 buildings ten years earlier.
“By accelerating the expansion of our existing markets using our established operational teams and infrastructure, as well as entering new cities where our customers already have networking needs, this expansion gives us quick access to current demand and an accelerated path to greater revenue opportunities,” said John Blount, tw telecom's chief operating officer, in a press release.
The timing of this expansion came as tw telecom reported that it earned $393.2 million of revenue in Q3 2013, up 1 percent sequentially and 6.6 percent year over year.
Less than two years later, tw telecom was acquired by its competitor, Level 3, primarily for its Ethernet services offerings and large installed customer base across the United States. Success begets success and Cerent’s evolutionary optical transport platform played a key part of tw telecom and many other service providers’ success introducing Ethernet-based service offerings.